At JDi Design Inc. in Burnaby, the future of 3-D printing arrived six or seven years ago when the company bought a demo Z Corporation Z402 printer for about $55,000. Owner Adrian van Wijk, an industrial designer, even established a separate company, Key3D.com, to process 3-D printing and other rapid prototyping orders.

He said the machine is showing its age, and has paid for itself, but he is hesitant to upgrade to a more modern one because the technology is advancing so rapidly.

“And the market space has become so competitive because there are so many technologies and so many options,” he said.

Van Wijk also noted that he was a designer long before the era of rapid prototyping. Twenty years ago, he said, he would have to sculpt and cut materials painstakingly by hand to craft the prototypes used to make the injection moulds. “It used to take a month or six weeks to make a prototype, whereas today, yeah, it’s a day,” he said.

He still receives three or four requests a day for 3-D printing. That includes a spurt of orders from a customer who is designing a clip for holding a cable to charge an electric lawnmower or vacuum cleaner.

“He’s made four or five iterations of his prototype,” van Wijk said.

On the other hand, van Wijk recently put together a quote for someone who thanked him politely for his efforts but decided instead to use a 3-D printer at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.

“They’re going to charge me $50,” the person informed him.

While van Wijk says 3-D printing has already reached its tipping point, but a future where people shop online and print their products at home is still a long way off.

“But, you know, if that gets critical mass and a lot of hobbyists start using them, and kids start printing out school projects, yeah that’s a catalyzing change.” •

By Keith Norbury for the full artical click here
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This article from Business in Vancouver March 6-12, 2012; issue 1167

Business in Vancouver (www.biv.com) has been publishing in-depth local business news, analysis and commentary since 1989. The newspaper also produces a weekly ranked list of the biggest companies and players in a wide range of B.C. industries and commercial sectors, monthly features and industry-focused sections that arm its subscribers with a complete package of local business intelligence each week.

Vancouver Foundation has launched a special initiative–their new Generation Green Awards will provide 20 cash awards (up to $12,500) for environmental projects in Vancouver by young people (individuals or groups) aged 6 to 24. The awards are open to both individuals and groups for projects taking place in Vancouver.

The deadline to submit green ideas is March 4, 2011.

For more information please visit www.vancouverfoundation.ca/awards.

JDi Design Inc., a design firm pioneering eco product development has been recognised for its commitment to design excellence with the award of the prestigious International Design Excellence Award from the IDSA. (Industrial Designers Society of America)

The TazzyTotes™ Produce Bag received a Bronze IDEA Eco Design Award for its eco chic solution for instore produce bags. JDi Design’s winning design is 100% recyclable and embodies ecological principles at every stage of its lifecycle. It also features a unique bin label and an erasable marker for writing names or bulk bin numbers with a non-toxic dry erase pen, eliminating the need for instore sealing and tagging. The produce bag is part of a modular system designed around everyday shopping needs, from the moment you go shopping until you finally reach home.

The design team, Adrian van Wijk, Sandy Lam, Sam Richards and Jamie McDonald from Vancouver, British Columbia, focused on identifying gaps in the emerging trend to use reusable bags. The result is an international ecological and economic success. “It is very satisfying to see the thought and care we put into a seemly simple product receiving international recognition as well as market place success”, says Adrian van Wijk, Design Director at JDi Design. The TazzyTotes products have been on the market since June 2009.

About the JDi Design Inc.
JDi Design is a group of design professionals incorporated in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. JDi Design is distinguished by applying creative thinking to the user-focused design of products and services. JDi Design provides eco product design and development services taking ideas from concept to production in a variety of industries.
Environmental Statement
JDi Design is committed to environmental sustainability and strives to harmonize its clients’ business objectives with consumer needs in balance with nature.

About the IDEA.
The International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) is a yearly award partly sponsored by The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), and is dedicated to fostering business and public understanding of the importance of industrial design excellence to the quality of life and economy.

About TazzyTotes
TazzyTotes™ produces an eco-chic range of modular shopping tote solutions designed around everyday shopping needs, the core product idea was born from a desire to do the right thing while at the same time, getting rid of all the plastic bags!

