Formed in 2008 by a group of friends from New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo, Kinfolk Bicycles was born out of the designers’ need to experience a certain type of product that hadn’t been built yet. In their case, it was a well-crafted, handmade bicycle. Combining their experience from a variety of disciplines, the group…

Without even being a full week into the new year, we’ve already been seeing an avalanche of new product announcements, tech trends and software announcements that will help shape the next year in product design and engineering. Never one to disappoint when it comes to announcements, Luxion announced today that they have released the KeyShot…

Although they’ve been on the market for awhile as a 3D printer manufacturer now, MakerBot has been up to a lot more than just creating glorified hot glue guns that create colorful vases and toys. In addition to their recent partnerships with global brands including Sesame Street, Hello Kitty, Martha Stewart and more recently, Hoover…

Electronics 3D Printing, which combines your standard Additive Manufacturing and elements of PCB prototyping, came one step closer to your cluttered desktop. Voxel8 just released to CES 2015 an amazing video demonstrating their first commercial product, showing off how it can 3D Print plastic and conductive ink traces, allowing anyone to create a completely integrated product.…

When it comes to YouTube stars who want to bless the world with their obscure (but usable!) knowledge, Grant Thompson (AKA The King of Random) ranks up there among the best of them. Initially inspired to produce videos as a way to give back to the tutorial-rich YouTube community, his YouTube channel now includes over…

Since raising over $10 million USD on Kickstarter in May of 2012, the Pebble E-Paper Watch for iPhone and Android (AKA Pebble Smartwatch) has gone on to be one of the better success stories that has come out of the crowdfunding platform. At the time of their Kickstarter campaign, the smartwatch concept was still relatively…

With a focus on the design of systems and the creation of tools and processes for producing products, Swedish-Chilean designer Anton Alvarez has had his work exhibited internationally at establishments including the Design Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Similar to other designers who have created their own methods of manufacturing, the…

Sneaker fan or not, it’s hard to not appreciate the material and manufacturing developments that have come out of the shoe design and manufacturing space. Between developments in responsive midsole materials for various athletic applications to new upper materials that bring shoe weight down and structural support up, the research and development that goes into…

Earlier this year, MoMA’s PS1—a satellite extension of the Museum of Modern Art—was home to the Hy-Fi, a cutting-edge structure made out of mushroom material. The entirely compostable structure was made from brick-like blocks that were grown rather than manufactured and the natural materials helped in providing a pleasant microclimate for PS1 visitors. The futuristic…

Unless you have your holiday shopping down to a ‘T’, chances are there are still some purchases needing your attention as we head into Christmas next week. Thankfully, Amazon has gifted you until this Friday, December 19th to make your last-minute purchases with free shipping included before Christmas (when you spend $35 or more, so…

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 an ingenious solution for a 3D printed canine prosthetic to a new design trivia app and…Weird Al is a magician…

Out in Calverton, NY, placed at the very end of Long Island, Graphene 3D Labs have been working on a rather novel idea. A 3D Printed Battery. Unlike about 4/5th of innovations that have headlines like ‘3D Printed [insert common household item that could be cheaply injection molded anyways], this one has much more interesting…

Back in 1965, neo-futuristic designer, architect, philosopher and all-around badass Buckminster Fuller designed and patented an “autonomous dwelling machine” that he coined the Fly’s Eye Dome. The designer, whose fascination with material usage and energy efficiency in design and architecture led to a career highlighted with a variety of geodesic dome designs, sadly passed away…

Grunt, squeeze and pop that 3D printed champagne cork. Yesterday, at Autodesk University, the software company that serves manufacturing, architectural and the media and entertainment industries pushed further into additive manufacturing with three announcements. Autodesk has formally launched the Spark Platform, along with a Printer, a Fund and a strategic partnership with 3D print industry…

One doesn’t normally associate magnets with plastic…unless of course that magnet is embedded somewhere behind the housing. But what if the plastic material itself was magnetic? As they begin unveiling a collection of new 3D printing materials they have been developing over the past few years, Oregon-based ProtoParadigm is launching a series of Kickstarter campaigns…

For over 25 years, paper engineer Peter Dahmen has been creating every last type of pop-up book or 3D paper structure imaginable. From the more traditional pop-up greeting cards to large-scale set designs for automakers such as MINI, the German graphic designer’s story of how he got started in paper engineering is just as fascinating…

