Printhesis

Roel Deden is a digital designer who tackles socially relevant issues with his designs, which combine virtual reality with scanning and 3D printing – a way to connect the digital world back to reality.

The idea for Printhesis came from Deden’s graduation project for Design Academy Eindhoven in which he worked with a jewellery hobbyist who had lost an arm to bone cancer on developing an inexpensive and useful prosthesis. Prosthetic limbs can be heavy, expensive and unwieldy. The prosthesis Deden developed is more of a tool than a replacement of a body part; it is 3D printed in titanium and fiberglass in the general shape of a medical forceps, allowing for handling and manipulation of tiny objects. Deden made Printhesis open-source, so anyone can tailor the design, download it and have it printed locally. Deden’s project uses 3D printing techniques to cross-pollinate ideas from medicine to design, forming new pathways for innovation.