Hackers Create Virtual Pottery Wheel (That Makes Real Pottery)

Users can mold a virtual, 3-D model, and have it printed out on demand.

In the future, maybe pottery class won't involve getting your hands dirty at all. Maybe you won't even have to wear a smock.

At the "Design by Performance" exhibition at Z33 in Belgium, Unfold, a Belgian design firm founded by Claire Warnier and Dries Verbruggen, and designer Tim Knapen installed something they call "L'Artisan Electronique" ("The Electronic Artisan). Composed of a 3-D laser scanner and a RepRap--a cheap...