This Collapsing Volume lamp designed by Studio Dror is built in a similar way, though the process is additive rather than subtractive and it does something you can only do with rapid prototyping: The manufacturer, Materialise.MGX, starts off with a pile of powdered nylon, and then a CNC laser selectively sinters (SLS) parts of the nylon into solid links that are all interlocked.
The only way to create something this complex is rapid prototyping–and laser sintering, to be exact. The process works by sweeping a laser across a pan of powdered nylon; when the lasers hit the nylon, it fuses (“sinters”). The process repeats in layers, until the final product emerges. Thus, you can create interlocking shapes all at once–for example, a chain whose links are completely closed.
When illuminated, the beauty of the complexity of the shape is highlighted through the various effects the light has on the hundreds of squares that make up the collapsible form. The light is diffused in a way that gives the structure a bright, warm glow in the center, which gradually fades into cooler, darker shades on the edges and corners of the cube.