In the whiteout of our 3D printing “TMI” blizzard, all of us are looking for the hand-raised letterpress signals against the featureless noise of petabyte-gray backgrounds.
So, if you’re in the business of galvanizing awareness of 3D printing, exciting attention, educating ignorance and focusing the white-hot beam of change through the fog of the future, how would YOU illuminate the way forward for our Additive Manufacturing industry?
Well, you might lead by emulating 3DP4E.com (“3D Printing For Everyone”) of New York City. These are folks who just brought you the “3D Printing and Digital Fabrication Resource eBook,” on which I’ve reported here on 3DPI, among other curated, categorized and creative Web-based paths to 3DP knowledge. Emulation would see you printing up a poster — yep, four-colour inks on heavy, clay-coated paper. A wall-mounted statement: tangible, tactile, tackable…and rare. Decidedly — and delightfully — NOT digital.
That is by deploying the counter-intuitive, showcasing the retro and shining the brass of steampunk sensibility for your geek/glam techcreative-audience members. (I consider this last to be another synonym for Brooklynites in 3DP…) and, that other — often dumbfounded — multitude that diligently resists the doom of playing eternal catch-up with the accelerating leading edge. These are the folks who need 3D printing knowledge most: the clients and customers and deep community a-building via 3DP4E interest and leadership.
This new company — as I’ve reported — “has decided to make it easier for 3DP newbies and the uninitiated (a VERY large population of wannabes) to access the knowledge bases of our booming 3DP industry.”
As part of its mission, 3DP4E has decided to start showcasing the work of innovative 3DP-driven artists, designers and creative makers in different disciplines by — in effect — putting “group shows” on large-scale printed posters. 3DP4E intends to cycle through most important current 3D printing segments via spotlighting the most important players — starting with fashion. (Appropriate for 3DP4E’s hometown: one of the planet’s most important clusters of the worldwide fashion industry.)
As 3DP4E describes it: “The first in…[our poster] series focuses on the innovative work done in the Fashion world, and features designers such as Francis Bitonti, Catherine Wales and Nervous System. These designers push the boundaries of digital fabrication within the world of fashion.”
“These posters are designed to look good in Makerspaces and Fabrication Labs, and to look beautiful as framed art in one’s home,” says Ron Rose, the CEO of 3DP4E. “Stay tuned for the next poster in our series — 3DP Art.”
Perhaps as an antidote to accusations of quixotic Luddite leanings, poster-maker 3DP4E has positioned the poster itself as a front end to the startup’s larger mission as “a dynamic [3DP] information hub.” A QR Code printed on the poster enables viewers to link to “a dedicated page on 3DP4E’s website with pictures, descriptions, videos and articles on the designs.”
Want to get your own look at 3DP4E’s “3DP’d Fashion” poster? Or, claim one for free? Attend World Maker Faire New York 2014 on September 20th and 21st and visit 3DP4E’s booth. The startup will be giving away posters to the first 100 people dropping by on the Faire’s Saturday and Sunday.
Going to miss the Faire? 3DP4E’s first poster is also available as a free download on its website.
