Watch a fake flower blossom thanks to flexible 3D-printed materials (video)
![](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/EYnWumgjlrAG2z4L0NMRDA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTYzOA--/https://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/adam/4e2615cb832871414acb28b0c699d712/richard-clarkson-3d-printed-flower.jpg)
Richard Clarkson, a student at New York's School of Visual Arts, has used a combination of pneumatics and 3D-printed flexible-materials to create an artificial flower that "blooms," and the result is pretty neat. When air fills a cavity in the rubbery petals, they expand and push outward against the harder center bulb, replicating how a real flower blossoms. Clarkson said he chose a flower for this experiment because he wanted to model something organic from an entirely non-organic process. Words really don't do the art project justice however, which is why we've embedded a video of the installation after the break -- check it out.
Blossom from Richard Clarkson on Vimeo.