Standard Products is a web-based platform developed by Jesse Howard and Jesse Kirschner — both based in the Netherlands — where users create their products from a collection of online designs. Nowadays, the rise of digital tools has sparked potential for alternative models of production which requires new ways to engage with and define objects around us.

Therefore Howard and Kirschner introduced the idea of digital fabrication in such a way that it empowers consumers. With a Web-based interface, users can adjust the physical dimensions of the product, select the materials that will be used to build it, and generate the needed 3D-Printable components.

Standard Products has developed a first collection of objects — stool, cupboard, and lamp — constructed through digital fabrication. They combine 3D-printed components with standard materials such as wooden planks and beams, available in local hardware stores. This process is a definite starting point from which individuals start having an influence on defining their own products.

Cupboard one was designed as a goal to minimize the size of the 3D-printed components, while still creating a sturdy and functional storage unit. Its dimensions can also be changed: doors can be added or removed, and the number of shelves can be adjusted — extending the object to a full-sized bookshelf, or reducing it to a small shoe-rack.

Stool one has been tested several times, where earlier versions have been reviewed and updated to have fewer 3D-printed parts, less hardware, and a more rigid structure. In the end, it has been reduced to eight 3D-printed parts which can be easily assembled into a complete and functional piece of furniture. Consumers have three possibilities in the digital fabrication process.

For creative consumers, all files can be downloaded (including the connecting pieces) in order to digitally construct the product by themselves; there is also the option to order the finalized object and finally, a happy medium is met where the connecting pieces can be sent to the consumer.

Design: Standard Products

http://www.designboom.com/design/standard-products-digital-fabrication-11-04-2016/