Sandhelden Creates Sustainable Bathroom Collections by 3D Printing Sand

In addition to the classic materials that are used in additive manufacturing, such as PLA , ABS or metals , there are more and more experimenters and researchers who create new possibilities. As early as this year, we were able to report on the ideas of using soy and cellulose as 3D printing material. Now, however, we would like to introduce you to a company that uses sand as a 3D printing material for binder jetting: the German company Sandhelden. At Sandhelden, modern design and sustainability come first. So it’s hardly surprising that founder and CEO Laurens Faure is committed to additive manufacturing. In order to gain more insights into his company, we were able to conduct an informative interview with him.

3DN: Can you briefly introduce yourself and your company?

3DN: How did the founding idea come about and why did you decide in favor of additive manufacturing?

We initially had the idea of ​​creating and marketing our own bathroom collection. At that time, however, it had nothing to do with additive manufacturing. But when it came to the first prototypes, we hadn’t expected the high costs for toolmaking. When looking for alternatives, however, we came across 3D printing. More precisely, binder jetting wit sand. This technology convinced us so much in terms of materiality, costs and speed that we decided to adopt for it as our manufacturing process. Our concept of individualized bathroom products made of sand then developed from this.