The Objet500 Connex3 Struts the Runway at 3D PrintShow in NYC
06.03.2014
The Objet500 Connex3 from Stratasys is an amazing machine. Its inkjet technology allows it to 3D print in multiple colours with multiple materials, producing full colour objects. In the past, such a printer may have created impressively detailed prototypes, but as 3D printing is used more and more for final products, we will be treated to an increasing number of projects like that of Dr. Michaella Janse van Vuuren of South Africa.
Last weekend, at the 3D PrintShow in New York, Dr. van Vuuren and her collaborators displayed to the world a line of 3D printed clothing made exclusively with the new Connex3. In stunning detail and vibrant colour, models walked the runway at the 3D PrintShow showing off the new technology. The designs, which took over six months to make, are ones that could not have been produced in any other way but with 3D printing.
As Dr. van Vuuren tells it, the fashion line was the result of work that occurred over three continents. She sketched the clothing using the traditional method of pen and paper, then creating 3D digital sculptures and CAD drawings. The resulting line was customized by Turlif Vilbrandt from Uformia in Norway and printed by Tal Ely and Dr. Daniel Dikovsky, Material R&D team leader from Stratasys, on the Objet500 Connex 3 in Israel. The results were spectacular, as you can see from these photos by Yoram Reshef.
Dr. van Vuuren is the founding member an artist collective that we’ve covered on 3D Printing Industry before. The Agents of the 3D Revolution is made up of a number of talented and striking 3D designers, such as Joshua Harker and Nervous Systems. At the end of this month, the Agents will be unleashing their talents on Cape Town with a seminar and exhibition for a South African design program titled GUILD, the flagship event of the Cape Town World Design Capital 2014. Their exhibition, which opens at the end of this week on February 28, and their seminar, which will take place on March 5, will feature some of 3D printing’s favorite South African players, with lectures from Richard van As of Robohand, the RepRap Morgan‘s Quentin Harley and Dr. van Vuuren herself, among others. Art on display in addition to Joshua Harker and Nervous Systems, will include that of Lionel T. Dean, Michaella Janse van Vuuren, Jonathan Keep, Keith Brown and Geoffrey Mann. Based on what the good doctor showed at the 3D PrintShow in New York, I’ll bet that the GUILD event is equally impressive. And I’ve heard that Cape Town is beautiful this time of year.
