Ariktypo exhibition slideshow from johnson banks on Vimeo.3D Printing seems to be constantly in the news lately, with The Pirate Bay recently launching its “Physibles” section dedicated to open-sourcing designs for 3D objects and the world’s first 3D printed jaw being surgically implanted as a replacement jaw for an 83-year-old lady this weekend. Elsewhere in the world of 3D prototyping, johnson banks and Ravensbourne art college have produced—another world first?—an alphabet of 3D type.Arkitypo creates 3D sculptures which explore 26 different alphabets, with each letter representing a typeface that begins with that letter. So “A” is Akzidenz Grotesk, an early sans-serif typeface from 1896 and “K”, for instance, is based on a typeface called Kabel, which was named to commemorate the newly completed transatlantic telephone cable in 1927. They’re all explained in the video above.The idea was to explore and push the boundaries of additive manufacturing, creating ornate, complex designs that test what the technology could do. “In discussions we agreed that whilst we'd all begun to see smart examples of 3D prototyping on the web, it all seemed to be a bit product focussed. We all wanted to try to do something that really pushed the technology to its limits,” johnson banks say on their blog.The alphabet, from A to Z, is below:[via Creative Review]Photos: Andy Morgan
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