Hafnarfjarðarkaupstaður, Iceland, is a town of 30,000 souls built on a lava field, just south of the island nation’s capital city of Reykjavik. If sightseers come this way, it’s for tours of the homes of local “hidden folk”—the dwarfs and elves of the Norse fairy tales that inspired J.R.R. Tolkien.
Tucked away in a nondescript 10,000-square-foot building there is a manufacturing facility that runs 24/7, producing parts for fish-processing machines in a way that was, even a few years ago, impossible. Elliði Hreinsson, the founder of Curio, which owns the building, says the machines he designs and makes would be difficult or in some cases impossible to produce without 3-D printing.
“In Iceland, we are a small stone in the ocean, and we cannot so easily run around to get help,” says Mr. Hreinsson. “You have to be able to do it all in-house.”
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