3D-printed cutlery challenges manufacturing norms at 3 Days of Design

Curator Dung Ngo and Los Angeles gallery Marta present Knife, Fork, Spoon 3.0 at 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen, featuring 12 artists and designers who used 3D printing to create cutlery impossible to produce conventionally. Participants include Jolie Ngo, Rafael de Cárdenas, Charlap Hyman & Herrero, Minjae Kim, Nifemi Marcus-Bello, Greg Lynn, Florian Idenburg (SO-IL), Marcin Rusak, and Jacqueline Rabun. The exhibition, supported by Design Within Reach, explores how additive manufacturing can bring customization to domestic objects. Ngo notes flatware hasn't innovated in over a century, and 3D printing enables forms that cannot be stamped from steel. Greg Lynn's plant-like pieces, originally developed for Alessi in 2007, are now more affordable to produce. After the fair, Marta will release the designs as an open edition. The project builds on Ngo's research at the Denver Art Museum and his book Knife Fork Spoon: Modernist Cutlery 1900–2025. 3 Days of Design runs June 10–12, 2026.