When writing about 3D printing we often focus on the future: what that technology will do, its potential, what a particular process means and what it will be able to do for humanity. However some of the issues that 3D printing will help us to deal with can be taken on now. One, the partial redistribution of wealth, can be addressed by using 3D printing to make toys for less fortunate children, especially at a time when the more fortunate children are receiving lots of them.
That is the goal of Kids Company, a charity organization founded by Camila Batmanghelidjh in 1996 that today helps 36,000 of the most vulnerable and deprived children in London (yes, the UK’s capital, one of the wealthiest places on Earth). This year, as an original way to make Christmas a little more fun for those who would otherwise likely wake up to nothing on December 25th, Kids Company launched an original Print Happiness campaign.
With some help from PR agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, the Company opened up a pop-up shop in Soho’s Great Windmill Street, from December 13th to the 18th. There, with a live 3D print-stream visible on its website, six robotic Santa’s helpers, dressed up as Ultimaker machines, were working non-stop to 3D print a toy for every £5 donation made.
Having poor children in London receive a new toy this Christmas is certainly a good base to build any future on.
