MƎTHESIS Event Takes Metal 3D Printing to Milan Design Week

Exploring the new possibilities of generative software and additive manufacturing is a job for product designers. That is what ten of the best known designer in 3D printing are going to do, using Autodesk software and a Sisma MySint100 Laser Metal Fusion 3D printer, for the MƎTHESIS event set to take place during Milan Design Week next month, held April 12th to the 17th.

Engineers throughout the manufacturing industry tell us that one of the primary hurdles to a greater adoption of 3D printing is in the ability to envision what kind of product geometries generative software and digital, additive technologies can help us create. Now that direct metal 3D printing is become a lot more common, costs are lowering and build volumes are increasing, the technology can start to be used for products that go beyond its core jewelry and aerospace adoption segments, and into commercial high-end design products.

The MƎTHESIS event sets out to demonstrate this theory by asking 10 designers who have been exploring the forefront of 3D printing possibilities in recent years, to create a collection of metal 3D printed tableware products. Such as, for example, Francis Bitonti’s limited edition Flatware collection of 3D printed silverware. Top names such as Nick Ervinck and Janne Kyttanen are also participating, along with visionary generatively 3D printed product designers such as MHOX, Alessandro Zambelli, Igor Knezevic and Philip H. Wilck.

Like previous similar events at Milan Design Week (Synthesis in 2014 and Arthesis in 2015) Autodesk Italy sponsored the event with the goal to raise awareness as to the possibilities offered by the approach summarized into the idea of the “Future of Making Things”. More and more this future is being shaped by cloud based, generatively capable software like Fusion 360 and the new Autodesk Within suite, which fuels the research behind the Dreamcatcher Project.

With its proprietary Laser Metal Fusion (LMF) technology, direct metal 3D printer manufacturer Sisma is a main sponsor of this year’s event. In the world of design, high-quality materials are key to adequately convey the value of a product. In metal 3D printing, the quality of the material finish is equal and in some cases even superior to metals worked by traditional manufacturing technologies, with all the added geometrical freedom of powder bed fusion.

The Milan Design Week exhibit will also host a number of conferences pertaining to the world of digital product design and manufacturing, as 3D printing approaches start to exert an ever growing influence on the way we envision, create, design and distribute the commercial products of tomorrow.