A collection of creative hack ideas brought to life with the laser cutter.

You Fab 2012 is a contest for laser cutter design ideas from around the world. The panel of judges made up of Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham from Klein Dytham architecture (KDa), Toshiya Fukuda who is the founder of 777 Interactive and one of the brains behind the FabCafe, Hiroya Tanaka who is the founder of Fablab Japan and FabCafe’s Fab Master Kotaro Iwaoka all got together recently on the 10th floor of the Loftwork Lab with Chief Editor of Make magazine Mark Frauenfelder who joined via Skype from LA to deliberate and select the winning designs for You Fab 2012 from the list of finalists.

The judges selected the winners for this—our very first Fab contest—based on whether the ideas were stimulating and original, whether the designs were unique and creative, and if they hacked existing culture and fully showcased how cool Fab really is and its capabilities.

Here, we’d like to share with you the winning designs, along with some comments from the winners and judges. We hope you’ll enjoy checking out the designs as they showcase the amazing capabilities of the laser cutter and how it casts ideas into shape.

Winner

Category A: Mac Fab Grand Prize

Creator: Annie Title: Ants!!

Klein Dytham architecture (KDa) : I love the humor in this! I think if I saw this design on someone’s Mac, it would instantly put a smile on my face! It’s very clever indeed!

Mark Frauenfelder： I really like the humor behind the ants carrying off the piece of apple. It took me a while to realize that the piece was the part missing from the Apple logo, which in itself is very amusing.

Hiroya Tanaka：I was drawn to this design as its ambitious. It’s almost like it’s trying to out-trump the Apple logo with the power of fab. This design instigated many interesting discussions among the judges.

Winner’s comment：

I always wondered who took that bite out of the Apple logo.I love to eat, and I especially love eating with friends and family.These little ants who are working hard together to carry the piece of apple portray the food-lover in me. When I heard that I won, I was so over the moon that I got goose bumps instantly! I’d like to thank everyone for this great honor.

Special Awards (3 entries)

Creator：zuca Title：tatami

Toshiya Fukuda : As a huge Apple design fan, I think it is a great idea that this design adds tactile sensation , which we can call it as “hack value” .

Kotaro Iwaoka：The design has a sensory appeal as well because you can actually feel the bumpy texture when it’s cut by the laser cutter and placed on the Mac surface.

Winner’s comment：This work was inspired by the tatami mat imprint left of my child’s face after a nap. The idea came about because it occurred to me that the contrast of the hard, inorganic surface of the MacBook with Japan’s traditional tatami brought a softness and warmth to the design. I am so honored to be selected for this special award from among all these amazing entries. I hope that I can continue to bring my ideas to life.

Creator：Kumi Title：Sa, shukaku shiyo (Harvest Time)

Klein Dytham architecture (KDa) : I love that this design looks like it is a freehand sketch. The contrast between the MacBook technology, the hi-tech capabilities of the laser cutter, and the analog nature of the design fit really nicely together.

Kotaro Iwaoka：Anyone who sees this will instantly think it’s so cute! It’s the most simple and easy-to-interpret design using the Apple logo. Looking for the allure in simple designs is another way to enjoy MacFab.

Winner’s comment：

To be honest, I am just so surprised and ecstatic to be awarded such an amazing prize. I basically always just set out to create something fun and exciting. This design was created with the same objective in mind. I thought it would be so cool to create a design for a Mac cover. Thank you so much for this!

Creator：jyari Title：green apple

Mark Frauenfelder :

The other icons are equally as striking as the Apple logo and I like how it’s now one of the many icons in the design. The Apple logo plugged into the power point is also very provocative as it poses the question “is Apple really eco-friendly?”

Winner’s comment：I am so excited to have been chosen for a special award. For this design, I attempted a completely different style to that which I usually do, so I wasn’t feeling very confident, but thanks to this special award I feel like I have broken new ground. Thank you so much!

Category B: Free Fab Winner

Creator：Yusuke Ono Title：360°Book

Klein Dytham architecture (KDa) : I have never seen a book that can be both flat and 3-dimensional before. I feel amazing potential from this.

Mark Frauenfelder： This is a really original design that fully showcases the intrinsic features of the laser cutter.

Toshiya Fukuda：I love the design. I love the idea. And I really love the how touching this book makes you feel.

Winner’s comment：I am so thrilled to have been selected as the winner of the Free Fab category for You Fab 2012. I like finding new ways to express dimension, and it occurred to me to create this palm-sized book that opens out to form a 3D world. I hope that everyone who opens the book enjoys it and is surprised by how the closed book dramatic transforms into a diorama.

Special Awards

After much deliberation, the judges decided not to present any special awards for this category.

So, what did you think of all the winning designs?

We’re planning on making these designs available to purchase on FabCafe, so stay tuned for more information on this!