This weeks Designer Spotlight focuses on Stijn van der Linden, the creator of one of our most popular items on Shapeways: Gyro the Cube. He is an avid and prolific designer, and he also finds time to answer questions on the forum as one of our moderators.

Hi everyone! My name is Stijn van der Linden, probably better know as Virtox around here . I live in Tilburg, in the Netherlands together with my lovely wife and son. I am a work-at-home dad, so I juggle my time between housekeeping, changing diapers and late night sessions of tinkering, designing and programming. I have a college degree in Electrical Engineering and worked as a software engineer for several years, but shortly after discovering 3D printing and Shapeways, I switched careers to my life long passion of 3D Art & Design.

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

Initial sparks often come from the intrinsic beauty found in nature, science and life: a twig, an atom or a kitchen sink. I have a particular fondness for using primitive shapes, such as circles, cubes and spheres and morphing them into the desired forms.

How did you learn how to design in 3D?

I am mostly self-taught, as a young kid I started with simple 2D graphics and programming in C64 BASIC. This quickly went on to more advanced programming languages and working with 3D in PovRay, a very elegant scripted 3D rendering engine. During college I had access to more advanced software, like 3D Studio Max which had even more powerful scripting languages and programming APIs. All this evolved to the point that I stopped using off-the-shelf software and I currently make most of my work with home-brew software built in C++.

What brought you to 3D printing with Shapeways?

In August of 2008 I saw a mention of Shapeways somewhere and I signed up for the closed Beta. At the time I thought it was mostly expensive and very complicated,  but I kept a close eye on the newsletters and forum and started to learn about the wonders of 3D printing. I tinkered about on the site, uploaded some models and tried the shop feature. To my shock and amazement, I sold something within mere days! Someone had actually bought Holey, a model I had designed years before and now someone, somewhere, was actually going to hold something I had once designed to be impossible to make. And worse, they beat me to it! So this led me to quickly place my first order and ever since I've been hooked on 3D printing.

How do you promote your work?

It has never been my strong suit, and it's hard to find the time, but I try to post updates to social networks as much as possible, such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, my own blog and occasionally to design blogs and websites such as Designspotter and Behance. But all things marketing, I learned from the Shapeways blog, as it contains a goldmine of tips, tricks and hints on how to promote your designs and shops.

Who are your favorite designers or artists? Who in the Shapeways community has served as an inspiration to you?

My all-time favorite artists are Salvador Dali, M.C. Escher and H.R. Giger. Their mind-bending work really sparked my love for art and I am very fond of surreal and impossible looking stuff! After four years of being part of this community, I must say there are so many great members helping and inspiring others, I could not hope to name them all! So a big thank you to ALL for making this place the success it is today! A special shout-out to Youknowwho, Magic, StonySmith and Stop4Stuff for driving the community forward and to Nervous System, Bathsheba, Unellenu and Opresco for making the most inspiring works. And apologies to all that escape my mind at the moment!

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

Oh wow, well just about anything and everything! I can't wait to sink my teeth into an impossibly shaped designer steak, sit down in a fully personalized chair and strap on that pair of extra robotic arms to get things done. But this technology is evolving so quickly I really do not feel limited. If anything, 3D printing just seems to be the ultimate addition to any toolkit.

Thank you to all Shapies for all your efforts to make the impossible possible, you are changing lives and the world with it!

Check out Stijn's incredible designs on his Shapeways Shop, his website, or hop onto the forums and chat with him and the rest of the Shapeways community.

This weeks Designer Spotlight focuses on Nancy Liang, a Shapeways alum and a passionate creator, who has made an awesome web app called Mixee Me that turns you into an action figure! 

I am Nancy, formerly the Materials Product Lead of Shapeways. I launched silver, frosted ultra detail, ceramics, polished strong and flexible, the image popper and a bunch of other projects while I was at Shapeways. I'm really a nerd at heart. I love hacking together everything from image poppers to dog treat dispensers. It's so much fun to make things, and I want to help other people make things too. Right now, I'm working on making web apps that make it easy to 3D model. We just launched Mixee Me, which enables people to create 3D printed characters right from their browser. 

When I was little, I always wanted to have an action figure of myself, a childhood dream if you will. I thought that if you were made into a figurine, then you had made it in life: that was my bar for a successful life. When I first learned about 3D printing and 3D modeling, I knew this was my opportunity to make myself into an action figure. So I sat down with Google Sketch Up and ended up spending a whole day learning to model, fixing holes, dealing with inverted normals and all sorts of frustrating bugs. I ended up making a stick figure. This was a far cry from the action figure of my dreams. That was disappointing. With Mixee Me, we want to make it easy for anybody to create their own characters, so nobody has to experience the frustrations of my first character making episode. Oh, and yes, I did make a miniature of myself with Mixee Me. Yes, it only took me 30 seconds. Yes, I checked that childhood dream off my list! Woo hoo!

