3ders.org - The winners of 'Print up your life! – How does 3D printing change our world?' announced

The winners of 'Print up your life! – How does 3D printing change our world?' announced

Dec 10, 2014

The purmundus challenge 2014 presented its exciting final exhibition at EuroMold from the 25th until the 28th of November. This competition for 3D printing was organized in cooperation with the Demat GmbH and was open to designers and engineers. This year the topic was: "Print up your life! – How does 3D printing change our world?"

The categories "Best Concept" and "Best Product" featured a first prize of €3.000 each, while all categories also offered a €500 printing voucher as a second prize. Those participants coming in third won a €250 voucher for printing services. While most entries came from Europe, the final exhibition included submissions from Germany, Scotland and even Africa.

'We are delighted to present a very diverse exhibition in the final! The jury was very excited by the still very unusual ideas.' said Jury member and Creative Director of purmundus. Entries for this year's competition included concepts for desktop 3D printers and various customizable products such as diving masks.

Best Concept

Simon Ruber from Stuttgart, Germany won first prize the 'Best Concept' category with his 'Generic Grip' entry: An individualized handle of a hammer that can be adapted to suit the ergonomic preferences of the user. In addition, it can be easily replaced and repaired without needing to discard the entire hammer.

As the jury explained:

'The Generic Grip is really a human tool interface. The concept can be transferred to other applications like sports grips like golf or tennis, for example.'

Best Product

Roy Ombatti's submission from Kenya, 'Happy feet', took home the gold in the 'Best Product' category:

A 3D printed shoe concept aimed at combating a common problem for children in Kenya: 'jigger-louse'. When affected, their toes and feet become sore and swell up to a point that they can't walk easily. The open wounds it causes are very painful. By scanning the feet, Roy Ombatti can produce an adapted shoe that enables the children to walk again again. More impressively, his 3D printer recycles local plastic waste, which is crushed and extruded into a filament which can be used directly. The recycled material forms the foot bed, while the shoe's soft areas are made of textile.

As the jury explained:

'Roy Ombatti's 'Happy feet' concept focuses on problems in the Third World. Happy Feet – an individualized shoe for children – has a huge impact on their lives and represents the relevant advantages that 3D printing has to offer: individualization, printing on demand and recycling local materials.'

Second prize

The competition's second prize was won by Yuske Goto with the 'Double Helix Cable' entry:

An extension cord that exemplifies the 4D printing principle: originally produced in a small size, it can be stretched to achieve its maximum length.

Third prize

Third place was awarded to visitors' favorite 'Ciur', a submission by Hannah Vogt; a riding helmet that combines individual protection with personal lifestyle.

Jury:

Florian Horsch - Writer
Sylvia Olp - aed Stuttgart
Terry Wohlers - Wohlers Associates, Inc.
Kay-Uwe Witte - XO-Design Group, advisory board EuroMold
Alexander Hafner - General Manager MakerBot Europe
Prof. Volker Helzle - Filmakademie Ludwigsburg
Botho Reichmann - Rat für Formgebung / German Design Council
Christoph Völcker - purmundus

Check out more photos from the event below: