On Being The Salmon, Not The Sushi.

Last week we made a very public statement informing the world that in 2021 we would not be attending Formnext.

Shock! Horror! "What the hell are they thinking!?" From LinkedIn to Reddit to numerous additive websites, people discussed their thoughts and came to assumptions on our news. But our decision—although controversial—was a conscious decision based on our values and new realizations.

We don't want to follow the same path everyone is going down purely out of habit. We discovered a new approach that we want to pursue, even if it defies the norms. We want to have the courage to try something new, like so many people before us.

Columbus was thought of as a madman when he wanted to prove that the earth was round. He put his theory to the test by sailing to Asia. Little did he know, he would bump into the Americas and change the history of the world forever (from Burning Man to Silicon Valley to cheese in a can).

Later, Nicolaus Copernicus studied the planets and the stars and realized that the earth revolved around the sun and was one of the first modern Europeans to propose the concept of Heliocentrism. This was an extremely controversial idea as it was considered non-biblical—it was rejected as a heretical idea at the time.

In more modern times, American investor Michael Burry noticed the patterns in the American housing market and correctly predicted the real estate bubble would pop, which it did—crashing the housing market in 2007. Despite everyone's recommendation, he successfully bet against it and was one of the very few people who turned a personal profit amid the global financial crisis: nearly 100 million dollars.

It takes a special kind of bravery to go against the grain or swim against the current, but sometimes there's a need to do so. Just like the primal urge Salmon get to swim upstream to return to the place of their birth to breed, we feel the need to push the norms and change the archetypes of our industry and make way for the next generation in additive. 

It's been 18 months since the world changed, and we had to start doing things in new ways. We released the NXG Xll 600 and brought the world Free Float, which we launched digitally as it was the only option with so many lockdowns in place.  Despite the restrictions, we had overwhelming success from our online campaigns and launches, and we found new ways to connect with our customers and industry.

We have worked with even more world leaders in space, automotive, aviation, and medical, focusing on digital. We are collaborating with companies that are changing our world and the space that lies beyond. Additive is at the start of a major revolution that will completely change the way we do things, and we are riding the cusp of that wave.

Our decision is not an attack on the industry or events. On the contrary, we love our industry, and we think events are a vital part of it. It also doesn't mean we will no longer attend them; we are still looking forward to attending future happenings. Instead, we are simply taking this time to pursue our path, to do our own thing. So far, this path has resulted in meeting a whole new group of people, clients, collaborators, and team members, while fostering our existing relations around the world.

This move will significantly benefit our customers and our team. We now have the extra time to improve our customer experience and find more ways to be there for them. We also have spare time to strengthen our team, their infrastructures, ideas, and quality of life.

But lastly, we also have an opportunity to give back and use this shift to foster a new generation of additive experts. We will do this by granting promising students with a passion for engineering a better financial chance. Our aim as a company is to give them and—in turn the world—a brighter future.

With all this in mind, our decision may seem less controversial to you. And that's without even mentioning all the things we have in the pipeline. There is much more to come from us as we continue to disrupt, swim against the current, and shift the paradigm for additive in our world.

Essentially, we want to become the salmon, not the sushi.

Check out our full announcement video.