How 3D printing is changing the way we live

Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Javier Espinoza compiled a list of the various ways that 3D printing will assimilate itself into every possible aspect of your daily life; in fact, the technology is already being implemented into art and fashion, travel, food, and even automotive industries.

Much like our recent post about 3D-printed ice cream, the WSJ highlighted the countertop 3D food printer, the Foodini. Perhaps we’ll be replacing our microwaves with 3D printers sooner than we think. As strange as it may sound, the unit has the ability to complete tasks such as taking a substance, like dough, and forming it into a programmed pretzel shape. Looking to satisfy your sweet tooth? The device can even process highly intricate cookie or frosting designs to include a high-tech element to your favorite baked goods.

The Journal also detailed the fact that some manufacturers are already using 3D printing to create scale models of some of our favorite movie props. Voxeljet has adapted a 3D printer to design one-third scale models of the famed Aston Martin DB5 from the recent James Bond flick ‘Skyfall.’ Assembled like real cars, each of the three models required roughly 200 different parts to be created and to allow the doors and hoods to open and close, Espinoza notes.

When it comes to travel and hospitality, we previously revealed the possibilities of simply e-mailing your wardrobe’s schematics to another country eradicating the need to ever tag along a suitcase, while the Wall Street Journal added in the idea of printable headwear from Gabriela Ligenza. Earlier this summer, the designer created a hat for those going to Royal Ascot. Wrapped around the crown and the base, the hat featured the lines of a poem by British poet and racing enthusiast Henry Birtles.

Lastly, the article detailed the Lixpen, the world’s smallest 3D pen that enables a user to draw in 3D space. Using a quick cooling filament, nearly anything the scribe can dream up in their mind can become an instant 3D design.

From cars and clothes and food and medicine, it’s without question that we’ll continue to see 3D printing permeate the walls of reality. The question is, what’s next? Watch a 3D printer make things in this nifty, animated infographic here.