Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

This Ain't Your Momma's 3-D Printer: Unfold Goes Ceramic

by Matthew Zuras on February 17, 2010 at 04:10 PM

With reasonably priced 3-D printers hitting the market, and DIY versions becoming more prevalent, we're now entering a very exciting time in which designers are experimenting with the materials they send through their extruders. We wrote back in November about Belgian design outfit Unfold and the Utanalog teapot it displayed at the Bits 'n Pieces Exhibition. Now, Unfold has successfully used its 3-D printer to print an earthen vessel from powdered ceramic material.

One of 3-D printing's benefits is the ability to mold objects that would be difficult or otherwise impossible to create using previous manufacturing methods. (AMT Studio previously explained to us how creating a ball-within-a-ball for their Jointed Pieces would have been inconceivable without 3-D printing.) So, Unfold decided to test reconstituted ceramic powder on a double-walled vessel with small buttresses between the layers. Check out a gallery after the break to see Unfold's process.

Printing with ceramics and other non-plastic materials could significantly advance the worlds of both industrial design and art. While the traditional potter's wheel may still be around for a while, this technology allows for structures that could not, without extended time and frustration, be made by hand or previous automated methods. (Although, we can't imagine that 'Ghost' would have been nearly as sexy/ridiculous if Patrick Swayze had been cradling a MakerBot.) Kudos to Unfold for their ingenuity. And did we mention that we want that bowl? [From: Unfold Fab, via: Boing Boing]

Unfold Ceramic Vessel

Tags: 3-d printer, 3-dPrinter, 3d printer, 3dPrinter, art, ceramic, design, makerbot, top, unfold, utanalog

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular