3D printed food is making headlines these days. From complicated and futuristic food replicator concepts to lower-tech printable, custom chocolates, 3D food is still in its infancy, really. And food is only half the 3D culinary story. Creative types like the consultants at TourDeFork are also cooking up unique, 3D printed objects for serving up traditional, non-3D printed edibles with a combination of DIY practicality, budget-friendliness, and high-tech flair.
Product designer Astrid Luglio from Milan, Italy has teamed up with TourDeFork to create five 3D-printed culinary-inspired objects for the Italian monthly magazine, CASAfacile. Luglio’s hanger, cake stand, cocktail pot, candelabra, and appetizer holder are all printed in durable, bright red plastic. Designs and tutorials for downloading and printing the objects can be accessed via CASAfacile’s website for free. The magazine encourages those readers and DIYers without home printers to turn to FABlab, who will transform the designs — presumably in the customer’s preferred color or colors — into 3D objects for their own kitchens.
Luglio’s sleek and simple culinary objects hint at their high-tech origins but also emphasize their clever 
functionality.
The hanger is actually a wine bottle stopper topped with a vertical cone pierced by a short wooden dowel rod. Suspend fragrant herbs or the evening’s menu from either side of vino da tavola! The cake stand has a dual purpose as well: It rests atop a carafe, making the most of the space on a table crowded with culinary delights. The appetizer holder, which serves as a stopper for a toothpick jar, includes perforations into which a chef can place toothpicks from which protrude tasty treats. The clever candelabra fits over the neck of a wine bottle and the cocktail pot resembles a vessel from a science lab, albeit with a wooden dowel handle and bright red plastic attachment. The simplicity of the objects is even more laudable given that they can be produced as a DIY project.
TourDeFork, which refers to itself a “multidisciplinary design studio inspired by food and food culture,” has discovered an ingenious way to unite the high-tech, global phenomenon of 3D technology with the effort to revive local traditions, including turning to local and regional food producers. Companies seek them out when looking for solutions to visualizing and realizing food. TourDeFork’s services range from photography, graphic design and packaging, product and food styling, to product design and art direction. Some of their clients are major players in the food and food product industry such as Braun, Martini, Spotti, Pasta Garofalo, and Samsung.
Would you like to integrate 3D printed contraptions on your dinner table? Let us know if anything like these will feature on your Thanksgiving spread in the TourDeFork Design forum thread at 3DPB.com.
