Divoire is a small home décor studio in Havertown, Pennsylvania. Most of what we sell is designed here and 3D printed here, one piece at a time. This page explains what our pieces are made of, how they're made, and why they look the way they do.
Materials
Matte PLA. Nearly every printed piece — tissue boxes, clocks, switch plates, signs — is printed in matte PLA from Polymaker and Elegoo, a plant-based plastic made from fermented starch (most often corn) rather than petroleum. We use matte finishes because they hide layer lines gracefully and give the ribbed surfaces a soft, ceramic-like look. PLA is rigid, holds fine detail, and is safe for everyday household use. It does soften above roughly 55 °C / 130 °F, so we ask you to keep pieces out of direct sun, away from radiators, and out of hot cars.
PETG, for the cable boxes. Cable management boxes are printed in PETG instead — a tougher, slightly flexible plastic that shrugs off the warmth of a power strip and won't soften the way PLA can. It's the same material used in water bottles.
Everything else. A handful of pieces aren't printed at all: our clear glass cylinder vases, and our real rabbit fur pelts and fur-wrapped vases. We choose them to sit alongside the printed collection, and each product page says exactly what a piece is made of.
How a piece is made
Every design starts as a 3D model drawn in our studio. Ribs, flutes and textures are modeled, not applied — the pattern is part of the object's shape, so it can't peel, chip or fade.
The model goes to one of our FDM printers, which build the piece by laying down hair-thin lines of melted filament, layer on layer, until the object is complete. A tissue box takes several hours; a clock body longer. When it comes off the bed we remove any supports, check the fit of lids and inserts, clean the surface, and — for clocks — fit the movement and dial, which we engrave in-house.
We don't hold inventory of finished pieces. Your order is printed after you place it, in the colors you chose, which is why production takes 3–7 business days and why we can offer so many color combinations without waste.
Why it looks the way it does
If you look closely at a printed piece you'll see fine horizontal lines. Those are the layers, and we don't hide them — we design around them. Ribbed and fluted forms turn the layer texture into part of the surface, catching light the way a ceramic glaze or a pleated shade does. It's an honest material, and we think it's a beautiful one.
Because each piece is printed individually, small variations between two of the same design are normal. Colors are matched to the filament we stock, so the shade you pick on the product page is the shade you'll receive.
Waste and packaging
Printing to order means nothing is made that hasn't already been sold. Failed prints and support material are the only offcuts, and they're a small fraction of what we print. Pieces ship in right-sized corrugated boxes from our studio, with tracking on every order.
Questions about a material or a specific piece? Send us a note on the FAQ page and we'll answer.