[3D Printing News Flash] Assemble 3D Printed Furniture at Home

3D Printed Furniture You Can Assemble at Home

3D printing touches countless areas of life - even the furniture design industry. Today's featured designer, Jon Christie, combined 3D printing technology to create tables and chairs, offering flexibility, modernity, and reducing time/waste.
 
Tradition Meets Modernity
Jon Christie is a craftsman with over 20 years of experience working with furniture and lighting. In his groundbreaking latest project, he has been exploring how to combine traditional furniture making with cutting-edge 3D printing technology.
 
In his table and chair designs, Christie seamlessly blends authentic craftsmanship with modern design. Through the use of 3D printing, he has been able to create pieces that are not only flexible and stylish, but also cost-effective.


The Scandinavian Approach

Visiting Denmark provided Christie with an ideal starting point. Inspired by Scandinavian fashion and modern design, he began to experiment with his own designs, with a particular focus on how to combine 3D printing with traditional furniture.

"I truly appreciate furniture that is highly crafted and uses natural materials, and proves to be timeless," he says. However, Christie was interested in how 3D printed joints could help furniture makers and help them create something with high visual impact - a perfect blend of old and new.

Mastering 3D Printing

Christie is an experienced traditional furniture maker. 3D printing was a completely new technology for him, which he had to learn from scratch. "Through a lot of trial, error, sweat, and tears," he says, "I think I've become an expert now at mastering 3D printed joints to replace tricky woodworking elements."

  

Through experimenting with various materials and mastering several new CAD software accessories, he finally found the right combination for his furniture - when presenting the final design as part of his degree, he chose a natural white nylon, which provided a good contrast with the brown wood.

Christie constantly emphasizes that 3D printing is used to reinforce original techniques, not replace them. "I would use 3D printing because it brings immense benefits to the design, otherwise I would stick to traditional manufacturing techniques!" He believes that with 3D printing, his furniture designs can be more easily customized on a large scale, reducing waste, speeding up production time, and lowering selling prices.

3D printed chairs and tables can be customized to customer needs, including wood and color choices, at minimal cost. Tabletops come in various shapes and sizes, and the same 3D printed components can be used to make a 16-seater dining table or a regular table.
 
Why Choose 3D Printing?

Christie believes 3D printing allows for greater design freedom. More complex geometric shapes or sculptural forms become feasible, and it's easier to print quickly or achieve high standards of manufacturing.
"If these were traditional chairs," he says, "they would need to be assembled and sent to the customer in a large box. If 3D printed joints are used, the furniture can be disassembled and quickly assembled at the destination (the customer's requested delivery location).
Furthermore, chairs and tables can be customized to customer needs - at the lowest cost. The design allows customers to customize colors, dimensions, and hardwood choices.
 


Moving Furniture to New Places

Jon Christie's designs demonstrate the superiority of 3D printing in furniture design; not only in terms of innovation but also practicality. Want to hear Christie talk more about his work? Watch this video, or visit his website.To learn more about Ultimaker Nylon, click here. If you want to learn more about 3D printing end-use objects, please go to this page.

(Original: https://ultimaker.com/en/stories/34884-3d-printing-in-furniture-design)