Profile of a platinum-haired model wearing a liquid-chrome piece that curls from the ear across the cheek and around the eye, with a sheer yellow-green collar.

WHO WE ARE

Breaking Shell is a Prague-based creative studio exploring the relationship between the human body, organic form and digital fabrication.

By working with digital sculpting and 3D printing, we create wearable artifacts inspired by the structures of nature and interpreted through a contemporary design language.

Breaking Shell explores the moment when identity evolves beyond inherited roles and protective layers, revealing a more authentic self.

Six-panel collage of one piece's journey: a pencil sketch of a spiked ear piece, the black 3D-printed ear cuff on a mannequin head and in hand, then worn in a photo shoot with a spiked black outfit, and finally on a digital avatar.

FROM DIGITAL TO PHYSICAL

We envision the Breaking Shell Universe as an alternative reality expressed through wearable artifacts, digital fashion and storytelling.

We are fascinated by both worlds - the physical and the digital - and we create in both.

Every physical object has the potential to exist digitally, and every digital creation can become tangible. We move between them constantly, and we invite you to share that state of mind: to slip between realities and try on different identities through play, imagination and transformation.

HOW WE WORK

Digital Sculpting: we design each accessory in 3D software, allowing us to explore nature-inspired forms and turn them into wearable objects.

3D Printing & Prototyping: to realize our designs, we use two 3D printing technologies: FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling), which extrudes material (filament) layer by layer, and SLA (Stereolithography), which cures liquid resin with light.

Manual Post-Processing: once printed, every piece is finished by hand. We smooth out print marks, polish the surfaces, and clean each piece thoroughly to ensure it is comfortable to wear.
Six-panel collage of the making process: digital models of an ear cuff, a mask and a neck piece on virtual heads, a large black piece on a 3D printer, hand finishing with a craft knife, and a finished black lattice piece held up to the light.

WHY WE CHOOSE 3D PRINTING

3D printing gives us the freedom to create forms that feel grown rather than conventionally manufactured: flowing structures, shells, spines, curves, and textures inspired by bones, stones, water, and imagined creatures.

By building each object layer by layer, we can create complex wearable shapes without relying on standard moulds or cutting them from flat materials.

It also lets us prototype and refine ideas quickly, produce in small intentional quantities, and use material only where the design needs it - reducing unnecessary waste and excess stock.