I applied to Shapeways because it was the only company that covered all my interests: technology, enabling others to make stuff and design. I actually had no experience in materials, or 3D printing, or product management, but I really wanted to work there!! I knew Shapeways was going to be at the NYC Maker Faire, so I made sure I showed up to talk to Peter and the team. I guess my persistence paid off, as I ended up getting an amazing job and worked with an amazing group of people. (Ed note: Aww thanks!)

So here's my secret: I never actually learned. One cool thing about Shapeways is that it has a wonderful community of modelers who are willing to help each other out, some are even willing to work on projects for commission. Through the Shapeways forum, I met somebody who I commission to do most of my modeling for me. I then take the models and tweak them, or in the case of Mixee Me convert them to Javascript friendly Web App models.

I've been fortunate that a few blogs have found 3D printed memes to be interesting and right now is a great time for 3D printed designs. 3D printing as a technology is making a splash in the media, even some of my non-tech friends have heard of 3D printing and are interested. Media (blogs, newspapers) are definitely interested. I try to create works that are shareable. Memes like Sad Keanu are shareable. Mixee Me is also shareable, we are hoping that people will see Mixee Mes as a good gifting opportunity. For example, we have some friends who are in long distance relationships giving Mixees of themselves to their significant others, so there is a little physical representation to keep each other company. 

Kikkerland, it's more of a company than a designer, but I love their whimsical, fun products. I love anything on ThinkGeek. I love the Strandbeest, it is incredibly cool conceptually and design-wise.

I am also constantly impressed by the structures people build in Minetoys.

Michiel Cornelissen's designs are beautiful and functional, I love his a bit cross. Continuum Fashion, of 3D printed bikini fame, they do awesome, beautiful and fun work and they share my philosophies about enabling people to create and share. Stony Smith, I'm not a train person at all, but the way that Stony approaches helping out the community is really an inspiration for me. (Ed note: and for us too!)  I've tried to make it easy for people to create so I'm excited to see what people create with Mixee Me! 

So what are you waiting for? Make your own character on Mixee Me, or check out what other people are making. Check out the Holiday Gift Guide for your meme fix too!

This weeks Designer Spotlight focuses on Janelle Dehanne Wilson, a jeweler who turned her fascination of fractals into a jewelry line, unellenu.

Hi, I'm Janelle Dehanne Wilson, located in Sydney, Australia. Approximately two years ago I started my own online business unellenu which focuses on 3D printed designs. I am also employed as a salesperson in fine, high end jewelry.

Designing has always been a passion and escape of mine. I am constantly visually inspired by the built and natural environment. I usually design by daydreaming and picturing things in my mind before bringing them into reality. Alternatively I create by experimenting with different digital design processes, and apply various levels of conscious intervention.

What brought you to 3D printing with Shapeways?

I found the Shapeways site through google, and was delighted to see the variety of materials on offer.  I was already familiar with 3D printing in the context of wax print to precious metal casting, as it is used in the jewelry industry. 3D printing allows for unique, complex geometries to be developed. It also enables designers to digitally explore exciting permutations of their designs before physical production.

My 3D design skills are largely self taught. Having initially acquired some knowledge through following many different tutorials, I combine ideas using traditional and custom processes.

My designs are available online, primarily on my Shapeways shop unellenu, and also my own website. I am interested in exploring more online and retail options very soon. I also enjoy connecting with people who are interested in art, fashion, design and technology via social media. I am active on Twitter, Facebook and have a YouTube channel as well.

I appreciate work by the following (quite random assortment) of artists and companies: Rene Lalique, Boucheron, Faberge, Graff Diamonds, Gary Coffey, Lorenz Baumer, H.R.Giger, Escher, Mark Henry Doolittle & Jason P. Nelson. There are also many talented designers and interesting stores on Shapeways. Some that I particularly like are Electrobloom, Mack Madness, Virtox, Alienology, Dario Scapitta Design, Bathsheba, Nervous System, Dropping Form Designs, Spaho Design, Deagoddess, and Bulatov.

When 3D printing becomes more affordable for larger items, I would love to create more sizeable sculptures, furniture, and significant architectural components, perhaps part of a building facade or an enormous contemporary chandelier. 

Check out Janelle's intricate jewelry designs and this incredible LED fractal lampshade on her Shapeways Shop or her website.