Oct 16, 2016 | By Benedict
Husband-to-be Noah Keating surprised his fiancée Nina Tandon, CEO of bone graft specialist EpiBone, with a 3D printed engagement ring inspired by the muscle fibers of the human heart. The 3D printed band was adorned with a lab-grown diamond.
When the time comes in a relationship for one partner to pop the question, choosing an engagement ring can be the hardest part. How do you find the perfect design and jewel for the love of your life? What small band of metal will motivate your other half to commit to you forever? For Noah Keating, the answer was easy—though the process of obtaining his perfect ring was far from simple.
Nina Tandon, Keating’s partner, happens to be CEO of EpiBone, a bone reconstruction company that allows patients to grow bones using their own stem cells, but her medical past also involved studying the human heart while in grad school at Columbia. Keating’s plan? To create a customized engagement ring inspired by the fibers of the human heart, fabricated using 3D printing technology.
While Keating didn’t have the requisite skill set to sculpt his own organic-inspired band, he knew someone who did: designer Manca Ahlin, a friend of Tandon’s whose lace sculptures often took inspiration from organic cell structures. Knowing Tandon’s tastes well, Ahlin enthusiastically agreed to help Keating with his plan, and the pair got started right away. Using 3D modeling software, Ahlin and Keating worked on the ring design, eventually crafting an interwoven mesh of organic-looking strands that resembled cardiac muscle fibers.
The ring design, which is not 100% anatomically correct but which strikes the perfect balance between realism and beauty, was then 3D printed in wax, before eventually being cast in platinum. That, however, was only half the story: Keating needed a jewel, and based on Tandon’s scientific background, aesthetic tastes, and strong moral principles, he knew he had to purchase a lab-grown diamond.
Keating approached diamond retailer Brilliant Earth about the possibility of purchasing a lab-grown diamond, created using either high heat and high pressure or chemical processes. Lab-grown diamonds, like natural diamonds, are made from carbon, but are guaranteed to be ethically sourced—many natural diamonds, on the other hand, are procured through unsavory and exploitative methods.
Ahlin and Keating made sure that the 3D printed band would fit the 2.08-carat, super ideal cut stone, and the complete ring was enough to make Tandon say “yes” to Keating. “It’s so beautiful,” Tandon said of the 3D printed ring. “I loved it. It was so thoughtful. He’d really put a lot of effort into it. You could tell it was such a work of art. It’s a beautiful piece, but because it's steeped in my work and things that are important to me.”
The day after the proposal was February 29. In Irish culture, this leap-year occasion is known Bachelor’s Day, the day on which women are encouraged to propose to men. Accordingly, Tandon took the opportunity to 3D print a plastic copy the ring before giving it to Keating in a reverse proposal. The happy couple’s wedding, which took place in August, also featured laser-cut invitations, 3D printed vases, and a digitally printed wedding dress.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
Maybe you also like:
- This DIY 3D printed UV Brush Cleaner keeps your makeup brushes dry and sterilized
- WaterScope uses 3D printed microscope to bring water testing to the developing world
- New Panasonic smart mirror scans your blemishes and 3D prints customized makeup
- KCNSC 3D prints 25000th part, saving more than $45M in production costs in the process
- 3D printing lets the blind to touch and feel Gustav Klimt's 1908 masterpiece 'The Kiss'
- 3D printing and scanning give twins conjoined at the head a fighting chance
- 3D printed EXO 1 exoskeleton transforms DJI Phantom 4 into a search-and-rescue drone
- Hyatt Hotels ad campaign celebrates business travelers with 3D printed statuettes
I want to 3-D Print myself a wife. Anybody know how to do that yet? Anyone?
3Ders.org provides the latest news about 3D printing technology and 3D printers. We are now seven years old and have around 1.5 million unique visitors per month.
