People interested or working in the fashion industry often talk about its fast rhythms. It is indeed undeniable that, in the last few years, the industry has pressed the accelerator to make sure collections can be designed in just a few weeks and produced in the shortest possible time.
Yet, though inhuman in its rhythms, the traditional fashion industry (so we are mainly talking here about famous design brands and fashion houses) has so far produced more clothes and accessories or launched more collaborations, but it hasn't substantially changed anything.
In a way it has even fossilised its image: find a magazine from 10-12 years ago and compare some of the photographs inside it with a shoot for a recent issue of Vogue and you will realise that not much has changed in terms of designer clothes or accessories.
Yer there are other creative fields in which things are as fast as in fashion, but more refreshing as well. An example? The last time Irenebrination spoke to Janne Kyttänen, the 3D printing pioneer born in Finland mainly talked about his company, Freedom of Creation, and the exclusive 3D printed products - including lights, jewellery, garments and accessories, footwear and furniture - they made.
In the last few years Kyttänen extensively exhibited his pieces in seminal galleries and museums including MOMA, FIT, and the Vitra Design Museum, but many things changed since then.
Freedom of Creation was acquired by 3D Systems Corporation, in the meantime Kyttänen, who moved to Los Angeles, developed various projects for this company (including a kit of clothes and accessories that could be printed from a single computer file) and designed multiple award winning 3D printers.
Last year the designer founded together with Dutch investor and entrepreneur Eduard Zanen (co-founder of baby-buggy brand Bugaboo) What the Future Venture Capital, a sort of startup aimed at quickly generating ideas for new companies (with a focus on nanotechnology, 3D printing, biotech, virtual reality and so on...) and then creating them.
While still working at Freedom of Creation, Kyttänen had already expressed his interest in 3D printing food, besides, by 2014, 3D Systems had already launched the Chefjet, the first food 3D printer.
In 2016 Kyttänen finally launched Pixsweet.com - the first truly scalable, mass customization consumer product, powered by 3D printing. Pixsweet is indeed a platform that allows consumers to take images from the Internet or upload their own images, and turn them into ice pops (for the time being this is the only product offered on the site, but you can bet there's more in store) .
The process is extremely symple: you search for an image on the Internet, or you upload your own photograph, and an intuitive software turns the design into the product. You pick the flavour and the customised product is finally shipped to you (at the moment, the service is available only in California).
This customisable democratisation of ice pops may pose a few questions: first of all a copyright conundrum, can we indeed download and use all the images we find on the Internet and turn them into an ice pop? What about logos or iconic products such as famous (and trademarked) perfume bottles?
Kyttänen was always very open about copyrights and often mentioned in interviews that the sharing of design ideas should be as acceptable as sharing recipes, but what happens if a fashionista goes crazy for a birthday party and creates an ice pop shaped like a logo or a famous bag or an iconic pair of shoes? Well, Pixsweet has a policy and reminds consumers what is a copyright in a dedicated section, suggesting them to use the site responsibly and choose an alternative artwork when one's not sure about an uploaded image.
The site also hightlights it will not create ice pops with third party trademarks without permission or replicating the face of somebody's famous without written instructions from the individual or from their agent (NB the test ice pops illustrating this post and regarding fashion brands were created just to illustrate in a fun way this post; they were not ordered and they were not produced by the company).
Yet, considering Kyttänen's ideas and designs, maybe fashion houses should get inspired by the way he quickly shifts from one project to the next, coming up with products that rely on modern technology and that manage to capture people's imagination; or maybe they should jump on the Pixsweet bandwagon and release limited ice pops in collaboration with them (and at affordable prices; at the moment the customised ice pops are $5 each, but there are also small packs of 8 at $19.99). The company already designed some test ice pops for Los Angeles Fashion Week, so a collaborative fashion and food experience may be just around the corner for it.
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