Design your furniture with a 3D printer
5 April 2024
We knew it was coming. The first prototypes were a little bit sleazy, but the tech has improved rapidly.
My first furniture was a chair. I had bought my 3D printer for Christmas in 2023. Ikea had launched its platform a few days later, I had anticipated. For 20 bucks one could download the equivalent of a Word document, namely the 3D plans to drag and drop inside the printer’s software. We could then choose the color, a few options on the details, size, patterns, textures. Launch the printing process, and everything goes by itself.
A chair comes in twenty pieces to assemble. The innovation has been made on the design. Technology Institutes all around Europe have made giant steps in this field. How to create a solid object with twenty scattered pieces ? It’s a puzzle. Building guides are amazingly well written. In one afternoon I had my chair.
Obviously a lot of pirate platforms had emerged. One could find anything there. But it’s risky for the printer. There are a lot of corrupted files on these websites. Still, I found a beautiful Nordic design nightstand the other day. Fingers crossed I printed it… It worked.
