The faceted forms of these 3D-printed wireframe bowls and vessels by French designer Michaël Malapert are inspired by the Japanese art of origami.
The bowl, plate, vase, candle holder and desktop container are based on archetypal forms, which are subjected to a digital process that turns the surfaces into faceted shapes.
Malapert said the folded paper forms produced by experts in origami influenced the angular geometry of the designs, which are reduced to a structural outline.
"[The] Dark Side creations are inspired by numerical modelling softwares reinterpreting and focusing on origami know how," explained Malapert. "Only the graphic skeleton of the object is maintained, while the material is reduced to the minimum."
The products can be used as containers, lanterns or ornamental centrepieces.
They are printed by laser sintering, where a polyamide powder is scattered then fixed with a laser one layer at a time. They can be ordered in red, yellow, green, blue, black and white.
Dark Side is the second collection to be launched by Michaël Malapert through his M Family website, where customers can either order the objects to be printed or download a file to print them themselves.
Here's some more info about the Dark Side collection and the M Family label:
Dark Side collection
Michaël Malapert launches a second collection based on the shape of the object and explore a new functional vocabulary. 3D printing is now part of our everyday life. In opposition with the first collection, DARK SIDE creations are inspired by numerical modelling softwares reinterpreting and focusing on Origami know how (a traditional Chinese art of paper folding). Only the graphics skeleton of the object is maintained while the material is reduced to maximum.
This collection revisits various typologies of the basketry activity showing the dark side profile of these objects. By proposing DARK SIDE, Michaël Malapert shows that 3D printing allows to produce wired solid structures with delicate curved lines.
The M Family
The M Family is a brand in the form of an Ecommerce website, launched on September 2013 by the French designer Michaël Malapert. This website was announcing a first 3D Printed objects collection called Nature Plugs. Thanks to SCULPTEO's know how, these objects are proposed with two acquisition options: by purchasing the print file itself or by ordering and receipting of the object already achieved.
This revolution allows everyone to choose colour, material, size of the object and hence its price. Democratic and ecological, this technical production by addition of layers opens a new repertoire of forms to use and produces no waste. As the recent explosion of manufacturers and the rapid development of relay spaces FabLab, communautarian websites offering online download print templates are still missing to this equation. Therein lies the approach of The M Family.
Michaël Malapert
Fell into the pot of design when he was young, Michaël Malapert then turned to interior design and waited patiently for a technological leap justifying the add of objects in the landscape already really saturated of material production. He launches this year The M Family and decided to create a brand of arty objects based on 3D printing and the start of a revolution that overturns and renews the approach to the world of design.
The M Family offers objects between decoration and contemporary art that define interior landscape. These objects interact with their environment. Michaël Malapert does not provide objects with a mechanical function but with an aura that tells a story and offers to our eyes a break to escape. In the coming months, The M Family will open a community aspect on new collections, inviting artists, designers, musicians, cooks, to create or propose one or more objects that have meaning for them, available for download on the website.