HELLO, I AM MARTIN ŽAMPACH
I am an industrial designer and I am mainly involved
in 3D printing.
I enjoy exploring and developing the possibilities of additive technologies, looking for their limits and pushing them. For almost 20 years I have been striving to bring functional and aesthetically interesting solutions that respect the principles of good design, manufacturing optimization and waste minimization. Simply to make sense.
In terms of taste, I live somewhere between Japan and Scandinavia. I like functional minimalism - minimal but functional form. Because what looks simple is the hardest thing to design and produce. And well-crafted detail is essential.
My current portfolio is based on functional interior decorative elements and I am experimenting with large format 3D printing and modular concepts.
The future is additive
I've always thought locally and wanted to use materials without waste. That led me to 3D printing. First for prototyping and later to use it for the production of finished products.
I see huge potential in it. Not only in aesthetics and materials, but also in the ability to distribute designs digitally and produce them quickly and locally - only as much as is ordered and where it is needed.
I believe that the future of design lies in a combination of the search for innovation and economy, where digital distribution of designs and decentralised production of products will be the norm. Through digital craftsmanship and 3D printing, we can create bespoke products without the need for mass production and with a minimal carbon footprint.
The present is the layered past
1981-1995
I've been in a creative environment since I was a kid. My parents and I would go to the cottage and we were always fixing and improving things. Especially with my dad, who built a studio there, we were always creating something. My dad is a stone sculptor and later worked as a designer in a glass factory. That shaped and directed me.
I studied at the Secondary School of Arts and Crafts in Luhačovice, but I didn't want to focus only on glass, so I expanded my studies to the whole field of industrial design at the Tomas Bata University in Zlín. During my studies I had the opportunity to go on Erasmus to the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, where I specialized in product and furniture design.
1995-2006
2006-2008
After school I went abroad to gain experience. And I was lucky. I worked in an architectural studio in Londrina, Brazil, then at CuldeSac design studio in Valencia, Spain, and finally for a few months at Art Lebedev Studio in Moscow.
2006-2012
While still at school I founded the blog DesignEast.eu, a platform aimed at popularizing design in Central and Eastern Europe, where I wrote about events and projects and organized exhibitions in the Czech Republic and abroad. This project grew into a media platform that gained thousands of readers and to which many authors from different countries contributed.
2008-2016
I did my first purely self-employed work while I was still in school, and except for the period when I was 100% dedicated to Prototype, I never stopped. There have been countless projects over the years. From glass design to vases, tableware, lamps and various prototypes to lifestyle products under my own brand. For a while I worked with Flex/Cocoon on the design of beverage bottles for various European brands. In 2013, my KON glass collection, designed for SIMAX, won the prestigious GOOD DESIGN AWARD from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design.
2014-2016
Within YSOFT BE3D I was responsible for the design of BE3D printers and all the external presentation of the company, including the design of presentation stands for trade fairs.
2016-2023
I co-founded Studio PROTOTYPUM with Martin Hřeben and Honza Malina. It was a dream. I wanted to build a design studio that would be on par with the Western ones, which I watched and was inspired by almost every day. I wanted to do things that help improve the environment around us. For a long time, we've been able to do that. It was a good team collaboration and we won several awards, including the GOOD DESIGN AWARD and the BigSee PRODUCT DESIGN AWARD. We enjoyed it, it grew under our hands, but despite COVID and the inflation crisis, we didn't end up cleaning it up.
Portfolio slideshow