Indian Company 3D Prints Incredible Ornamental 24K Gold & Ruby Hindu Temple

3D printing is a worldwide phenomenon. The technology is being put to use on virtually all continents, and most countries throughout the world. It is bringing together designs from all parts of the globe, as individuals share their designs, techniques, and tips.

One country that is beginning to really see the potential of 3D printing unleashed is India. The South Asian country is the second most populous in the world, with over 1.2 billion people living within its borders. Thus when a new technology begins to catch on, it could mean a lot of potential profits for companies everywhere. That new technology may just be 3D printing.

Last year, a 3D design and printing company called Cremagine was founded in Mumbai, India by Tejas Divan, Bakul Soni, and Bhavik Soni. Since then, they have been coming up with some very unique ideas that they have been able to fabricate in order to show off the potential that 3D printing can bring to the country.

“We have great penchant for 3D designing and 3D printing,” co-founder Tejas Divan tells 3DPrint.com. “We tinker all day with our 3D printer and try various methods of post processing our prints. Our vision is to become a brand that caters to end consumers by making great quality 3D printed products that are appealing aesthetically too. Having a jewelry background of several decades, we have great insights in consumer design.”

Recently Cremagine took it upon themselves to create something rather unique, especially when considering all of the creations we see coming about from 3D printing in the Western World. Using a combination of printing methods, they created an astonishing ornamental temple made for a Hindu god. The temple is called a Mandir, and it was created for one of their clients.

The model itself is completely 3D printed in one piece using a selective laser sintering (SLS) 3D printer from 3D Systems (Sinterstation PRO), with the base for the model being printed on an FFF 3D printer, more specifically an Ultimaker 2. Once the model and base were printed, Cremagine used their deep knowledge of jewelry making and stone setting to apply a 24K gold foil around the model, and then they “bejeweled” it with emeralds and rubies to give it a final touch.

“The stones on the top are set on complex silver Cubic Zirconia fixtures — printed first on an EnvisionTEC 3D printer and then we created a mold to cast the final silver fixture,” Divan tells us. “The peacocks are hand painted and we have used enamel painting too to add to the beauty. The idea behind making it was to create something complex, using 3D printing and post processing in a way that no one can ever make out that it is 3D printed. Making it by hand would have cost us a lot of money and time and I am sure the results would not have been so spectacular.”

The Mandir is part of a Hindu tradition of worshipping the divine, and this one came out better than anyone could have expected.

“The physical temple helps one internalize the purity, peace and presense of god all around,” explains Divan. “Just as one needs a temple to enshrine a murti (an image or representation that expresses a Divine Spirit), similarly one needs a purified soul to hold god therein. Based on these guidelines, our model is a miniature model of a temple in which a miniature murti of god is enshrined and is worshipped.”

As you can see in the photographs that Divan provided to us, the resulting Mandir is quite extraordinary. This just goes to show you that individuals and companies from around the world are finding individual benefits for using 3D printing technology, a technology not bound by borders.

What do you think of this Mandir temple? Discuss in the 3D Printed Mandir Temple forum thread on 3DPB.com.