The end of joyful 3D printing — L’histoire de Le FabShop
Although they existed for only four years, they became one of the pillars of playful, consumer 3D printing
Consumer 3D printing was short-lived, it failed, and the companies promoting it burned irretrievably hundreds of millions of dollars (and that’s with very liberal estimates).
But it’s thanks to that movement we are here.
So, while it may be somewhat embarrassing to recall now, without the “3D printers in every home” hype, Additive Manufacturing wouldn’t have spread so quickly in industry either.
That said, those times had their own charm. Take, for example, the “3D printing evangelists” — that was a real job title, a real position in a company.
Such an evangelist would travel the world visiting events, trade shows, and conferences, spreading the good news.
That 3D printing was the new industrial revolution, one that would make each of us a manufacturer.
That everyone was a maker. Everyone would produce things at home. Everything they could imagine.
Although from today’s perspective we can openly say that these were lies, most evangelists considered it more of an “omission” or a “figure of speech.” Because it was always somewhat understood that “everything” really meant “…but only in plastic, in one color, not too big, and not too complex.”
3D printing evangelists, educators, designers — visionaries. They were supposed to make the world better — more sustainable, democratized, and accessible.
Thanks to them, 3D printing was colorful, cheerful, and charming. It was all very romantic. Like a 3D-printed equivalent of the hippie revolution.
Le FabShop was the epitome of this. When I describe what they did in a moment, you might think it was all nonsense. When I explain why they ceased operations after just four years, you might think they managed to stay afloat for longer than expected.
But it’s an integral part of the history of 3D printing. That’s just how it was.
“The Hello World of 3D Printing”
The name Le FabShop may be unfamiliar to many of you, but you’re likely familiar with the projects created by the people working under this name.
The most popular of these is undoubtedly the toy elephant, one of the most frequently printed 3D models in the history of Thingiverse.
The studio also created a model of Kylo Ren’s lightsaber from Star Wars for self-assembly.
And retractable Wolverine claws.
In addition to these, there are dozens (hundreds?) of other projects — toys, home decor, lamps, simple furniture, and more or less useful gadgets.
Le FabShop was essentially an experimental laboratory — “how can a 3D printer be used at home?” What can be printed that’s fun, simple, and relatively useful? And if not useful — then just cool.
Le FabShop was founded in 2012 by Bertier Luyt in Saint-Méloir-des-Ondes. For a while, it was the sole distributor of MakerBot 3D printers in France, and it also provided training, organized or participated in 3D printing conferences, wrote educational books on the topic, and even created its own line of filaments for 3D printers.
But what brought them the most fame were their projects. One of the key designers on the team was Canadian Samuel N. Bernier — not only responsible for a number of innovative, stylish, and often amusing designs but also a pioneer in introducing 3D printing technologies to the French and European markets.
He was the creator of the elephant.
The full story of the elephant was described by Bertier Luyt himself on Medium — I’ll share some of the key facts…
The elephant project was created at the very end of 2013 as part of a project for the Jules Verne Technology Institute in Nantes. It was inspired by the giant elephant statue that stands in Nantes. After it was handed over to the institute, Le FabShop received permission to further distribute it.
On February 25, 2014, its creator — Samuel Bernier — uploaded it to Thingiverse.
The world went crazy over this project! The elephant appeared on the cover of The Wall Street Journal, was used in a Google Chromebook commercial, and 3D printer companies used it as a test model — including HP, which showcased its Multi Jet Fusion technology with it!
Luyt recalls:
Robert Scoble visiting us in Paris at le Fabclub, called the Elephant ‘the Hello World of 3D printing’. After the Utah Teapot and the Stanford Bunny, it’s the third iconic 3D model in history.
The elephant became the most downloaded 3D model on Thingiverse. Today, 10 years after its debut, it ranks 61st on the all-time list.
The End of Fun 3D Printing
As you might guess, such a business model couldn’t be sustainable. Maybe if Le FabShop had focused more on selling MakerBot, it might have been? Or perhaps the French market at that time wasn’t ready for 3D printers?
The company initially attracted a few investors who, like the founders, bought into the vision of a consumer 3D printing revolution. But they couldn’t sustain it indefinitely.
First, in September 2015, Le FabShop went into receivership. Despite the entire team’s efforts over the following months, they couldn’t secure additional funding or simply earn enough money, and on June 30, 2016, the company announced its liquidation.
As Luyt stated in his farewell letter:
In four years, we opened the 3D printing market in France and Europe, developed printing materials, produced many 3D models, trained hundreds of people, wrote books, organized conferences, hosted events, and welcomed artists, makers, students, and entrepreneurs to FabClub.
(…)
Today, we write the last pages of FabShop’s history with our heads held high. Many traces of our adventure will remain: 3D models, books, ideas.
Once again, romanticism, artistry, and lofty ideals have crashed against the rocks of ruthless economics.
The story of Le FabShop clearly demonstrated that even the most brilliantly marketed activity focused solely on consumer 3D printing was doomed to fail.
The actual target audience for such products and services turned out to be so niche that it couldn’t sustain a team, premises, or financial liquidity.
At the same time that Le FabShop fell, so did Solidoodle, Pinshape, Make magazine, Printrbot, New Matter (MOD-t), Type A Machines, AM Show (3D Printshow).
Thank you for this piece of history !