30th April saw great excitement in Clerkenwell, London. Having held several events over the last few months where the new thing was presented, discussed and discected, each of which was sold out within hours, the news of a unique store specialising in this technology was bound to be exciting.
However, the level of interest in attending the opening must have come as a surprise to all. The launch day, even without a location being announced, sold out swiftly, a second launch day was added and sold out too.
So, what is this thing? Well some call it Personal Manufacturing, some Additive Fabrication and the most know it as “3D Printing”.
The launch of the iMakr.com store, hyped as the biggest in Europe was teased to the world. Finally the location was revealed.
Arriving in Clerkenwell Road, just before 6.30pm sharp, the pavement was thronged with a mix of 300 people. Many geeks, of course, business men and women, young, old, local and from other lands.
Crowding around the superstore sized window panes, after a welcome from +Sylvain Preumont in the rush hour street, with the crowd squeezed around the poorly placed bus stop, a curtain dropped from each pane in turn revealing 3D Celeb’s and the store driving teams.
RepRap inventor +Adrian Bowyer was the star for many, and was joined by Solidoodle’s Sam Cervantes and Cubify’s Rajeev Kulkarni.
The doors opened and inside, on ground and basement floors a selection of 3D printed items and printers themselves were displayed like ‘works of art’ in a gallery.
Canapes and wine kept conversation going with representatives of these companies, and people lined up to have their body scans taken.
I spoke to many people and there is was a great understanding of 3D printing and contrasting the ‘professional models’ and the RepRap variants, and how both have a place in Personal Manufacturing.
It was pleasing to meet such interested people, and thanks to the team at iMakr, especially Adeline, for working so hard to provide the opportunity.