Bushwick’s 3D-printing boy genius nabs Forbes 30 Under 30 nod

Max Friefeld did big things in 2015. His company, Voodoo Manufacturing, opened its own 3D-printing factory in Bushwick this fall. He predicted that 3D printing would constitute an oncoming industrial revolution in the manufacturing sector, was nominated for a Brooklyn Innovation Award for Technologist of the Year and now, at 24, was named one of the 30 Under 30 in manufacturing by Forbes, a legacy financial publication based in Manhattan.
“Personally, I’m truly flattered, but I wish I had more of a chance to recognize cofounders Oliver Ortlieb, Jon Schwartz, and Patrick Deem,” he told Technical.ly this morning. “As a team, it feels like we really need to kick some ass in the next 6 months to live up to the hype. All of the problems we had yesterday are still there, and it really feels like we are exploring uncharted territory. We’re on a mission to introduce a completely new way to manufacture goods. It’s not something that is going to happen overnight.”
When talking about a new industrial revolution, Friefeld means it, not in a marketing or gimmicky way. He thinks that 3D printing will turn economies of scale on its head. He predicts, essentially, that the marginal cost of producing a custom unit will be the same as producing identical units.
“We’re trying to reverse 200 years of evolution in manufacturing,” he told Technical.ly on the fire escape of his new factory in November. “We can economically make things that look different now, thanks to 3D printing.”