Source: Willi

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Creativity in the Limelight

Designer Spotlight: Willi

by Moira Daly
Published Jul 11, 2025

Designer Willi has shared many useful designs that can make staying organized a breeze. Read all about his creative process!

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This week’s Designer Spotlight shines a light on Willi, a maker who’s clearly looking to improve everyone’s workspace (and have a bit of fun).

With over 80 designs shared on different platforms – most focusing on the BaBo Organizer – it’s easy to see why he’s a certified Fan Favorite on Thangs. Plus, on MakerWorld alone, over 55,000 makes have been reported from all his designs combined. If that doesn’t speak of productivity, creativity, and popularity, we’re not sure what does.

Let’s read a bit more about the maker who’s keeping things in order!

Q&A

All3DP: Tell us a little about yourself – what’s your background?

Willi: I’ve always enjoyed building things, even as a child, which is why I decided to pursue a technical career. I first trained as a mechanic and worked in that field for several years – mostly programming CNC machines for metalworking. These machines use G-code programs, just like 3D printers do. During that job, I realized that what I enjoyed most was working on prototypes – developing and building new things. That’s why I eventually decided to go back to school and study alongside my job. A few years later, and many days without seeing the sun, I made it and landed an engineering position fairly quickly. It felt like a natural development that I would end up working with 3D printing sooner or later.

How do you get the ideas for your designs?

My design ideas usually come from three different sources. Most often, I see a problem or a potential improvement and work from a rough concept toward a detailed solution. Sometimes I challenge myself to use CAD features that I normally never touch. That’s how my kit cards were born, for example. The rarest case is when I try to enhance something visually without any technical necessity. Since most of my designs are functional, it’s a nice change of pace when the focus is purely on aesthetics and nothing needs to “work.”

How much does the technical side of 3D printing (e.g. supports, a design that requires assembly or one that’s printable in one piece) come into play when you’re designing? Or is your designing entirely independent from 3D printing and you later figure out how they work together best?

When designing, I put a lot of emphasis on making my models as printable as possible. I avoid supports wherever I can. Especially when I first started with 3D printing, support generation was terrible, and I preferred to integrate custom supports into my designs rather than rely on auto-generated ones. Today, slicers have improved significantly – especially the organic supports, which make things much easier. My designs are generally built around the possibilities of 3D printing. They usually wouldn’t work if I only started thinking about printability after the design was complete.

Of all the things you’ve created, which are you most fond of and why?

I don’t really have a single favorite creation. Instead, I’m proud of how long I’ve been working on my organization system, and that I continue to design complex models with functions and many parts – despite the trend going in a different direction. I feel the current trend leans toward simpler, assembly-free models. That way, no documentation is needed, and users get instant gratification with minimal effort. But if I had to pick one of my models, it would probably be the Star Wars B1 Droid Kit Card. It helped me win my first competition and pushed me forward as a designer.

If you could step back in time and give yourself some advice from the beginning, what would it be?

If I could give myself some advice, it would be: Don’t be too frugal with filament, try larger designs, and experiment more in general, especially at the beginning. Your sweet spot material will be PETG, and you’re going to love 3D printing. You don’t have to start with a small printer, you can go ahead and get a bigger one right away. Don’t hesitate to publish something, even if it seems odd. Somewhere, someone has the same problem, and you might be providing them with the solution.