3D printing furniture is not an entirely new application of the technology and there have been a few spectacular examples from leading designers in the field — for me Neri Oxman’s contemporary chaise lounge ‘Beast’ stands out.
However, furniture has not really been an application within the realms of your typical maker designing and printing with one of the entry-level 3D printers. But now it seems that with some imagination, innovation and determination it is not something that is out of the question. Mrigsby has demonstrated this in grand style on Instructables with 3D printed legs for an end table. As with so any maker projects the driving force behind it were personal circumstances that threw up a problem that required a solution. 3D printing enabled the solution in this case — with the result being interchangeable components that can be assembled to taste to create a new table everyday, should the whim take you.
According to Mrigsby, the designer behind this project, the idea for this particular 3D printed table came about after his first attempt “a somewhat flimsy affair, met an untimely end.”
The result was to come up with something more sturdy and the outcome was a range of different coloured connectable ‘cans’ that can be assembled together in different formations. Furthermore, the designs are customizable with a view to placing LED lights or motion detectors within the table legs to create “interactive furniture” that offers variable options.
Mrigsby has made the original design files available on Thingiverse and they can be downloaded here.
