Janne Kyttanen says spider webs and silk worms inspired his mesh, 3D printed design.

“With 3D technology, we can express forms only found in nature,” Kyttanen said about his latest design, which was created in a single piece.

To form his unique sofa dubbed ‘Sofa Be Good’, Kyttanen, a fellow at specialist tech company 3D Systems, required only  2.5 liters of resin to construct the intricate mesh design.

Although light and requiring far less materials than traditional sofas, the end result is both flexible and strong, easily holding up to 100 kg (220 lbs).

Using  3D Systems’ ProX 950 SLA device, 6000 layers of thin resin were laid on top of each other over a course of several days to create the intricate web.

Copper and chrome plating were then added to the finish product, which weighs only 2.5 kilograms (about 5 1/2 pounds) and the mesh was shaped to allow for sitting.

Kyttanen said that exploiting 3D printing technology to create nature-inspired designs could ultimately save both resources and costs.

“How much material would we be able to save from products and building materials if we could manufacture like this?” he said. “There’s a whole range of benefits we can’t even fathom today.”

Photo Credit: Sofa Be Good/Dezeen