The company Printed Nest is looking to bring birds back to the urban setting with the release of its 3D-printed bird feeders. The 3D-printed feeders are made from Polylactic acid, which is a biodegradable plastic, and they are small enough that they can be affixed to a window in an urban setting, even if there is little space available. The design itself is open-sourced and available for users to print their own bird feeder if they already own a 3D printer, rather than ordering one directly from the company. The feeder can then be customized by changing the color or geometry to suit your taste.
Currently the majority of the printers made are located in cities throughout Europe, but there are several popping up throughout the rest of the world as well. The company asks all new users to log the location of their feeder once they begin using Printed Nest, with the hope that the use of their design will help popularize 3D printed bird feeders customized specifically to fit the ever-changing urban environment.
3D-Printed Bird Feeders
'Printed Nest' Has Fused Tech and Nature in an Astrounding Way
Trend Themes
1. Urban Bird Feeding - Offering disruptive innovation opportunities for businesses to tap into the growing urban bird feeding trend with eco-friendly design solutions.
2. Open-source 3D Printing - Offering disruptive innovation opportunities for hardware and software manufacturers who support open-source hardware as they can design better 3D printers and make improvements on existing ones.
3. Customizable Eco-friendly Products - Offering disruptive innovation opportunities for companies that cater to eco-conscious consumers by offering customizability in the design of their products, as well as embracing eco-friendly materials and production processes.
Industry Implications
1. Technology - The technology industry can benefit from the trend towards open-source 3D printing by developing innovative software tools and applications for designers and manufacturers.
2. Eco-friendly Products - Eco-friendly product manufacturers can embrace the trend towards customizable 3D-printed bird feeders by offering similar products and capitalizing on the growing urban bird feeding trend.
3. Environmental Conservation - Environmental conservation organizations can tap into the trend towards customizable eco-friendly products by adopting and promoting the use of 3D-printed bird feeders among urban bird enthusiasts.