DAKACOM Experience Lab: where experiment ends and reality begins

From LinkedIn to the first sample

A good collaboration sometimes begins with a single post. Karin Svoboda of Vertex Group Development was struck by the work of Michaela Duchková, project manager and PR at Dakacom Experience Lab, and by the way she speaks about a new technology: without an advertising gloss, as a living process of testing, precise questions and honest fine-tuning. Her motto, “Where the experiment ends and reality begins”, captures exactly the space in which DXL works.

Michaela Duchková shows large-format 3D printing from the inside — from the behaviour of PETG on different build surfaces, through the search for the right ratio of PLA to cellulose fibre, to the use of material offcuts. She combines technical precision with lightness and curiosity. That is precisely why Karin Svoboda approached her.

“What caught my attention was that Michaela doesn't show only the perfect finished object, but also the questions, the apparent dead ends and the moment when an idea begins to become a real product. For a developer and a designer, it is valuable to meet a partner who is not deterred by an unconventional brief and immediately looks for a way to make it,” says Karin Svoboda.

Stone and a printed base: a dialogue between two worlds

The first joint challenge was a dining table for the Vinorum 1905 Residence. The natural veining of Italian Azul Cielo marble is to be paired with a base made using LFAM technology — large-format additive manufacturing. This is not an ordinary prefabricated plastic part, but a custom-printed structural component, created by extruding thermoplastic granulate layer by layer.

The intention is to create a smooth gradient through a controlled transition between two polymer blends. The shade, the pattern of the layers, the strength, the stability and the connection to the heavy stone top all have to be tested at full scale. Dakacom's technologists therefore put their heads together straight away, and printing of the first sample began in Nupaky near Prague. The finished table will appear in the Vinorum 1905 Residence in Prague's Královské Vinohrady.

Large scale without fear of complexity

Dakacom has been on the market since 1999. DXL is its specialist laboratory for experimental production, prototyping and unique 3D objects. Large-format printing is complemented by conventional 3D printing, metalwork, vacuum forming and subsequent milling, sanding and polishing. The team can therefore handle furniture, interior partitions, lighting, statement pieces, retail elements, street furniture and sets for corporate and event production. DXL's strength lies in joining a project as early as the concept stage and helping to turn a bold design into a form that is functional, stable and manufacturable.

A 3D-generation stool with coffee in its layers

A small treat from the laboratory is the Loop Coffee stool. Dried coffee grounds are mixed in a defined ratio with virgin PLA, and a four-millimetre nozzle then builds the object in roughly two and a half hours. The coffee does not create bubbles, but small irregular specks scattered through the layers. For coffee lovers the result is almost iconic — a warm tone, a distinctive texture and proof that circular design need not look like a compromise.

This is where DXL is at its strongest. Here, experiment does not end with an impressive sample; it moves towards the moment when material, form and manufacturing know-how come together as reality.

More: Dakacom Experience Lab | Michaela Duchková on LinkedIn

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