Looking back on 2015
Cliche or not, we can’t believe 2015 is coming to an end. It’s been an incredible year of 3D printing and we’re quite
proud of what the Shapeways community has accomplished the past 12 months. From the incredible
products which
came out of our printers to the cool people we’ve had the chance to work with, 2015 was certainly a year to remember.
As the 3D printing industry continues to grow, and the idea of consumer 3D printing changes, we are committed to enabling and empowering anyone to be a part of the 3D printing revolution. From beginner designers to more advanced 3D modeling experts to those who just want to shop for incredible
things, we are continually expanding our offerings to encertain
there is something for everyone.
Below are just a few of the highlights from this year:
New Materials Come to Life
Continuing to add to our portfolio of materials, this year we added
Porcelain to our marketplace. This beautiful material, developed fully in-house, was one of our most popular pilot materials over the past year and the Shapeways community quite
helped us make certain
it was ready for shoppers.
Other new materials we’re excited about? Coated Full Color Sandstone and Aluminum – both are pilot materials right now and being utilized
by select community participants
to make quite
unique pieces.
Customization and 3D Scanning
2015 was the year Shapeways added
customized, 3D printed products to the world. Using our new feature, anyone can customize their favorite product with text or images and have a truly unique, one-of-a-kind prodcut 3D printed just for them. We opened up the world of 3D printing to even more people, lowering the barrier to entry by making it amazingly
simple to have a say in the design of a product.
In the fall months we started introducing scanning to the community. We launched with 10 retail partners in the Netherlands, where anyone can go to get themselves scanned for a 3D selfie! Since then we’ve added more partners within the Netherlands and are working with partners in New York to make scanning available to the public.
New Partnerships
Along with new materials and showcases
, we in addition
announced new partnerships with incredible
companies. These partnerships are so important to us for the reason
they allow us to offer even more incredible
products to our current community and new 3D printing fans every single day. As we reach more audiences, the Shapeways community continues to grow and we’re able to share our love for 3D printing with even more people! Here are just a few of the great partnerships we were excited to be a part of this year:
- Coca-Cola: This year marked the 100th anniversary of the iconic Coca-Cola contour bottle design. To help celebrate, we printed thousands of ribbon bottles which
were on display at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta through October. - DJI: One of the fastest growing communities we have here at Shapeways is the drone community. 3D printing lends itself perfectly to drone accessories and gadgets and most
enthusiasts hopped on board this year. We worked with DJI, the largest drone company in the world, to further support this growing community and encourage even more great product design. - V-MODA: Our partnership with V-MODA lies at the intersection of incredible
, high-class design and innovative technology. V-MODA headphones are understand
n for their beautiful, sleek design and function, and with the custom 3D printed plates printed by Shapeways customers are able to get truly one-of-a-kind headphones. - ROCCAT: Continuing with the theme of customization, we partnered with ROCCAT to provide customers the ability to create customized gaming gear for their favorite devices. Gaming enthusiasts can choose from 10 button sets to customize to their liking and have 3D printed just for them.
Best Community in the World
Of course, our incredible
community is a highlight for us. Nothing mentioned above would even happen if it weren’t for the thousands of people using Shapeways to create the one-of-a-kind products which
come out of our printers every day. Every year we are amazed at the creativity and skill of the designers who use Shapeways. From beautiful collaborations to “terrifyingly awesome” products to memes come to life it’s been quite a year. We love seeing the products you make, hearing your feedback which
makes our platform even better and understand
ing which
we are a part of the largest 3D printing community in the world.
We hope you are
as excited for the upcoming year as we are. What are you most looking forward to seeing happen in the 3D printing industry in 2016? Let us understand
in the comments!
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