Case Study: Fmhofmann Eyewear achieves industry-first fully 3D-printed, modular Cosmos eyewear with Materialise

Fmhofmann Powers Eyewear Creativity with 3D Printing

Fmhofmann Eyewear partnered with Materialise to turn designer Fabian Hofmann’s ambitious brief into reality: create the industry’s first eyewear range with complex moving parts made entirely by additive manufacturing. The challenge required a reimagined titanium “VOID” hinge, lightweight open‑core frames and temples in polyamide, precise miniature metal parts and a new luxurious surface finish — all produced through 3D printing technologies.

Materialise applied its 3D printing and manufacturing expertise (laser‑sintered PA12 for polyamide parts and metal 3D printing for titanium components), running multiple prototyping and optimization cycles, precise support removal and hand finishing to deliver the Cosmos collection. The outcome: every element — frames, temples, hinge, screws and even custom tools — was produced additively, yielding a lightweight, modular, high‑precision eyewear line with exclusive colors and a leather‑like finish that debuted at SILMO 2018, proving Materialise can scale complex AM designs to market.

Fmhofmann Eyewear

Fabian Hofmann

Designer