3D FOOD PRINTER
Tom, from Nufoods at Dovetails, was interviewed by Filippo Antinori. With other members of the association he has developed a 3D food printer which turns liquids into solids thanks to a secret ingredient.
For now, the main use is to make food but they are already trying to make medicines and cosmetics thanks to constant development and research.
FUNGHI ESPRESSO
Often when we make a coffee, we throw the used coffee grounds away, but now the Funghi Espresso Company has found an interesting, innovative idea to reuse what would otherwise end up in the bin.
Inspired by the invention of a Chinese professor, who shared his idea in with Blue Economy (an open-source collection point for inventors to share their innovations) the the start-up Funghi Espresso Company, under the administration of Antonio di Giovanni and Vincenzo Sangiovanni began creating kits for growing mushrooms with coffee grounds.
They first started working out of Capannoli, near Pisa, but their corporation is now in Florence where their business is making something useful out of something normally discarded: growing edible mushrooms from coffee. There are three different types of mushroom that you can grow yourself at home. The company considers this a new and natural way of improving the planet.
BYFLOW COMPANY
At the Maker Faire, our attention was caught by a machine printing patterns and shapes in Nutella. Giorgia Natalizia spoke to Nina Hoff (the sister of the inventor) to find out more about this new 3D food printer. Nina showed us that it could print all types of food, which can be used by chefs and for health care (for example, reshaping processed food into more aesthetically pleasing shapes for people with swallowing problems).
It is also useful for chefs because they can now create patterns and shapes that would have been impossible to create efficiently by hand. Now they have a new world of possibilities. The total cost of the 3D printer is £2,500 and it took two years to create it. It is now only suitable for working on a small scale, but the company is planning for to develop it further so that it can be used in an industrial setting.
QI
Qi (life force) is a Chinese dragon that was made in 40 days by Marco Mattiacci, out of the Accademia delle Belle Arti di Napoli, and his company. He was interviewed by Leonardo Silani. Marco explained that the dragon is said to be a bringer of fertility and it is a symbol of migrants who come by sea. To reflect this, it produces sound similar to waves. It is made of wire mesh in a segment similar to rolls of sushi, way so that it can be dismantled and reassembled without any problems. This is a symbol of respect for migrants who have had shown the courage to make the difficult journey across the in the sea to find a better place to live for themselves and their families.
DISCIENZA
Andrea Maugeri interviewed Francesco De Gasperis, a representative of the non-profit association made up of other three members, including his brother.
Their objective is to take science laboratories into schools. To achieve it they didn’t need a large amount of money because they use recycled and reused equipment for nearly everything they had. They started thinking about this in 2004, and after just two months had created it.