Today, to become a manufacturer, you just need an internet connection. You can raise capital via crowd funding, market on Etsy, and handle fulfillment on Amazon. But oh yea, you also need something to sell.
But thanks to Inventables, the Chicago-based one-stop-online-shop for designers, it's now easier than ever to turn ideas into products. Aside from functioning as a hardware store for designers, the company also manufactures the fastest selling 3D Carver in the country - the Shapeoko - and they created Easel, a free Web app for designing physical creations. In other words, they're igniting the digital manufacturing revolution.
But while the company is busy lighting the flame, the general public is still slow to catch on. As CEO Zach Kaplan explains, "people simply aren't aware of the manufacturing resources around them and the endless possibilities they yield."
To help highlight these possibilities, we've signaled out our ten favorite projects from the Inventables community. These products were all created using machines and materials available on the site and they were designed via the free Easel app. (Translation: anyone can do it). And now that Inventables has supplied the CPL with equipment, building these creations will cost you a Library Card.
Click the link below to start the slideshow:
