HE HELPS PRINT YOUR IDEAS IN 3D

Kevin Alexander grew up taking things apart, now he builds the future

- BY DHANUSHA GOKULAN

As a child, Kevin Alexander loved to pull things apart, figure out how they worked, and piece them back together. He went on to study mechanical engineering in Dubai — no surprises there.

Today, Alexander leads Design Cave 3D, a Dubai-based 3D printing and additive manufacturing hub launched in 2022.

After college, Alexander joined his father’s exhibition business in Dubai in 2015. But in 2020, the pandemic changed everything. His father shut down operations, and the market slowed overnight.

Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, Alexander had seen what it takes to build something from scratch. For a while, he moved into a 9-to-5 job. But the desire to build something of his own never left.

“I never really liked the idea of working hard while someone else reaped the rewards,” he says.

What changed

The turning point came when he watched a video of a concrete 3D printer constructing walls layer by layer. At the same time, there was global buzz around Mars missions and the possibility of building structures on other planets.