FabCafe : cafe, food and ... fabrication

FabCafe in Shibuya, Japan generated a lot of talk amongst coffee lovers and designers alike, when it opened in early 2012. The name has a double meaning : the more obvious contraction of the word fabulous, and the less-obvious contraction of the word, fabrication. FabCafé, comes with a laser cutter which, for a fee, anyone can use. However, it’s recommended you have your coffee before operating the machine.

All you need to bring is an adobe illustrator vector file, which you plug in to the cutter it does the work – in paper, felt, acrylic, wood and other materials too. Pricing to use the machine is a bit steep, but not outrageous : 2000 yen to share the machine with up to 3 people for 30 minutes. It will cost you 5000 yen if you want the machine to yourself.

FabCafe was designed by Naruse-Inokuma Architects. The laser cutter is the VLS6.60 from ULS (Yokohama). Here are the specs if you’d like to do your homework before you go.

During this past Valentine’s day (which is rather popular in Japan, by the way, with ladies offering special chocolate treats to gentlemen), the people from FabCafe set up a workshop, where they would first scan your face in a 3D body scanner, then use the contour to print a silicon mold-set on a 3D printer. Chocolate was poured in the mold, and after set, voilà ! your fully featured (and quite detailed) face. Check out the images and video from here.