This past April, our CEO Peter Weijmarshausen sat on a panel at MIT/Stanford VLAB about the future of 3D printing. They discussed the future of the industry and the impact 3D printing will have on entrepreneurs, design, and personalized production.

Watch Pete chat along with leaders from 3D Systems, Autodesk, and London College of Fashion, and MAKE Magazine:

Happy Friday everyone! It's been another week of inspiring designs from the Shapeways community. And if this isn't enough eye candy for you, check out the "Feed of the Future" for a continuous stream of ideas made possible with 3D printing.

Crystal Pendant by Pookas, who is giving life to a classic form in several new shapes.

Ruud van den Muijzenberg from our Eindhoven team explains...

The Dutch company Dejavu Events is one of the first promoters in dance events and DJ space to use 3D printing to add an extra dimension to their music. On the night of April 22nd, they launched their own artist "Mister Dejavu," who was wearing a mask and necklace printed by Shapeways.

As Paul Markillie of the The Economist wrote last week, "NEW YORK CITY was once the capital of manufacturing in America, with more than 1m people working in the sector in 1950. Today that number has shrunk to a mere 80,000...Yet nourished by [the] entrepreneurial spirit [of NYC], a new industry is emerging. It might be called social manufacturing."

We spent some time with The Economist last week in our NYC headquarters and distribution center. Check out "social manufacturing" in action.

Congrats to all the Shapeways community members whose beautiful designs got airtime, including: Anders Hansen, BAROBA, Bathsheba Grossman, Bits to Atoms, Continuum Fashion, Cunicode, David Krentz Dinosaurs, Gilbert13, Joshua Harker, Kaetemi, Kevin Wei, Kurt Van den Branden, MineToys, Nervous System, Schreer Design, Sevensheaven, Stony Smith, Theo Jansen, and Tristan Bethe.

Happy Friday everyone! For this week's Friday Finds, we have a round up of whimsical, fantastic designs from the Shapeways community.

BOID11 by HiLobster, whose design conjures up images of Russian dolls, Rainbow Brite, and a flock of Marshmallow Peeps.

Hello world. We're so excited to hear stories from Shapies across the globe, and we want to meet you, in person, wherever you are! We're hosting several meet ups and will be at several others in the coming weeks. Here's a round-up of where you'll find us:

• London Meetup with Bart and Ralph (April 25th)
• NYC Meetup with the NYC team, including yours truly (April 25th)
• Baltimore Community Meetup with Mike Williams, Forum Moderator Extraordinaire! (April 26th)
  
• Design for Manufacturing Summit in NYC with Pete and Duann (April 26th)
• Mashable Connect at Walt Disney World with Pete (May 3rd-5th)
  
• Design for 3D Printing in Utrecht with Bart (May 5th)
  
• Walkabout NYC at the Shapeways office during Internet Week NY (May 18th)
  
• Maker Faire San Mateo (May 19th and 20th)
  

Plus more to come...sleep is for the weak.

It's that time again! We hope you can join us next Wednesday for this month's NYC Shapeways meetup. Meet some new members of the team, chat with other Shapies, and get a sneak peek of some awesome projects we're working on (materials and lots of other goodies). We're also spicing things up with a new venue, The Caulfield.

As always, everyone is welcome! Bring a friend, bring your 3D prints, and chat with others in the community about the future of stuff.

Please RSVP via Meetup so we know how many plates of guacamole to order

We've all heard the adage that distance makes the heart grow fonder, but it also seems to inspire creativity. Shapeways community member Alec Cox shared his story of designing and 3D printing his wedding ring on Shapeways, and the back story is even more romantic.

Ladies, brace yourself. Gents, take notes.

Hers

His

Designing the rings

[Caitlin and I] went to the same high school but have gone to different colleges (she goes to MIT, I go to a school in Ohio) for undergraduate, so 3D printing has given me the ability to create our rings where distance has taken away the traditional ritual of shopping for rings together. While I initially tried to smelt the rings myself, this resulted in a pile of useless silver slag and a whole heap of danger concerning oxy-acetylene torches.

