Like replicators on “Star Trek” — machines that materialize tomato soup and “Tea, Earl Gray, hot” for peckish starship crew members — 3-D printing has a distinctly sci-fi feel. While not a new technology, the process of producing solid, three-dimensional objects sans tool or molds isn’t ubiquitous either. Hence, the fantasy element.
“It’s like magic,” says animator Dave Lobser in a video for 3-D printing company Shapeways, “(It’s) being able to take things that only exist on screens and turn them into real objects that you can hold.”
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Shapeways is headquartered in New York and, since 2007, has provided manufacturing services to thousands of creative types, like Lobser, who upload their 3-D designs to shapeways.com, choose from dozens of materials and finishes — e.g., sandstone, porcelain, 14-karat gold and bronze — then wait for their objects to be reviewed, printed and shipped. Not only does the company print items on demand, it also functions as a marketplace. The Etsy of 3-D printing, if you will.
It’s not all random tchotchkes either (though there are plenty of those). One section of the Shapeways marketplace is devoted to 3-D-printed home accessories and decor, many of which are both inventive and useful: from offbeat cookie cutters and chopsticks holders to air plant vases and geometric lamps.
Among the more high-caliber objects are pinhole lampshades by Dutch designer Studio Jelle. These minimalist, gridlike pieces, made of strong white nylon plastic with a matte finish, are right in line with the industrial trend in modern lighting. Starting at $81, a pinhole shade can be used as either a pendant lamp — fixtures are extra — or positioned on the floor for an even more mod look. If guests to your home ask where you sourced it, just say it was magic.
Shop already-printed items, or print your own at shapeways.com.
Laura Pearson is a freelance writer.
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