Seeking Success in Additive: Be Wooj

Remember when we used to talk a lot about democratizing design and manufacturing? We did do that to a certain extent; you can upload files to Shapeways, Endeavor3D, Protolabs, and Slant3D to get them made. Tools like Shopify, MailChimp, Magento, Hootsuite, ShipStation, Zendesk, and Zoho can then let you track and automate much of the work that needs to be done. But along the path to 3D printing, Arcadia, we forgot to enable this trend even more. Now, with the advent of more stable desktop 3D printers, some pioneers are taking a renewed interest in producing products for global sale themselves.

One of my favorite examples of this is Wooj. Wooj is a New York-based 3D print farm that makes lamps. Now, of course, Gantri already makes lamps using material extrusion, and Materialise popularized making lamps and other design items ages ago, selling tens of thousands of them through its .MGX line, a collection of 3D printed design objects made mostly with powder bed fusion. Wooj is very different, however.

The company is founder-led and uses simple desktop 3D printers. A lot of people are using ribbed lamps and similar designs. Wooj goes further than this, making smartly designed, beautiful objects. Wooj is clearly ahead of others with new design ideas and forms. The lamps are functional as well. Wooj also talks about its entire process, showing its production process and the design considerations on YouTube.

Here, Sean Kim talks about using up the leftover material spools and better wiping technology. It’s a very human-centric approach, which corresponds to the human-centric designs he makes. He also gives lots of super practical advice for those wishing to design mature 3D printed products. The company directs a lot of attention to making YouTube Shorts. The bite-sized videos are very well made and engaging as well as educational. A timely foray into Shorts has given them attention, but they only have 13,000 subscribers, with most videos seen around that number, though some generate millions of views. On Instagram, they have 151,000 followers and have posted 733 times. The company has generated news in the design press and from NY Magazine and others. The tone is soft and relaxed, not the shouty stuff we usually see on Instagram.

Wooj became famous during the pandemic with its Wavy lamp, and parlayed that success into a print farm and studio. The company predominantly uses Artillery Sidewinder 3D printers, but also has Bambu Lab and other systems. They mostly use PLA and PETG from Polymaker. One very important thing is that Wooj is taking sensible design steps. Rather than needing to make everything in-house, they now have premade lighting units that are being used for more models of lamps, for example.

The other key thing, of course, is that Wooj’s lamps are beautiful, functional, and well-presented. That and the price. The company’s slogan, “design within actual reach,” sums it up. Whereas a lot of 3D printed design products are still far too expensive, Wooj retails its lamps for around $100 to $265, with five models that sell for less than $100. That is much more affordable than many 3D printed lamp sellers. And this affordability has worked for the firm; their non-elite image and down-to-earthness, coupled with well-designed objects that sell for less than traditional design brands, have made the lamps very appealing.

A beautiful lamp for less is, in fact, a new market segmentation. It also gives them a very sympathetic appeal that meshes well with the way they market their product. The products and brand are well resolved and match. Locally made, unique designs, a story to tell your friends, a functional thing, a beautiful thing, but not exclusive in the way it is presented or exclusive in the way that it feels. Better than Ikea but less hoity toity than Kartell, but with a cachet of Artemide and a local twist. This is nothing short of marketing genius. And according to the firm, it has led them to sell 15,000 lamps a year. That means that this company is profitable and a good business indeed.

Similarly, brilliant businesses can be found in a lot of other design objects, but also in industrial parts. We, however, often just stop at making a 3D printed part. We have to go further to make a good product. But once we are there, we have to match a market and focus on generating leads. Telling a brand story should not just be a box to check; it can be your whole marketing strategy if done right. Wooj is a well-crafted brand selling well-made products. And this is a kind of business that many more people should undertake. We can now actually democratize innovation and manufacturing, but we need to go further than printing out articulated dragons.