3D modelling – the story of two makers – my maternal grandfather and my son – the tradition goes on...

The brass Shindur container sat nestled in a velvet-lined box, heavy and cool to the touch—a relic and a treasure. It was ornate, meticulously crafted, and a testament to the skill of the man who had created it: Dadu, my maternal grandfather. His workshop, filled with the clang of the hammer, the heat of the fire, and the metallic tang of brass, was his personal 3D modeling studio. He did not use software; his tools were fire, steel, and a profound, intuitive understanding of form. In the era of British rule, he had taken a sacred concept and rendered it into a permanent, three-dimensional object, what the family now recognized as his magnificent, original "3D model".

Generations later, the sound of the clanging was replaced by the low, steady hum of a computer fan and the gentle whir of a 3D printer.

The bridge between the two eras is me, Somenath. I instantly recognized the unbroken creative line. I held the enduring brass model in one hand and watched my own son, Ridit, in the other. Ridit, a student of Class 5, didn't understand metallurgy, but he understood the digital realm of Blender. At just ten years old, he navigated coordinates and meshes with the same dedication Dadu once applied to measuring and casting.

"Dadu designed with his hands and time," I muse. "You, Ridit, design with a mouse and code. But the heart of the craft is identical."

Ridit's latest creation was a sleek, geometric candle stand. Born as light on a screen, it was realized in tangible form, layer by slow, deliberate layer, by the 3D printer. It was plastic, light, and distinctly modern, yet it fulfilled the same primal urge as the brass container: to make something that was not there before, to turn a thought into a permanent reality.

From the grandfather's heavy brass, shaped by fire and force, to the great-grandson’s delicate filament, extruded by logic and light, the tradition of the maker continued. The medium had changed drastically, but the spirit of the maker endured. It is the story of two makers, two centuries, and one unbroken creative line.