Design of the Week: P6*6 120 Pinhole Camera

This week’s selection is the the P6*6 120 Pinhole Camera by Todd Schlemmer. It definitely looks like a camera and indeed if you print the parts and assemble them you can actually capture real images using standard 120 analog film. 

Design of the Week: Reverberating Across the Divide

This week’s selection is Madeline Gannon’s Reverberating Across the Divide project, a 3D printed, custom-fitted decorative collar.    Gannon, a doctoral student studying generative fabrication and computational design in the CMU School of Architecture, developed a technique for generating this collar using a combination of computational and manual processes.      Please watch the video… Continue reading Design of the Week: Reverberating Across the Divide

Design of the Week: Quantum Object #1

This week’s selection is Quantum Object #1 by sculptor Frederik De Wilde. It’s a trippy piece we first noticed at this year’s London 3D Printshow, where it was on display among many other spectacular pieces.    Visually, it’s a plane with drips extending in opposite directions, defying gravity in two different directions. But why is… Continue reading Design of the Week: Quantum Object #1

Design of the Week: Verlan Dress

This week’s selection is the incredible Verlan Dress by NYC designer Francis Bitonti’s team.    The dress is not only unusual in appearance but also its material, availability and creation process. The piece was sponsored by MakerBot in a successful effort to display their new Flexible Filament material, which was used in the dress to… Continue reading Design of the Week: Verlan Dress

Design of the Week: Shades of Grey

This week’s selection is Claire Thompson’s Shades of Grey. It’s a fascinating work that is both smooth and two-tone. Perfectly sized to sit on the edge of a table, the portrait carries an interesting story. From Thompson:    Shades of Grey is a portrait, digitally and manually created, which references the complexity and ambiguity of… Continue reading Design of the Week: Shades of Grey

Design of the Week: IKEA Ramvik Reinvented

This week’s selection is an incredible 3D printed table by Ole Hermann Godø. It’s not entirely 3D printed, but as you’ll see, the “guts” of this table were definitely 3D printed.    The table’s innards have been replaced with several dozen intricately arranged 3D printed gears – that move! Combined with interior lighting, the effect… Continue reading Design of the Week: IKEA Ramvik Reinvented

Design of the Week: Wit’s End

This week’s selection is Ravi Venkataraman’s Wit’s End, which as you can see above, captures that feeling quite distinctly.    It’s part of Venkataraman’s “Emotions in 3D” series, where a variety of emotions, from profound to fun are explored in 3D sculptures. We’ve seen several of these works but this one somehow resonates the best;… Continue reading Design of the Week: Wit’s End

Design of the Week: Imprinted Bodies

This week’s selection is Imprinted Bodies by NYC-based sculptor Lilia Ziamou. It’s actually two pieces, #1 and #2. While the pieces are certainly not as dramatic as some by other artists, there is a story behind these unusual works.    Ziamou explores the “concept of the female body”, using “curve and crevice”. She initially develops… Continue reading Design of the Week: Imprinted Bodies

Design of the Week: Icarus Had a Sister

This week’s selection is the stunning “Icarus Had a Sister” by artists Masters & Munn, a.k.a. André Masters and his partner, CJ Munn. It’s the obvious selection, as this piece helped the pair win the “Rising Star” award at last week’s Global 3D Print Awards at the 2013 3D Printshow. (Note the actual award trophy… Continue reading Design of the Week: Icarus Had a Sister

Design of the Week: A Sweet Crania Anatomica Filigre

This week’s selection is Joshua Harker’s Crania Anatomica Filigre – but with a difference.  Harker’s Crania Anatomica Filigre emerged quite a while ago in a rather successful Kickstarter campaign. But this instance of the Crania Anatomica Filigre is a little different: it’s made entirely from Sugar!   It is the same design, but simply rendered… Continue reading Design of the Week: A Sweet Crania Anatomica Filigre

Design of the Week: Liquid Derby Car

This week’s selection is Thomas Davis’ Liquid Pinewood Derby Car.   The ISDA (Industrial Design Society of America) and Inventables are sponsoring a Launch Day Challenge, where teams submit designs for 3D printed cars. And some of the designs are very far out, including our Design of the Week, the Liquid Pinewood Derby Car.   … Continue reading Design of the Week: Liquid Derby Car

Design of the Week: Orihon

This week’s selection is Manchester, UK, born, but Chicago-based artist Tom Burtonwood’s Orihon, a 3D printed accordion book.    The piece is interesting because it involves texture, something not normally found in books. Each “page” of the book contains a different texture based on real-life scans taken with the 123D Catch application. It’s a 3D… Continue reading Design of the Week: Orihon

