Tomas Wittelsbach, master sculptor and veteran of the movie industry, has entered Solidscape’s Design Competition at Baselworld over the past two years. Tomas won the Silver Award for Jewelry in 2015 for his ornate mermaid ring and the Gold Award in Fine Art in 2016 for his monkey sculpture. This year, he has submitted more jewelry designs. Solidscape is excited to feature him as a guest blogger!


Tomas Wittelsbach designing on Wacom Cintiq

Sculpture and Jewelry: A Natural Fit

I came into the jewelry world as a sculptor and I still consider myself as such. Everything I create is firstly a sculptural object and secondly a piece of jewelry.

I worked in the film industry for over a decade and made many pieces of jewelry for multiple films over that time. I kept getting requests for me to make people pieces after they saw the ones made for the films. So when I left the film industry it seemed like a natural step to start creating jewelry.

I discovered Matrix and purchased a mill in 2006 and found limitations from both. In 2007 I was introduced to ZBrush and started truly sculpting in the computer. This really opened my quest for the best technology to produce my pieces. I was in LA and the first place that responded just happened to use a Solidscape High Precision 3D Printer.

Designing Without Fear

That was a truly fortuitous phone call, I was truly blown away with the resolution and castability. The part was just great. I then worked with a number of jewelry manufacturers that used all kinds of printers with good results. But at the end of the day my designs are a true nightmare to support and that is the most amazing thing about Solidscape. I design for the art of the object, not what is easy to support. With the Solidscape I am free to design what is in my head without fear of supports damaging the surfaces and I know I will have the all surface detail I need.

The Solidscape printer is truly the foundation of how I design with confidence of getting out what we put into it. I don’t have to rethink my designs or plan around the resolution or supports, I just design.

Tomas Wittelsbach Choker wax model on display at Baselworld 2017

Tomas Wittelsbach’s Choker wax model on display at Baselworld 2017

Pushing Boundaries at Baselworld

When I found out that Solidscape was doing a design competition at Basel I was excited to participate because I thought my designs could show many of the benefits the Solidscape has to offer. I’ve been doing it for the last two years now (2016 and 2015) and have received a ton of great responses from people who saw the pieces at the Baselworld show in Switzerland as well as from the Solidscape company themselves.

I will say it again with all honesty there are 3 things that have allowed me to explore my artistry in jewelry design. First ZBrush digital sculpting tool, second the Wacom Cintiq Creative Pen and Touch Display, thirdly and most important for realizing designs into the real world of product is the Solidscape High Precision 3D Printer- The best printer for my work bar none.

 

 


2017 Design Competition at Baselworld Entries by Tomas Wittelsbach

Tomas Wittelsbach, ZBrush instructor challenged by this ruby and created this cocktail ring

Tomas Wittelsbach created this choker in ZBrush


Thank you to Tomas Wittelsbach for contributing to our guest blog series! You can see more of his amazing work on his website, Inkmetal.com.