Over the past few years, we’ve seen a bevy of “Maker Videos” that document how a traditional craftsman works and the philosophy behind his or her work. In contrast, there’s been a growing parallel interest in the strange fascination of destroying manufactured objects, too. But despite all of the iPhones dropped off of parking garages,…

When you work with an Industrial Designer (or as one) and you’re developing a physical product you want to bring to market, at some point you will probably have to make a functional model or a working prototype. There are many levels of possible mock-ups. Usually, in the later design phases or pre-production stages, you…

Autodesk just revealed their plans to jump from desktop 3D printer/platform development to taking on high-production industrial machining. And it goes way beyond hardware. A few years ago, we wouldn’t imagine Autodesk even getting into hardware. We joked about them producing their own 3D printer, then they did. But one little ol’ 3D printer, with…

Since founder Eric Singer created the first hardwood wayfarer sunglasses style in 2009, Portland, Oregon-based Shwood has only continued to push the boundaries of what’s possible for materials in sunglass frame design. Particularly, sunglasses made from natural materials that are continuing to resonate with the outdoor enthusiast market. Since creating the original hardwood frames, the…

Gotta catch ’em all! Pokémon is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and it still has a huge dedicated fan base. Whether you have been a fan since the original 150 or are new to the Pokémon world, fans all over show their love of the series in various ways, including recreating their favorite pocket…

It might not be the most common thing to do, but building one’s own home from scratch is surely one of the most satisfying things to do – especially if it’s built from trees that you felled yourself. Unless you’re one of the few who has the time on their hands to build a log cabin…

Fours years ago, I remember hitting New York, plastering SolidSmack stickers around town with our Managing Editor Simon Martin, for the very first Inside 3D Printing event in New York. It was small, but larger than expected, with tracks that not only covered the tech, but also the business side of 3D printing.

We’ve seen how viable direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) is as a method of reliably producing metal parts in industries ranging from aerospace to dentistry – but what about industries that regularly depend on structures made from multiple metal materials for different structural needs? Standing at the intersection of machine learning, advanced printers and cloud software…

On his YouTube channel How To Make Everything!, curious human Andy George explores everything that it takes to make everyday objects – from food to industrial goods – entirely from scratch as a way of better understanding complex manufacturing and production processes that are often taken for granted. To do so, he travels the world and…

Erik Baldwin built a career out of his love of the ocean, technical know-how, and building things by hand. His boards are a combination of old fashioned hand-craft, 3D scanning, CNC machining, and hella stoke.

With most flat-pack furniture, material and structural integrity are often sacrificed for lower costs to the consumer and less of a headache for the retailer to ship, store and deliver. While cheaper, this furniture is also much more susceptible to breaking and thus, needs to be replaced more often. Well, it appears that Italian industrial…

Audi is known for their sleek, high-end cars as status and virility indicator for the young wealthy. Buut, instead of bolstering the image of those who uncomfortable in a tight cardigan, Audi is tossing their hat into the space race. At the North American International Auto Show, the company revealed its Audi Lunar quattro –…

When they first unveiled their Mark One carbon fiber 3D printer in San Diego at SolidWorks World in 2014, the MarkForged team – led by former aerospace engineer Greg Mark – started off with a legendary bang. Not only were they the first company to unveil a 3D printer capable of producing carbon fiber race…

From the resurgence of movie franchises based on comic book characters to the growing trend of vinyl record sales and hi-fi audio, the demand for bringing back the past has never looked (or sounded) as good as it does today. For Fuseproject founder and designer Yves Béhar, this meant bringing back one of the most…

Don your favorite bathrobe, cream that coffee and get comfortable with this week’s SolidSmack Weekend Reader. The Weekend Reader features a handful of the most interesting articles featured on the ‘Smack over the past week ranging from tips and tricks to inspirational designs, processes, and more. So lay back, relax and take a load off…

These days, it seems like we rarely go a week without some crazy blacksmith vying for YouTube view counts with an attention-grabbing blade design. Regardless of whether the skilled blacksmiths are recreating Jaime Lannister’s Sword from Game of Thrones or demonstrating the process of repurposing a circular saw blade into a usable knife design, we’re…

Although we’ve seen a fair share of 3D printing applications for midsoles in modern footwear design, we’ve been yet to see any additive manufacturing technique that’s been practical enough for creating uppers on a mass scale, too – a critical missing component of being able to manufacture shoes on demand. Designers and engineers at Nike, Adidas,…

Duffy London, a furniture company started by designer Christopher Duffy, provides furniture that you’re guaranteed not to find at IKEA. Their products can be considered modern art and then take it a step further by using unique materials and objects for truly unique designs.