Since its big debut on the world stage at this year’s CES in Las Vegas, Chris Elsworthy’s Robox 3D printer and micro-manufacturing platform has been generating a lot of interest in an already-flooded 3D printer market. Yesterday, it was announced that the Kickstarter-backed micro-manufacturing platform is now available to the public for just under $1,550.…

While HP’s recent announcement of their Multi Jet Fusion technology sent shockwaves through the industry, it is still over a year away from seeing any sort of a release and even when it does release, there are no announcements for a desktop fabrication system. With MakerBot leading the way in bringing 3D printers to consumers,…

Aiming to be a creative lab focusing on nurturing young talent, Milan-based Incipit (“the beginning” in Latin) manufacturers and distributes a collection of home accessory products through collaborating with up-and-coming designers. Founded in 2013 by Roberto Hoz and Marta Bernstein, the company helps support young designers by sharing skills and best business practices through a…

Don your favorite bath robe, cream that coffee and get comfortable with this weekend’s SolidSmack Weekend Reader. This week we saw everything from how Japanese Kokeshi dolls are made to a new line of Steve McQueen-inspired futuristic motorcycles and…you can use SolidWorks to simulate a zombie attack? So lay back, relax and take a load…

Known partly for their famous connection to Steve McQueen (thanks in no small part to a legendary Sports Illustrated cover), Swedish motorcycle company Husqvarna has been called “the two-wheeled version of what Mini is to BMW’s car division” since being bought by the automotive giant in July of 2007. Similar to the Mini, Husqvarna Motorcycles…

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 a genius new take on the rubber band to an incredibly awesome DIY paper mask and…Keanu Reeves saw a ghost…

Inventables, a department store-like supplier for those who invent physical objects has released their first personally-designed product this morning on Kickstarter in the form of Carvey. Billed as a ‘3D Carver’, the desktop manufacturing machine soared past its funding goal in less than 90 minutes earlier this morning and is close to already tripling their…

One day while I was working in my shop I simply thought, “what if I packed an LED Throwie into a paintball?” LED Throwies (LT) have always fascinated me. Little complete systems with high-visibility and interactivity; just a little light with a big impact, visually, even artistically. LTs are typically thrown at ferrous metal walls or…

By the looks of your scarred hands covered in dried glue and scabs, I’m guessing you like to cut up a few sheet of cardboard here and there for building models or, just for fun. Although those wounds are part of the joy (and looks of disgust when you shake someone’s hand), there are less…

Walk into any grocery store and you will find a whole section of the store dedicated to meat of all kinds packaged and promptly digested. Most people don’t really know the undertaking it took to get those mouth-watering cuts (unless you’re a vegan) to their respective stores, which goes far beyond what a simple butcher…

Known as one of the strongest and lightest materials to work with, carbon fiber is also not without its limitations…particularly in the color department. Aiming to change that, a team of engineers with over 20 years of experience working with Formula One cars have been spending the last 7 years developing the world’s first colored…

There are a ton of open source hardware projects built around the Arduino microcontroller…such as the Airmonica musical instrument and the Pixelate interactive eating game, however none of these offer the aesthetic appeal of DoNothingBox’s OSWatch. Let me rephrase that, nothing has more of a fad appeal like a “smartwatch.” I want it, but don’t…

As we all know, not all 3D printers are equal when it comes to the printing materials. Depending on the fabrication process, 3D printers can use any number of materials including thermoplastics, metal alloys and even edible substances. The DWS Lab XFAB however, wants to change that. Using laser stereolithography, the new XFAB is capable…

3D printers are great for making personalized object designs, but they typically don’t allow for customization while augmenting design parameters on the fly. This becomes a problem for those who want to design customized items such as personalized face masks, jewelry or irregular-sized parts for ‘not-quite-right’ projects. Norwegian-based software company Uformia is looking to solve…

When it comes to snowboards, the process of getting from sketch to a final ridable design requires more patience-testing steps than most people would probably assume. Between sourcing the base materials, planning the final design, generating artwork, pressing, gluing, shaving and cleaning the final edges, the entire process can take days for a single board.…

As time goes on, we are quickly seeing an ever-changing job market. Many employers are looking for new designers with additive manufacturing skills in their bag of tricks. Along with new technology comes new opportunities, and in our realm of 3d design that means instant gratification, well pretty close anyways. These days, you can set…

We’ve all grown up to playing with Slinky for endless hours, and if as a zesty DIY-er you think you’ve outgrown them – think again. Adam Watters has upped his cool quotient by a million and promises to up our by at least a hundred notches, if we simply follow his instructions as seen here.

