You Can Now 3D Print Love

You have heard about 3D printing orthotics, 3D printed shells for hermit crabs, and 3D printed beaks for Penguins, but now the LOVE PROJECT is 3-D printing love. This project was created to capture and present in three dimensions the emotions people experience as love. A multidisciplinary team working in a collaborative design process that includes the end-user, aims to investigate the possibilities for human emotions to produce the type of complex geometry perfect for representation through 3-D printing.

Participants in the process agreed to recount the stories of great moments in the history of their love while sensors that were applied measured their physical reactions. The sensors measured brain activity, heart rate, and the voice during narration. People who elected to participate were allowed to recount their stories in private so that they could more easily give themselves over to the emotions connected to their experiences.

The data that was gathered through these sensors was relayed to software specifically designed for this project. D3 created a method for interpreting the data that was collected by those sensors. That interpretation was then processed through Grasshopper parametric software. A number of variables were controlled by the data that was input creating unique representations of each person’s experience.

This project is the brainchild of Estudio Guto Requena in collaboration with D3. Requena is a Brazilian designer practicing in Sao Paulo whose background includes a nine-year stint as a researcher and the Center for Interactive Living Studies at the University of Sao Paulo. Requena described the project:

“The Love Project is a study in design, science and technology that captures the emotions people feel in relating personal love stories and transforms them into everyday objects. The project suggests a future in which unique products will bear personal histories in ways that encourage long life cycles, thus inherently combining deeply meaningful works with sustainable design. Ultimately, this Love Project has many authors. It seeks to include the end user in the process of creation itself, as participants, thus democratizing and demystifying the use of interactive digital technologies…with love as the constant throughout.”

The final products were 3D printed in ABS, Polyamide, glass, ceramics, or metal. The limitless combinations mean that every product was completely unique. The team is currently working on the creation of a cell phone application so that anybody who is love struck can tell their story to and see a product develop. In addition, Requena and D3 are trying to expand the types of emotional experiences that can be captured through this type of interactive digital technology by creating a program targeted towards children. The first focus of this phase will be to bring these technologies to the world of children and adolescents from low-income families as a way of demystifying the technology, and hopefully sparking an interest that could help some realize a path for future careers.

In a world where 3D printed guns seem to get all the media attention, 3D printed ‘love’ is a breath of fresh air.  Let us know your thoughts on this unique project in the 3D printed love forum thread on 3DPB.com.