2016 Shanghai Design Week kicked off on 26th August with an incredible amount to see and do at the atmospheric Shanghai Exhibition Center. The four-day long Design Week displays innovative designs from a huge array of areas including fashion, technology, sport and lifestyle, and offers an interactive look into the industry’s fast-evolving future.
So, what we can learn about 3D printing during the design week? Read on to find out!
Food
Located in the central hall, a 3D café drew our attention. We could see several 3D printers working simultaneously. Those on the bar counter were printing cakes with sweet bean paste and chocolate powder and those on the display stands were printing the stereo lamp with nylon.
Ma Zicong, the founder and design director of Xuberance Design Co., Ltd said that 3D printed food was the unique feature of this café. Apart from chocolate, fudge, biscuit, they could even use vegetables and pork to print. In addition, this company also runs 3D printed furniture, ornaments or USB flash disk.
Architecture
On the second day of the event, Shanghai Winsun became the focus of visitors with their 3D printed architectural products. Their detailed, durable building models interested JörnBeißert, Deputy Consul of German Consulate General in Shanghai, who expressed his faith in 3D printing construction technology.
In the afternoon, Ma Yihe, the chairman of Winsun 3D attended the design forum. He spoke about the sustainable development of 3D printing construction with Nils Bader, the founder of Green Product Award and Ren Zhongfang, deputy director of Collaborative Innovation Center of Eco Design of Tsinghua University.
Furniture
On the New World Square outside, Designer Thomas Dariel built a large glass-frame cabinet. The most important thing to designers is most often their working desks. As a result, designers’ works were displayed on desks. 3D printers in the cabinet kept printing smaller versions of the designers’ past work. Obviously, this unique self presentation attracted most attention from the passersby.
Thomas Dariel is a French designer who lived in Shanghai for 10 years. His personal style features a combination of medieval European influences and Chinese Ming and Qing dynastic influences.
Thomas thinks that 3D printing could drastically reduce the cost of sample production for designers, by mocking up smaller proportions of the original product.
However, he also sees the potential problems in this technology. “It will be harder for craftsman to find their value in furniture and design industry. People’s ultimate pursuit for perfect and efficiency might lead to another wrong side,” he said.
Feature image: TimeOut Shanghai
