On Thursday 30 May, Dirk Van Der Kooij presented in the UK for the first time his ‘Endless Process’, where a collection of furniture pieces using the 3D printing process grew in front of the eyes of the audience; see the video after jump.
This is important, not simply because it is 3D printing, but because this represents a stage in the life of the phenomenon where it is no longer the in the realm of expensive ‘blue-sky thinking’ but ready for the taking and increasingly available to all of those that wish to innovate beyond its basic potentials.
Three years ago Dirk Van Der Kooij was a student; what we see now formed a final project that saw him re-use the plastics found in discarded refrigerators, previously doomed to toxic landfill sites. With a little help from a re-programmed Chinese industrial robot called ‘Furoc’, Van der Kooij was able to use this recovered material to 3D print his furniture designs. The tight cell of manufacturing technology has brought recycling, design and making together in one almost-cosmic cycle, and with it an hitherto unseen efficiency, surpassing even previous precedents within 3D printing.
Forty times faster and even cheaper than before, Van Der Kooij’s work represents an exciting alternative to the injection mould process which looks to harness existing materials previously consigned to a growing landfill problem. Such innovations could release designers from the shackles of mass production, enabling more people to realise their ideas in a way that is ever more sustainable.
Andrew Herbert
