Don’t we all love a new and intriguing technology? Being hailed as the technology to revolutionize the production process, Rapid Prototyping has to live up to its promise! With the help of the Leuven based Materialise Group, this technology is on its way to change everything. Through its unique .MGX by Materialise division for design products, Materialise has opened the market for customized Rapid Manufacturing. Recently the company launched a new service called i.materialise. This on-line service offeres customized 3D creation and 3D printing service to you. The start of a consumers revolution? Why driving to Ikea if you can design your one-of-a-kind lampshade or picture frame from your sofa?
Because we are not there yet, Materialise came up with a completely new design orientated division called .MGX by Materialise. The label combines art and technology by drawing on their proven experience in the high-tech arena of 3D printing techniques like stereolithography , selective laser sintering and fused deposition modeling. These innovative solutions may be the answer that fuels the new drive of 21st century design aesthetics. Today’s designers dream of the challenge of watching products transform from the intangible existence of virtual imagery into material reality. Materialise manufactures products derived from 3D graphic animation software. Thanks to advanced mathematical modifiers, this software enables designers to realize complex forms never before achieved.
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That’s why they challenged some of the top design minds in the world to use these 3D technologies. The catalogue includes work of Amanda Levete, Arik Levy and Xavier Lust. These design products are currently exported to over 20 countries worldwide; has received many awards, including two Good Design and Red Dot Design Awards; is featured in numerous international museums, including the MoMA in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris; and regularly appears in top design and decor publications such as Icon, Surface Magazine, Elle Decor and Vogue Living.
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For these prestige projects of 3D printing, they also broaden up to the fashion design field. The Dutch designer Iris van Herpen collaborated with .MGX to create a 3D printed breastplate as part of her Spring/Summer 2010 collection called Crystallization. The design was inspired by the transformation of liquid into crystals. What inspires you to get 3D printed creative? The I Love Belgium team is thinking chocolate molecules …
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