Fabbed.com prototype: designer consumer products made digitally, through distributed manufacturing
Lead Participant:
FABBED LIMITED
Abstract
Fabbed.com aims to build a global online marketplace for digitally fabricated products,
initially focused on furniture and furnishings. We intend to transform the choice available to
consumers and provide a viable alternative to mass produced products that dominate the
market today. Our vision is to give the consumer access to hundreds of high quality designs
by talented designers worldwide for any product category. Moreover, consumers can
customise any of these items by choosing materials, finishes and functionality.
Fabbed.com leverages a new generation of computer controlled manufacturing technologies,
which includes 3D printing and laser cutting. Such new technologies are transforming the
economics of manufacturing by reducing labour to a smaller percentage of the cost of
manufacture. Another disruptive aspect is that the products are manufactured locally (thereby
reducing transport cost) to the consumer by a network of SME ‘makers’ using this new digital
fabrication technology.
To make Fabbed.com scalable we need to build an innovative technical platform protocol and
commercial process that bridges the divide between the software used by designers and the
manufacturing equipment/data required by the makers to produce them.
The team at Fabbed Limited have extensive prior experience in digital fabrication. They built
two websites that have helped to inform and evolve the concept of a global marketplace for
digitally fabricated products.
- Fabhub.io: This directory website helped us to establish the viability of the fabricator
network that lies at the heart of the Fabbed marketplace.
- OpenDesk.cc: This site is a proof of concept for the Fabbed.com marketplace and proves
demand and commercial viability of selling digitally made, designer wooden furniture online
and manufacturing them on demand via a distributed maker network.
The Fabbed.com marketplace will ultimately address a wide range of product categories made
from many different materials.
initially focused on furniture and furnishings. We intend to transform the choice available to
consumers and provide a viable alternative to mass produced products that dominate the
market today. Our vision is to give the consumer access to hundreds of high quality designs
by talented designers worldwide for any product category. Moreover, consumers can
customise any of these items by choosing materials, finishes and functionality.
Fabbed.com leverages a new generation of computer controlled manufacturing technologies,
which includes 3D printing and laser cutting. Such new technologies are transforming the
economics of manufacturing by reducing labour to a smaller percentage of the cost of
manufacture. Another disruptive aspect is that the products are manufactured locally (thereby
reducing transport cost) to the consumer by a network of SME ‘makers’ using this new digital
fabrication technology.
To make Fabbed.com scalable we need to build an innovative technical platform protocol and
commercial process that bridges the divide between the software used by designers and the
manufacturing equipment/data required by the makers to produce them.
The team at Fabbed Limited have extensive prior experience in digital fabrication. They built
two websites that have helped to inform and evolve the concept of a global marketplace for
digitally fabricated products.
- Fabhub.io: This directory website helped us to establish the viability of the fabricator
network that lies at the heart of the Fabbed marketplace.
- OpenDesk.cc: This site is a proof of concept for the Fabbed.com marketplace and proves
demand and commercial viability of selling digitally made, designer wooden furniture online
and manufacturing them on demand via a distributed maker network.
The Fabbed.com marketplace will ultimately address a wide range of product categories made
from many different materials.
Lead Participant | Project Cost | Grant Offer |
|---|---|---|
Participant |
||
| FABBED LIMITED |
People |
ORCID iD |
| Christopher Martin Wilkinson (Project Manager) |