It’s almost impossible to find the right pair of earphones. They’re either too large, too small or just an odd fit, but Normal wants to change all that. With Normal’s 3D printed earphones, you can buy a product that contours perfectly to your weird ears, no matter the size or shape. Simply download the Normal app, take pictures of your ears, customize your Normals and press send. Speaking with TechCrunch, Nikki Kaufman, founder of Normal, says that custom headphones would typically cost thousands of dollars and take weeks to build and ship. Normals, on the other hand, cost $199 and will be out of the factory within 48 hours.
Hello, world. Meet Normal, the customized, high-end earphone manufacturer that’s looking to bring 3D printing to the mass market. From its offices and manufacturing facility in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, Normal is looking to sell $199 customized ear buds made to the shape of an individual’s ear. The brainchild of Nikki Kaufman, a former Quirky executive (and spouse of Quirky founder Ben Kaufman), Normal represents a new step in the evolution of manufacturing through 3D printing. “People have been talking about 3D printing and mass customization as the new future of manufacturing, but there hasn’t been a really good consumer application for that technology,” says Kaufman. The evolution of Normal actually came from Kaufman’s experience at Quirky, where she was exposed to 3D printing, hardware sourcing and manufacturing. But she didn’t pursue developing the product through the Quirky platform, because as an executive, she said it would have been an abuse of community engagement — and Normal was its own, standalone business.
