A new café in Shibuya is generating a bit of chatter amongst coffee lovers and designers alike. Their name has a double meaning: the more obvious contraction of the word fabulous, and the less-obvious contraction of the word, fabrication. That’s right. Fab café, which just opened on March 7th, comes with a laser cutter which, for a fee, anyone can use. However, it’s recommended you have your coffee before operating the machine.

All you need to bring is an adobe illustrator vector file, which you plug in to the cutter it does the work – in paper, felt, acrylic, wood and other materials too. Pricing to use the machine is a bit steep, but not outrageous: 2000 yen to share the machine with up to 3 people for 30 minutes. It will cost you 5000 yen if you want the machine to yourself. FabCafe is operated by Loftwork, a digital media production company that seeks to collaborate with a network of designers. For this project they hired Naruse-Inokuma Architects to design the café.

Photos courtesy Masaki Ishitani

http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2012/03/09/fab-cafe-now-open-in-shibuya/