The Future of 3D Printing – Very Bright!
When Gutenberg rolled out wooden printing press in 1568, people would not believe their eyes. Similarly, now with 3D printing coming aboard, people are amazed and busy finding its impact on the world of interior design. We also attempted our hands at it and this is what we found.
There is so much buzz around 3D printing. A Chinese company made 10 houses in a day using the 3D printing technology, then a Dutch company has gone public and announced that it is creating parts of a one-storey canal house. It is not only the exteriors, but interiors too where this technology is slowly but steadily moving in. However, it is important to first understand what is 3D printing?
3-D Printing is a digital fabrication process controlled via computer by which thin layers of materials are built up using a machine to create a 3D object. A wide variety of materials are used in this process which are plastic, ceramic, glass and metal. Six methods of 3D printing are known, stereo lithography (SLA), Laser Sintering, Fused- deposition modeling, Direct Laser Metal Sintering, Laminated Object Manufacturing and Power Bed and Inkhead Jet 3D printing. Well, that is too much of technical knowledge. Now let us generalize what impact 3D printing is making on design and what is the future of this technology.
3D printing is environment friendly as the data can be electronically transferred to production centers, which is convenient and also reduces the carbon footprint. With 3D printing, the time to market a product is greatly reduced. Instead of months or years you can roll out a new product in the market in days or weeks. Moreover, there is no tooling so product improvisation goes on based on customer feedback and market trends.
Let us see where has 3-D printing made its mark yet and what is coming next.
Interiors
A house is not mere walls but interiors add an aesthetic value to it. And if that value is fortified with 3D interiors, that would be like another feather in the cap.
Furniture
Now when you have 3D interiors, why not match it with 3D furniture. There are 3D tables, chairs, centerpieces. There is a Swedish company which is allowing its customer to make a rough design of the furniture and then they develop it for them.
With 3D printing still in nascent stage, architects and computer scientists at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) have moved ahead and started working on 4D printing. It involves producing such materials that will transform themselves into pre programmed shapes when they will come in contact with water. Awesome!!!
