With an array of plastics and machines to buy over the counter, MakerBot continues to push 3D printing into the public domain. Image: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid
With magazine covers, the adoration of the technology press and an overflowing cauldron of interest, Makerbot’s latest hardware and software releases hit the news pages, but it was something else that caught my eye – the MakerBot Store.
The first store of its kind opened in New York’s consumer heartland of Manhattan selling the joys of home fabrication to anyone that walks in off the street.
Selling the MakerBot Replicator 2 desktop printer available for immediate purchase, customers can also stock up on a selection of MakerBot PLA and ABS filament in more than 30 colours and an array of printed products.
It’s a bold statement of intent, not just that they believe 3D printing is developing into something for everyone, but that they have established themselves as the leading brand in a market that they are essentially creating as they go along.
“I have dreamed of opening this store ever since we started MakerBot. Technology like our Desktop 3D Printers has to be seen to be believed,” said the company’s silver-haired talisman and CEO Bre Pettis. “The MakerBot Store is a utopia for creative explorers, and it’s full of MakerBot-made things that make perfect gifts.”
As a means of spreading the gospel of 3D printing, and the creative, hackable nature that has endeared it to so many people, the MakerBot store could become a cathederal to the technology and its public face as the big industry firms struggle to grasp the same level of consumer affection.
