These days, women are making increasingly profound strides in the business and executive world at levels that might have been unheard of even 30 years ago. Daniella Paredes Fuentes, co-founder of the Gravity Sketch VR 3D modeling tool, is one of these modern-day renegades.
Daniella was one of nine women leaders who won the recent Women in Innovation Awards 2019. Helmed by the Innovate UK Technology Strategy Board of the UK government, the award not only grants its winners bragging rights, but also a £50,000 grant and business support from the government.
For those unfamiliar, Gravity Sketch is software that allows users to create 3D models using an AR/ VR headset. Just like other programs of its kind, Gravity Sketch lets you create drafts of CADs and work on them in a 3D environment. You can then either fine tune them using the headset or import them onto a computer and work using a more traditional sketchpad. What separates Gravity from other 3D modeling programs is its intuitive workflow that—quite literally—allows the user to sketch full-scale in a physical environment. While the finished models aren’t ideal for dimensional accuracy, they nonetheless serve as an in-between between a paper notebook and a more robust mechanical CAD program.
The software has seen uses in the art, education, product design, and automotive industries, but with the extra funding, Fuentes hopes to increase Gravity Sketch’s applications in other fields over the next five years. With the recent additional funding and recognition, both Fuentes and the Gravity Sketch team can work towards making 3D designing more accessible for everyone.
The Women in Innovation Awards were started by Innovate UK back in 2016 to increase diversity in businesses. When the organization realized that 1 in 7 companies who applied for their support was woman-led, Innovate UK stepped in and made a competition specifically for them.
