Virtual reality? Inholland Composites is way a’head’!
Inholland Composites co-founder Rogier Nijssen, professor of applied sciences, arrived at JEC 2019 only to find out that… he was already there!

Through advanced and newly developed augmented manufacturing virtual reality techniques, Rogier, or at least the most athletic part of him – his head-, had made the journey to Paris a day earlier as part of a covert operation that was originally to be named ‘Agent Orange’, until one of the operatives found out that this military term was already taken. (…so, bound to strict plagiarism restrictions as Inholland Composites is, no operation name was given, thereby even adding to the secretive nature of the effort.)

In order to avoid confusion between the artificial head and the living, breathing head of Rogier – the artificial head features a highly realistic relative matter density of 5% -, the artificial head was printed in bright orange, in keeping with the real Rogier’s unconditional love and admiration of the Dutch Royal Family (notably Máxima) and the highly attractive dilemma-generating character of this world’s middle traffic lights (‘to accelerate or not to accelerate, that’s the question’).

The fact that this virtual reality artefact functioned as a support for a pair of virtual reality goggles, combined with the actual presence of the physical, albeit slightly paler orange, head of Rogier added to the mystical and multidimensional vibes that many of the Inholland Composites stand’s visitors experienced.

At times slightly desoriented, many described their encounter as ‘mindblowing memory that will haunt my every composite ideas for many years ahead’. Some described the situation as ‘not knowing what is real any more’, or ‘i can’t get Rogier out of my head any more’…- a common symptom of many that have made the acquaintance of the erudite, inspirational, witty and extremely charming 3D-print.

In the aftermath of JEC, the real Rogier has regressed into his own dimension, but the whereabouts of his virtual version are as yet unknown. Has he dissolved into virtual reality? Is there an orange body somewhere with which he will join? Will he melt his thermoplastic self and fuse with some fibrous reinforcement to finally become the composite that he, deep down inside, has always felt he is? Check out this website regularly to get a ‘heads-up’!

