Chris Hardy's Illuminated Inspiration.

Chris Hardy's Paper Pendant Lamp is a beautifully simple design that proves that you do not need to have 'an impossible design' that could not be made with any process other than 3D printing for 3D printing to be a valid method of manufacture.  What the design proves is that an independent designer can get a unique product to market without investing in the usual 'minimum order quantities' or losing his IP to a manufacturer. 

The Shapeways business model allows is for the designer, Chris, to maintain full control over his product, the price point and his profit margin without it being dictated as only 5% by a third party, or having to amortize an investment across multiple units. 

Chris is an example of a professional designer using Shapeways as his finance department, manufacturer and distributor and this is why he will be one of the Shapeways community members who will be representing us this year at ICFF in NYC.

In Chris's own words:

"I think that Shapeways is arguably a paradigm shifting resource open to designers, makers, tinkerers, inventors - everyone." 

"The openness of Shapeways in terms of the abundant help and information they offer, as well as their pricing structure, removes any mystery associated with prototyping.  I use Shapeways in two distinct ways, on the one hand I use it very much from a traditional industrial design perspective where I prototype components for both visual and functional validation, pattern making, exhibition pieces and so on.  In addition to this I use Shapeways in terms of the recent development of direct digital manufacturing (DDM).  The ability to dream up an idea and very quickly bring that idea to life in numbers to sell to people is something that I would not have dreamed of prior to my experience with Shapeways."