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How Women Use 3D Printing to Pioneer New Products

At Formlabs we’re driven by powering breakthroughs and making an impact, and our best inspiration comes from the people who make our technology meaningful. To celebrate International Women’s Day, we highlight several women who are breaking new grounds and reimagining what’s possible with 3D printing in their fields. 

From designing unique jewelry pieces to pioneering breakthroughs in COVID-19 testing equipment, these women are using 3D printing in creative ways to impact their industries every day.

1. Jenny Wu on Multidisciplinary Design With 3D Printing

What if you could bring the unique design freedom of 3D printing to the jewelry market? That’s the question that inspired architect and jewelry designer Jenny Wu to launch her business LACE by Jenny Wu. In this Office Hours, Jenny dives into how she began designing, prototyping and experimenting with 3D printing to build her jewelry brand and offer something truly unique to customers. She discusses how she bypasses extensive, time-consuming workflows by 3D printing the end products. Tune in to minute 17:50 of the session to hear Jenny’s perspective on how she blends architecture and jewelry in her design process.

2. Dani Clode on Designing for Humans

Dani Clode isn’t afraid to challenge the perception of the human body. By 3D printing augmentation and prosthetic pieces, Dani crafts truly custom, wearable products that expand our conception of what the body can be. In this session, Dani speaks about her experience using Formlabs Tough 2000 Resin to craft prosthetics that push boundaries, and how her work celebrates body positivity. Dani’s inspiring work is revolutionizing how we use 3D printing to enable integration between design and the human body. Hear Dani explain the concept of “designing for humans” at minute 7 of the session.

3. Janet Liberman-Lu on How She Developed a Product and Raised $575k for Her Business

Janet Lieberman-Lu’s company, Dame, focuses on high-quality design to close the pleasure gap. Using 3D printing, Janet and her team quickly designed and printed prototypes of their star product, the Eva vibrator. Dame raised $575K and brought the Eva to market within months. Hear Janet explain how she designed, produced and tested several models per hour. Check out a highlight at minute 13:45, when Janet gives an overview of how the Eva vibrator went from sketch to finished product.

4. Dr. Summer Decker, Formlabs 2020 Impact Award Winner, on Responding to a Public Health Crisis

When COVID-19 began to spread globally in March 2020, Dr. Summer Decker, PhD, director of 3D clinical applications in the radiology department at the University of South Florida (USF) Health knew she wanted to help. Summer led the charge to mobilize colleagues at USF, partnering with Formlabs and the radiology team at Northwell Health in New York to begin 3D printing nasopharyngeal swabs for COVID-19 testing. Her efforts to design, validate and mass produce these swabs helped close a vital gap in the COVID-19 supply chain. We honored Summer and her close collaborators, Johnathan Ford and Todd Goldstein, with the Formlabs Impact Award at our Global User Summit last year. You can see Summer accept the award and share her experience here.