Hi! I’m Mariko Suzuki from FabCafe. Today, I’d like to tell the story behind FabCafe’s special Valentine’s Day workshop. If you live in Japan, you know that Valentine’s Day here is kind of unique. Girls don’t usually get chocolate.
Girls just give chocolate to guys. That sounds unfair and kind of problem for girls like me But what’s more problematic for us is that it’s difficult to find a unique chocolate gift to impress the guys. So, to save the girls in Japan, FabCafe decided to offer a special Valentine’s Day workshop.
Where the girls make these!!! The workshop was called “3D chocolates with your own face.” Guys, what do you think? They’re pretty unique, right? (Actually, these are the chocolates of my colleagues faces on. I’d say they are very realistic.)
The workshop took 2-days. Using a 3D scanner and printer, participants created a 3D model of each face. The models were used to make silicone molds. And then the girls filled the molds of their faces with chocolate.
Here are the chocolates along with the real faces. They are lovely, aren’t they? Their faces literally say, “eat me”, right?
Surprisingly, even though we didn’t publish any press releases, the chocolate faces attracted a lot of attention. We were featured by PSFK, the BBC, and the Guardian, among others. It’s quite funny to see that my colleagues faces are quite popular in the chocolate land…. (It was really an overwhelming experience)
So the workshop went really, really well. Maybe too well. In the last two weeks, people have started asking us if FabCafe is turning into a chocolate shop. The answer is NO.
We’re just doing business as usual. FabCafe is NOT an ordinary café. We’re a café and a personal fabrication lab. We have a laser cutter that anyone can use to cut and engrave almost anything.
“ Fab” is a concept proposed by a professor at MIT named NEIL GERSHENFELD. And “fab” has become a global movement. With the help of digital fabrication tools such as 3D printers or laser cutters, like ours, people are empowered to make amazing things.
FabCafe is part of this movement. Our goal is to help more people enjoy their creativity regardless of whether they are a creator or not. We did the Valentine’s Day workshop because we thought Fab can make valentine’s day more personal and special.
FabCafe also wants to connect companies and people who are involved in making, and have interest in making. We don’t have 3D printers at the café, yet. So, last November, we invited 3D printer-related companies to open a studio called “CUBE” in the same building as the café.
Thanks to the new studio, anyone can now experience using high-tech 3D scanners and printers. In the Valentine’s workshop, participants enjoyed using a 3D scanner that can scan a whole body in just six seconds. (Stop by sometime and experience it for yourself.)
And the workshop pushed our collaborative efforts even further. To make the chocolates edible, we wanted to make them with silicone molds. So, we worked with a small specialist company in East Tokyo.
Small makers like that company support Japanese economic growth. And they have a lot to offer. With more individuals using digital fabrication, we see an opportunity for these small factories to play a new role. Our chocolate workshop really showed the potential.
So, these were the reasons why FabCafe held the chocolate workshop. As you can see, we’re not becoming a chocolate shop. We are multiplying creative ideas and technology to try to create a “wow” effect.
Maybe you are wondering what kind of “wow” effect I am talking about. Since FabCafe opened, we’ve had thirty thousand people come to the café. Working together, we’ve helped them make two thousand five hundred amazing fab works.
One of the Wow effect work is this. The last time I was here I spoke about our laser cutter contest. Here’s one of the winners. The 360 degree book by Yusuke Oono.
Wow is also happening through our monthly events., too. We invite many artists and makers in Japan. Through those events, for example, the special T-shirts customized for a laser cutting was born . Digital fabrication creates so many new possibilities.
We’re making “wow”. Last Christmas, we did a Christmas-ornament exchange project with Republikken in Copenhagen. We exchanged design data by email and then laser cut the same ornaments in both countries.
So, there’s a lot of exciting stuff happening at FabCafe. We hope you’ll join us in the fab movement. Oh, and by the way… Next month is White Day and FabCafe is planning a similar event just for guys. So if you wanna surprise your girl friends, please join us.