Meet the designer: Dario Scapitta
Growing up in a family full of designers, Dario Scapitta was destined to be a designer himself. Nowadays he’s experimenting with 3D printing and tries to find his way in the industry.
When did you start being interested in design?
<< Well, I was born in Valenza, the capital of the Italian jewellery business. Since I was young I heard about jewellery designers and goldsmiths, because my parents and my brother are all working in the jewellery business. So jewellery design is in my blood. Later on with my studies and my experiences I’ve learned how to become a designer myself. >>
How would you describe your style?
<< It is very difficult for me to describe my style, and probably it is also too early to talk about it. I’m always working on something that I like very much; I’m constantly inspired by nature, fashion, art, architecture and everything else that surrounds me. Every day I find new things or ideas to transform in a piece of jewellery. I like to be simple and original and
Ho ho ho….New Challenge: Christmas Ornaments!
ABOUT THE CHALLENGE
Leafs are falling from the trees, the temperatures are getting lower and people are dressed warmer and warmer. Only three months before Christmas we want to present you our new challenge: The Christmas Ornaments Challenge! Christmas balls, little reindeer figures,…surprise us!
RULES
Participants need to upload their file here. You can find more information about the file formats in our FAQs under ‘website’. The material for this challenge is polyamide.
There are limits on the size of the design:
Bounding box polyamide: 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm
SUBMISSION PERIOD
From today on you can submit your designs on the website until 1 pm UMT+2 (summertime), October 31st 2012.
THE JURY
We will put the renders on Facebook the 1st of November and let everyone decide until the 5th of November. The one with the most likes wins the challenge.
PRIZES
The designer with the most likes on Facebook wins its own 3D printed design. We will also put the winn
12 Yale students rebuild ancient Rome in gold for the Venice Biennale
Ancient Rome has always inspired people, but now 12 Yale Students and their professor have really surprised everyone with their project. They succeeded in making a 3D printed display, based on the 250 years old etchings of Piranesi, completely covered with gold leaves.
Amazed by 6 etchings of ancient Rome from mapmaker and architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi, twelve students of Yale and their professor decided to bring the project to life. It looked quite impossible in the beginning, but with the help of Materialise the students were able to create a maquette with the 250 year old etchings of Piranesi.
SHINE
The students first had to reinvent the etchings through three-dimensional digital modeling. Then the biggest printer, the Mammoth Stereolithography machine, printed the models. With its amazing size, measuring 1500 x 1300 x 90 mm, the project needed something extra to shine at the Biennale in Venice. So they came up with an idea: why not cover it with gold leaves? The art
i.materialise meets Fablab iMAL
i.MAL ( (interactive Media Art Laboratory), has just opened the first Brussels based FabLab which offers a digital manufacturing workspace. i.materialise is very happy to offer every designer a discounts of 10%.
I was a bit curious about the opening of the FabLab.iMAL, because I really didn’t know what to expect. But as soon as I entered the building it became clear to me; this lab is amazing! It breathes creativity and it’s perfect to brainstorm with other designers/ inventors. It’s not just a lab full of designers just designing anything, they also support a good cause: they really want to attract young people with innovative and fun activities to make technology and science career fields more popular. To support this mission we are very happy to give designers of Fablab a discount of 10%.
Watch the pictures below to get a better view on the lab.
FabLab.iMAL follows the MIT fablab charter, is integrated with the network of european fablabs and collaborates
3D printing mingles with the past in Belgium’s oldest town
The Gallo-Romeins Museum, one of the most important archaeological museums in Europe, is currently holding a solo exhibition of Nick Ervinck. He is a rising star in the Belgian art world and the talent behind some truly spectacular works of 3D printed art, printed at Materialise.
Last Friday night, I headed to Tongeren with Nick Ervinck’s project managers here at Materialise, and others on the prototyping and manufacturing team, to witness the opening of the exhibition. Although we had witnessed several of his works come off our printers over the years, there was something about seeing them set against archaeological relics that made the jaw-dropping creations more spectacular than ever. Here are some images from the exhibition and if you are in Belgium anytime before the 6th of January 2013, I highly recommend fitting in a visit to the Gallo-Romeins Museum to see The 9th Month yourself.
