This weeks Designer Spotlight focuses on Blueberries, a jewelry and accessories brand, created by Markéta Richterova and Zbynek Krulich. Excitingly, they just won the Czech Grand Design Award for their 3D printed jewelry.

Tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? Where are you located?

We are jeweler Markéta Richterová and designer Zbynek Krulich and we are based in Prague, in the Czech Republic. We founded Blueberries at the time of blueberries ripening in the summer of 2012 and our first collection of jewels produced by 3D print technology was presented at the Designblok’12 exhibition in Prague in October 2012. When we are not working on Blueberries we both have our own studios. Markéta is well known for her hand made jewelry made with carbon fibre, corian and perspex and Zbynek is an interior, furniture and product designer. 

What’s the story behind your designs? What inspires you? 

We love nature, it is amazing what structures can emerge everywhere on our planet. We love science fiction and we love to think about the future. 3D printing technology allows us to capture our fantasies and imaginary forms. Thus our inspiration comes from natural processes and structures as well as from technology itself.

What brought you to 3D printing with Shapeways?

It is a long story! Zbynek has been working in 3D for fifteen years, since high school. Back in those times there were only a few 3D printers in the Czech Republic, it was expensive and the quality was similar to what we can do with 3D desktop printers today. Five or six years ago we designed our first bracelet but still the situation wasn’t ideal for us so we forgot about it for a while. In 2010 Zbynek created a Morphe bowl and vase for Objet. At the same time we discovered Shapeways service and we started to seriously consider bringing Blueberries to life. We really like Shapeways, it is easy, comfortable and cheap. Since summer 2012 we have printed over 400 models with Shapeways.

How do you promote your work? How did your prize come about?

We exhibited Blueberries at Designblok, which is the biggest design event in the Czech Republic. We have been nominated for the Editors Awards Designblok 2012 as the best jewelry project and had some interviews. Meanwhile, Blueberries has appeared at several exhibitions and lectures (designSUPERMARKET, Design Weekend Košice, Czech Grand Design Awards exhibition, Together Again by UNOSTO, Pecha Kucha Night). We got nomination for Czech Grand Design Awards and we won it!

Who are your favorite designers or artists?

Anish Kapoor, Iris van Herpen, Zden?k Sýkora, Tokujin Yoshioka, Federico Díaz and Nendo.

If you weren’t limited by current technologies, what would you want to make using 3D printing?

We are looking forward to see more materials for Direct Metal Laser Sintering technology, bigger and faster printers and printers which can produce thinner and more detailed models. So, we could print entire imaginery ecosystems!

Anything else you want to share?

We would like thank Adela Havelkova and Romik Edr who took the beautiful photos!

See more of Blueberries designs on their Shapeways Shop or on their website. And if you’d like to be the next featured designer, email natalia@shapeways.com