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c. sven johnson — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:19:01 -0400

That it's taken so long for the broader discussion to finally reach this point is troubling.

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c. sven johnson — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 21:25:17 -0400

If the issue isn't "critical thinking" in our work, but critical analysis of another designer or design team's work, then in my (marginal) opinion critiques are rare simply because few industrial design professionals are willing to risk potentially adverse repercussions from being genuinely honest.

By the way, you lost me at: "big thinkers like... Bruce Nussbaum".

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c. sven johnson — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:29:57 -0400

Rapid-prototyping metals (whether stainless steel or something like titanium) is neither new nor a breakthrough made by Shapeways. In fact, the particular process you describe is not even the most amazing, since it requires post-processing. Newer processes go beyond sintering and infusing with another metal; they literally melt the metal powder (using lasers or electron beams) into a non-porous solid of high metallurgical quality.

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c. sven johnson — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:00:46 -0400

These are the same images shown in "Apple Design: The Work of the Apple Industrial Design Group" by Paul Kunkel (see pages 96 & 98). According to the book, these are part of the "Snow White" effort from late 1982 to early 1983. Row two, first two pictures, shows development of "Workbench, the next-generation office computer with the Frameless Keyboard, Avant-garde Mouse and Vertical Dot Matrix Printer".

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c. sven johnson — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:02:58 -0400

@Andreas who said "With 'design control' you're referring to the 'leaving the control about good design in the hands of professional designers, even in the age of fabbing' issue, right?"

That depends on what you mean by "good design". For plenty of industrial designers this means many things which I consider open to individual modification. I'm specifically addressing safety. The Futurismic column to which Jamais linked presents a few scenarios of the kind which concern me, not whether consumers create stylistically questionable objects.

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c. sven johnson — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:08:37 -0400

The danger of getting me started.

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c. sven johnson — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:01:14 -0400

@Harry who said: "Objects are printouts. Sounds like an oxymoron."

That depends on how you think of "printouts". Some printing processes (e.g. flexography) can include the making of molds. Just like your plastic computer housing.

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c. sven johnson — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:38:18 -0400

I was just reminded of this by a new Twitter follower: Wired's Chris Anderson blog entry "A rocket launcher of our own" - http://www.thelongtail.com/the_long_tail/2005/05/my_own_personal.html

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c. sven johnson — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:15:33 -0400

@Andreas who said "I would love to read your comments on copyright worries..."

I've been heavily focused on the IP issues in this context for the better part of the last decade and frequently write on the topic. Thus, you might find this of interest:

"The Looming Dark Horizon: When the IP Mess Hits Industrial Design & Co." - http://blog.rebang.com/?p=1400 (lots of links in this one)

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c. sven johnson — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:12:12 -0400

@Christopher who said "I predict the first mass-use of this technology will be to make personal adornment items, possibly with embedded electronics."

In 2006, I was discussing setting up an online fabbing service with Mashable founder Pete Cashmore. Our major point of contention was his focus on game avatars and mine on jewelry. Obviously the game avatars are doing well in limited circles, but I still stand by and agree with you on this; the profit margins and small build size for fashion accessories make it a compelling market for this technology.