6. The Focal Practice of 3D Printing

3D desktop printers enable anyone to print physical objects, tailored to personal needs at home. This chapter explores how the possibility of creating artefacts through 3D printing might change the way we relate to (3D-printed) artefacts. Keymolen argues that 3D printing might enable a new form of technological engagement. 3D desktop printers, she claims, can be considered ‘focal things’, artefacts that invite users to actively interact with them in such a way that the togetherness and interdependency with the object itself and the world it mediates become evident. She provides an analyses on three levels to support this claim. First, 3D desktop printers themselves, as artefacts, invite users to engage in the design process. The printer needs to be ‘played’ with in order to perform properly. Second, it seems feasible that the artefacts produced by a 3D desktop printer will be looked after more carefully than anonymous mass-produced objects, because they are personalized and self-made. And third, it even seems feasible that end users will build more sustainable relationships with mass-produced artefacts, because they can print spare parts for them when they break down, and thus fix them rather than replace them.