MIT launches 3D-printed jewelry range for Valentine's Day
Romantic jewelry has been given a scientific makeover by a team of engineers at the world-famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), thanks to the launch of a new 3D-printing website.
Launched in honor of Valentine's Day, Dyo -- short for ‘Design your own' -- allows users to design and customize 3D jewelry made from silver, metal or plastic. The products are then made and delivered by the company.
The site uses personal data to create one-of-a-kind designs, such as engraving the coordinates of a first date on a ring, or creating an astrological design for a pendant based on two birth dates. Creations include rings, pendants and coordinate tags.
The result of a collaboration between Cornell University and MIT, Dyo is an offshoot of the group's website Matter.io, which allows people to print a variety of 3D designs.
"We knew nothing about jewelry but had a lot of experience building software and knew the kinds of things you could do with dynamic data if you could incorporate it into design," explains CEO and co-founder Dylan Reid. "So we went out and asked the most stylish people we knew for ideas.
"We were looking for concepts with personalization at their core, objects that would be meaningfully different for different people."
He adds: "The problem is, only nerds like us know how to actually make these kinds of application, and we don't know the first thing about design or what products people like.
"So we're launching this site to learn, but also to spark the imagination of designers and over the next few months we'll be making our technology more accessible to designers and brands who want to do something radically different."
The growing interest in 3D-printed jewelry is a major development to emerge from the 3D printing trend. The year 2013 saw the launch of American Pearl and Endswell jewelry brands, both specializing in 3D-printed engagement and wedding rings.