Scenario 1: Sunday, May 13th, 6pm. Mom calls, disappointed, reminding you it's Mother's Day. You complain that it's an artificial holiday and your love extends beyond traditional conceptions of time or space. She blames your father.

Scenario 2: Saturday, April 21st, 12pm. Post morning caffeine, you head to Shapeways.com and design mom a custom gift she'll be talking about for years. It arrives at your place two weeks later, fresh off the 3D printer. Mother's Day, her eyes widen. You're not only the perfect kid, you define perfection. She offers to do your laundry for old time's sake.

The countdown begins! With Mother's Day less than a month away, prove to yourself (and mom) that you won't let procrastination get the better of you.

We're here for the moral support, and even have a couple tools to make creating your masterpiece super easy. Get inspired with our Mother's Day Friday Finds and the gift guide.

Happy making!

Happy Friday everyone! Check out the latest creations from the Shapeways community. With Mother's Day coming up, this week's picks focus on gift ideas for mom. We also just launched our Mother's Day Make-A-Thon! Start tinkering...

RJ's Double Heart Shaped Shots, perfect for her morning espresso.

Eddie Adolf's "Follow your Heart" pendant, designed by Eddie's mom. Adorable story.

Pete and Charlie will be out west next week for a special event at the MIT/Stanford Venture Lab on 3D Printing: Personalized Production for the Mass Market.

Pete will speak on a panel alongside leaders from 3D Systems, Autodesk, and London College of Fashion, and MAKE Magazine. They'll be discussing the future of the industry and the impact 3D printing will have on entrepreneurs, design, and personalized production.

The event is next Tuesday, April 17th, at 6pm, hosted at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. After the panel, we'll have a table set up for demos, Q&A, and of course, we'll bring lots of 3D printed designs.

Read more and RSVP to secure your spot. Hope to see you there!

Happy Friday everyone! I'm overwhelmed by the number of gems popping up on a daily basis -- here are some of the inspiring designs that got us all "ooh-ing" and "aah-ing" in the office.

Piers de Burgh's Pixel iPhone 4 / 4S iPhone Case, a DIY case perfect for those of us who like to keep things fresh. 

Macouno's Dorus the Dragon, who is just too cute...

...particularly when perched on your desk! 

This past Monday, we spent some time chatting with Marty Goldensohn on the Brian Lehrer show. We discussed the future of 3D printing and shared some of the amazing products from the Shapeways community. Fast forward to minute 40:41 for the interview.

Special shout out to Virtox, whose Triple Matrix Earrings got some airtime! 

This April, we'll be joining other thought leaders to discuss 3D printing, digital in industrial design and design for manufacturability at the DFM Inaugural Summit. Our CEO Peter Weijmarshausen will be giving the keynote, and Duann Scott with be on a panel discussing the democratization of product development. 

Early bird tickets are now available! The event will be help on Thursday, April 26, at Dumbo Spot in Brooklyn. 

Our Director of Industrial Engineering Kegan Fisher (@keganfisher) shares the exciting news about opening up our NY Distribution Center:

Just over one year ago we jumped the pond, set up an IKEA delivery, and opened the doors to our NY office. 

Since then we have strengthened our team, bought some plants, killed some plants, eaten Curry Hill, pulled more then a few all nighters, and started a monthly Meetup with the goal of building a community that shared the dream of democratized manufacturing.

This week we took this one step further, and officially opened DCNY -- our first official Distribution Center in NY, Long Island City to be precise. This is the first step toward opening up a Factory of the Future in NYC.

What does this mean? US orders will be shipped from NYC, and production will start soon as well. We are on the path to shorter lead times, greater transparency, and lower costs all around. I know you've been asking for additional shipping methods since I started, and this is the first step towards making it happen. Living in the digital world, it's easy to forget that the physical does not move as quickly, and trust me when I say, I am as impatient as all of you.

We have built a distribution center that holds no inventory. Everything goes in and out same day, every SKU is unique, and we are constantly astounded by the products that pass from machine to package.