Paul Siegel (featured above) is the CEO of Digital Double, a company in Seattle that specializes in producing digital doubles of real-life objects and people.
If the story of Pinocchio were written today, it might feature Geppetto 3D printing his creations much like Paul does today with his wooden manikins called “Rangers”.
Apart from customization, A9-Rangers are the first dolls on the market to ever express a complete range of motion. So much so that even contortionists might find it difficult to stump the doll.
It’s no surprise then, that after decades of the classic wooden-doll dominating the market, that artists have now turned to Paul’s Ranger mannequins by the thousands.
We stumbled upon this retailer display case featuring an older version of Ranger facing off with the wooden doll.
Independent artist Austen Marie had this to say:
“ I got my A9 Rig a few weeks ago and LOVE it. I use it for almost every commission I do now so the rig has basically paid for itself”
Children’s book illustrator Nikki Boetger said these dolls have “really evolved my illustration process”
Digital Double’s neighborhood 425 Magazine said it best when stating that Ranger was the “artist manikin of the future”
In his bio, Paul describes himself by saying “I’m part of a new generation of makers bringing a 21st century twist to the craft of handmade toys.”
What’s the twist? For over four years, Paul has been manufacturing most of his pieces through the aid of Fused Deposition Modeling (a fancy name for additive manufacturing.. or 3D printing); and doing so most recently using a wood-composite material as his primary source of resin. In this recent video he posted online you can see his process from start to finish:
Now, Paul is turning to Kickstarter to push his creative process even further. “Manufacturing products with 3D printers is incredibly time consuming” he says in his latest video pitch to backers, further stating that it really bothers him that most people can’t afford his products because of it.
To solve this problem, Paul seeks to raise $50,000 in order to produce metal molds and switch to injection molding, a more conventional manufacturing approach. This will speed up production and make his products affordable to everyone, including families and children.
“My ultimate vision is for this to become the LEGO equivalent for animate objects.” (Most construction toys and bricks focus on inanimate objects like buildings and objects.)
You can find his campaign here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/451963128/anatomical-toys
And see his collection of dolls on www.anatomicaltoys.com
Below are some photographs featuring some of what’s possible with his design and collection of “bones.”
Armature Nine Blog 