Printhesis
After his graduation from Design Academy in Eindhoven in 2013, Roel Deden started his own studio, creating 3D models and visualizations for clients.
Roel: “I love working on socially relevant projects. I believe it is necessary to always connect the digital world to reality in which 3D becomes meaningful again. The idea of the Printhesis started as a project to respond to the need of one particular girl called Lianne. Sometime after having lost her left arm due to bone cancer, she wanted to start making jewelry again.”
“But her first big and heavy arm prosthesis didn’t make it easy. The fact that she didn’t wear the prosthesis in public made the arm-like shape a bit unnecessary. The custom-made fiberglass and titanium arm was quickly replaced by a pair of medical pliers because it was lighter, faster and more comfortable.”
“I decided to create a new kind of prosthesis that was just as fast and light as the pliers and had the ergonomics and modularity of her current prosthesis. Making it a 3D-printable and one-size-fits-all model made us realize this could be a cheap solution for many more amputee hobbyists. And that’s how and when the Printhesis was born; with a little help from Shapeways it is easy to order and to customize to meet anyone’s needs.”
Printhesis was nominated for the New Material Award 2016