JDi Design Wins the Prestigious “Red Dot” Award

Vancouver, Canada, April 6th, 2010 JDi Design Inc., a design firm pioneering eco. product development has received the prestigious red dot Design Award for their innovative “Eco, grow-as-you-go” Orgafile Modular Filing System designed for OrgaFile (Pty) Ltd. The Red Dot Awards are the largest and most renowned design competition in the world, presented annually by the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Germany.

The Orgafile filing cabinet is the first in the industry to provide typical fixed-unit cabinet features including: an anti tilt mechanism, a general cabinet lock and a single module safety catch in a contemporary post consumer extruded wooden filing module. This unique modular filing system brings a breath of “clean” air with its style, feasibility and modularity to an established market.

JDi Design’s innovation in the Orgafile Modular Filing System proves that eco effective design for mass production is both sustainable and makes for good business. The jury of international renowned design experts awarded the Orgafile product with the red dot quality seal for design excellence. This recognition is received by a select few chosen from over 4,200 entries coming from 57 countries.

The design team, Adrian van Wijk and Jamie McDonald from Vancouver, British Columbia, focused the early design research on sustainable production techniques. Later working with Orgafile’s unique market insight, the team sought to develop a design to solve the business problems of minimizing production infrastructure, providing value to the end user and leaving noticeably less of an environmental impact than competitive products. “I am very satisfied with our design effort,” says Adrian van Wijk, Design Director at JDi Design. “Our green design solution has been recognized with best in class product design awards now, in both North America, Europe, and Africa.”

About the JDi Design Inc.

JDi Design is a group of design professionals incorporated in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. JDi Design is distinguished by applying creative thinking to the user-focused design of products and services. JDi Design provides green product design and development services taking ideas from concept to production in a variety of industries.

Environmental Statement

JDi Design is committed to environmental sustainability and strives to harmonize its clients’ business objectives with consumer needs in balance with nature.

About Orgafile

Orgafile is in the business of offering the best solution for customers wanting to access their offline data and information effortlessly. Suitable for every home, suitable for every small or large office. For more information visit: http://www.orgafile.com

About Red Dot

With more than 10,000 submissions from more than 60 countries, the international “Red Dot Design Award” is the largest and most renowned design competition in the world.
Red Dot Award : http://www.red-dot.de

JDi Design Adopts the Designers Accord

JDi Design is committed to the following 4 steps in implementing the Designers Accord.
For full Designers Accord information, resources, history, and more, visit www.designersaccord.org.

STEP 1: Review the Call to Action

We ask all adopters, globally, to proactively engage in a dialogue about environmental impact with each and every client and customer, and to integrate sustainable alternatives in their work. By collectively committing to having this conversation, we will compel businesses to evaluate sustainability as a key vector in decision-making for their products and services.

We promote openly sharing knowledge and experience about green design and sustainability. We believe building environmental intelligence should be a collective exercise. For this cause, we advocate inverting the traditional model of competition, and encourage pooling knowledge so that all may benefit and build on marketable and sustainable solutions. We believe this will lead to greater innovation.

STEP 2: Internalize the Code of Conduct

• Do no harm
• Communicate and collaborate
• Keep learning, keep teaching
• Instigate meaningful change
• Make theory action

STEP 3: Agree to adopt the Guidelines for Design Firms

1. Publicly declare participation in the Designers Accord.

2. Initiate a dialogue about environmental impact and sustainable alternatives with each and every client. Rework client contracts to favor environmentally responsible design and work processes. Provide strategic and material alternatives for sustainable design.

3. Undertake a program to educate your teams about sustainability and sustainable design.

4. Measure the carbon/greenhouse gas footprint of your firm (includes operations and client engagements), and pledge to reduce your footprint annually. (All Adopters will be asked to submit their footprint assessments on an annual basis to a committee made up of impartial supporters, including representatives from AIGA and IDSA.)

5. Advance the understanding of environmental issues from a design perspective by contributing actively to the communal knowledge base for sustainable design.

