You Might Soon Buy 3D Printed Eyeglasses From FourDex

A new startup seems to be developing 3D printed eyewear.

We don’t know much about FourDex, but from the looks of their website, it appears they’re developing a line of 3D printed eyewear. The products don’t seem to be offered to the public yet, but we’re expecting this to happen in the future. 

It’s good to see someone taking advantage of 3D printing technology to produce new products, but we’re wondering how FourDex will actually leverage the technology. 

Since 3D printing tech can “mass produce quantities of one”, it is entirely applicable to eyewear. And eyewear is by definition a highly personalized item, and not just because of the frame design. 

It’s the fit. Each person has different physical dimensions. If you were able to create a set of frames that is perfectly matched to your head, they could be highly comfortable as well as trendy. 

We’re wondering how FourDex will do this, as a customization process would obviously require the buyer to perform a set of measurements on their own heads. We’ve seen other approaches where users are required to print out a 2D paper measuring tool that can assist, but the most convenient approach could be to use a webcam to dynamically analyze a person’s cranial structure for best fit, assuming they don’t have a lot of hair to distract the analysis. 

FourDex may not yet be ready for action, but this is the world we may soon live in: transform your personal specifications into a real product you can wear and use. 

Via FourDex