The DIWire has attracted a lot of attention and Pensa is even hoping on unveiling an improved version at the 2012 Maker Faire. Openalia sat down with Mr. Perry for a quick discussion of the DIWire specifically, and open source hardware in general.

Pensa is located in New York City, near open source pioneers like Makerbot and the Open Source Hardware Association. Was the DIWire inspired by products like the thing-o-matic?

Perry: Originally we were working on designing a chair and we didn’t have a good way to produce the models. We thought up a wire forming printer as a tool for quickly defining a shape with a lot of empty space, like a chair. Of course the project was finished long before the DIWire was available, but it still seemed like a good idea. We use rapid prototyping a lot at Pensa, but the existing technology can’t produce lines in space. There’s a big hole that the DIWire could fill.