What do you get when you cross candy with cutting-edge technology? Probably something a bit like Pixsweet, an innovative tech-savvy foodie startup that lets users design their own 3D-printed frozen popsicles.
That is a whole new take on the term “cool tech!”
“Pixsweet is the first 3D food customization platform and production facility that empowers everyone to create custom-shaped ice pops, and has emerged to disrupt the typical way we communicate with food,” co-founder Laura Kyttanen told Digital Trends. “The platform provides a unique offering to businesses and consumers for special occasions or events, such as conventions, weddings, birthdays, graduation, baseball games, corporate bashes, and even product launches. Basically, anything you want to communicate can be transformed into frozen flair.”
Pixsweet does not actually print ice, of course. What the company instead offers is a service that lets users pick an image through its custom image search engine, or by uploading their own photo. Object recognition algorithms then use edge-detection technology to turn the two-dimensional image into a 3D one, before it’s 3D-printed as a mold, filled with your chosen flavoring, and shipped out.
Once you receive your finished piece in the mail, simply freeze it, and then enjoy at your leisure — all while feeling slightly smug as other less techie types enjoy their boring regular-shaped popsicles.
The options for what you can create are limitless: From printing Pokémon-themed ice pops for your kids to enjoy on a hot day, to designing a frozen likeness of your colleague Jacob May and then slowly eating it while staring menacingly at him from across the office. (This latter use is, admittedly, somewhat niche.)
“Currently, Pixsweet is focused on [business-to-business] clients and requires a minimum order quantity of 100,” Kyttanen said. “However we have opened up our online ecommerce site to consumers within the Los Angeles area.” Hopefully, it won’t be too long before it rolls out to further afield.
