Theo Jansen

Theo Jansen is a Dutch kinetic artist, creating new forms of life since 1990. He is father to the "Animari" beach creatures, or "Strandbeests", made of PVC tubing, that walk the beach powered by the wind. As time progresses the Beests evolve, with the ultimate goal of living their lives on their own.

Theo Jansen's Strandbeests have found a way to multiply by injecting their digital DNA directly into the Shapeways system. From now on several small strandbeests are available from his shop. Next to being a great abstraction of the inspiring work of Theo Jansen, these Strandbeests are also an example of what 3D printing is ultimately capable of. Right after birth from the 3D printer these models will work straight away and do NOT require any assembly.

Multiple prototypes were used to come to the first viable solution, "Animaris Geneticus Parvus" #5. But the evolution process continues with evolutions #6 with lightweight bone structure and #7 with pointy feet.

Theo Jansen’s 3D printed Strandbeest now continues to evolve with the addition of a Propeller Propulsion system! The  3D printed Strandbeests can now walk autonomously, powered by the wind, just like Theo's full-scale Strandbeests. The new propeller add-on gives new and existing owners of these kinetic sculptures a new way to set them in motion!

3D printing is very suitable for rapid design changes, and as time goes by the Beests will evolve and new types of DNA will be added to the store, while others are removed. Expect more evolutions and variations in the future, with possible variation in size, shape, material or means of propulsion.

Watch Theo Jansen and the "making of" video here.

Watch the new Propeller Propulsion video here.

And you can find our instruction video on mounting the Propeller Propulsion add-on, here.