2022

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The chair was designed by a variety of professionals and 3d-printed by us from recycled post-consumer plastic waste. The chair was inspired by Lasse Virén, a Finnish long-distance runner who fell in the middle of the 10,000-metre final in the Munich Olympics. Like Virén, the chair rises back up when it falls.

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By 2019 only 9% of the plastic waste ever generated had been recycled, and in 2019 only 14% was collected for recycling (source: UNEP). Although plastic is an easy target to blame, the real problem lies in the deficient waste management systems, not the material itself. As the consumption of plastic increases, plastic recycling needs to increase at the same pace - or preferably, a lot faster. The Virén chair is just one proof of the many possibilities that large-scale 3d-printing can offer to plastic recycling.

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Our unique, large-scale 3D-printer, Bloft Mk2 is able to use granulated plastic as printing material which made it possible to test the Fortum Circo® recycled plastic granules without extra processing. In the development phase, the Virén chair was first printed in parts and then assembled and post-processed. The finished chair, however, was printed in one piece as a result of a carefully optimized process.

2019

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The Social & Autonomous Robotic Health Assistant project by Forum Virium Helsinki was aiming to develop a robot to ease the workload of health care professionals and to provide the clients of a sheltered home meaningful social activities.

 

We were asked to design & deliver a shell prototype that combined a commercially available Sanbot Elf robot and a navigation platform prototype by GIM Robotics in a visually appealing manner.

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After initial sketching we went to observe the robot in real life environment and quickly came to the conclusion, that the robot attached on top of the navigation platform had to be tilted towards the user for inclusive and achievable user experience. We made quick mock-ups of our concept design and presented them to the client. The robots were delivered to us so we could 3D-scan them and take necessary measurements. 

The solid model was split into 5 pieces and fixing points were added. We also created a trunk for small items the robot may need to transport. After assembly and seam adjustments were done, we took the shell parts to the paint shop and gave them a nice white glossy finish.

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The robot was tested in real life environment at the Kustaankartano sheltered home during autumn 2019.

2019

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The well known Finnish shoe designer Minna Parikka wanted to have a huge scale model of one of her favorite shoe models, Joan Black-Red, to be placed in front of her flagship store in Helsinki. The shoe had to look exactly like the original, so some consideration went into thinking how the shoe could be manufactured. We utilized a novel process of large scale 3D-printing and new biodegradable materials to come up with a truly unique product.

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The scale model is approx. 1 meter tall, 1.4 meter long and over half a meter wide. First thoughts of making it out of real leather were dismissed due to the complicated behavior of the material and the required mouldings, so we decided to 3D-print the whole shoe but in parts due to its sheer size. As it was meant to be standing outdoors, it also needed to have a certain weight in order to prevent it from falling over in heavy wind. So, the weight summed up between 40-50 kg.

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Fully biodegradable specialty filament was used to print the shoe. The material is biodegradable according to ISO 14855, it is food safe and it is 100% made from renewable resources. Compared to PLA it also has a much better temperature resistance - A feature that was important, since the shoe would be exposed to direct sunlight. The surface of the shoe was sealed by base coating and a high gloss finish to mimic a real patent leather appearance.

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The shoe is displayed at the Minna Parikka flagship store in Helsinki.