Bent Watches & Cats in Rocking Chairs — Paul Kweton’s 3D Printed Designs

Designer and Houston-based, Austrian architect Paul Kweton builds some very intriguing and playful furnishings and watches.

Kweton, a former Digital Media Assistant at the Rice University School of Architecture in Houston, Texas, now works for Morris Architects Design Studio there, and he uses the Adobe Suite, AutoCad, Revit, Rhino (RVB) + V-Ray, Grasshopper, Cosmos, and SolidWorks to create his whimsical and practical product designs. He’s used 3D printing for everything from a bicycle cup holder to a series of architectural models.

One full-scale prototype for a piece of patent-pending furniture, a rocking chair made from computer-milled birch plywood, also acts as a sort of cage which he says is a favorite of cats and dogs, and the early iterations of the chair were 3D printed to help finalize the working design.

“The goal was to keep the overall design the same but optimize the rocking behavior and decrease the production cost of the prototype,” Kweton says. “Digital fabrication methods like 3D printing and CNC milling were essential during that process. Design changes happened in the details; bottom radius of the ‘ribs’, thickness and spacing of the ‘ribs.’”

Another of his pieces, an acrylic-based, photo-polymer design for what he calls the ‘shifted watch,’ is a translucent, 3D printed case which serves as a demonstration of the latest in rapid prototyping technologies. Wrapped in laser sintered nylon plastic, the timepiece “expresses a random, futile, deconstructive design,” according to the designer.

His “spli-T-ime” prototype, another take on the watch, is “generated by curiosity, designed without conformity, experienced in different ways.” The watch features a dual face, and Kweton says it’s “for time aficionados and design connoisseurs; the speed of time is split in two.” Made from 3D printed nylon, the 10 x 4.5 x 1.1 cm, dual-faced watch is interesting indeed, and it demonstrates the versatility of 3D design and printing technology in a unique way.

The “GoldfingA” is Kweton’s “homage to 50 years of James Bond,” and it features a 3D printed, stainless steel, gold plated watch lid and interior material which was laser sintered in nylon and features Swiss quartz movement and a leather strap.

His “Putterking” is a putter in matte black 3D printed steel which includes a Lamkin Tour putter grip and it was custom made for an undisclosed client. If you’d like one, you order it from his website, but there is a 2 month lead time involved, so you’ll just have to keep missing putts until yours is delivered.

“The putter is intended to be used as a training tool,” Kweton says. “The center weight is placed behind the sweet-spot. Mishits (‘sweet-spot’ off-center puts) will be punished with twisting of the putterhead and off-line puts. This putter will help you find the sweet-spot and improve your putting within a couple of days.”

If you play golf, you know that’s a big claim, and if it was that easy, we’d all be Tiger Woods. Or someone who’s actually good at putting like Tiger once was…

What do you think about Kweton’s use of 3D printing to design and create his products? Let us know in the Paul Kweton’s 3D Printed Designs forum thread on 3DPB.com. Check out a look at some more of his design work below.