Artists Leading the Way with 3D Printing

I just posted this simple Q&A on: https://www.facebook.com/CalATC

3D Printing is a new technology. Getting started is not at all trivial - 3D Printing is still a lot of work.

[As so often happens:] Who are the visionaries? What discipline is leading the way?

Answer: the artists.

One Coffee Cup a Day | 30 Days 30 Cups | cunicode

 And as a comment I added:

BTW, a nice example of artists leading the way in using technology: the first use of gunpowder was to create fireworks.

There's little question but that artists are significant and major users of this new technology. Just have a look at endlessforms.com for more examples of dreamy and not very useful objects. ;-)

So when will 3-D printing start to be used to create useful objects in large and productive quantities? And perhaps, just as important, in what industries will this practice take off first?

It seems to me that the artists and dreamers will first be complemented by artisans and craftsmen. So early adopters might include silversmiths and jewelers. The idea being that it will be easier to create an intricate bracelet using 3D printing than to sit there banging a hammer all day.

On the other hand, this will transform an age-old industry of artisans into modern era computer-aided design (CAD) jockeys – just as is happening in architecture and the building industry.

The older practitioners will continue to use the old technology, the younger apprentices and students will take up the new technology. In the process a number of people will lose their jobs and other people find new jobs.

And there will be many many more questions. For example:

Is it important that the building you live in was created using instructions and diagrams hand-drawn on exquisite sheets of vellum paper? Is it important that the bracelet you wear took hundreds of hours for somebody to hammer?

Or would you prefer is that the computer design was thoroughly tested for earthquakes and other "acts of God"? Would you prefer that your bracelet was designed and computer-tested to resist breakage and wear?

Like so many issues I'm looking at – and beginning to write about on this website – the answers are complex and there are no simple answers.

On the other hand, if we build the new technology correctly, the material used in your house or bracelet can be used over and over again to make new designs and serve new purposes – and then to be able to go back and rebuild the old designs and serve the old purposes whenever.

On one day the bracelet could be a treasured antique on the next day the same material could be a cutting-edge design. Every design iteration could be stored as data in the cloud - or perhaps the data could even be kept within the bracelet itself.

Yes, one might miss the "aura" that this chunk of material had not changed for 100 years. On the other hand being able to trace numerous new instances, follow trends that came and went over the 100 years might be equally fascinating.

Note to self: Why am I writing about bracelets? I've not worn a bracelet since I lost my left hand. It's virtually impossible to take off a bracelet if you only have one hand.

Hm, maybe there's a market for bracelets for one handed people. I've checked all the second hand stores - and there's nothing there. I wonder if I could knock out a design using 3-D printing...

Links
One Coffee Cup a Day | 30 Days 30 Cups | cunicode
Endless Forms
Amazing Video of 3D Printer Art in Belgium | Singularity Hub
3D printer for doll faces