The sweeter side of 3D printing

Australian designer Julian Sing founded an edible 3D printing lab in the Netherlands. His company, 3DChef, creates sugar art for industry chefs and confectioners.

The printer used by 3DChef is custom built and uses layers of water to bind the sugar. The sugar shapes that the printer can create would be near impossible to replicate by hand. Geometric sugar cubes and white, meringue-like sculptures are all delicately created by the machines.

Although domestic 3D food printers are far from being a convenient reality (the building process is still too slow and expensive), designers are playing with the possibilities of edible builds.

3DChef have also experimented with printing honey, and with creating melting sugar installations for music videos.