STEP 4: Formalize your adoption of the Designers Accord

The Designers Accord is a wholly inclusive initiative, and we invite all members of the creative community to take part in this dialogue. By design, the barrier to entry for adopting is low. However, we know that it is important that this call to action is more than a manifesto. We do ask adopters to demonstrate their adherence to the guidelines by annually providing evidence of their commitment to an external committee of impartial supporters (including representatives from AIGA and IDSA), and by participating in the community conversation about the Designers Accord.

“Design a game that aims to create change by improving lives or inspiring new behaviors” – the tag line for the competition Game Changers, recently announced by Design21 .

More than “just another competition”, it forces us to rethink our lives and our relationships and lead us to adopt new outlooks or rethink the way we do things.

The goal of this competition is to come up with the idea and design for a game that can improve lives or inspire new behaviors, whether personally, professionally or communally, to create change.

Besides the recognition, prizes are also offered to the wining design:

First Prize: $2000

Second Prize: $1000

Application Dedline: May 11, 2010

For more information about this competition, please visit: Design21: Game Changers Competition .

After 6 months of development TazzyTotes™ launches a complete line of eco-chic, fun and functional shopping solutions designed by eco-design consultancy JDi Design of Vancouver, BC.

The TazzyTotes™ range is a modular system of tote solutions designed around your everyday shopping needs, from the moment you enter a store until you finally reach home. The line includes a Market Tote (shopping basket), Urban All Tote (shoulder bag), Shopping Cart Tote, Expandable Bags, Bottle Bag and Produce Bags.

What’s unique about the new range of TazzyTotes™ is that each bag can be flat packed and used alone or as part of a bigger system which grow in capacity to suit your needs.

Lisa Rahn, entrepreneur and TazzyTotes™ founder approached JDi Design after she became frustrated at the lack of practical, stylish, plastic bag alternatives. She was certain that if reusable bags were more attractive and expandable, more people would make the switch.

JDi Design provided the total design solution, developing the TazzyTotes™ brand identity, designing the complete range of eco-chic totes and finally sourcing and coordinating ethical production in China.

To create a truly green range of bags all TazzyTotes™ are made from long-lasting, high quality materials, which minimizes the ecological impact over the product’s useful life. The produce bags – a smart alternative to plastic in the produce and bulk food department feature a clever, erasable label for writing names or bin numbers on and are 100% recyclable PET. An added benefit of the line’s flat-pack design is increased shipping efficiency from the factory in China to retail stores in Canada, which results in a lower carbon footprint.

TazzyTotes™ are available now across Canada.

SABS Design Excellence Chairperson’s Award

The SABS Award recognises that JDi have succeeded in creating a contemporary, user-focused, and environmentally responsible paper management system.

The Orgafile design challenge was to create a high quality, low cost, easy-to-use filing system. The foundation of Orgafile is a modular, easily expandable, 2-drawer cabinet. Customers buy the storage they need and then add more drawers as their filing needs grow. By choosing a modular approach to the problem the consumers’ initial investment is minimized allowing them to “grow as they go”.

The patented “LinkFit” tool-free stack and click system allows drawers to be added and secured simply by sliding them into position. 2 drawers becomes 3, 4 or more. Equally a 5 drawer cabinet can be split into separate 2 and 3 drawer units. Orgafile’s strong yet lightweight construction makes it easy to move or relocate and the cabinet disassembles in seconds.

Another innovate feature which is a first for modular cabinets is the patented TouchFit anti-tilt locking system. TouchFit ensures that only one drawer can be opened at a time preventing the cabinet from tilting or toppling.

Design for the environment was considered at every stage of the Orgafile development process and Orgafile is proud to be a market leader in sustainable office furniture.

Drawer fronts and side panels are made from extruded wood, a product that requires no post-finishing like painting or varnishing and is available in variety of colors. It is made from 90% recycled post consumer wood fiber and 10% polyolefin and can be easily recycled. The product contains no harmful chemicals, VOC’s or urea formaldehyde. The internal containers use less material than competitor products and are 100% recyclable and Steel components have been minimised. All of these features help contribute to the product’s low environmental impact.

Red Dot product design award

At first glance Spaceless appears to be just an attractive balcony deck with coffee table and bench. However an innovative folding design allows the furniture to be folded flush into the deck, in a matter of seconds. The furniture completely disappears, leaving a clean and spacious, uncluttered balcony.

