This weeks Designer Spotlight focuses on Dario Scapitta, an Italian jewelry designer living in the Netherlands.

This weeks Designer Spotlight focuses on Erica Schwartz of DesignErica a designer whose path has taken her from religious studies to Pratt, to designing for a private label, to finally launching her own jewelry line.

Tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? Where are you located?

I grew up in New York in a household where creativity was not just encouraged but required.  I went to college in New Hampshire and moved to Brooklyn in 2001.  I live in an amazing house in Greenpoint with a bunch of cool people which also houses my office and studio.

What's the story behind your designs? What inspires you?

I find a lot of inspiration in nature and geometry, but everything seems to come with a certain sense of playfulness.  I have kind of a fear of being boring and/or bored.  I like to  make things that make you smile or make you think.  Or maybe both.  Right now i'm working on jewelry that is meant to be played with.

How did you learn how to design in 3D?

While studying religion at Dartmouth, I decided I really wanted to be a designer.  I went back to school for a Masters of Industrial Design degree at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn where I took a couple of Solidworks classes and really enjoyed them.  Those classes gave me the tools to easily exercise all the other knowledge and skills I learned at Pratt.  I created my first 3D printed object at Pratt- a coaster which I still have.  

What brought you to 3D printing with Shapeways?

After Pratt I got a job doing private label watch and jewelry design.  I spent my days designing high-end objects that I could never afford.  This got my mind churning on my own ideas that were not appropriate for the audience I was employed to design for but more for people like me.  I started with laser-cutting and 3D printing stuff just for fun.   I saw that other people (specifically Nervous System) were selling 3D printed products to people outside of the community and thought: "Hey, I want to do that!"

How do you promote your work?

I started with an etsy shop, which I still try to maintain because it drives its own traffic. I recently launched a full-fledged online retail site as well.  I've done some craft shows, sold through a couple of design collectives, and I'm just starting to make some headway in the wholesale market.  You can find my stuff at the Brooklyn Museum Shop.  I think it's important to get 3D printed products into markets outside of the community of modelers and those "in the know" (ie, you and me). This way they can be appreciated for their inherent design not just because its a cool process.

Who are your favorite designers or artists?

This one is tough! Gaudi and Frank Lloyd Write...Panton, Pucci, Noguchi, Nakashima, Charles and Ray Eames... this list could go on forever!

Who in the Shapeways community has served as an inspiration to you?

Nervous System showed me this kind of thing was really possible and their work is amazing.  The boys at GothamSmith are great.  And Sandy Noble from UpToMuch, who taught me how to dye WSF in my kitchen.  Also everyone who works at Shapeways and deals with me when I'm frustrated, thank you!

Check out Erica's playful rings on her Shapeways Shop or her website and if you're inspired you can try your hand at our Easy Creators...

This weeks designer spotlight focuses on Ovidiu Opresco, a multitalented designer who has found 3D design late in life but has launched into it with a passion. His videos have been featured on our blog before so we thought it was time to learn a bit more about the man behind the Beer Ring.

Tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? Where are you located?

Ovidiu Opresco, 72 yrs. old; an expat from Romania living on Roosevelt Island in New York since 1969.

I was very fortunate to be able to experience a wonderful, adventurous, exciting life, just the way I wanted it, during which I have mastered several professions.  I am an 100% self-taught: circus acrobat, stuntman; artist, designer, cartoonist, illustrator, typographer, photographer, cinematographer, humorist, author, computer programmer, 3D designer & animator, engineer and inventor. As for formal education, I have a degree from an Institute of Higher Learning, but I never used it to make a living.

What brought you to 3D printing with Shapeways?

In more ways than one, I owe my new creative life to Shapeways! The winter of 2009 found me as a retired, old man with a fuzzy mind, so while surfing the internet early in the spring, I discovered Shapeways and I decided to give it a try to reinvigorate my mind. Using all my skills accumulated during a lifetime I wanted to design a commemorative 3D model to mark two important coincident events in my new life: my 70th birthday and The Inauguration of The New Roosevelt Island Tram on the beautiful Roosevelt Island, where I've lived since 2003.

Working hard to complete this project (it took me the whole summer), and the many others that followed has been an enormous intellectually rewarding experience, one that's been keeping me young and in good health now!

I had my ears pierced for the occasion, and at the Grand Opening of the New Roosevelt Island Tram, there I was, in person, proudly wearing my beautiful Sterling Silver Earrings 3D printed at Shapeways. I want to express my special thanks to Ralph van den Borst, Customer Service Manager, and the entire Shapeways Service Team for helping me finalize this project.

In addition, I co-wrote the lyrics for a song celebrating the event and had a friend, Jonathan Kalb, a great guitar player and composer, sing it in a YouTube movie that I made for the occasion. See it here on YouTube.

How did you learn how to design in 3D?

I think I was born with this ability! Ever since I was a young boy, all my dreams happened in a vivid, palpable, 3D space.

During the late 70's and early 80' I became highly fascinated by Polyhedra and intrigued by the little known fact that Plato and Archimedes described their wonderful objects by drawing them with just a stick on the sand, I set up to replicate (more or less) their extraordinary feat by strictly using only a "T" square, a pair of compasses, a set of 2 triangles, and a ruler.

For the next 5 years I practically lived inside Polyhedra, exploring the extraordinary spatial diversity that emanates from their sublime order and elegant simplicity. Back then, I hand made some from offset plates then more recently designed them using 3D modeling and printed them as a pendant below. 

How would you describe your creative process?

Spontaneous!

How do you promote your work?

Through the Shapeways' Forums, YouTube, and the Social Media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Who are your favorite designers or artists?

Archimedes, Albrecht Durer, Leonardo da Vinci, Constantin Brancusi, Ed Benguiat - a great type designer.

Who in the Shapeways community has served as an inspiration to you?

Virtox, Made by Wombat, Michael Mueller and stop4stuff.

If you weren't limited by current technologies, what would you want to make using 3D printing?

A working replica of the old grand father pendulum clock that I took completely apart when I was  a kid.  My wonderful father, a Telecommunication Engineer (Radio, Telephone, Telegraph, at the time), a man of many talents and skills, gave me a good beating (which was fully permitted at the time!) then, taught me how it really works while instructing me how to put it back together.  

What do you do when you're not designing?

Designing! I use 3D designing as a "bicycle for my mind".

Check out Ovidiu's Shapeways Shop and his website and follow him on Twitter