BASHIBA works on the early edge of new ideas and concepts. We work with intangible materials (light) to create new meanings (invisible though real). BASHIBA Rings stems from a desire to turn some of our ideas into permanent objects that people can wear forever. We simply love the idea of printing our designs with a 3D Metal Printer.
Designed by BASHIBA and printed by Shapeways.
   BASHIBA Rings, Visit our Store on Shapeways.com


BASHIBA RAW WAVES RING
3D Printed in Stainless Steel or Premium Silver by Shapeways



The ocean, and in consequence the waves, can be related to the movement, the temporary, the ephemeral, the fleeting, the flexible and even the random. One of the principal ideas of this ring is to remind us that life can be transitory; but, our actions and attitudes towards it, not necessarily are. "You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land, there is no other life but this."
-- Henry David Thoreau




Technology Review Blog, January 27, 2012:
Something interesting happens when the cost of tooling-up falls. There comes a point where your production runs are small enough that the economies of scale that justify container ships from China stop working. There comes a point where making new things isn't a capital investment but simply a marginal one.

FastCompany, September 20, 2011:
World's First 3-D Printed Car. Stratasys and Kor Ecologic teamed up to develop the first 3-D printed car, a vehicle that has its entire body 3-D printed layer by layer until a finished product emerges.

BBC News, September 16, 2011:
Artificial blood vessels made on a 3D printer may soon be used for transplants of lab-created organs.
To print something as small and complex as a blood vessel, the scientists combined the 3D printing technology with two-photon polymerisation - shining intense laser beams onto the material to stimulate the molecules in a very small focus point. The material then becomes an elastic solid, allowing the researchers to create highly precise and elastic structures that would be able to interact with a human body's natural tissue. So that the synthetic tubes do not get rejected by the living organism, their walls are coated with modified biomolecules. Such biomolecules are also present in the composition of the "inks" used for the blood vessel printer, combined with synthetic polymers.
"We are establishing a basis for applying rapid prototyping to elastic and organic biomaterials," said Dr Tovar.
"The vascular systems illustrate very dramatically what opportunities this technology has to offer, but that's definitely not the only thing possible."

NZZ, September 7, 2011:
"Selten herrscht in der englischsprachigen Medienwelt so viel Einigkeit: Ob «Economist», «New York Times», «New Scientist», «Wired» oder «Technology Review», alle schreiben sie von einer zweiten industriellen Revolution, die sich im Stillen anbahne und «jeden einzelnen Aspekt unseres Lebens verändern» werde. Warum die Aufregung? Die Rede ist von einer Technologie, die umgangssprachlich unter dem Namen 3-D-Druck bekannt ist, präziser aber als generative Fertigung oder Additive Manufacturing bezeichnet wird. Der Begriff bringt verschiedene Verfahren unter einen Hut, die alle dasselbe Grundprinzip haben: Ein Objekt wird nicht mehr gegossen, gefräst oder gedreht, sondern stattdessen Schicht für Schicht nach einer digitalen Vorlage aufgebaut – je nach Prozess aus Metall oder Kunststoff. Die entsprechenden Maschinen können gross, teuer und präzise sein, wie sie die Industrie benötigt; es gibt aber auch kleine, preiswerte 3-D-Drucker für den Hausgebrauch."

The Economist, February 10, 2011:
"Three-dimensional printing makes it as cheap to create single items as it is to produce thousands and thus undermines economies of scale. It may have as profound an impact on the world as the coming of the factory did....Just as nobody could have predicted the impact of the steam engine in 1750, or the printing press in 1450, or the transistor in 1950, it is impossible to foresee the long-term impact of 3D printing. But the technology is coming, and it is likely to disrupt every field it touches."