2013 promises some very exciting developments for D2W.
Most significantly, it will see the relocation from our cradle in Marylebone, to a new industrial building at Rochester Place in Camden Town.
D2W owes its very existence to a Grade II listed Georgian town house in Wimpole Street. This is where D2W was first established as an offshoot of dentist Andrew Dawood’s investment in 3d printers and scanning technology to aid his pioneering dental work at Dawood and Tanner.
Recent growth in the number of design projects coming through D2W, means that we have outgrown the Wimpole Street address and need to move to premises more suitable to the running of industrial equipment.
The work to transform the building in Camden Town into a purpose designed 3d printing studio commenced in the first week of 2013 and we hope that all will be ready for the move this coming May. We’re extremely excited, as it will transform the way we work and enable us to much more actively promote the exploration of 3d printing’s potential in the following ways:
A Month of Sundays
Not only is the new space absolutely ideally laid out to organise our 3d printers and all of their associated equipment, it also provides a very generous open plan office space which far exceeds our current requirements. Therefore, we intend to set aside some of this space to form a permanent gallery where we will display what we consider to be really fine examples of the use of 3d printing technology.
In order to further fuel interesting and challenging applications of the technology, we aim to establish a residency programme. This will be called “A Month of Sundays”, whereby individuals will be invited to submit proposals for any creative ideas that relate to 3d printing, from whatever field. Those selected will then be invited to consult with D2W for a month and have the benefit of a month of Sunday builds from any of our 3d printers, in order to fully explore their ideas.
At the end of the residency, the gallery will host a public exhibition of the work produced. If you would like to be informed as and when we are inviting applications for “A Month of Sundays”, please fill out the form below and we will add you to our dedicated mailing list.
3d Printing Work Hub
Even with the inclusion of the gallery, there is still going to be plenty of floor area left and here we want to offer design spaces to anyone who would find the proximity to our 3d printers advantageous.
We currently still have lots of space up for grabs, so whether you’d like to relocate your entire enterprise to sit alongside us, or whether you might just like to start off with a desk. All possibilities are up for discussion. If you are interested in some of the space, please be in touch and we would be delighted to show you around as it takes shape.
In this way, we hope to encourage something of a 3d printing hub that will cross fertilise the development of the technology and produce astonishing results.
We also intend to offer laser cutting and CNC milling. So often we’re approached with projects that sensibly require these other technologies to produce elements of the project and have to farm these out to others. This slows down the whole process and we hope that by having these facilities in house, we can become even more versatile and efficient.
D2W Open Evenings
To the vast majority of people, 3d printers remain a mythical and magical beast which they have only ever glimpsed on TV or on YouTube. Most often these snippets are very misleading and leave people with the impression that it’s a simple technology that can almost instantly produce anything. This is not strictly true…. Therefore, we want to encourage people to come and see them in action; machines making real projects (not just bunnies or wrenches) with real limitations, with real time and processing logistics. 3d printers are not magic. They have their own unique constraints and limitations. However, this does not diminish their wonder. All great design understands constraints and limitations and works either within or around them, in order achieve the remarkable.
We firmly believe that the more people understand about how the machines work, the faster they can understand the real and astounding potential for the objects that can be produced. We are happy to welcome visitors by appointment, but the new building will enable us to organise D2W Open Evenings where people can come and see the machines in action, touch the materials and properly understand the potential. Some of these evenings could even be specifically dedicated to educational institutions who might like to introduce students to the technology.
To be added to the mailing lists for either A Month of Sundays or the D2W Open Evenings, or to express an interest in the design studio spaces, then please contact us via the form below, indicating which of the of subjects you are interested in, in the comments box.
These are just some of the things that the new premises will allow us to do. Along with the creative input of others, all three of them will increase our own understanding of 3d printing technology. This communication and sharing of knowledge and expertise is at the core of all that we do. The urge to understand and develop the technology in order to create more wonderful objects that have never been conceivable before!
