White House Announces First Ever 3D Printed Ornament Challenge
We are in a total Halloween daze here at Brit + Co. We’re carving pumpkins in our sleep and dreaming in orange and black (oh, wait, is that because of the Giants?!) — but the White House, on the other hand, seems to have skipped right over both the spooky holiday and Thanksgiving and jumped straight into Christmas. And we are so on board.
This year, for the first time EVER, the White House is inviting makers and innovators from around the country to participate in the White House 3D Printed Ornament Challenge. The contest, in partnership with the Smithsonian, invites makers, artists, designers, engineers and anyone interested in 3D modeling or printing to design a winter holiday-inspired ornament that could hang with the Obamas. How cool is that?
Every year the White House welcomes tens of thousands of visitors from around the country to tour the mansion’s holiday decorations. From the fanciest gingerbread house you’ve ever seen to epic Christmas trees, the place is a winter wonderland to say the least (if you wont be in D.C this Christmas, you can also explore the decor online. Don’t worry, we’ll hit you up with a virtual tour when we can!)
We know the White House is at the forefront of the maker revolution — this year they held their first ever Maker Faire, which our very own Brit attended (and met Bill Nye, NBD).
We were all about the 3D ornaments when we launched Brit + Co SF last year, but if you don’t have a 3D printer, don’t panic. Design an ornament with any 3D modeling software, send it to our buds at Instructables and the best eight designs will be printed and shipped to the White House for you. If you have never worked with 3D modeling before, try your hand at it with an easy to use program like, Tinkercad.
A select number of winners will have their work printed and hung in the East Wing of the White House during the holiday season. Those selected to be displayed will also be featured on the Smithsonian’s state of the art 3D data platform, Smithsonian X 3D and will join a small collection of White House ornaments in the political history division of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
If you’re interested in participating you better getting started on those designs ASAP! The contest starts today and runs until November 5, 2014. Looks like we have to set aside our pumpkins for a sec… we have some ornaments to print. Ready, set, get making!
Will you enter this contest? If you do snap a pic of your ornament and share it with us via Twitter!
