Aera Fabrica

Roos Meerman is a designer and artist based in Arnhem who forms half of Fillip Studios with Tom Kortbeek. She explores and pushes the limits of 3D printing as a medium, working with scientists and industrial partners and altering existing tools and machinery to find new applications.

Her project Aera Fabrica was awarded the New Material Fellowship in 2014. Meerman used heat and air to inflate 3D printed forms made of biodegradable PLA. Because plastic can quickly change from a liquid to a solid, it is possible to make the form flexible by heating the plastic, inflating it, then cooling it until the shape sets. Thanks to the technique Meerman developed, the final stage of 3D printing is now the beginning of a new process. The balloons can be much larger than the original print. They can also be inflated and collapsed multiple times before their useful life is over, when they can be composted or recycled. Aera Fabrica is now continuing development within Fillip Studios’ Pi Lab in collaboration with TU Eindhoven Mathematics and Computer Science, with potential applications in the medical, packaging and construction industries.