The Berkeley startup is offering full-body 3D prints of graduates.
Twindom, a startup by three University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) graduates, is taking a step beyond photography. The company offers full-body figurines of graduates ranging from a ratio of 1:25 – for $39 – to 1:12 – for $119. In case of a six foot tall person, that is equivalent to 2.9 inches to 6 inches.
Following a 3D scan of the person, which takes about three and a half minutes, that scan is used to create a sandstone replica. The machine is able to pick up finer details like tattoos, but they may get lost during printing and only appear as one colour. The software is proprietary to the startup.
The company originally launched as Dreambox, developing 3D printing vending machines, but relaunched in 2014 as Twindom. The change happened serendipitously, after the founders messed around with a revolving shelf and a video-game motion sensor. Twindom is headquartered at SkyDeck, UC Berkeley’s incubator, but has opened two more offices in San Mateo, California, and Houston, Texas.
The three company founders, Richard Berwick, David Pastewka and Will Drevno, are hoping to immortalise some 500 UC Berkeley graduates this year. The three only graduated recently themselves: Berwick and Pastewka in 2012, Drevno in 2013. They met through a mobile app development contest at the university, and shortly afterwards launched Dreambox.
The company is aiming to set up kiosks around the US and scan graduates as well as their families – right now the software can only handle two people at a time. Berwick, co-founder and chief technology officer, said: “We would like to help everyone remember their graduation.”
