The creation of works of art, craft and bespoke design requires more than an individual’s possession of ‘talent’. The creative process also requires an investment of time for research, design and manufacture - and the provision working space and materials. The problem with this working model is, despite their investment, the maker can only sell each item once. With this scarcity lies implied cultural and financial value, but for the maker to scale the one-off piece into a production run usually means they have to also scale up their personal investment in time, materials, inventory space, marketing and distribution. In order to make this investment, the maker must have time and money that they can risk speculation into their practice and their future. In the digital world, scaling is not an issue: space is cheap, distribution is instant and monetisation of a product is only a mouse click away. With online 3D printing services and marketplaces, artists, designers and makers can sell their works, monetising their practice in a sustainable, scalable way with no capital outlay. 3D printing bridges the gap between the digital and the physical, from bits to atoms.
3D printing technologies date back to the mid 1980’s where a laser is used to solidify a powder into a solid object. Originally called rapid prototyping, this process was used by engineers and designers to test components of a design before taking them in to mass production. The ‘rapid prototypes’ were very expensive, the materials of low quality and durability, and access to the machines was very limited. There had been minor improvements in the materials, and the process remained prohibitively expensive until the last few years when a number of online services such as www.shapeways.com and www.ponoko.com coincided with advances in technology to make 3D printing a viable option for independent designers, artists, makers and even hobbyists to start creating objects using 3D printing.
Online 3D Printing is democratising the tools of manufacture – anyone anywhere can make anything they want in materials ranging from plastics, stainless steel, ceramics, glass, sterling silver and more. The only limitations are size of the machines and each materials inherent qualities, not the quantity of orders or complexity of the design. In fact, complexity is free: ten pieces that are exactly the same will cost the same to produce as ten that have variation. The cost is defined only by the volume of material used.
Veneri Design 'Nuke Lamp' on Shapeways
This ability to make whatever you want is only the starting point. The most empowering aspect for creative practitioners is the ability to sell you 3D printed item online with no financial outlay and no additional effort on your part. You upload your design once and include photographs and descriptions, and then set the amount of profit you would like from each sale. Once your design is available in the online store, the financial transaction, fabrication and distribution is handled by Shapeways and you receive a monthly payment with no further interaction. If you sell one item you get X; if you sell ten items you get ten times X.
A recent example of this is the design and sale of working models of Theo Jansen’s Strandbeests on Shapeways. Theo Jansen is a Dutch kinetic artist who, since 1990, has been occupied with creating new ‘forms of life’. He is father to the “Animari” beach creatures, or “Strandbeests”, creatures made of PVC tubing, that walk along the beach in Norway powered by the wind. Independent of Theo, Dutch designers Bo Jansen and Tim van Bentum developed a 3D model of the Strandbeests suitable for 3D printing, they then worked with Theo to make them available for sale on Shapeways. Now Theo, Bo and Tim all get a passive income from each sale of the Strandbeests without the need for any additional work. This is a perfect example of the potential for revenue sharing on collaborative creative projects - or even for an artist to receive revenue from fan projects.
This, of course, raises questions about the blurred boundaries between art, craft and design, and the authenticity of an object that is produced by an artist without it ever being touched by their hand, but it also makes a financially sustainable practice possible for independent creative practitioners that scales production exactly to demand.
Duann Scott
Duann Scott is an industrial design consultant and researcher whose work currently focuses on the democratisation of design and manufacture through online tools. Previous clients have included artists, architects, designers, makers, branding agencies and manufacturers. He currently works for NYC based start-up Shapeways, a spin out of Phillips Lifestyle Research Incubator.
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