Dutch TV Host Designs, Customizes & Watches Her Own Kinematics Dress Being 3D Printed

We’ve followed Nervous System for two years now, with their stunning introduction of 4D printed apparel. Based in Somerville, MA, the design team has since offered numerous projects to the world, featuring their 3D printed Kinematics dress on more than one instance from the first one now permanently ensconced in MOMA to debuting their last in a Sydney Museum. And while we’ve reported on the innovation of their adaptive materials along with an overview of their construction in collaboration with Shapeways, now we are allowed to take a more comprehensive look from the present, as others look much further into the future.

Dutch TV channel NPO gave their viewers a thorough view at how the Kinematics dress is made, from the scanning process to the next step which is to choose the material and shape of the clothing, and then on to the actual 3D printing. You’ll see that the hosts are very excited about the process, and while unless you speak Dutch, you won’t understand a word, it’s easy to understand what’s going on and why everyone is so enthusiastic. The episode came about as both the Nervous System team and Shapeways came together again, and actually created a whole new Kinematic Petals Dress for the special.

As they highlighted the world of high-tech in ‘Netherlands in 2050,’ the hosts truly did bring the dress to life as rather than just explaining what happens, they showed us, with host Rachel Rosier enjoying the process firsthand at the Shapeways’ facility in Eindhoven. Keep in mind, again, that these dresses are in demand for the permanent collections of museums. So to be part of creating a custom dress like that was obviously quite an honor—and if you check out the video at NPO, you’ll see that she was definitely enamored of what Nervous and Shapeways have come up with and refined further over the years.

Once Rosier’s exact measurements were plugged into the Kinematics Cloth app from the scan, she was able to choose all the specifications for her Kinematics dress, which was then 3D printed via an SLS printer at Shapeways. And while many of us are familiar with the idea of ordering a retail item and then picking it up, Rosier’s experience was certainly vastly different as when she went to pick it back up, she had the interesting—and educational—task of ‘excavating’ it from the printer bed.

Dutch television host Rachel Rosier depowdering her 3D-printed Kinematics Dress at Shapeways.

The episode truly is a great way to get a feel for the future of manufacturing, and definitely apparel. The ease with which the consumer’s form is scanned and then the specs are chosen with just a few clicks from the app offer a glimpse into why most likely this is our future in clothes shopping. And what a wonderful thing to have clothes that are designed by us, will hopefully be affordable, and fit exactly to our bodies—whether we are svelte model types or moms with muffin tops! Discuss in the Kinematics forum at 3DPB.com.