Janelle Wilson uses fractal patterns to create gorgeous 3D printed objects. Her jellyfish lampshade first captured our imagination, but her Shapeways store is packed with amazing things, from elaborate soap dishes to beautiful silver pendants and earrings. We caught up with her to discuss her thoughts on 3D printing in this latest installment of Meet the Makers...
What attracted you to 3D printing and model-making? Do you have a technical background at all?
3D printing looked like a wonderful way to express ideas and to see them in physical form relatively quickly. I studied jewellery making (in the form of an apprenticeship) and also completed a design degree at UNSW Australia. This was many years ago and most of my techniques are self taught through online research and experimentation over the last few years.
What software do you use to design your projects? How did you learn to use it?
Rhino 3D, RhinoGold, Adobe Illustrator and Grasshopper. I'm largely self taught through experimentation and a wide selection of online tutorials. With a solid understanding of 2D computer design (particularly Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop) it was a natural, although not always particularly easy, transition to 3D computer aided design.
Who are your favourite designers and makers? What inspires you to create your designs?
Very many people and things inspire my work. Contemporary and historic artists and labels whose work I appreciate include Escher, H.R Giger, Da Vinci, Rene Lalique, Lorenz Baumer, Chagall, Faberge & Jason P. Nelson. Some makers in the 3D printing community whose work I admire include: Henry Segerman, Bulatov, Electrobloom, Dario Scapitta Design, Mack Madness, Virtox, Bathsheba, Alienology, Nervous System, Dropping Form Designs, & Spaho Design.
Almost everything inspires me from ancient artifacts, to street art, architecture, fashion, mathematical forms, & nature. TV shows and movies (especially fantasy genre and history based drama) e.g. Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, Avatar, Alien, The Tudors, The Matrix, Harry Potter, Angel, Rome and Inception. Microcosm, macrocosm, simple elegance and extreme ornamentation. Massive temples and castles, patterns of veins within leaves, geometric forms, insects, coral and fractals.
Why did you choose to get involved with 3D printing, rather than other kinds of making or designing? Are there things that you can do with 3D printers you otherwise couldn't?
It looked like fun - and it is! I appreciate many design processes and this addition to my collection of techniques allows different materials and high-tech computer generated processes to express my creativity. I enjoy putting most of my effort into the design stage of jewellery, products and objects and seeing the result in finished 3D printed form is very rewarding.
3D printing also enables intricate repetitions, undercuts and mathematical accuracy to be achieved that would be prohibitively time consuming to hand-craft, and often impossible to create using traditional and subtractive manufacturing.
3D printing seems to be becoming increasingly widespread and accessible to more and more people - do you think we'll see more people getting involved as time goes on? Do you see it becoming a mainstream technology in the near future?
Yes. Just like many of us have a 2D printer at home currently, I believe that 3D printers will be commonplace in peoples homes the future. Libraries, schools and universities also will increasingly enjoy this technology.
What's the best thing about 3D printing, from your perspective?
The evolution of new 3D printed materials is exciting and the complexity of geometry that can be achieved creates new possibilities. I think that my favourite aspect of 3D printing it that it enables people to get ideas from concept to reality, generating a rich and varied community of artists, makers and designers.
What advice would you give to someone who wanted to get started with 3D printing, and didn't know where to start?
If you would like to design your own pieces search for free software and have a go at designing e.g. Blender 3D. Also many commercial software packages allow a trial version to be downloaded so that you can work out which software you are most comfortable with, prior to your decision to purchase. If you have your own printer and don't know how to create your own models you could download some creations from Shapeways, Thingiverse, 3Dburrito or a myriad of other 3D model sites.