Materialise Just Received a Design Award — And It’s All Thanks to You
Last night our parent company, Materialise, received the renowned ‘Henry van de Velde’ design award from Design Flanders. The award honors designers and design companies for the exceptional quality of their work, their path of experimentation, and their inventiveness in the creative sector. But most importantly, this is an award for your creativity.
Yesterday evening our founder and CEO Fried Vancraen accepted the award in Brussels in front of a crowd of 1,300 people on behalf of Materialise. We feel so honored about receiving this prize and need to point out that you played a major role in this. So let’s take a look at what the jury said.
Our CEO Fried. Photo by Michael De Lausnay via Design Flanders.
3D printing is a community thing
The jury: “Not only does 3D printing enable professionals to supply highly specific parts and components, it also enables the public at large to experiment with this independently. In 2009 the i.materialise website was one of the first tools allowing consumers to independently design and make products. Materialise is not a manufacturer in the traditional sense, but a platform that deploys its own expertise in the broadest and most contemporary way possible.”
While we try to make 3D printing on high-end industrial machines as accessible as possible for everyone, our printers wouldn’t be running if it wasn’t for your loyalty and trust.
3D printing is about turning your ideas into reality
The jury: “Materialise has given the world and its designers a tool to transform 3D printed designs into concrete objects and to use these, meaning 3D printing can now be considered a fully-fledged production technique.”
We could truly never have pictured all the stunning designs that get uploaded to our website every day. While we take care of the printing, you are the creative force behind it all!
3D printing can create something new & beautiful
The jury: “For quite some time, 3D printers were used exclusively to make prototypes for such sectors as the automotive industry, but Materialise was one of the first to use this technology within a broader field of application. In short, Materialise not only combines manufacturing with innovation, but also with emotion and poetry. And it does all this at an international, cutting-edge level.”
3D printing can do more than printing industrial prototypes. Esthetic pieces of art can be printed, jewelry can be printed, fashion can be printed. Based on what you wanted to print, we’ve managed to grow our portfolio to more than 100 different 3D printing materials & finishes now!
BOZAR, Brussels. Photo by Michael De Lausnay via Design Flanders.
This award celebrates the endless possibilities of 3D printing, the democratization of creating physical objects, and the creativity & talent of our community. Thanks for your support! Let’s keep up the good work!
