Nov.16, 2013
Le Fabshop in Paris, a 3D printing startup, announced a world first "green" seaweed 3D printing filament at the opening of 3D print show in Paris.
In collaboration with French company Algopack, Le Fabshop has spent over a year developing this innovative seaweed filament SWF using seaweed grown and harvested in Brittany in the north-west of France. Up to now there are dozens of filament materials available on the market for 3D printing: plastic, metals, paper derivatives, wax, sugar etc but none of them are as "green" as the seaweed filament SWF.
The SWF will be launched on the market in spring 2014.
"We aim to revolutionize 3D printing, which is already a revolution by itself. Many technologies take years to become green, but we wanted now to offer a smart alternative in the field." says Bertier LUYT, Founder and CEO of le FabShop in a statement. "Seaweed is a valuable raw material particularly suitable to our requirements. It requires no water, no pesticides or fertilizers to grow. We only need to develop a formula to make it compatible to 3D printing."
Le Fabshop was launched in 2012. The workshop is the distributor of Makerbot 3D printers, and 3D paper printers Iris and Matrix 300 from Mcor Technologies. It also supplies 3D models for various clients such as the Palace of Versailles, Paris City Council and the BNP bank. The company now employs a dozen staff and its provisional turnover for 2013 is 1.2 million euros. Growth is estimated to reach 250% in 2014. le Fabshop raised 220,000 € last August, half of it from Logoden, a Rennes-based association of business angels with a brand in Saint-Malo, and the other half from a private investor.
The new funding follows an initial outside investment of 100,000 euros in "love money" (funding from friends and family) last May. These two injections of cash are designed to fund the development of Fabshop's business (a digital manufacturing workshop using 3D modelling) and to support the establishment of France's own FabClubs, digital manufacturing workshops open to the public. The first of the clubs will open its doors in Paris early in 2014.
via: humanoides.fr
Posted in 3D Printing Materials
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"The SWF will be launched on the market in spring 2014." At first I thought that it will be April 1st ;) but it is good that 3d printing goes beyond normal materials.
Ben wrote at 11/18/2013 6:37:22 PM:
@ Peter- No. They WANT to be able to print in seaweed. Give them startup funds and they will try to develop it. "We only need to develop a formula to make it compatible to 3D printing." That means they have gone through the "idea" phase. Here's a picture of seaweed on a seashell to prove that SWF is possible.
Andre wrote at 11/18/2013 6:13:09 AM:
I've always wanted to print seaweed.
peter wrote at 11/16/2013 2:44:09 PM:
Great ... so now you can print ...seaweed?