Beyond Traditional Forms – Interview with Michiel van der Kley on the Creative Side of Additive Manufacturing

Dutch designer Michiel van der Kley has been exploring 3D printing for more than a decade, using it not just to produce objects but to rethink how they are designed and made. His work connects digital modeling, material research, and collaboration across disciplines — from individual makers to industrial partners.

Among his best-known projects are Project EGG, a community-built pavilion made from thousands of unique PLA blocks, and a 3D-printed concrete bridge in Nijmegen created with engineering and research teams. Both illustrate how additive manufacturing enables new forms and workflows that go beyond traditional fabrication.

More recently, van der Kley has turned to smaller-scale applications such as 3D-printed lighting and furniture. Across these projects, he examines efficiency, material behavior, and the interaction between digital design and tangible form.

Interview

In this conversation with 3Druck.com, Michiel van der Kley talks about what he has learned from over a decade of working with 3D printing — from large collaborative experiments to everyday design — and why the technology continues to challenge how we think about creation and production.

In Project EGG you asked people all over the world to 3D print thousands of unique blocks. What did this experience teach you about collaboration, creativity, and the practical challenges of bringing such a distributed idea to life?

Project EGG is the most magical project I’ve ever done. To be honest, it started as just an idea. I wanted to explore whether it was possible to produce something very large with a lot of 3D printers. I had this thought: What would happen if I asked everyone with a 3D printer to help me? Would that work? Would it even grab people’s attention?

To this day, I’m astonished by how many people took part and how much affinity and almost love went into it. How beautiful EGG was — but also the fact that all of us together made this big pavilion.

I must admit, I completely underestimated the amount of work involved. I assumed that I would receive a block or two in the post every day and in the meantime would continue my work (designing furniture), but things turned out very differently. It took me almost two years to complete and a year to recover. It was definitely worth it, though.

Your 29-meter 3D printed concrete bridge in Nijmegen demonstrated how additive manufacturing can reshape civil engineering. From a designer’s perspective, which specific structural or geometric freedoms did 3D printing give you that conventional formwork could never allow?

This all started while I was experimenting with 3D printing concrete — a challenge, since not many people were doing that at the time. Again, I started by thinking in terms of small blocks with which you could make large objects.

After experimenting for about a year, I had a visit from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Waterways. They got so excited about the idea that they challenged me to come up with a bridge that could be 3D printed.

I had a design that emphasized the unique possibilities of 3D printing: the bridge had a very organic shape, I was able to apply material only where it was needed, and it had to be as light as possible.

I was intrigued by the idea that I could really apply free-formed elements — I didn’t need to use expensive molds or wooden structures where the concrete was poured in.

Your latest lamp collection shows how 3D printing can also enter the world of everyday design. What inspired you to create these pieces, and how do you see additive manufacturing changing the way we think about lighting and furniture design?

Nature is a constant source of inspiration for me. This time, I was inspired by shells I found on a Dutch beach and by the form of a crocodile’s back. I wanted to show the coarse pattern of 3D prints, so I used quite a large layer height of about 3 mm. You can instantly see that the lamp is 3D printed — these layers are characteristic of the design of this lamp series.

A big advantage of 3D printing remains the ability to produce unique pieces. So, the lamp comes in all kinds of variations — with or without color elements, in bigger and smaller sizes.

Until recently, the price of 3D printed objects was too high compared to industrially produced objects, but now prices are beginning to match due to the large-scale printers we have available.

Now it will be interesting to see if people slowly get used to these products.

You move between art, design, and large-scale construction. How does your artistic background influence the way you approach engineering projects, and where do you see the most exciting possibilities for 3D printing in the future?

I have learned a great deal from working with production companies in the furniture industry for over 25 years. That taught me what you can and can’t do with regular production methods. I’m still trying to find things that you can’t produce in this regular way — that is a big part of the challenge.

I’m currently working with an engineering company and a large-scale 3D printing company. We’re experimenting with plastic bridges. It will be very cool if we succeed. The challenge is still to find ways where we can meet, so to speak — to find the optimum way to combine our different fields of expertise and dare to depart from what we already know. I would like to try and find new ways to work because of this new technique.

Further information about Michiel van der Kley and his projects is available on his website.