Are 3D CAD companies adding the features that users really want? We asked you, SolidSmackers, to tell us what you find most face-bashingly frustrating about 3D CAD tools today, boy, did you deliver. As it turns out…

Most desktop 3D printers used by hobbyists, such as RepRap and MakerBot, manufacture objects using the ABS ‘extrusion’ method, which is great for producing objects at resolutions at 100 microns on average (like the Replicator 2). While there is nothing wrong with making objects at that resolution, sometimes projects require increased resolutions that those printers…

Don your favorite bath robe, cream that coffee and get comfortable with this weekend’s SolidSmack Weekend Reader. This week we saw everything from how an ingenious flat-pack lamp design to the most funded project on Kickstarter and more. So lay back, relax and take a load off while reading the top ten stories on SolidSmack…

I love me a high-precision, interlocking aluminum light fixture. You would be hard pressed to fall out of a two-story window and land on a truck full of anything of the sort these days. However, the scrap-savvy, layer-lovin’ crew at Graypants, Inc. has created, perhaps, the most ingenious of all lighting designs in an effort…

As the landscape of 3D printers has grown exponentially in the past few years, so have the number of options for printable materials. With options ranging from carbon fiber to flexible plastics, you would be hard-pressed to not find a suitable option for your next prototype or other 3D printing project. But what if there…

Save for a piñata, few objects encourage destruction as a part of the user experience—let alone objects that aren’t meant to be discarded after their use. While you won’t be finding any Laffy Taffy or Skittles inside the cavity of the ‘/’ Lamp, it does however encourage you to beat the living crap out of…

So far we’ve seen 3D printing being used at the consumer/prosumer level as a way to create static objects with relatively few—if any—moving parts. A large part of this is due to the rampant use of low-level CAD programs that offer little more than digital pushing and pulling combined with an output method that is…

Drinking a chilled glass of beer is serious business; you can’t just pick up any glass and pour in some ale to enjoy it. Oh boy! Getting drunk is a lot harder than you think. There are scientific studies that show that the shape of your beer glass impacts your drinking experience. Basically it will…

When appreciating a furniture design, it’s easy to overlook the environmental impact of the various materials said design is made of including a frame, foam, padding, pillows, covers…and not to mention an oftentimes extremely large cardboard box loaded with foam or other packing material. Oh yeah—then there is the transport, too. Furniture is notoriously hard…

There are five things I want after designing a part–a damn part, damn fast. 3D printing was suppose to be the revolutionary technology that made all our manufacturing woes go away, speed the whole process up and leave machinists in a wake of plastic fumes and corporate laughter. DMLS still holds high hopes for production…

There’s a man who does all of his design work from the French Hotel Cafe in Berkeley, California. His name is Kenneth Smythe. His designs are loaded with symbloism, very high-end, completely open-source and created for a random sequencing production system. If I wanted to describe his work in a way that would make you…

With music festivals such as Coachella, Bumbershoot and Bonnaroo gaining record-attendance numbers each year, the sleeping conditions are still, well…terrible for the majority of festival-goers. While some attendees like to use the music festival as a ‘roughing it’ experience on par with camping, the conditions are still less than ideal for the majority of people…

The good folks at Sculptify are gearing up for an August-based Kickstarter Campaign to help fund the production of ‘David’ 3D Printer. The reason why you should keep an eye on this project is because this plastic extrusion 3D printer does not use expensive filament but plastic pellets to print your designs.

The following video captures the passion of Paul Arestan – a knife maker – and how he has managed to turn his simple pastime into an evolved art. Going by his story, Paul seems heavily influenced by his grandfather whose hobby was repairing old pocketknives. His father too is an antique swords collector. This oldest…

Built over two years by working late nights and weekends, Ugmonk’s story is truly an inspiration for those looking to get their side projects out into the world. Started by Jeff Sheldon one month after graduating college and soon after starting a full-time design job, the Ugmonk brand was born out of blood, sweat and…

Office warfare can come in many forms. For some it involves competitive games of ping pong or foosball…for others it involves spitballs and the occasional foam dart. Perhaps you even find yourself having to protect your beloved toy collection or Copic marker set from thieving co-workers similar to Milton in the 1999 comedy classic Office…

When it comes to rendering a 3D model, there are generally two directions one could go in: a drag and drop solution or a fine-tuned custom solution with more dials and knobs than a 747 cockpit. Full-stack programs such as MODO offer the latter for those who are particular about every last measurement of fresnel,…