Have you ever wanted to create your own customized pasta inspired by a favorite work of art, company logo or the likeness of a standup comedian?
You may soon get your chance.
That’s because BluRhapsody, the pasta printing spinout of Barilla’s Blu1877 group, will launch an e-commerce platform in the coming months where anyone can order customized pasta printed by a Barilla-developed 3D pasta printer.
The new e-commerce offering is an expansion of an early limited direct-sales business in which BluRhapsody worked with a small handful of Michelin-star chefs to create customized pasta for their restaurants. With the new e-commerce offering, anyone will be able to go to BluRhapsody.com and order pre-designed custom pasta and, eventually, design their own and order it online.
According to BluRhapsody CTO Antonio Gagliardi, the company’s custom-created pasta capability will evolve through a couple phases. At first, customers will be able to go to BluRhapsody and order from a small catalogue of pre-designed pasta. There will also be the ability for customers to start custom projects in which they work jointly with BluRhapsody to create unique pasta designs. Finally, the company plans to eventually offer a “customize-your-pasta page” where the customers use an interactive online tool to personalize the shape, ingredients, and even taste and texture of the pasta.
The transition from a one-off service that only worked directly with 5-10 chefs to one in which BluRhapsody becomes what is essentially a ‘Sculpteo for pasta’ was made possible because the company has made significant progress over the last couple years in developing their 3D pasta printing technology. According to Gagliardi, the company has moved beyond the initial prototype the company co-developed with the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) to one based entirely on an internally developed design. With their new patent-pending pasta printer, BluRhapsody has optimized the design to print pasta with much greater efficiency.
Looking forward, I’m excited for an era of customized printed pasta. I can see a world where not only do restaurants big and small design their own unique designs, but average folks like myself create pasta for special occasions or gifts.
And who knows, maybe if Seinfield was a modern day sitcom, Fusilli Jerry would be printed rather than hacked together in Kozmo Kramer’s apartment.
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