Dizingof’s Random Infinite Pattern and Klein Bottle Highlight 3D Printing’s Creative Explosion

Does anyone know any artists not hip to the 3D printing scene yet?  I do.  Several, in fact.  I just love getting to be the one to describe to an artist the design possibilities inherent in the technology.  I also explain that it’s not that past artists and artisans haven’t dazzled us with pattern complexity.  What’s changed is the pace with which design intricacy can be achieved: what took countless hours can be achieved in much less time thanks to 3D printing.  Artisan purists can argue that much has been lost for art in the “age of mechanical reproduction.”  But I beckon them to try 3D printing out before they make any final decisions.    Or at least check out some of the new designs people are coming up with, like the work of artist Dizingof, and his patterns and 3D printed bottle design.

One of the most notorious and prolific artist in the 3D printing arts scene is Dizingof–also known as Israeli designer Asher Nahmias.  He began making 3D sculptures several years ago, when he impressed people with his 3D printed sculptures based on mathematical algorithms.  He also is one of three people behind the first juried 3D printed sculpture show, and he contributes his own knowledge of the technology’s artistic applications in a myriad number of ways.  Myriad: that’s a good word to describe the patterns on his design created with the new technique “Random Infinite Patterns.”

When I saw the above design, my first thought was “hoop earring.”  Dizingof describes the random infinity of the pattern as highly compatible with jewelry designs, which he plans to create using high-definition wax 3D printers, printing casts for gold, brass and silver.  That’s a pair of earrings I can get really excited about.  Also exciting is his website’s offering of two downloadable files for his “2 Color Klein Bottle.”  The bottle prints at 100 x 87 x 170mm using a home printer with Dual Extruder capability (printing two colors at once).

3D printing devotees spend much time selling the concept by promoting how functional it can be to print certain items.  And the Klein bottle challenges exactly this instinct: is it simply functionality that we are going for? Dizingof has redefined the bottle itself, letting the whimsicality of design trump the functionality of the object represented here. This bottle has the usual neck we expect, but this bottleneck is quite exceptional. Curving around, like a swan neck, tucked furtively into the bottle side, the design pushes the boundary of the concept of a bottle itself, also pushing the boundary between function and form, life and art.  Is a bottle shape only as good as its usefulness?

Clearly a piece intended to feature 3D design, the Klein bottle is a true testament to the creative explosion inspired by 3D printing technology.  This curvy bottle resembles a tiny canteen– which just gives me more ideas.  What if you could make this design functional by printing it much larger with a flexible material that could tuck the neck into the side?  Now that would be an interesting water bottle.  But there I go: trying to make it functional when it’s art!  (A pair of Klein bottle shaped earrings will work just fine for me!)  Dizingof’s 3D printed Klein bottle, featuring the random infinite patterns, is the real version of 3D printed “art for art’s sake.”

Stay tuned to Dizingof’s designs, and keep him in mind when you are planning to turn your artist friends onto 3D printing:  his designs are a very easy sell.  Let’s hear your thoughts on these works of art in the Dizingof forum thread on 3DPB.com.