German Designer Debuts 3D Printed Christmas Ornament Collection Inspired by the Motion of Dance

Halloween ended just a few days ago, which means that it’s time, at least in the US, to start focusing on the next major autumn holiday – Thanksgiving. But, for many people (not me!), the minute the jack-o’-lanterns and skeletons come down, they tend to bypass putting out the turkey decorations and move right along into setting up the Christmas tree, hanging the stockings by the chimney with care, and dreaming of sugar plums.

I personally don’t start getting in the Christmas spirit until the day after Thanksgiving; I like to think that turkey and pumpkin pie deserve their day in the sun, after all. But no matter what your favorite holiday is, and when you start celebrating it, you can be sure that 3D printing will help make the season bright…or patriotic, romantic, spooky, in a galaxy far far away, and what have you.

One thing we start to hear a lot about come November and December are 3D printed Christmas ornaments, be they traditional, nerdy, inspirational, medical, or even your own face. Designer David Münscher from Germany, who has used 3D printing in the past to make a collection of lampshades, reached out to 3DPrint.com with news of his latest collection: modern 3D printed Christmas ornaments.

“I just released a series of 3d printed Christmas ornaments, that might be of interest to you and your readers. It is inspired by strobe photography of dancers. Since these ornaments capture imprinted motion over time and it is this season of the year I called them “Snowangels,” Münscher told us.

The weightless Snowangels ornament collection takes its simple beauty from what Münscher refers to as “the fluent motion of classic dance moves and dance photography.”

The delicate, white ornaments were inspired by the fluid motion of dance, and were created using an algorithmic design approach that freezes an object’s motion – in this case a dancer – over time into a static sculpture.

Münscher took physical photographs of the angels’ abstract wings during their course of movement, and then traced the motion into a continuous form. While still images, like the ones above, do offer a good idea of how the sculptures change appearance in different perspectives, you really need to see the dynamic forms in motion to best appreciate them.

There are two different Snowangels ornaments available, in two sizes. The first set measures 50 mm, while the second one is 70 mm. 3D printed on demand by Shapeways, the ornaments are made out of a strong polyamide material, which makes them quite durable, even though they appear very delicate.

“Although originally intended as Christmas ornaments the snowangel`s resulting resemblance of abstract butterflies, will make for an interesting home decoration all year around,” Münscher wrote in a release.

Depending on the size, prices for the 3D printed Snowangels ornaments range from $18-30; just visit Oxique to buy yours today. To see these beautiful ornaments as they’re meant to be viewed – in motion – check out the video below.

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