Design of the Week: 3D Printed Gran Torino

This week’s selection is Ioan Florea’s amazing full-size 3D printed Gran Torino, as displayed at Carbondale’s Surplus Gallery in Illinois during his Tactile Histories exhibition.    The Gran Torino, we believe, is intact underneath a large number of 3D printed pieces that completely cover the car’s normal plain surface. The Gran Torino is not “3D… Continue reading Design of the Week: 3D Printed Gran Torino

Design of the Week: Mining Habitat

This week’s selection is “Mining Habitat” by artist Micah Genske. It portrays a bizarre combination of artificial gravity-rotating space station with industrial mining operations, complete with smokestacks.    The work is huge, as you can see in this image. Despite its size, it was apparently produced on a standard MakerBot personal 3D printer. We suspect… Continue reading Design of the Week: Mining Habitat

Design of the Week: María and the Mayan Godess Ixchel

This week’s selection is maría/ixchel by artist Ana Marva Fernández.    The work is a combination of a traditional Maria figurine with the Mayan goddess Ixchel. They’re sitting on a moon, of course.    The work is 3D printed in full color, and if you look closely you’ll notice something fascinating about its surface. It’s… Continue reading Design of the Week: María and the Mayan Godess Ixchel

Design of the Week: Julia Vase #011 – Heatwave

This week’s selection is Virtox’s Julia Vase #011 – “Heatwave”. We previously selected a Julia Vase as the Design of the Week, but “Heatwave” is so beautiful we simply had to choose one again.    Virtox, a.k.a. notable 3D modeler Stijn van der Linden, specializes in generated designs. Julia vases are created mathematically using complex algorithms.… Continue reading Design of the Week: Julia Vase #011 – Heatwave

Design of the Week: Dequan Li Attractor

This week’s selection is the very beautiful Dequan Li Attractor by programmer and artist Nicolas Serouart.   The design is entirely mathematically generated and presents a beautiful sweeping shape, as if the complex motion was captured in an instant.    We’re not certain of the tools Serouart used to create this incredible shape, but he… Continue reading Design of the Week: Dequan Li Attractor

Design of the Week: Grmpff

This week’s selection is “Grmpff” by German-based designer Kai Bracher.    The piece is entirely ornamental, displaying a figure exerting strong force on a sack, which is apparently pinned down by a wall peg. In reality, of course, the figure simply slides onto the peg. You can also apply a magnet to the base for… Continue reading Design of the Week: Grmpff

Design of the Week: Super Mario Mobius Strip

This week’s selection is the Super Mario Mobius Strip, by Shapeways creator Joaquin Baldwin.    While endless, one-sided Mobius strips are fascinating unto themselves, Baldwin has made this one even more interesting by infusing Super Mario culture on its surface. The entire level 1 scenario is included on the strip. He says:    All the… Continue reading Design of the Week: Super Mario Mobius Strip

Design of the Week: Alien Ball Bearing

This week’s selection is the Alien Ball Bearing by Thingiverse creator Steve Medwin.     This bizarre shape actually functions, slightly. Medwin says:    This thing has five independent balls that roll around inside the organic ring. It reminds me of an alien version of a ball bearing, even though the inside doesn’t roll separately from… Continue reading Design of the Week: Alien Ball Bearing

Design of the Week: Shopping Bag Handle

This week’s selection is Norwegian designer Even Erichsen’s Shopping Bag Handle.    The design is incredibly simple, yet totally useful for almost anyone. These days most people struggle with heavygrocery bags filled with calories. The Shopping Bag handle simply fits under the lift strap and saves your fingers from unwanted indentations.    This is a… Continue reading Design of the Week: Shopping Bag Handle

Design of the Week: Wave Vase “Touch”

This week’s selection is the Wave Vase “Touch” by the Italian KIORO’design team.    The “Touch” reinvents the common practice of placing dried tall vegetation in a vase with a new 3D printing approach. Colorful and obviously from non-organic sources, the design is so reminiscent of dried tallgrass. Except it’s red, yellow, pink and blue.… Continue reading Design of the Week: Wave Vase “Touch”

Design of the Week: Orbital Levitation Lamp

This week’s selection is designer Margot Krasojevic’s amazing Orbital Levitaiton LED Lamp. It’s a wispy, cloud-like 3D printed shape with an embedded LED light source.    Beautiful, to be sure, but that’s not the most interesting part. The lamp uses magnetic levitation to float above its mount. It floats in thin air! Even better, you… Continue reading Design of the Week: Orbital Levitation Lamp

Design of the Week: Hyphae Lamps

This week’s selection is Nervous Systems’ Hyphae Lamp collection. Nervous System is well known for producing startling  designs using generative 3D modeling techniques.    The Hyphae Lamp collection is a set of 13 unique lamp designs created using these techniques, but inspired by nature. They say:    The Hyphae lamp is a series of organic… Continue reading Design of the Week: Hyphae Lamps

