Barely a day passes without the excited press release of yet another 3D print project making headlines. From mass-produced weapons of destruction to printable human body parts for failing organs, digital content has reached new highs (and lows). 3D printing is not a new phenomenon, but the move from its original role in computer aided industrial design and rapid prototyping to a more consumer orientated domestic market is undoubtedly one of the biggest media stories since the advent of social media. This is the rise of social objects and products.

3D printing is a process where you design the outline shell, or components (like cogs) of an object on a computer, and then the printer works to the dimensions of this shell. You add the physical material in a base state into the tray and the printer heats and molds the object, layering in very, very thin slices until complete. The physical material – what the object is made of – is up to you. Common materials currently in use are thermoplastics, ceramic powders, silver, alloy metal, paper and plaster. However, recent developments have seen interesting materials that spark the imagination still further, with concrete, chocolate and cheese making an appearance. It could be possible that the building site of the future will just be a very large mobile 3D printer, and imagine how this could revolutionize the food industry and the home with self customized products.

This is more power than you first think; this allows self-customization at base level, we can now move away from mass production, as we currently know it. Anglo French company Sculpteo has already understood this new business model and has created a kind of 3D print Etsy shop – a social, digital product platform. Sculpteo offers online stores and designers the opportunity to sell their customers the opportunity to buy bespoke 3D printed products. The products are then printed by Sculpteo and dispatched to directly to the customer.

The world of commerce has other opportunities as well. Hewlett Packard recently launched a 3D printer with the office environment in mind, although it seems it's not quite clear where the market for this is yet. The HP Designjet 3D printer uses Fuel Deposition Modeling Technology to create a 3D model of the product by adding layer upon layer of semi-molten plastic. These retail for about £12,500(excluding Tax).

It's the smaller, more D.I.Y. Intensive printers that are proving popular amongst hobbyists and designers. One of the biggest D.I.Y. Names is the open source RepRap -- which stands for the Replicating Rapid-prototyper but for the less hardcore user there are numerous 3D printer kits based on the RepRap from the supplier RepRap Central, with 3D printer kits costing from around £750 upwards.

What does this mean to branding and advertising worlds? “There hasn't been much utilization of 3D print by advertising and marketing agencies yet,” explains Kerry Hogarth, Director of The 3D Print Show, the first annual festival for all things 3D print, which is taking place this October in London. “However, as advertising will be based around how somebody personally feels about a product and focuses much more on content I can imagine that the personalization, the uniqueness of creating something that is your own design, is where advertising will link with 3D print before print is used for any kind of principle advertising as such.”

From a brand perspective, inspiring the consumer to personalizing or hack a product is arguably a show of brand strength, solidarity and respect. Footwear brands such as Converse and Clarks have benefited from loosening up and treating their designs as blank canvas, something hitherto the designated zone of celebrity designer – sending the message that every consumer is a worthy designer. A very handy message. As Hogarth says of the campaigns, the message with customizable 3Dprint products should be “how does it support the consumer rather than 'this is an amazing technology''.

An amazing technology this may be, the business side is more understandable. Print on demand business model such as Shapeways or I.Materialise use easy to use software that allow the designer to see their forms made real; you design the object, they print it and send it back. More hardcore users can install a printer at home using devices such as Ultimaker or Makerbot. So basically 3D printing is about being able to print products within the home, or being able to order products from a company that can make a product unique.

Dries Verbruggen of Unfold, a design studio based in Belgium is hesitant about the impact of 3D printing on the domestic market, “The biggest opportunity we think is not so much in 'home' use (not so sure that will, or should, ever happen) but in the lowering of the barrier of entry into production facilities for goods”. The studio is leading research into 3D ceramic printing for designers but they see social change as integral to the legacy of 3D print. “For us as a design studio it allows to work more in the spirit of a craftsman but without having to resort to pre-industrial revolution production methods” explains Verbruggen, “We would love to see a network of small production facilities being woven again into the fabric of our cities, the places were the goods will be used.”

The production facilities houses that currently exist do so often in collaboration with other fields of 3D production. London based Inition are no exception, working with 3D camera work, animation and experiential 3D production, amongst other 3D applications. Inition were one of the first UK 3D digital printers, dating back to 2005.

When Andy Millns, Co-Founder & Director of Inition is asked what type of commercial application 3D printing can provide he brings up a recent job on a stop motion music video where the props were made using 3D print, a behind the scenes view of how 3D printing is slowly being absorbed into the mainstream production process.

But it's not long before conversation turns to recent social interactions with 3D print “We've had projects like our twitter sourced 3D snow men” says Millns. The project, entitled FRSTEE or Festively Rendered Snowman From Tweets (Excitingly Expressed) was thought up by The Really Interesting Group, artist Andy Huntingdon. Inition providing the 3D expertise and printed out decorations with the appropriate head size (depending on your Twitter followers) buttons (for every year you've been on Twitter) and your username embossed on the underside of the snowman. But, as Millns points out, there are a growing number of similar projects in the toy arena, Makie Lab, a few doors down from Inition in Shoreditch are a very recent start up (just gone Alpha) that specialize in 3D printed toys.

Millns also points to a project in final stages of development with the design practice Something & Son for the Manor House Development Trust, London, as proof in the way in which 3D print can harness and exploit the unique data of a campaign. The result is a crowd sourced data sculpture, the sculpture will be made from 400 unique 3D printed sculptures that each correspond with a person's answers to an online questionnaire on the subject of social inclusion, a perfect way to maximize the potential of unique 3D print.

Can we expect to see more campaigns that wish to connect social and physical uniqueness with 3D printing? “The fact that the techniques are more widely known about now means you are going to get some of the best creative people wanting to use 3D print, there are still loads and loads of areas that haven't been touched on that could be harnessed” says Millns coyly.

Links to consider:

http://www.shapeways.com/
http://3dprintshow.com
http://www8.hp.com/uk/en/products/3d-printers/index.html
http://www.sculpteo.com/en//
http://i.materialise.com/
http://www.makerbot.com/
http://www.reprapcentral.com/
http://www.ultimaker.com/
http://www.inition.co.uk/
http://frstee.com/
http://www.somethingandson.com/index.html
http://www.3dprintlab.org/plant-a-tree-in-3d.html
http://www.makielab.com/
http://unfold.be/pages/project
http://www.riglondon.com/