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This week’s Designer Spotlight features SASSy Design, a design studio from Poland. Their models on Printables alone have over 230,000 downloads, so, needless to say, they know their stuff. From a team that includes interior, product, and graphic designers, Simon Świderski, the lead 3D modeling and printing specialist, will be tackling our questions.

Their pots and planters are their most popular creations, not just because of their striking looks, but also because of their style. Instead of the traditional vase mode, Simon explained that “the walls are printed layer by layer with increased wall thickness, and the model has no infill and no top layers. As a result, even though the model is solid, the final print comes out as a hollow pot with a sturdy wall and bottom thickness. This printing method also makes our pots scalable to any size – small or large – since the wall thickness is generated by the slicer, it can be adjusted to fit the desired pot size.” A cool method for a cool collection, although it’s worth pointing out that they have other noteworthy designs, like a light diffuser lantern, a headphone stand, and festive Christmas models.

Let’s learn more about SASSy Design!

Q&A

All3DP: Tell us a little about yourself – what’s your background?

SASSy Design (Simon): We are a small design studio based in Poland, and creating is our passion. Our journey began in 2020 when we worked on our first group project while still studying architectural design together. Our 3D modeling journey started when we bought our first 3D printer in 2021 and began creating useful and fun models for our studio. Then, we had the idea to share them with the world, and little by little, our fan base grew! We soon realized that my pot designs (I’m a big plant lover) were the most popular, so I kept creating more and more of them – and here we are now.

How do you get the ideas for your designs?

I get my inspiration from everywhere – literally! Even the most common and ordinary things have incredible details, textures, and patterns that translate beautifully into plant pot designs. I love taking small sketches or photos of these details to use as inspiration for future creations. Of course, not every attempt is a great success, but sometimes even failed attempts lead to an even wilder and more amazing design than I initially imagined.

How much does the technical side of 3D printing (e.g. supports, a design that requires assembly or one that’s printable in one piece) come into play when you’re designing? Or is your designing entirely independent from 3D printing and you later figure out how they work together best?

I try to make our designs as easy to print as possible so that they remain accessible even to beginners. Most of our designs are based on a semi-vase mode that we like to call the SASSy Vase mode, which we explained above.

Of all the things you’ve created, which are you most fond of and why?

That’s a tough question! Every model is unique, and I love each one dearly, but the most sentimental one for me is definitely the “Traditional Triangle Plant Pot“, as it was one of our first designs. That particular project marked a turning point in our journey with 3D printed models. Our previous designs to that point had around 10-20 downloads, but this one became incredibly popular overnight. At the time, I was honestly a bit discouraged by the results of our efforts till this point and had planned for it to be our last model for a while. A couple of days later, my colleague asked how things were going, so I checked the total downloads on our Printables page. To my surprise, they had jumped from around 200 to 1,000! I was stunned and so was my colleague. The new model was a hit, and it gave us the motivation to keep pushing forward.

If you could step back in time and give yourself some advice from the beginning, what would it be?

It would be definitely this: Don’t get discouraged if a model you poured your heart into doesn’t succeed. It happens, and it will happen again. The key is to keep going, push forward, and trust that one day, it will all be worth it.