3D Printing

Hack Louis XIV's 18th Century Commode to 3D Printable Bits

What do you think of when you think of 3D printing? Louis XIV’s commode, designed by famous 17th/18th Century French designer André-Charles Boulle? Me too! As if to read our minds, the Chateau de Versailles is hosting a 3D printing design competition featuring none other than Louis XIV’s ol’ cabinet.

As a part of their “18th Century, Birth of Design” exhibition, Lou’s pad in Versaille is hosting their Hack King Design Contest, in which they’ve asked the world to take the exhibit’s showpiece, the famous commode designed by André-Charles Boulle in 1708, and redesign it for 3D printing. The Versaille palace has already scanned the commode in 3D and uploaded it to Sketchfab, where it’s available for free download. Now, student and professional designers are encouraged to give the furniture piece that 21st Century flair.

Commode Louis XIV Palace of Versailles
by FABULOUS
on Sketchfab

From now until January 18th, contestants can submit their remixes to the competition website, at which point, a panel of professionals will narrow down the entries into 10 models total, five student designs and five professional designs.  Then, from, January 27th to February 22nd, the public will vote on the winners online.

For a bit of inspiration, consider the Yves Carlier description of these beautifully elaborate piece of cabinetry, as seen in the exhibition’s catalogue:

Taking the shape of a sarcophagus opening with two superimposed drawers, the commode stands on four arched legs ending in a gilt-bronze spiral. The corners are decorated with a large console with a winged female head (called a “sphinx” in the inventories) at the top and a lion’s paw mount at the foot, all in gilt-bronze. The structure of the piece is underlined by gilt-bronze mounts: plain mouldings around the marquetry panels on the front and sides; mouldings decorated with rosettes and entrelacs marking the horizontal divisions; acanthus-leaf mouldings following the curve of the feet, or the wings of the sphinx in the recessed upper part.

In the typology of French furniture, the commode, along with the flat desk, was the main creation of the cabinetmakers at the end of Louis XIV’s reign. Research has shown that the commodes originally derived from the eight-legged bureaux, to which drawers were added along the whole length of the front to adapt them to their new function of storage. 2 They appeared about 1690, and evolved until, by the early eighteenth century, they reached the classical form of a chest of three, then two, rows of drawers, one above the other. This piece is an unusual shape and has often been considered a stage in the experimental development of the commode. It was probably made by an innovative cabinetmaker, who has here created a highly original model skilfully crafted and decorated with rich bronzes, perhaps in accordance with the client’s instructions.

With that in mind, get to work making something better than a handcrafted artisan cabinet owned by one of the most powerful people in France’s history.