Spaceless is made from Cedar and Aluminium, materials chosen for their excellent weather resistance, gorgeous natural appearance and low environmental impact.

The system has been developed so Architects can specify Spaceless for new developments or the modular system can be retrofitted to existing balconies.

Orgafile- an eco friendly modular filing cabinet designed by JDi Design of Vancouver, BC has won the Best in Canada Design Award for product design. The Best in Canada Design Competition is an annual award acknowledging outstanding achievements by Canadian designers.

The Best in Canada Design Award recognises that JDi have succeeded in creating a contemporary, user-focused, and environmentally responsible paper management system.

The Orgafile design challenge was to create a high quality, low cost, easy-to-use filing system. The foundation of Orgafile is a modular, easily expandable, 2-drawer cabinet. Customers buy the storage they need and then add more drawers as their filing needs grow. By choosing a modular approach to the problem the consumers’ initial investment is minimized allowing them to “grow as they go”.

At the heart of the Orgafile design are 3 key patented features, LinkFit, DrawerLock and TouchFit, all designed and developed by JDi Design.

LinkFit is a tool-free stack and click system that allows drawers to be added to a cabinet and secured by simply sliding them into position. 2 drawers becomes 3, 4 or more and a 5 drawer cabinet can be split into separate 2 and 3 drawer units.

DrawerLock prevents the drawers of individual cabinet modules from opening until the cabinet has been fully assembled.

TouchFit is and anti-tilt locking system, which ensures that only one drawer can be opened at a time preventing the cabinet from tilting or toppling.

Design for the environment was considered at every stage of the development process and Orgafile is proud to be a market leader in sustainable office furniture. Drawer fronts and side panels are made from extruded wood, a product that requires no post-finishing like painting or varnishing and is available in variety of colors. It is made from 90% recycled post consumer wood fiber and 10% polyolefin and can be easily recycled. The product contains no harmful chemicals, VOC’s or urea formaldehyde. The filing system is based on a standard German Alpha Numeric system which was optimized by JDi design to be more space efficient. in order to minimize the material needed for the cabinet and save valuable office space. Steel components have been minimised. All of these features help minimizes the product’s environmental impact.

http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/05/brightsides-led-lcd-backlight-matrix/

JDi Design was asked to design and help engineer an identity for Brightside’s flagship product, the DR37-P.

We took a critical look at the market and competitor products creating a solid foundation from which to work.

Concepts created by JDi utilised contemporary materials and finishes embodying the essence of Brightsides HDR display technology.

Our hands-on approach took the product from an idea to reality helping pave the way for the company’s acquisition by Dolby Laboratories.

http://hd.engadget.com/2007/02/27/dolby-to-buy-brightside-hdr-technology-for-28-mill/

Targeting innovators in Canada, JDi Design, Inc. have launched their new website. It presents JDi Design’s services and core competencies in product development, identity and branding, and also aims to educate industry in the value of design. Among the services offered on the new website are Eco Design (Green Design) services which give industry a solution to harmonize corporate responsibility and profitability with good design.

JDi Design has relied on the keen eye of their in-house design team for design direction and implementation of their new website. “ We are thrilled with our new website as it incorporates a clean aesthetic, while allowing the integration of dynamic graphics into the existing layout. The user interface (UI) is intelligent and allows us to communicate clearly with our visitors.”

Setting www.jdidesign.com apart from other websites in the industry is the integration of illustrated examples of design terminology and references to real world industry.
“I believe we have created a useful tool which gives insight into the world of industrial design and explains how green design can be better utilised as a tool for developing Canadian industry and global trade.”

JDi Design, Inc. (Vancouver, BC), an experienced product and identity design firm, today announced the opening of their new office in Downtown Vancouver.

JDi Design has expanded, adding a workshop with full prototyping capabilities to their existing in-house rapid prototyping service. The new office interior, designed by JDi Design, boasts additional studio space and a creative working environment which positions the company for future growth.

“I am excited about the creative use of space in our new office as it has added significantly to our working area. For our customers this translates directly into productivity and added value. In addition, the new workshop is an indispensable facility which allows us to respond to our clients’ product development and design needs.”