When Wood 3D printing is leveraged for 3D printed sawdust decorative lights

As Christmas is around the corner (this time of year finally), we are thinking of all things “cocooning” and I just stumbled upon a product whose name gives me this feeling: COCOON.

The latter is a 3D printed sawdust decorative light produced by Sofia Hagen and Lisa Hinderdael, architects and urban designers who continuously explore the relationship of immersive art and biophilic design.

As part of the fabrication process of COCOON, both experts wanted to reduce timber waste through rethinking deforestation and the take and make production process hence the development of a fully degradable product.

For manufacturing, they work together with Forust™, Desktop Metal’s subsidiary dedicated to additive manufacturing of end-use wood parts. The process is based on a patented single pass binder jetting AM technology which upcycles waste byproducts from wood manufacturing (cellulose dust) and the paper industry (lignin) and re-materializes functional wood parts through high-speed 3D printing including digital grain throughout the part.

“Layers of powdered wood are bound together with lignin into a 250mm (w) x 460mm (h) Cocoon. Once out of the printer, each piece is carefully hand-stained and finished. In this process, there is also the opportunity to finish Cocoon in a wide variety of wood species including natural, oak, teak, and walnut. The sculptural form of Cocoon has been developed to resemble an organic structure that speaks to the natural materials being used and creates an opportunity for beautiful protrusions to throw shadows of light on to the surrounding surfaces. The shell itself is made of 3D printed sawdust. The shell also serves as a protective cover, embracing and hiding within it an integrated OLED light source. Cocoon is not only beautiful in its aesthetic but forward-thinking in its lifecycle – able to avoid its materials ending up back in landfill and instead used in future light productions – [in a nutshell, a way to raise awareness on the important social impact of deforestation]”, the creators explain.

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