This range of lamps is produced by means of rapid prototyping.
The rapid prototyping techniques can be described as 3D printing techniques but instead of using ink and paper, 3D objects are being ‘printed’ by a laser.
The SLA-technique creates an object by adding one slice on top of another in a vessel of liquid polymer, which hardens when struck by a laser beam. The epoxy that is used for this technique looks like hard, almost transparent plastic to which various colours can be added. The SLS-technique follows the same principle but instead of a liquid, a vessel of powder is used. The objects produced by this technique have a milk-white powdery appearance.
The software developed in-house by Materialise, Magics, turns a digital file into an STL-file. This file is then sent through to rapid prototyping machines. There are two kinds of rapid prototyping techniques that can be used, according to the design a customer wants: Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) and Stereolithography (SLA).