Hi! I am David Ng, a designer by training, with a background in industrial design and a passion for 3D printing and magic (psssstt secret hobby). These interests shape the way I think about design and combining technical problem-solving with a sense of curiosity, surprise, and delight.
A Fold Within is my personal creative platform, a space where I can explore ideas without the constraints of commercial briefs or conventional design expectations. It gives me the freedom to experiment, iterate, and transform curiosity into tangible objects.
The brand focuses on 3D-printed homeware designed specifically for additive manufacturing. Rather than treating 3D printing as simply a manufacturing method, I design each piece so that it can only exist through the process itself. Many of my works are generated using custom G-code, allowing me to directly choreograph the printer’s toolpath and create textures, patterns, and forms that are unique to additive manufacturing.
Some of these techniques are visible in the products themselves. For example, the Peco Lamp celebrates the woven deposition of filament, where the nozzle’s tool path becomes the texture of the lamp rather than something to conceal. The layered strands create a lightweight, fabric-like surface that is only possible through additive manufacturing. In the Osphic Lamp, I programmed a custom toolpath with continuous Z-axis movement, causing the nozzle to rise and fall as it prints. This creates a self-supporting, mesh-like lampshade whose geometry emerges directly from the G-code, resulting in a structure that would be extremely difficult to produce using conventional manufacturing methods.
For me, A Fold Within is more than a homeware brand. It is an ongoing exploration of computational design, digital craftsmanship, and the intersection of technology and everyday living. It is a place where I can continually push the boundaries of what 3D printing can create.