Reviewed: 2D Design to 3D Product Process at Ponoko

TreeHugger first spied Ponoko a few months back, and was intrigued by the idea that you could submit a design online and have the pieces for said design show up at your house a few days later. It combines several of our favorite models for a greener world: flat pack, downloadable designs and efficient production, creating on demand rather than en masse. Sounds good, but does it really work?

The good people over at MAKE: Blog have answered the question for us, and the verdict is "Yep." They designed and published an iPhone stand at Ponoko, and ordered some for production. The pieces arrived, handily flat-packed, just as designed, and the piece came out exactly as designed -- cool! For both designers who need ready access to rapid prototyping and consumers who want to change the paradigm for the way we procure stuff, Ponoko looks tough to beat. See the whole process, from start to finish over at ::MAKE: Blog