At nearly 200 years old, the simple bicycle is still a complex design challenge that many have used for testing the limits of materials, processes, and design – particularly in the more recent age of digital fabrication. Although the two-wheeled frame design has remained largely unchanged during this time, developments made from both large companies…

Non-designers have the misconception that design is easy. Any designer will tell you the polar opposite is true. Design is going up against a master ninja and his army of foot shoulders; when you are little more than a band of misfit humanoid turtle martial artist apprentice junk food eaters.

To our subtractive manufacturing excitement, we’ve seen an increase in the number of desktop CNC machines internetting their way into our lives over the past year. The latest of these is the Evo-One, a sleek package from MakerDreams that fits in 530cm (20.8″) envelope. A perfect size for that woodtop desk next to your well-groomed…

Ever since its release early this fall, the Sonos PLAY:5 has been getting rave reviews – saying the petite speaker packs a punch and delivers great no matter if you’re using the iPhone or a tablet. Such great reviews may be enough to convince you to put it on your post-Christmas list, but going behind…

You grip that mouse so tightly at times, you hear its wee screws buckle and pop under the pressure. It’s ok. That’s just the result of the constant roller-coaster of excitement and frustration that consumes the life of those who use CAD software all day. We’re always on a lookout for a mouse that can…

Although it may have quieted down substantially compared to the early days of MakerBot, the exploration of 3D printing in consumer applications has never been stronger. While small companies such as print+ are testing 3D printing in distributed manufacturing sales models, larger companies with more substantial budgets are exploring how they can create new consumer…

Although blow molding is a highly developed molding technology that’s been around since the late 1800’s to create hollow parts (such as plastic bottles) with uniform wall thicknesses, few have ever thought to use an actual blown-up animal balloon as a final material choice. Yet, for Seoul-based industrial designer Seungjin Yang, the use of balloons…

Last we heard from Luxion, the makers of KeyShot were arching back to prepare a knuckle sandwich of rendering KAPOW! for their latest release, KeyShot 6. Well, the troop has held true to their promise and has indeed unveiled the most powerful level-up in company history with a host of new features. For this release,…

If you sit a computer all day, you likely have a speaker sitting there next to you, and if you like to take that speaker with you, it’s likely a portable, Bluetooth speaker. The sound quality among these is typically so-so, good enough to get you through the day. Most wouldn’t know the difference in…

Interdisciplinary innovation is expanding and Derek Hugger believes art and engineering should be no exception. The artist and woodworker uses intricate engineering designs to put nature and mesmerizing kaleidoscopics of abstract shapes into motion. We found out more about everything that goes into this process and how each piece goes through hours of development, so…

You know when you meet someone who has worked harder than most and exudes a tenacity that is inspiring? This past year we were quite lucky to meet someone who is exactly that individual. We run an artist’s residency program where we meet a wide range of talented artists who want to learn about how digital…

With the upcoming release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens on December 18th, it’s safe to say that we’re gearing up for Star Wars marketing overload – and if you’ve ever had plans to launch a Star Wars-related Kickstarter project, now would be a great time to do it. Among other Star Wars-related items that…

It takes a lot of determination, bravery, and selflessness to be a firefighter. It also takes good amount of strength considering all the tools they have to lug around, not to mention their heavy duty PPE suits that can weigh 45 pounds alone. You want to get the job done fast. So, what if there…

So many projects being posted on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter – the DIY culture is booming. All over the country makerspaces are popping up are pouring out products of those ambitious enough to create their own. I believe now, the quality and practicality of a 3D printed project has become important as a whole. Perfect…

The Glowforge laser cutter is the biggest crowdfunded 30-day campaign in history. $27.9M in 30 days. It didn’t launch on Kickstarter. It didn’t re-launch on Indiegogo. It launched on their own website, bringing in $27.9M in pre-orders alone. But even four months before the crowdfunding campaign, Glowforge had already secured $9M in Series A funding.

