Oliver Wainwright 

3D-print your face in chocolate for that special Valentine’s Day gift

Tokyo's FabCafe launches service to make your face edible – but are the results more sinister than romantic?
  
  

Chocolate portraits
Top of the box ... a printed chocolate face for your loved one. Photograph: FabCafe Photograph: PR

Stuck for a Valentine's Day gift with that special personal touch? A Japanese 3D-printing company may well have the answer – providing the opportunity for you to print your own face in chocolate.

Shibuya's FabCafe is offering a two-day workshop for budding techno-chocolatiers to learn how to transform their face into a sinister edible treat. For 6,000 Yen (£40), you can have your head scanned and turned into a 3D digital model, which is then printed in plastic in high definition on a ProjetHD printer. A silicon mould is made from this positive form and filled with melted chocolate – and the final product can be secreted in a box of chocolates and presented to your unsuspecting loved one.

It's the result of an increasingly elaborate market in chocolate Valentine's gifts in Japan, driven by pressure for ever more original, personalised presents. Tradition states that women give chocolate gifts to men on Valentine's Day – with special emphasis on bespoke, handmade items. Men are expected to return the favour one month later on "White Day" – for which FabCafe is planning a follow-up workshop.

The brainchild of digital production company, Loftwork, the FabCafe is a high-tech evolution of the internet cafe, equipped with a range of digital fabrication tools so you can enjoy a spot of laser-cutting with your latte. It joins a growing trend for niche coffee shops in Japan, including cat cafes, where you can have a drink surrounded by feline friends, and cafes where you can eat with your favourite real live anime character.

 

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