In Singapore, the "Touchable Memories" project allows blind people to "see" souvenir photos printed using a 3D printer. Seeing with their fingers...
It's hard to remember beautiful things without a photo, picture or video. So how do people who are deprived of sight do it?
For a visually impaired person, a photo printed in 2D is of no interest whatsoever. It does not evoke any emotion, it is merely a smooth surface on which memories slide. The creative agency Lola, based in Madrid, Spain, looked into the case of visually impaired people who want to relive a moment immortalized in a photograph. Through the "Touchable Memories" project, people deprived of the most fundamental meaning have been able to live an unprecedented experience: to "see" for the first time the content of their souvenir photos!
A relief model of their photograph was printed in 3D with Pirate3D printers. The photo, made tangible, can then be seen...with the fingers. Thanks to this process, blind people can finally preserve and relive memories of their past. "I may feel the same emotion as the first person who saw himself in a photograph." said one of the first users when he discovered the content of a childhood photo. Technology at the service of memory. When will the photo album be available?
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Originally, it was a communication operation of Pirate3D for the launch of its new printer model "Buccaneer" which was a great success on the Kickstarter crowdfunding site in 2013. "Touchable Memories" was an experience offered to 5 blind people to help them relive the most important moments of their life thanks to 3D printing, by simply transforming a photo into a perceptible scene of life.
