On the occasion of the 3D Pioneers Challenge online awards ceremony, industrial designers Ross Lovegrove and Lin Kayser, CEO Hyperganic, talked about actual processes and former developments in the field of additive manufacturing. Ross Lovegrove is a designer and visionary who´s work is considered to be at the very apex of simulating a profound change in the physicality of our threedimensional world.
“In the past designers always have been constrained by the production process“, Lin Kayser began the conversation. Now with additive manufacturing every molecule that goes into the object can literally be controlled. This means a tremendous burden for the designer, to come up with something that can live up with these new capabilities. “This is going to be a tough time in the next decade for designers and engineers.“
Ross Lovegrove pointed out that he is really trying to understand what is coming next. Because design used to pretty much adapt every decade. The question is what a designer is nowadays: “Is it an engineer, a biologist?” In any case you have to have a broader knowledge and you have to have a different kind of input. It seems to him that it makes sense, that “when you are in the 21st century, especially in 2020, virus or no virus, you have to use absolute state of the art tools of your day. There will come a new aesthetic by that.”
Ross Lovegrove 
Lin Kayser
What can I actually built?
Lin feels the challenges right now for most of the creatives, that whenever you think about engineering and design you always think about “What can I actually built?” And what you could be built in the past is vastly different from that what you canbuild now with additive manufacturing.
“So we are running into limitations of theimagination and not so much into limitations what you can actually built now. Andthat is why we need these new tools, where algorithms help to explore areas nobodycan imagine. And still, humans need to be the ones who still understand the big picture.“
A paradigm shift in design
The point for Lovegrove is the fundamental principle of logics, which is the consequence of innovative thinking – that is part of that actual paradigm shift. What he loves about the additive technology world, is the genuine will and interest to put a lot of things together. It´s the ability that those pioneers have- like Hyperganic themselves. The most important tool for them is the engagement and more openness within a platform between all these creative advanced technology zones and individual minds and thinkers.
„We as designers, engineers and visionaries we should go from a passive position of reacting to enquiries from clients who don’t understand the potential of Additive Technologies to being active in the way we initiate and invent using the advanced software and technologies of our time. And furthermore, work with people who and are not after money all the time, but where the payback is at the end, that´s a network out of which everybody can profit.“
Lin is sure, that the designers are just scratching the surface, about what is possible with generative manufacturing and 3D printed objects. They are still kind of playing safe, but Ross Lovegrove is sure: “I´ve got this feeling that something´s going to happen and that something is going to come up that is going to allow myself to articulate things that I could not before – it´s a brave new world.”
The video:
Selected winners of the 3D Pioneers Challenge
3DPC – the international design competition for additive manufacturing processes is the gateway for all pioneers who are involved in new technologies and use 3D printing to advance their projects. Since 2015 the unique 3D Pioneers Challenge covers a range of verticals and is aimed at designers who are breaking new ground in the field of 3D printing.
The competition has become an international platform wherecreatives from Advanced Technologies and the industry meet. “3DPC & Friends” is the logical conclusion to connect the players of this network and thus actively live the “paradigm shift in design” together.
1st Prize Winner: MedTech – ReverTome Handheld Bioprinter
The “1st Prize Winner” of the 3DPC 2020 was the University of Toronto’s “ReverTome Handheld Bioprinter”. The team around Richard Cheng was awarded with the prize money of € 10.000. A special highlight was the “3DPC Trophy” produced with additive manufacturing processes! This cooperation project was developed within the network of the ‘3DPC & Friends’. Last year’s winner “Hyperganic”, star designer and juror Ross Lovegrove and partner Materialise came together to develop the ‘3DPC Trophy’.
ReverTome is a handheld surgical instrument that uniformly delivers skin precursor sheets over large full-thickness burns to improve wound healing. On-board motors individually control the flow rate of the bioink and crosslinker filled syringes. Rotational flexibility of the printhead allows homogenous printing on non-flat human surfaces. Components in direct contact with the patient can be disposed after a single use.
Jury comment by Arno Held, AM ventures
“This mature functional device that is being used in one of the most important sectors of mankind- combines innovative additive technologies and revolutionary new materials.”
Winner Sustainability – Mud Frontiers
The US pioneers Emerging Objects won in the category Sustainability. With “Mud Frontiers”, they explore the use of local materials for the development of 3D printed architecture using custom robotics and software on-site.
Emerging Objects explores the frontiers of technology and material using traditional materials (clay, water, and wheat straw). The end goal of this endeavor is to demonstrate that low-cost and low-labor construction that is accessible, economical and safe is possible. To do this, we stepped into the natural environment by constructing a low-cost, and portable robot, designed to be carried into a site where local soils could be harvested and used immediately to 3D print large scale structures.
Jury announcement by Janine Wunder, German Design Council
„The jury awards this exemplary sustainable and future-minded idea that combines traditional crafts, natural materials and 3D printing technologies in order to realise low-cost architecture and other products.”
Winner Mobility – Platzhirsch
The URWAHN Engineering GmbH around Sebastian Meinecke scored in the discipline Mobility with their “Platzhirsch”, the first serial 3D-printed e-bike which convinced with sophisticated design resulting in a unique organic frame shape and a multitude of integrated technical refinements.
It takes urban mobility to a new level by combining new technologies with sophisticated design. Different to conventional building structures the rear end is open to the rear. By this and 3d printing the rear wheel can be suspended elastically for the benefit of riding comfort and compensate for any jolts and unevenness.
Jury comment by Stefanie Brickwede, Mobility goes additive e.V. Berlin; Deutsche Bahn:
„The jury awards this great solution for urban mobility and trendsetters, and congratulates the gorgeous team of Urwahn!“
Best Student Project: Winner FashionTech – ReTextiles 3D
The best student work was “Re-Textiles 3D” by Ganit Goldstein from the London Royal College of Art in the discipline FashionTech. With her contribution of a fully customized 3D printed dress produced from 100% PET recycled plastic bottles waste filament which is printed directly on natural fabric, she received the prize money of € 2.500 and additionally the 3D printer “MakerBot Replicator+”.
“Re-Textiles 3D” project is aiming to develop a new production system for the Fashion industry, based on a specific body scan. The process consists of the initial step of fully 3D body scan – for getting digitally measurements for the outcome of one of a kind garment, fit to measure for a specific consumer. Secondly, the process consists of 3D software design, using parametric software for building a unique pattern based on the curves of the body scan. Finally, the 3D pattern generates to 3D printed model, printed with FILAMENTIVE, 100% recycle filament made from recycled water bottles, printed directly on 100% natural fabric – aiming for the outcome of a unique, sustainable garment production.
Jury statement by Marco Kormann, Technology Innovation adidas AG
„This winning concept combines a number of challenges that the fashion industry currently is facing including recycability and supply chain. It merges these challenges in a very smart way with trends in that same fashion space – like customization and consumer experience.”
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