Mathilde Berchon is an independent consultant specialized in communications strategy for the 3D printing industry at her company FuturFab and mentor for makers entrepreneurs on MakingSociety.fr.
She is the author of “Le grand livre de l’impression 3D” (Editions Eyrolles, 2020) and Women in 3D Printing’s Paris ambassador.
Nora Touré: Mathilde, could you let us know about your background and what brought you to 3D printing in the first place?
Mathilde Berchon: I discovered 3D printing through hackerspaces and the maker community while living in San Francisco, California, back in 2010. It was love at first sight. I started a website called MakingSociety.com to document my discovery journey and decided to look for cutting edge French startups in the field to work with.
Nora Touré: Can you describe your very first experience with 3D Printing?
Mathilde Berchon: I backed the Printrbot kit on Kickstarter when it came out and built my first 3D printer at home. I started printing a few parts from Thingiverse and also got help from members of Noisebridge hackerspace who helped me get better results. I learnt a lot by doing things myself and with others.
Nora Touré: From you experience working with makers and being involved first-hand in the movement, you launched MakingSociety.com. Can you tell us a bit more about this platform?
Mathilde Berchon: It’s a website dedicated to helping makers entrepreneurs, with a strong focus on sharing resources and information from experts to help makers wanting to make a living from their creations. Since moving back to France, I now focus mostly on the French version of the website: MakingSociety.fr
Nora Touré: You’ve also wrote the first book in French on 3D printing for a general audience: “L’impression 3D” (Ed. Eyrolles), which was a best-seller in its category. You just released your third book, “Le Grand Livre de l’Impression 3D” a few weeks ago. What are some of the takeaways of the book?
Mathilde Berchon: “Le grand livre de l’impression 3D”, also published by Eyrolles Edition, covers all aspects of 3D printing, from processes to applications, modeling software to finishing techniques. It combines technical advice as well as strategical insights to understand the most recent developments in the field, regarding the role of 3D printing for building a world in transition and thinking the future of fabrication. It’s a book written for designers, artists, engineers, entrepreneurs, managers or executives interested in working and creating with 3D printers.
Nora Touré: You are also Women in 3D Printing Paris’ ambassador. What can you tell us about Paris’ community?
Mathilde Berchon: The Women in 3D Printing Paris community is made up of a very interesting and passionate group of women. They are engineers, researchers, designers, marketers and entrepreneurs. Some have been in the field for many years and some are just starting.
Before the covid, we were meeting in Paris cafés or visiting innovation spaces almost every month and the group was rapidly expanding. Since the covid, we use a dedicated Whatsapp group to keep in touch. It’s been very useful to inform and support each other at the peak of the crisis since many of the women in the group worked with hospitals to design and produce parts for the health professionals.
Read the rest at Women in 3D Printing
