Displaying items by tag: 3d printing

In our era of rapid prototyping and 3D printing, technologies that promise to transform the production of everything from medical devices to skyscrapers, it is easy to lose sight of how three-dimensional objects came into being in the predigital age. One way into this question is through drawing. What role did it play in the production of Renaissance sculpture, some of the most ambitious and technically accomplished ever produced? Or, as Columbia University art historian Michael Cole puts it, “Why did sculptors draw?”

his is the problem at the center of “Donatello, Michelangelo, Cellini: Sculptors’ Drawings from Renaissance Italy,” currently on view at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and co-curated by Mr. Cole and Oliver Tostmann, formerly of the Gardner and now Curator of European Art at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Conn.

Iris van Herpen’s work has always pushed the boundaries of art and fashion, being so often more conceptual than wearable, so it seems fitting that her oeuvre will soon be presented stateside in an exhibition.

The High Museum of Art in Atlanta announced November 20 that it will exhibit the work of the cutting-edge Dutch fashion designer, who was the first to successfully embrace 3D-printed fashion, and was most recently inspired by the Large Hadron Collider for her Spring-Summer 2015 ready-to-wear collection.

The British Museum could soon be coming to your living room – if, that is, you have a 3D printer on hand.

Working in collaboration with Sketchfab, an online platform that lets users share and download 3D scans, the British Museum has created 14 3D models of busts, statues and sarcophagi from its collection for anyone to download and print at home.

The museum’s “first downloadable collection” includes a granite head of Egyptian pharaoh Amenemhat III from the 12th Dynasty (around 1800 BC).

Museums that house objects have a particularly difficult task. These objects were created with the intention that they would be handled, and part of the fascination with them lies in human activity that they indicate. However, for the safety of the objects, they are most often placed behind glass cases and out of reach of the average museum visitor. This can make them little more than pictures of themselves and creates a distance between viewer and object that is difficult to overcome. As a result, many museums have been looking to technology to help them reconnect their collections and their visitors.

Enter Dutch designer Maaike Roozenburg and her 3D printing knowledge. Roozenburg creates replicas of precious objects and then adds a layer of augmented reality information.