Break the Mould Documentary
UPDATE: The guys at 3Dify who were responsible of the tech side of this art installation have uploaded a fascinating documentary to Vimeo, which shows the installation in all its glory. Watch this it is great.
From design festivals to sports events, 3D printing is becoming a key feature in events across the UK. Yesterday we saw the announcement by the Victoria & Albert Museum that Cody Wilson’s Liberator is to be a focal point of an exhibition for the London Design Festival.
Another 3D printing exhibition, up and running at the Brighton Digital Festival is Break the Mould, a collaborative art installation by Italian artist Emilia Telese, digital agency Developing Dreams and tech providers the 3D printing startup, 3Dify.
The installation is currently at the Jubilee Library before moving on to other venues across the city. The concept behind the art piece is rebirth; walking into the womb of a giant woman sculpture and coming out with yourself 3D printed in miniature form.
Using a platform, Kinect, Skanect and an Ultimaker with Faberdashery filament 3Dify are able to scan members of the public and 3D print them as a figurine for a very reasonable £20. 3Dify founder, Ian Byrne, says that many of their visitors are 3D printing virgins, “They may have seen the technology on the television or the internet but never actually experienced it first hand in an end-to-end experience like this.”
Ian also told us they’ve been amazed by the creativity the public are putting into the project, “We’ve had world yoga champions contact us about capturing a specific pose, train enthusiasts wanting to print scale figurines to go on their model sets”
The process is fairly quick, Ian has been surprised at how little post-scanning clean up is needed on the models and now that they have a base system down pat the process is speeding up, “It takes us less than a minute to scan someone and then about an hour and a half to print an 8cm model.”
As well as being quick it is green too, this being part funded by the art council they wanted an installation using biodegradable materials; the Emilia Telese sculpture is made from willow and the printed models are solely PLA.
For 3Dify the exhibition is serving as proof of concept, the team have been developing a 3D printer and scanner for over a year now. “We’re in the process of creating a large format delta 3D printer and hope to have something to show early next year”
Judging by the success of Break the Mould installation, 3Dify are certainly an upcoming 3D printing company to watch out for. We look forward to seeing the further developments and perhaps an upcoming crowd-funding campaign...
