DKO - home manufacturing project

Valja is a award-winning set of multifunctional 3D-printed hangers made as a part of a experimental home manufacturing project called DKO.

This project is now archived and was part of DDW21

Valja, Pop up Exhibition - Botaničar, Zagreb

Ivica Ivčević

The continued development of desktop devices such as 3D printers, CNC machines, lasers and plastic shredders is compelling because it incentivizes local low-volume manufacturing without surplus, experimenting with materials and recycling, as well as considering different approaches to manufacturing.

The remarkably simple and innovative 3D-printed hanger was created in 2020

Valja is a set of multifunctional 3D-printed hangers which take the form of simple cylinders and can be attached to both vertical and horizontal furniture surfaces of various widths. The remarkably simple and innovative 3D-printed hanger was created in 2020 as an experiment in developing, designing and manufacturing a product in a limited house environment, inspired by the continued development of small and increasingly accessible desktop devices. By studying slicing techniques atypical for other manufacturing methods, and the functional possibilities they bring, along with experimenting with infill percentages, the first prototype of Valja was born. Valja reached its final form through the simplification of the prototype and currently comes in three basic sizes, but can be modified in any way and adjusted to fit furniture of different sizes. Valja won third place at the Zagreb Design Week in 2020, and ranked among the top fifteen product-design projects at the Exhibit of Croatian Design in 2019/2020.

Valja as a part of Rethinking plastic Exhibition at Yksi Expo

Project DKO consists of two main products: Desktop stand Reza and hanger set Valja. Reza is made out of PLA NX2 which is sourced from renewable biopolymer and biodegradable (EN 13432) and newest prototypes of Valja are made from 95-100 % recycled plastic (r-PETG and r-PLA). Exhibition shows this models alongside an older model made from 50% recycled PLA.