Fast Liquid Print (RLP) turned heads earlier this 12 months with a futuristic silicone purse made for vogue home Coperni, printed utilizing the corporate’s 3D know-how. However for co-founder and CEO Schendy Kernizan, this high-profile collaboration was solely essentially the most seen a part of an extended journey, one which began within the analysis labs of MIT and has grown into one of the quietly progressive startups within the additive manufacturing (AM) world.
“There’s by no means a uninteresting second,” Kernizan mirrored throughout my go to to RLP headquarters in Boston. “Constructing a enterprise is sort of a rollercoaster. However with the fitting workforce, you begin having fun with each milestone, even the small ones. The vitality is totally different from a lab, however simply as inventive. As an alternative of testing new concepts each week, you give attention to constructing one huge concept and bringing it to life.”
RLP’s Coperni baggage on show at RLP headquarters in Boston. Picture courtesy of 3DPrint.com
Certainly, A Playground for Concepts
The seeds for RLP had been planted at MIT’s Self-Meeting Lab, the place Kernizan labored alongside co-founders Bjorn Sparrman, Skylar Tibbits, and Jared Laucks. The lab was, as Kernizan places it, “a playground” the place tutorial exploration met design challenges from the actual world. When Steelcase, a significant workplace furnishings firm, approached the lab with a query about the way forward for furnishings manufacturing, it sparked one thing surprising, he mentioned.
The workforce realized that AM was scuffling with three main boundaries: supplies weren’t sturdy or versatile sufficient, printing massive elements took too lengthy, and scalability was restricted by molds and helps. In order that they started to experiment. One concept particularly concerned drawing immediately within a gel, letting the gel droop the printed materials in house with out gravity or helps.
It labored.
“That early prototype laid the inspiration for what would develop into RLP’s signature course of, the Fast Liquid Printing, and after sharing it publicly, the suggestions was rapid and overwhelming. There was a lot pleasure,” Kernizan recalled. “We realized this was greater than a analysis venture. We needed to begin an organization.”
3D printed elements at RLP’s headquarters in Boston. Picture courtesy of 3DPrint.com.
We Needed to Begin a Firm
Whereas Tibbits and Laucks remained at MIT to proceed lab work, Kernizan and Sparrman took the leap. They launched RLP in 2020 and rapidly discovered that turning lab tech right into a enterprise would require extra than simply their analysis.
“It’s a completely totally different problem,” Kernizan mentioned. “You’re not simply fascinated about the science anymore, you’re fascinated about the workforce, the supplies, the software program, and the enterprise mannequin. Each piece issues if you wish to flip a good suggestion into one thing actual.”
Fairly than dashing to promote machines, the workforce made a strategic transfer; they’d act as a service bureau first. By printing elements for others, they might “stress-test the know-how, uncover what markets had been most promising, and refine the method earlier than ever placing a printer in the marketplace.”
This method gave them invaluable perception. They discovered early traction in healthcare by printing custom-made prosthetic liners and orthotic elements from medical-grade silicone. Additionally they explored functions in footwear, aerospace, automotive, and even house analysis. In a single MIT-linked venture, they assisted a analysis workforce in growing versatile silicone buildings designed to help progress experiments in house. The elements had been printed on quick discover and despatched into orbit for testing as a part of a broader NASA-affiliated collaboration.
“We needed to construct one thing actual,” mentioned Kernizan. “We didn’t wish to overpromise. Plenty of firms made huge claims early on, and it harm investor confidence within the business. We knew we had one thing highly effective, however we additionally knew we needed to show it first, by delivering, not simply speaking.”
RLP’s gravity free 3D printing at work. Picture courtesy of 3DPrint.com
Show It First
In the present day, RLP operates out of about 4,000 sq. toes in Charlestown, Massachusetts. The core workforce of 11 full-timers has stayed small on function, says Kernizan, and is supported by interns and co-ops from close by faculties like Northeastern, MIT, and Wentworth.