Design of the Week: Memorial Bust of a Woman

This week’s selection is Memorial Bust of a Woman by artist Sophie Kahn. What appears to be a relic-like representation of a woman is actually much more. It’s a self-portrait, obtained using 3D laser scanning to obtain a rough 3D model.    But it’s an inaccurate capture, as the artist moves very slightly during the… Continue reading Design of the Week: Memorial Bust of a Woman

Design of the Week: Phytome

This week’s selection is another practical item, particularly at this time of year: the Phytome by Zheng3. While this piece looks like a rather sparse-looking upside down cup, it actually has a very useful purpose:    It’s a 3D-printed seedling cage that’s designed to keep mid-sized varmits from disturbing one’s sprouts while allowing rain and… Continue reading Design of the Week: Phytome

Design of the Week: Improved Banana Slicer

This week’s selection is the very practical Improved Banana Slicer, by Thingiverse user Todd Blatt.    What does it do? Well, just take a look at the image and you’ll get the idea. Practical and it involves food, so how could you go wrong?    The design is “Improved” over the Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer… Continue reading Design of the Week: Improved Banana Slicer

Design of the Week: Centerpieces

This week’s selection is sculptor George Hart’s Centerpiece. Actually we should say, “centerpieces”, as it’s really a large collection of similar objects, each with variations in color design as well as structure.    Hart says:    For a Museum of Mathematics fundraiser dinner, I created a series of mathematical table centerpieces. These are each eight… Continue reading Design of the Week: Centerpieces

Design of the Week: Aerial Working Platform

This week’s selection is a rather detailed replica model of a scissor-lift work platform by Rob’s Model Workshop. The Workshop has produced a number of highly realistic models of working machines, but we liked this one due to its articulated nature. According to the website:    RMW is providing innovative and unique accessories for the… Continue reading Design of the Week: Aerial Working Platform

Design of the Week: Sphere Autologlyph

This week’s selection is the utterly fascinating “Sphere Autoglyph” by master mathematical modeler Henry Segerman. Segerman has used his extensive mathematical background to generate a vast collection of fantastic generated artwork; his Shapeways shop contains 94 items as of this writing, and all of them are Design of the Week-worthy.    At first glance the… Continue reading Design of the Week: Sphere Autologlyph

Design of the Week: Strain My Tea

This week’s selection is “Strain My Tea” by Shapeways creator sbf54. This item is both attractive, functional and practical, making it an excellent choice.    Using the teacup is straightforward: pull your teabag into the upper chamber to strain it out and then enjoy your hot beverage.    Strain My Tea is available on Shapeways… Continue reading Design of the Week: Strain My Tea

Design of the Week: Coffee Filigree

This week’s selection is the Coffee Filigree by Brian Drescher of The Netherlands. Drescher says:    Another variation of the coffee cup design…organic filigree. An example of common objects transformed into art via 3D printing. Click the blue animation button to see it from all angles. Available also as a full-scale (10cm) table-top object.  … Continue reading Design of the Week: Coffee Filigree

Design of the Week: Volta Necklace

This week’s selection is designer Phil Renato’s Volta, billed as “An evolving 3D printed necklace design with a serpentine linkage system.”   The necklace has indeed evolved since we featured Renato’s work many months ago. Today it is a refined design that is becoming a true product for consumers.    The design is based on… Continue reading Design of the Week: Volta Necklace

Design of the Week: The Lost Boys

This week’s selection is artist Sean Dabbs’ “The Lost Boys”. It’s actually a small collection of designs related the the movie of the same name.    We specifically liked the rendering of Kiefer Sutherland’s frightening vampire character, especially the teeth. Also included in the collection are vampire-like hands and feet.    Dabbs is a UK-based… Continue reading Design of the Week: The Lost Boys

Design of the Week: Spiralis

This week’s selection is Spiralis by Shapeways designer Emm@nuel. There are actually two variations of Spiralis in the Shapeways catalog, the Spiralis+0,025-7cm and the Spiralis+0,025, which appear to differ only in size.    Designer Emm@nuel describes Spiralis as:    Mathematical oddity composed with 20 triskelions (triskelion, triskele) and 12 spirals.   Definitely!   You can… Continue reading Design of the Week: Spiralis

Design of the Week: Caged Heels

This week’s selection is London-based shoe designer Bryan Oknyansky’s Caged Heels.    Oknyansky runs Shoes By Bryan, a bespoke designer of very unique shoes, operating since May 2011. The award-winning designer begins a shoe design by analyzing the physics of the shoe. He uses personal orthopedic dimensions and ergonomic measurements in the parametric 3D CAD… Continue reading Design of the Week: Caged Heels