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Piotr Waśniowski | Episode 970
Photo by Claudia Kamergorodski
Piotr Waśniowski is a maker living in Kraków, Poland. His main focus is 3D printing with clay through which Piotr makes amazingly intricate pieces. Piotr believes in open communication on 3D printing and as such he openly shares his insights and inventions. His vision is not to replace the potters wheel or hand making, but rather to add to clay an whole new world of possibilities that would otherwise be impossible to make with out the aide of this new technology.
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Why would you spend two years to develop something and then give it to the world for free?
It’s not a problem for me because I designed it for me and if I spend it and I have it in a file I only need it several minutes or hours to put it on the internet, so if I design it a lot of people can use it. For me sharing knowledge is the most important thing all over the world. There is a website where there are millions of pieces that people design and share for free.
From your perspective how big is the 3D clay printing community? Are there a lot of people doing this?
That’s one of the hardest questions. (laughter) I think there is four big companies and many Chinese companies. There is one big company producing 3D printers in the States and four big companies in Europe. I think that there are maybe a thousand, maybe hundreds of people that can print something. But I don’t think its a good business, it’s like the beginning of photography, nobody wanted to pay money for a picture because it was made in a machine.
Because you invented that nozzle, do you see yourself as a guru?
No! There’s a lot of people all over the world, they can print and they do it a different way. The internet is a platform that we can share our ideas so they show me what they are doing and I show them what I am doing. So it’s good but I don’t think it’s a good idea to stay a 3D printer as a job.
How many 3D printers are able to go down to 0.04 mm nozzle like you do? Are there are other people that can print that small?
I have never seen that anyone can do it. Some people try but I have never seen on Instagram or Facebook groups. I don’t think people want to make these crazy things because it’s for dust collecting. They prefer to make mugs or vases or plates.
Do ever see 3D printing as something that will replace the potter’s wheel?
No, never. Never. Hands are better than 3D printers but some things can only be 3D printed. There are some shapes that are very hard to do without a 3D printer but I think that life of normal potters is one of the best in my mind because AI can’t do it. Only the hands of the potters can do it.
Book
Advanced 3D Printing by Diego Garcia Cuevas and Gianluca Pugliese
Contact
Instagram: @piotr_wasniowski