With the fitting workforce in place, RLP was able to make its subsequent huge transfer. Earlier this 12 months, it debuted its first industrial printer, Levity™, on the RAPID + TCT present. Designed for quiet, clear, and gravity free printing of silicone elements, Levity™ marks a brand new part for RLP, bringing its once-secretive course of to market.
“Levity™ is our flagship industrial machine that we’ll be beginning to ship in 2026,” Kernizan confirmed. “We now have a waitlist open and a few early curiosity already. In reality, we’re in conversations with people and firms inquisitive about buying the machine. A few of them we’d squeeze on this 12 months as early adopters to present us suggestions.”
The RLP workforce with Levity™. Picture courtesy of RLP.
Early Curiosity Already
Really, it was its genuine method to AM that helped RLP land considered one of its most high-profile tasks: a collaboration with Coperni for a collection of 3D printed purses. The partnership got here by connections at MIT, and whereas the preliminary purse design wasn’t optimized for RLP’s course of, the workforce managed to drag it off anyway, printing shiny baggage that had been later laser-etched, cleaned, and shipped abroad.
“I didn’t anticipate to ever print a handbag,” Kernizan laughed. “However I believe that’s what makes this so enjoyable. You get requested to do issues that you just’d by no means plan for, and it opens up fully new concepts.”
He sees vogue as a rising market, particularly if designers begin creating with RLP’s course of in thoughts: “We’d like to co-develop one thing that’s really designed for gravity free printing.”
Vanesa Listek holding the Coperni bag at RLP’s headquarters in Boston. Picture courtesy of 3DPrint.com.
RLP isn’t simply altering the know-how; it’s additionally altering how we take into consideration 3D printing. Kernizan doesn’t even like utilizing the time period “3D printing,” as an alternative calling RLP a “platform for manufacturing.” That distinction issues, he says, as a result of “if you say ‘3D printing,’ folks have sure concepts, particularly about helps, layers, and post-processing. However that is one thing totally different.”
As an alternative of constructing help buildings or losing extra materials, RLP lets customers “print what you want and nothing extra.” There’s no sanding, curing, or poisonous cleanup. Throughout my go to, one of many machines was printing dwell in plain sight; it was clear, quiet, and surprisingly quick. Kernizan walked me by the half because it was printed, exhibiting how easy and streamlined it truly is. And since they use supplies already authorized for casting and molding, clients can skip the prolonged certification course of.
Nonetheless, the corporate isn’t dashing into each new materials or concept: “We’ve needed to keep targeted. Generally we’ll put an concept on the board and revisit it later, when the timing or associate is correct. Proper now, RLP works primarily with platinum-cure RTV silicone, which is protected for pores and skin and broadly utilized in medical and shopper functions. However the long-term imaginative and prescient goes a lot additional.
“We began with medical, prosthetics, and orthotics,” he mentioned. “Finally, we wish to transfer towards implantables, or shopper items like footwear, the place RLP is already working with just a few firms on efficiency and recovery-focused designs.”
Vanesa Listek subsequent to RLP’s prototype printer Vanesa Listek at RLP’s headquarters in Boston. Picture courtesy of 3DPrint.com.
On the extra industrial aspect, RLP is seeing demand for gaskets and seals in sectors like aerospace and automotive, particularly as their construct quantity (500 mm cubed) opens up new prospects. And since the method is so quiet and open, watching it occur feels totally different than conventional machines.
“This one’s printing a prosthetic half proper now,” Kernizan advised me throughout the go to, pointing to a softly glowing tank behind him. “You’ll be capable to see the total half earlier than you permit.” The half was printing dwell, absolutely seen by the clear tank, backlit by RLP’s built-in show, and took
half-hour to print. Actual-time updates confirmed elapsed time, remaining print time, and materials utilization, turning the complete machine right into a sort of manufacturing dashboard.
“Our spirit of openness and iteration is what makes the work thrilling. Much more fascinating is that we haven’t hit the ceiling of what this course of can do. Each new request, each new software—it reveals us what’s potential,” he concluded. And in a subject usually crammed with noise, RLP’s quiet confidence stands out.
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