Nov
3D PRINTSHOW 2013
The historic Louvre Museum served as an exquisite backdrop for a vibrant showcase of new technology when the biggest names in 3D printing assembled on November 15 -16 at the 3D Printshow in Paris, France. The first of its kind in mainland Europe, the exhibition was founded and directed by Kerry Hogarth and Team Awesome and held at the spectacular Carrousel du Louvre located at 99 Rue de Rivoli in Paris. With the tagline:
“The internet changed the world in the 1990s; the world is about to change again,”
the event drew thousands of attendees, with many visitors having to wait in line for hours to enter.
Airwolf 3D was on site exhibiting its full line of products and debuting its newest contribution to the world of 3D printing—the AW3D HD high performance printer. The HD performed flawlessly in its new environment, working nonstop to the delight of 3D printing fans. Visitors were stunned by the HD’s print of a 12-inch tall seemingly florescent Venus de Milo in white ABS, positioned against a black backdrop and illuminated under blue lights. Venus drew quite a crowd! With two French translators to help explain and demonstrate its products, the Airwolf booth was consistently one of the busiest hubs at the Printshow.
Other highlights of the 3D Printshow
Huge dinosaurs greeted visitors at the ARKETYP 3D booth, EnvisionTEC’s newest distributor.
The magnificent Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops heads required more than 300 3D printed parts, post-processed, finished, and assembled.
The friendly MakerBot staff was on site demonstrating the Replicators and making gnomes in brightly colored PLA.
3Doodler co-founder Daniel Cowen offered a friendly smile and demonstrated how Doodler pens can drape plastic from part to part. It is hard to get over how easy it looks to suspend a line of plastic in midair. He demonstrated a little black sleeve that is slipped over the hot part of the 3Doodler to protect fingers.
Gael Langevin of InMoov was onsite demonstrating his amazing 3D printed robot. (See the video below for a clip of his robot in action.)
The RepRap booth was also a very busy area that drew a constant stream of crowds to see the many different types of printers on display.
Cosmo Wenman of Alternate Reality Patinas gave an overview of his finishing materials and processing procedures.
URBEE, the 3D Printed Car by Stratasys was on display, sporting its shimmering orange paint job and “urbee” license plate.
Yvonne van Zummeren is a designer and art historian that started Dyvsign. She creates beautiful 3D jewelry by taking two-dimensional famous works of art and transforming them into three-dimensional pieces of wearable jewelry.
3D Printed Art
The quality and range of 3D printed art was outstanding and too extensive to discuss here. Highlights included:
Parametric Shoes by Maurizio Degni, Alessio Spinelli, Arturo Tedeschi and Ludovico Lombardi shined brightly.
“Icarus Had a Sister,” a piece by Masters & Munn that features a life size woman with wings who is perched on a tree branch protruding from the wall.
Iris van Herpen displayed her Bothsides Ring, Splint Ring, Black Swan Necklace and Neckpiece.
Notable fashion designers included Maria Beatrice Dodi for her “Spine Corset”, Melinda Looi for her “Face It”, Joshua Demonte’s “Starcase Bangle & Wrought Iron Bangle” and Igor Knezevic for his “Headpiece et Necklace.”
The Stratasys 3D Printed Shoe definitely deserved a look, too.
Artist, Joshua Harker was onsite talking to the crowds and offering tips and suggesting for budding artists.
Joshua was one of the first artists on the scene to start creating and making art with 3D printers. Joshua is perhaps best known for his 3D printed skull “Crania Anatomica Filigre,” but this might change once the world sees his latest creation “Quixotic Divinity Headdress.” The headdress was the highlight and finale of the Fashion Catwalk show. A young woman dressed in white majestically floated down the catwalk wearing this magnificent white headdress accented by her mocha skin. Her catwalk came to a heightened crescendo when she lifted her hands and then…..well so as not to spoil it, you are encouraged to watch the video!
