Last week, I sat down to talk with Antar Hall, one of five winners of the first-ever White House 3D Printed Ornament Challenge and CAD designer/model maker for top jewelry brands in New York City. Several RoseComm® clients are playing a role in the Maker Movement, so when we read about his success, we reached out to hear his thoughts on designing for the POTUS’ Christmas tree and what to expect next.
You have an advanced degree in fisheries and wildlife science. How did you shift from that to 3D printing?
As a kid, I watched a lot of documentaries and was fascinated by seeing Jacques Cousteau go down into the ocean and explore. I thought to myself, “That’s what I’m going to do.”
Jewelry first came into play in high school. I used to attend craft sessions at my church in South Carolina and I made a beaded bracelet that the kids at school really liked. When I was at Virginia Tech for grad school, I was thinking about starting my own fish farm, but I still made jewelry as a hobby. Every now and then, someone would notice what I was wearing and offer to buy it.
Then I finished grad school and went home to start my job search, but I couldn’t stop thinking about making jewelry. I talked to my mother about pursuing a career in jewelry design and she totally supported me. I was young, had a dream and wanted to act on it. So I applied to the FIT one-year jewelry design program, moved to New York and more than a decade later I’m still here.
Are there any intersections between your education and your current work?
I haven’t designed so much for myself. I typically work for other companies and build 3D models for their designs. But I do think looking at the environment and nature is an important part of the design process. I’m fascinated by shapes. It’s important to be very aware – to take a few moments to stop and see what’s around you. There is a degree of engineering in model making and I think my background in science is helpful. Jewelry making is an art, but it’s also a science and form of engineering. My background trained me in an indirect way.
How did you find out about the White House 3D ornament competition? What inspired you to enter?
I saw a blog post about the design challenge back in the end of October. It was sponsored by Instructables and done in conjunction with The White House and The Smithsonian. I had to submit my design idea with a write-up on how I did it. Sharing techniques is a big part of Instructables’ business model and that intrigued me. The Maker Movement is really a community. The more you share, then others will share with you and the flow of techniques helps to open your mind as to what can be achieved.
I only had a week to think of a concept, create the model, do the write-up and submit. At first, I wanted to do a candy cane, but the design had to fit in a 3” x 3” box. So I kept the swirl design and decided to do something smaller with stars to represent each president.
Antar Hall’s winning design: Presidents of Christmas Past and Present
The Maker Movement is said to democratize manufacturing. Should some people or companies not have access to manufacturing technology?
3D technology empowers people to create their own thing. To see something aesthetically beautiful and know you made it yourself, to me that’s mind blowing. Does it challenge traditional manufacturing? I would have to say yes. But instead of looking at it as a tug of war between technology and traditional manufacturing, it should be about finding a way to bring them together. The two can exist together. It already happens in jewelry. Even if something is manufactured and starts with a digital design, someone has to do the handwork, such as polishing or setting stones.
3D printing is all the rage now, but it’s not really that new. What are your thoughts on where it’s been and what we can expect in the coming years?
The technology has been around for 30 years, but for people in the general public, it’s not fully on their radar. The White House wants to make it more accessible. They hosted a maker event and the ornament design competition was a next step in getting the word out to more people. I only see the industry getting larger and making more of an impact on daily life. It’s really about 3D technology, not just printing, which gets the buzz right now. The path of 3D technology – printing, modeling and scanning – is like the introduction of other disruptive technologies, such as radio or television or the cell phone. I see it on the same level. It’s still in the infancy stage. The medical industry is exploring bioprinting (read: organ transplantation!). NASA is now 3D printing in space – a manmade object, not made on Earth. Think about that. Others are finding ways to print food using sugar or chocolate. Finally, large-scale printers are being used to print building structures made of concrete that we could some day live in.
Antar is currently training individuals and companies on all aspects of 3D Technology. The RoseComm team is hoping to roll up our sleeves and do a little making of our own. Stay tuned for more …
