Polychemy (Polygon-Alchemy — clever!) boasts the pride of being one of the first 3D printing companies based out of Singapore — another is Pirate3D the 3D printer developer that has achieved huge success on Kickstarter. PolyChemy is positioning itself as an online designer boutique and has been set up by artists who specialise in designs using 3D technologies, with an emphasis upon from jewellery and mobile phone covers. And sculptures. Each piece is a one of a kind work of art.
Let’s be clear. 3D prints vary as wildly in cost, form and material as items produced by any other method. The ‘China on your desktop’ notion of instantly accessible bits ‘n’ bobs is one, formative, truth. Lots of plastic things you’ll find useful to have ‘there.’ The ‘Personalised by your 3D Print Shop’ element is another, formative, truth. A 3D-printed phone case can resemble the produce of a particularly artistic cat’s fur-ball experiment, however, Polychemy’s 3D-printed cases are created by professional artists and printed in sturdy polyamide plastic.
PolyChemy offers a broad but brief sample portfolio of designs, that, whilst low on number, are not low on numbers: one can expend four figure sums here for a print. This enables Polychemy, alongside the range of similar online services available internationally, to position itself outside of the ‘guns and gnomes’ arena that is currently engrossing the mass media’s imagination regarding 3D printing, and inside of the ‘rare items of value’ market.
This seems wise.
Once the gun talk has calmed and the 3D-bio-printing arena grows a little more distinct, it seems likely that more pragmatic and artistic uses of 3D printing will begin to surface more often.
Where we are is that 3D printed phone covers continue to abound; 3D printed sculptures are becoming visible as a unique, extant form of forming; and jewellery is gaining some attention. That places Polychemy pretty much where the safe bets are, although in a challenging market.
