In his latest blog amusingly titled ‘How to print your own Justin Bieber’ Paul Markillie, the Innovation Editor at The Economist, discusses 3D printing.

Paul introduces the reader to Mcor Technologies, the company run by brothers Conor and Fintan MacCormack, who invented the technique.  They use standard office A4 sheets of paper to produce photorealistic images, making production fairly inexpensive. It is interesting to hear how the process itself works – Paul explains this with great clarity for the reader.

The office-supply chain Staples has already begun to use the MacCormacks’ technology in their Netherlands factory and is planning to take the service across Europe too.

Paul also discusses Autodesk’s 123D catch which is a free app that can be used to convert a 2D image into a 3D file suitable for printing.

Click here to read Paul’s blog