Shapeways has Changed

Sadly the Shapeways 3D printing service, which I used as my 3D printing fulfilment service, entered bankruptcy in July 2024.

In December 2024 a Netherlands-based group associated with the company’s early days (it was founded in the Netherlands, and eventually moved its headquarters to the USA) announced that it had successfully purchased the rights to use the Shapeways name as part of its effort to revive the brand.

The revived Shapeways did not gain access to its old marketplace system, and so they purchased the US-based “Thangs” 3D design marketplace instead. The new Shapeways now fulfils 3D print orders, much like Shapeways version 1 did, via Thangs (what a bloody awful name).

Back in the day I had over 200 3D designs available via the Shapeways Marketplace. For many years it was a good model. I could design models that interested me, publish them on Shapeways, and people could purchase decent-quality prints. The income generated essentially covered my costs in producing the stuff.

Unfortunately as time passed, the pricing for prints kept going up and up. And given that home printers were increasing in quality and decreasing in price, it meant that Shapeways was effectively pricing itself out of the marketplace.

I was hoping that the resurrected Shapeways/Thangs site would have more reasonable pricing, but sadly that is not the case. The prices on Thangs are actually significantly higher than they were in late Shapeways days. The process for uploading a file to Thangs is also extremely time-consuming and onerous.

Accordingly, as of late 2026, I’ve started uploading a few designs to Thangs, but I’m not expecting a lot of sales. We’ll see if there’s enough interest to add more. Let me know if there’s something you need from the old site.

Age of Plastic printing storefront.

Age of Plastic <contact@theageofplastic.info>