{"id":68581,"date":"2025-12-12T16:00:57","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T15:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/?p=68581"},"modified":"2025-12-12T16:51:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T15:51:05","slug":"3d-express-justin-bieber-brings-3d-printing-to-sneaker-culture-12122025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/3d-express-justin-bieber-brings-3d-printing-to-sneaker-culture-12122025\/","title":{"rendered":"3DExpress: Justin Bieber Launches Sneaker with Zellerfeld at SKYLRK\u2019s Tokyo Pop-Up"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

This week in 3DExpress, 3D printing is making strides in medicine, aerospace, consumer goods, and materials science. CurifyLabs introduced a 3D printed compounding system that produces pet-friendly medications, offering a faster, more consistent alternative to manual preparation. In aerospace, Saab unveiled a five-metre AI-designed fuselage printed almost entirely in metal, demonstrating how software-like iteration could transform aircraft production. Researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China achieved high-precision 3D printing of high entropy ceramic nanolattices, creating ultralight, ultra-strong structures with features as small as 150 nanometres. Meanwhile, additive manufacturing continues to influence culture and design, from sneakers to toys, showing the technology\u2019s reach across industries and applications.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

Bieber Brings 3D Printing to Sneaker Culture<\/h2>\n

Additive manufacturing<\/a> had its full pop-star moment this week as Justin Bieber debuted his first 3D-printed sneaker, the Earth Bender, created with Zellerfeld and launched at SKYLRK\u2019s first-ever pop-up in Tokyo. The sculptural slip-on design features soccer-cleat-inspired forms and a mix of textures, including mesh-like side panels, all produced as one continuous 3D-printed piece. Zellerfeld will already be familiar to many readers as a footwear-focused 3D printing manufacturer and digital platform, helping designers transform experimental ideas into finished shoes, from independent studios to global brands like Nike and Havaianas. The Earth Bender is the latest project to emerge from that ecosystem, following Bieber\u2019s launch of Skylrk with designer Neima Khaila earlier this year, putting additive manufacturing right at the heart of today\u2019s sneaker culture.<\/p>\n

\"(Photo

(Photo Credit: (Right) Instagram via @lilbieber and (Left) Skylrk<\/p><\/div>\n

LEGO Group to Deliver Keynote at AMUG 2026<\/h2>\n

You\u2019ve likely seen the recent headlines about LEGO releasing its first retail set featuring a 3D printed part: a festive Christmas train. The timing is fitting, as the Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG)<\/a> has announced that Ronen Hadar, Senior Director and Head of Additive Design & Manufacturing at The LEGO Group, will be one of the keynote speakers at its 2026 conference.<\/p>\n

The event will take place in Reno, Nevada, from March 15\u201319, with Hadar scheduled to speak on Thursday, the 19th. His keynote, \u201cAdditive Manufacturing at Scale in Consumer Goods: The Case of The LEGO Group,\u201d will examine how the company is integrating 3D printing into an industry defined by high-volume, low-cost production. Hadar has spent more than 15 years shaping how one of the world\u2019s most iconic toy brands uses additive manufacturing. His insights will offer attendees a detailed look at LEGO\u2019s approach to innovation through AM. For more details on AMUG 2026, click here<\/a>.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"(Photo

(Photo Credit: AMUG \/ Lego)<\/p><\/div>\n

Saab Reveals World-First AI-Designed, Fully 3D-Printed Aircraft Fuselage<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Saab has taken additive manufacturing to a new milestone with the reveal of a five-metre aircraft fuselage that is both fully 3D-printed and designed by AI, created in partnership with Divergent Technologies. The experimental structure, produced using Divergent\u2019s advanced additive production system, marks the first time an airframer has attempted to build a large, flight-ready fuselage without traditional tooling, with Saab aiming for a first test flight in 2026. The project builds on Saab\u2019s digital engineering work from the Gripen E fighter programme, where model-based design and rapid software updates reshaped development cycles. Now, that same philosophy is being applied to physical hardware through what Saab calls Software-Defined Hardware Manufacturing, using optimisation algorithms to generate organic load-bearing forms that humans could not draw. The result is a highly integrated structure made from just 26 printed metal parts<\/a>, replacing hundreds of components and eliminating thousands of fasteners. Saab sees the demonstrator as an early signal of a future in which aircraft can be redesigned, printed and assembled with software-like speed\u2014potentially transforming upgrade cycles, enabling mission-specific variants and reshaping how next-generation crewed and uncrewed aircraft are built.<\/p>\n