Louis Vuitton Pop-Up Shop 3D Printed in Two Weeks Thanks to OMUS and Massivit 3D

Few company names are more transparent than Massivit 3D. The Israeli company manufactures massive 3D printers that produce massive things, so if any company was going to be enlisted to 3D print an entire pop-up shop, they would be an obvious candidate. Luxury retailer Louis Vuitton recently became the first company ever to 3D print a major point-of-sale display in a shopping center, and they did it with the help of 3D printing service bureau OMUS and a couple of Massivit 1800 3D printers.

The pop-up shop, which is now installed at the Westfield Sydney Shopping Center, was produced in an astonishingly short time frame of two weeks. OMUS, the first company in Australia to install a Massivit 1800 3D printer, had to call in assistance in order to meet the tight deadline. A second Massivit 1800, recently acquired by Sydney’s Composite Images, was pressed into service, as was a team of Massivit technicians who were flown in from Israel to to Australia.

“This was really a take no prisoners job! Many fabricators had already said it could not be done within the time frame using conventional processes, but oversize 3D printing by Massivit came to the rescue,” said Robert Grosso, director of OMUS. “Our team had the immense task of breaking down the customer’s raw concept, and working out how to build the structure, design each of the files for production, and then work with a machine that has never tackled a project like this in the world.  We could see, that we could make the structure to the designer’s specification, finish and install it but only if we pulled out all of the stops. With such a prestige brand as Louis Vuitton, it had to be right.”

The dome-shaped structure was 3D printed in 48 sections which were then assembled and wrapped in Avery Supreme Silver wrapping film. Because stocks were limited, additional material had to be air freighted in to complete the project. In total, the team went through about 900 kilograms of Massivit Dimengel printing material.

Once the structure was 3D printed, it took only three days to assemble. The Louis Vuitton logotype was added to the silvery structure using vinyl cut lettering, and an elephant graphic was digitally printed onto TexWalk floor grade vinyl, which was then laid down to create the floor of the shop. The structure, which weighs 900 kg, will be in place at Westfield Sydney until December 18.

“Given more time, we could have added more polish, tightened it up a little but we delivered within the timeframe and the customer is happy. No one else even thought it would be possible,” said Grosso. “I think what this ‘bleeding-edge’ exercise has proven is that oversize 3D printing can interpret and deliver a designer’s visions in a way that no other fabrication method can. Louis Vuitton’s boldness and faith also went a long way to making it a reality.”

The structure looks dazzling in its alcove at Westfield Sydney, and it’s amazing that it was created in a mere two weeks. I can’t imagine that the project could have been pulled off in such a short period of time using any other fabrication method. Discuss in the Louis Vuitton forum at 3DPB.com.

[Images: OMUS Facebook page]