3-D Printing on Project Runway?

About a year ago Robin called me and began our discourse on 3-D printing.  It was new to me but it didn’t take long for her enthusiasm to rub off on me.  In May when we were in NYC for Grace’s graduation we went to the MakerBot store for a demo.  What fun that was and Robin and Jim bought one.  Since then we have seen numerous articles and demonstrations on 3-D printing, including a quote from Diane von Furstenberg that 3-D printing would revolutionize the fashion industry.

Well, as you can imagine, I was thrilled this evening on Project Runway to see her words come true.  Read on to learn how 3-D printing was used in this evening’s episode.

One of the contestants, Justin Leblanc, had been deaf for the first 18+ years of his life, before he got a coclier implant. He still has difficulty speaking and hearing and has a companion who signs for him.  He says he is on the show to set an example for other hearing or otherwise challenged individuals that they can do anything they want.  He takes that responsibility very seriously and works very hard.

Earlier in the program he had been voted off by the judges but Tim Gunn used his one time only pass to save him.  This evening he was competing for a chance to present at fashion week.  He showed three of his looks to Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia and Zak Posen.  Each look included accessories he had made on a 3-D printer.  First was a white outfit on which he had placed a black multi-strand necklace.  Second look was black with a similar design white 3-D printed belt.  Third look was an amazing white dress on which he had created a neck piece by fusing two white multi-strand necklaces.  Fantastic use of cutting edge technology to add to his fashion forward designs.

When Tim had visited Justin in his studio he showed Tim these accessories, explained how he made them and stated that it had taken 180 hours of printing to produce enough for his 10 looks.  But that wasn’t 180 hours of Justin’s time.  He had merely provided the software and let the printer go at it while he worked on designing and sewing his garments.

3-D printing is exciting and offers many possibilities.  I have an arm full of multicolored bracelets Jim made for me with their printer.  Each took 20 cents of plastic and 20 minutes of printer time.  The MakerBot people talked about using a 3-D printer for making pendants, brooches, buttons and other fashion items.

Sure hope I don’t ask Santa to bring me a 3-D printer for Xmas!