The New York Times published this article, featuring Marius Watz and Kyle McDonald, to coincide with MakerBot’s Make-A-Thon at 3rd Ward this weekend.

I was disappointed to see that the comments were mostly knee-jerk criticisms of artists working with 3d printing, simply because the process uses plastic. As Kyle and others pointed out, boutique 3d printing actually has the potential to reduce plastics consumption, by allowing people to produce the exact item they want, in the exact quantities they want.

Still, I’m considering moving away from plastic for archival reasons. I was excited to see that Shapeways offers 3d printing in stainless steel and recycled glass – and now food-safe glazed ceramics!