The invention relates to a process for fabricating complex mechanical shapes from metal or ceramic, and in particular to fabricating complex mechanical shapes using a pressure-assisted sintering technique to address problems relating to variations in specimen thickness and tooling, or densification gradients, by 3-D printing of a sacrificial, self-destructing powder mold is created using e.g. alumina and swellable binders such as polysaccharides. The binder-free sintering powder that forms the manufactured item is injected into the mold, and high pressure is applied. The powder assembly can then be sintered by any pressure assisted technique to full densification and the self-destructing mold allows the release of the fully densified complex manufactured item.