Robert's blog

I recently moved to New York City. My company Shapeways moved her headquarters to Manhattan after receiving funding from Union Square Ventures and Index Ventures.

Living in Brooklyn is somewhat different than Eindhoven, The Netherlands where I lived before. Going from a 200k town to this energetic and ever-moving place is a very interesting experience. Up until now New York has treated me well. My sons Dinand & Roderik and my wife Daniela live here as well.

After a brief stint at Ernst & Young as an IT auditor I have worked for startups all my life and cannot imagine doing something else. I have moved from a tour operator to an internet provider to satellite communications systems. It has been a fun ride up until now and brings you places. You meet interesting people and learn something new every day.

Since 2007 I work on Shapeways. Shapeways is a online personal fabrication service allowing anybody to make their own unique products — either by their own design or co-designing with experienced & talented designers or personalizing / customizing template designs. We use 3D printing to produce these products. Along the way I have learned a lot about 3D printing and co-creation. Every month tens of thousands products are created by our customers, lovingly manufactured and shipped by us. The creativity and ingenuity of our community never ceases to amaze me. At the same time insuring that all those unique one-off products are manufactured and put in the right box is no easy task. I see the future of manufacturing — every day — and it is awesome.

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Contact me robert@schouwenburg.com