The Next Chapter
Announcing Matter’s acquisition and the future of small-batch digital manufacturing
It’s been a long journey, but today we’re excited to announce that Matter has joined Junction 3D, the company behind the ultra high-resolution Solus line of 3D-printers that power our NYC factory. Together we’ll be launching a new service for designers and engineers that brings together our easy to use software with Junction’s cutting-edge machines and materials and opening up a new digital factory in Downtown LA. You can sign up for early access here.
While we’ve had the good fortune to work with Emil and the rest of the Junction team since 2015, this story goes back even further. As we begin this new chapter we thought it wanted to take a look back at how we got here and thank everyone who helped us along the way.
When the three of us — Frank, Greg and Dylan — first met back in 2012, 3D printing only existed in corporate R&D labs and hacker spaces and the idea of digital manufacturing was barely a speck on anyone’s radar. MakerBot had just released the first Replicator, a $2ooo plywood box that looked more like a middle-school arts and crafts project than a revolutionary piece of technology, as did the crude parts that came out of them.
But through the piles of Yoda heads and ABS spaghetti, the three of us saw a glimmer of something bigger. Even then, we realized, 3D printers would be a powerful tool in the hands of creative people, if only they could figure out how to get them there. If we could “hide all the complexity”, as Frank liked to say in the early days.
In the years since, almost everything about 3D printing has changed and we’ve changed along with it: from building Instagram inspired CAD tools, to launching our own jewelry line before landing on the small-batch production service that so many of you have come to know us by. But through it all, we never lost sight of our mission to make digital manufacturing a powerful tool for creative people.
Since its own founding, Junction has shared a similar mission and over the past few years we have worked together our visions have become one. As we begin this next chapter, together, we will continue our push to empower creative entrepreneurs to bring amazing things to life.
As always — we can’t wait to see what you’ll make!
Team Matter
A special thanks to: Tobe Nwanna, Abraham Parangi, Brandon Capecci, Ridhi Singla, Maryanna Basyul, Jen Wells-Qu, Jana Styblova, Sam Li, Yihwan Kim, Lulu Mu-Park, Ben Blanton, Josh Simenhoff, Max Wiseltier, Bill Warner, Blake Minho Kim, Brandon Hathaway, Drew Beller, Brandon Tieno, Mika Nakano, Blair Lineham, Shirley Yu, Anh Le, Maya Juchtman, Jordan Stein, Zach Schofel, Nate Lewis, Arpit Sheth, Timothy Lu, JB Osborne, Robert Schouwenburg, Andy Palmer and Alex Iskold.