I am currently certain that we are approaching the apex of our societal laziness. I would be surprised if future generations will even bother to walk or eat for themselves (they will probably create a button which will call a robot to do these things for them).

To date, there hasn’t been a desktop 3D Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) machine brought to market. There have been kits created and there are others in development. Add the Sinterit Laser 3D Printer to the list. The start-up out of Kraków, Poland launched the desktop device at Euromold 2015 with examples of prints from the…

Most everything in the maker community is becoming more open source. It’s almost a requirement–allowing modification of the original hardware or software design, through a free license, to suit the needs of the end user. Companies such as Raspberry Pi Foundation, Arduino and LittleBits all support the open-source initiative and even some of the larger…

It’s Beijing Design Week at Parkview Green in the capital city, which means you’re either seeing constant updates on Twitter or you didn’t know Beijing even had such a thing. Either way, Beijing Design Week (BJDW) promotes design and infrastructure within the city and often showcases the latest in contemporary design. What makes this year…

When I think of all the desktop laser cutters available, the list is… well, extremely small. Tantamount to none, really. I can’t list any, because there are hardly any available. There are some decent DIY options, some Kickstarter projects that made a go of it and others that simply failed. There are just not a…

Having left a degree in Aerospace Engineering in 2007, Alex Bishop put complex manufacturing and engineering principles behind him in favor of something a little more meditative that “connected him with nature”: working with wood and making acoustic guitars by hand. A life-long ‘Maker’ who has always had an obsession for making things and manipulating…

When it comes to saving sketches digitally, we’ve seen nearly every possible tool or gadget that could possibly be conceived: touchscreen stylus designs that emulate analog pens, sketchbooks that make it ‘easy’ for snapping pics that get uploaded to the cloud, iPad apps that emulate natural writing materials, dual ink pen/stylus combos and professional sketching…

With so many cool things coming out each week, it can be hard to wade through all the rock-awesomeness. With ‘Cool Tools’, we’ve done the hard work for you. This week we saw everything from one of the best pencil eraser designs ever conceived, a radar-integrated weather app that’s sure to keep you dry as…

When it comes to stages of the design process, few routines are as satisfying as laying out a handful of markers to begin the process of shading in a perfectly composed sketch. For those who have had to move this experience to digital devices for the sake of time and convenience, well – that’s just…

I would stand, but my spine is fused to this ergonomic office chair. We sit so much. There’s an article every few days about why sitting will kill you. No one wants to die in sitting position, so all sorts of companies are banking on options to put your fears of a pulmonary embolism to…

You know how Spotify works, right? You pay a subscription fee, then get earfuls of streaming music. We’ve seen the same idea applied to nearly every type of media. So, why not 3D Printing? Enter Kwambio, a new service set up to allow you to stream designer products, interact, customize and print. You can’t download…

Although the concept of flat pack (or ready-to-assemble) furniture has been in existence for decades, a new generation of designers have been taking on the challenge of designing functional and aesthetically-pleasing furniture pieces that are capable of being broken down into boxes that aren’t just easier to ship and haul – but also reduce many…

With the average individual expected to move nearly a dozen times over the course of their life, you would think that somebody might have figured out by now how to make the moving experience slightly easier – yet many still suffer from the experience of awkwardly hauling their sofas and tables up and down stairwells,…

After being forced to hold his ear to the chests of victims due to a lack of stethoscopes at medical facilities in the Gaza strip, where he works as an emergency physician, Tarek Loubani decided that it was time to take matters into his own hands. With no formal training in product design or engineering,…

Love ’em or dislike ’em, it’s hard to argue that work aprons are one of the most unsung heroes in the workshop environment. Aside from keeping a worker clean from foam shavings and sawdust – or simply just providing more pockets for keeping tools close – the work apron is also a uniform of sorts…

As the fastest road bike on the planet with wicked-cool industrial design, the new Specialized S-Works Venge is also one of the most technologically advanced bikes ever made. Needless to say, Specialized didn’t want to skimp on the marketing for this one. In an effort to engage their audience beyond photos and videos on their…

Although we’ve been seeing some incredible developments in additive manufacturing over the past year ranging from 3D printers that can print in zero-gravity environments to 3D printers that can produce high resolution objects in just minutes, it’s no secret that there’s still a lot of terrain left to be discovered in terms of one day…