{"id":23542,"date":"2016-01-25T15:41:21","date_gmt":"2016-01-25T15:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/?p=23542"},"modified":"2016-01-26T17:53:35","modified_gmt":"2016-01-26T17:53:35","slug":"designer-spotlight-dane-saunders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/designer-spotlight-dane-saunders","title":{"rendered":"Designer Spotlight: Dane Saunders"},"content":{"rendered":"

For this weeks designer spotlight, we are excited to feature Dane Saunders<\/a>, industrial designer and enthusiastic entrepreneur and creator! Dane’s shop is full of interesting, fun items that clearly express a love for experimentation! Learn about his process and inspiration below.<\/p>\n

Tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? Where are you located?<\/em>
\nI tell most people now days that I live & work in a little cave…and I accompany that comment with my best physical impression of a goblin or hunchback….that way they can appreciate my sacrifices! \ud83d\ude09 I think it’s a subtle ploy to downplay how cool my job really is. I’ve been doing freelance Industrial Design in Vancouver, Canada for the past 2 years. Prior to that, I spent the better part of a decade working for Boston Dynamics as a designer, technician, and build manager, gleaming as much knowledge as I could from the plethora of robotics engineers that I worked with daily.<\/p>\n

\"Dane<\/a>

Photo credit: Alexis McKeown Photography<\/p><\/div>\n

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What’s the story behind your designs? What inspires you?<\/em>
\nMost of my work on Shapeways is inspired by that insatiable need to simply make stuff! Behind that I would say I’ve always had that relentless entrepreneurial gene, plaguing me or pushing me (can’t decide), to find ways to not only have my work seen an used by others, but to also put a few dollars in my pocket…allowing me to explore even more ideas!
\nI am inspired daily by other creatives, not only in design and craft, but also in photography, or dance, or good ol’ ink on paper. If I’m not thinking about furniture or games, I’m thinking about product ideas….and wishing I had more dough to explore all these ideas in my head. Having an outlet like Shapeways is pretty unique, and I think it’s bringing out designs from myself and others, that would otherwise never see the light of day. For instance: the latest brass pendants I created as a set of 3….gifts for the three most influential women in my life. I think these show my tendencies to smooth lines, and retro styling. And, what a glorious thing to have access to printed metal! Beyond that, I clearly got wrapped up in Bow Ties for a while. I sat down one day, determined to design a bow tie that could be printed flat, then bent or assembled into shape. Well, I failed that…but something else came out this experiment with bending cardboard. I ended up with a simple form that could be customized with endless patterns…that was exciting enough for me. These are exciting times for designers, and I am so grateful for all the resources we have at our finger tips.<\/p>\n