Islander Middle School students launch 3D printing business
Published 2:30 pm Friday, May 15, 2026
Mercer Island’s youth 3D printing trio of Ish Singh, Irving Sun and Aadi Luhadia has been spending time outside of its sixth-grade classes at Islander Middle School launching a business.
The boys are just five months into their manufacturing journey and they’ve already taught themselves 3D design and engineering and developed and tested working prototypes for custom phone cases, watch cases and cone spiral fidgets, according to Singh.
To advance in their endeavor, they have rolled out a GoFundMe page to raise $700 to purchase a professional-grade Flashforge AD5X setup so they can commence producing high-quality, durable products for Islanders. Singh said they’ll also be trying to get the word out regarding their presently-unnamed business with posts on Facebook, Instagram and X along with hanging banners or posters around town.
Ish’s dad, Brijesh Singh, said the buddies are exploring their entrepreneurial spirit as they step into the business world.
“The most important part of starting a business is to understand the capital and asset, so that’s the phase they’re going through,” said Brijesh, noting that Ish has always been a builder and it’s encouraging to watch him initiate the business and include his friends as partners.
“I am very proud of them. Not every 12-year-old is doing it. They pick up the technology so fast, and all the three kids have done their own designs and they have tried their prints,” Brijesh added. On the age front, Ish and Luhadia are 12 and Sun is 11.
Ish and Sun learned about 3D printing in their tech course at Islander Middle School and that experience planted a seed in Ish’s brain to take things a step further.
“It’s been fun. There have been a few bumps along the road, but we’ve gone through a lot, even though we haven’t really gotten to the actual 3D printing part yet. But we’ve created two successful prototypes,” said Ish, who enjoys math and science and participates in taekwondo and swimming in his spare time.
A friend of Ish’s who had 3D printed some koala cups a few years ago sparked Ish’s interest in creating some of his own products down the line. That time is now for Ish, Sun and Luhadia (who opted out of doing an interview for this story).
“I thought that it was a really interesting technology, so I decided that maybe this would be something that I would want to work on,” Ish said. “I feel like we work really well together. We can kind of understand each other — we know what we’re doing.”
Sun, who plays tennis and is also drawn to math and science in school, said he’s had a fun time with his pals as they’ve unveiled their business.
“We’ve been going to places, talking about it, working together, building prototypes. I think all of us are enjoying the experience a lot,” Sun said.
Sun noted that it’s been cool learning about the 3D technology: “Ish taught me how to do a lot of stuff on Tinkercad and turn it into something that a 3D printer can actually process.”
The pre-teens have just started traversing their business path, and Sun is already looking down the road at what the boys can achieve as they get a few more birthdays under their belts.
“I think I plan to stick around with this project for at least a couple years,” Sun said. “I plan to see it become successful.”
To check out the team’s GoFundMe page, visit: https://gofund.me/690575c8a