The exhibition, The 9th Month (De 9de Maand), includes several pieces 3D printed here at Mat
Facebook/Forum Challenge: Ferran Bruguera and Els Cuvelier win a voucher of 250 euro!
It was a tough race, but Ferran Bruguera could convince the jury with his nice project Moosca. Els Cuvelier on the other hand won the hearts of the people on Facebook with her ring Woman.
As soon as the pictures were on Facebook; people started linking and liking and liking…After a very exciting start, it became clear Els Cuvelier her ring Woman was winning the race, she ended the challenge with 173 likes.
For the forum we, the i.materialise team, was in charge of the votes. Since the votes were so diverse, we ended up with a shortlist on which we voted again: Boxing ring, Heart of Time, Lumi-Girl with the Caged Dress, Moosca, Custom Wedding ring and Julia vase. But, although it was very close, ofcourse there can only be one winner and thats……………..MOOSCA! We found the story very interesting and congratulate him with his great project and hope to see much more about him in the future.
The superhero Moosca will conquer more hearts in the future.
Both winner
New: Titanium online pricing and textures in 3D Printlab
We’re happy to anounce to you the following updates on our website: our trial period for titanium is over and you’re now able to see your uploaded 3D design with texture ánd color!
From now on we can serve you with exact online prices and details about the designs on our website . The maximum size we offer is 200 x 250 x 400 mm. The minimum wall thickness for your design has to be at least 0,2 millimeter, the minimum detail size 0,1. Titanium can be great for jewelry because you normally can’t have any allergic reaction from it. And although it’s not the cheapest material to work with, it’s definitely the strongest material you can 3D print.
COLOR
The second update is about your uploaded 3D designs. Before, when you uploaded your design, you just saw your 3D model in grey, but those days are over: from now on you can see your design in full color!
Next to that: when you upload a compressed file in the 3D print lab (obj, mtl and images) you can see textures to have a better vie
Featured Friday – Showing your 3D printed designs
Happy friday everyone! We hope you had a nice week, we certainly did. To end the week in beauty: check out the newest designs in our gallery.
To start with we want to show you this Simplicated Lamp, made by Rendy Himawan who made some previous designs for i.materialise. It’s a very simple box form but if you take a closer look you see there is a circuit on it. When the lamp is turned on you can perfectly see all the lines. The whole design is made in white polyamide.
SUPERDOG
The second design is from Ilse Vermeulen, she made this figurine, The Indispensable, out of Multicolor Composite. It looks like a really nice superdog!
HAMSTER
Last but not least: this funny figurine Hamster is developed by Vicky Wong, a Computer Animation student. She made this for her senior thesis project.
Well, that was it for this week. Have a nice weekend!
Share your uploaded 3D design to the world!
Always wanted to show your uploaded 3D design to friends or family? Now you can! Our share function makes it possible for other people to see your uploaded design so you can ask their opinion.
Sometimes, you just need an opinion about your design. You’re not sure about the size, the material and other people may help with that. Now you do these things in one simple click. When you upload your design in our 3D printlab just click on ‘share your model’. You will get a link so you can send it to everyone you want. But be careful: the link only works for thirty days!
Or you want to give other people the possibility to print your design? No problem: click and share! It doesn’t only seem easy: it IS easy. So why don’t you try it yourself?
Keep your creativity going.
For your information: Titanium online pricing is now available!
Digital Forming workshop: Designers test new software
Last friday we had the honour to meet 10 designers to test the software of Digital Forming. Probably you already know some of them (Bernat from Cunicode, Michiel Cornelissen, Studio Mango and Elleke van Gorsel from Studio-ePosh), but we were happy to meet new designers as well!
Digital forming…say what? Digital forming is a concept whereby designers create a basic design, but it can be customized by others. All the creations can be 3D printed in the very end. So as a designer you benefit from two things: you can create something you want and for the client it gets more interesting because, without having any design experience, it’s possible to personalize the design.
The company Digital Forming gave our designers the opportunity to experience this cutting edge technology first-hand. “Isn’t it going to be too difficult for me to use the software,” was a comment we often heard before the workshop started. And it seemed hard in the beginning, but some found it very easy to pick it
