Designer Susan Fang, in collaboration with former Dyson engineer Orelio De Jonghe, has created a sequence of 3D printed equipment for Apple’s newest units, together with iPhone and iPad covers, Apple Watch bands, AirPod enclosures, and Mac Mini shells.
“We began with the query of ‘how can we make 3D printed equipment really feel alive, with a way of expertise, nearly really feel like a type of future craft?’ — this nonetheless requires full guide management over totally different applications, and might’t be completed with AI, which remains to be imprecise and really random,” defined Fang.
Pushing Digital Design Limits
With De Jonghe’s technical experience, Fang’s group absolutely leveraged Apple’s M-chip units and Clo3D trend software program to experiment with complicated simulations and rendering results. The venture is constrained by software program and {hardware} limits: not all results are reproducible exterior high-performance techniques, and exact guide enter is required for accuracy.
“We began doing extraordinarily complicated results — the type usually utilized in animated function movies, which often require huge multimachine rendering — a standard laptop computer would crash, however a MacBook may run it,” Fang mentioned. By emphasizing these boundaries, the group clarifies what 3D printing can and can’t ship in client tech: intricate, tactile designs are doable, however solely inside superior workflows.
Nonetheless, utilizing the newest software program choices, Fang and De Jonghe explored naturalistic results, equivalent to vegetation swaying within the wind, and built-in 3D printed components seamlessly into clothes and equipment. The ensuing designs mix craftsmanship with expertise, demonstrating how digital fabrication can produce expressive and natural varieties.
The collaboration gadgets can be found on Fang’s Xiaohongshu platform, from 561 renminbi ($79) for an iPhone cowl to 7,925 renminbi ($1,120) for a Mac Mini shell, displaying how superior 3D workflows translate into tangible, commercially obtainable merchandise.
3D Printing Brings Personalization and Craft to Shopper Tech Equipment
Fang’s venture illustrates why 3D printing is commercially and technically related for client tech equipment right this moment. It demonstrates that digital fabrication could make mass-produced expertise really feel personalised and expressive, however solely underneath particular situations: superior software program information, exact guide enter, and high-performance {hardware}.
Related approaches are actually being explored commercially, bringing customization and expressive design to broader client tech equipment. In 2024, Bambu Lab and CMF by Nothing ran a design contest inviting creators to develop customized equipment for the CMF Telephone 1, offering specs to make sure purposeful, exact designs. Equally, UNYQ and IKEA collaborated on personalised 3D printed equipment for players, together with customized controller grips and ornamental components that combine with present furnishings and setups.
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Featured picture exhibits Flower iPhone Case 3D Printed. Picture by way of SUSAN FANG.
