New | Fancy a pretty pancake? Pick a design and this Chinese start-up will make it with a 3D printer
A start-up by seven graduates from China’s prestigious Tsinghua University has come up with a 3D-printing machine to create a wide variety of fanciful pancakes.
Coming in the shapes of popular cartoon characters such as Hello Kitty, Despicable Me’s Minions and so on, the pancakes were sold at 10 yuan (HK$12) each at a food festival in Beijing last month, the Legal Evening News reported.
The creative pancakes drew a large crowd, especially women and children, said Wang Xin, one of the young entrepreneurs.
Wang said he and six of his university mates from Tsinghua’s software college started their company to manufacture 3D-printing machines last year, after they were lured into the business by the booming 3D-printing market.
They came up with the idea of 3D-printed food after being inspired by a friend who was selling pancakes, he said.
The pancake machine, measuring about 50cm long, 60cm wide and 40cm tall, can presently produce more than 40 pancake designs. More designs are being created.
Wang said his company planned to sell the machines, which cost about 3,000 yuan each, after additional improvements.
Their priority now – and also their greatest challenge – was to refine the details of the designs, he said.
“Portraits are the most difficult to print,” Wang said, giving the example of the wrinkles on an old woman’s face.