---
title: "Forks 3.0, 3D printing the cutlery of the future"
url: https://www.voxelmatters.com/forks-3-0-3d-printing-the-cutlery-of-the-future/
date: 2026-06-15
modified: 2026-06-15
lang: en
author: "Tess Boissonneault"
description: "Picture a place setting, with a fork, spoon, and knife. Chances are, we're all more or less picturing the same thing. Sure, there are small stylistic flourishes and factors like..."
categories:
  - "Consumer Products"
  - "Design"
  - "Furniture"
tags:
  - "future"
image: https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/mishakahn-white-bg-1200x-640x474.jpg
word_count: 506
---

# Forks 3.0, 3D printing the cutlery of the future

Picture a place setting, with a fork, spoon, and knife. Chances are, we're all more or less picturing the same thing. Sure, there are small stylistic flourishes and factors like tine length and handle weight to contend with, but it's not controversial to say that cutlery design hasn't undergone any radical changes in recent years. That is until now. Los Angeles gallery Marta and curator Dung Ngo invited a selection of contemporary artists and designers to create new cutlery concepts with the help of 3D printing. The innovative and highly creative pieces, part of the *Knife, Fork, Spoon 3.0* project, were recently exhibited at 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen, Denmark.

[![Designers use 3D printing to reinvent cutlery](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/charlap-hyman-herrero-white-bg-1200x-272x340.jpg)](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/charlap-hyman-herrero-white-bg-1200x.jpg)"Liquid Flatware" by Charlap Hyman & Herrero, 2026

As part of the project, a dozen global designers, architects, and artists were invited to create totally new designs for flatware, including forks, spoons, knives, and chopsticks. The brief given to these designers by Marta and Ngo was to create something wholly original yet functional that took advantage of the design freedom afforded by 3D printing.

As Marta writes on its [website](https://marta.la/exhibitions/various-artists-knife-fork-spoon): "Cutlery is an intimate part of daily life: a universal touchpoint that transcends culture and generations. Since the early 20th century, modern flatware has evolved far beyond utility; it embodies how design, technology, and culture reflect and shape our everyday experiences. Yet the manner in which flatware is made has barely changed in 150 years. Since the Industrial Revolution, production has depended on heavy industrial tooling and costly machinery that often limits innovation."

As we know well at VoxelMatters, the advent of 3D printing has introduced new design potential in areas like [home design, furniture](https://www.voxelmatters.com/category/3d-printed-consumer-products/furniture/), [fashion](https://www.voxelmatters.com/category/3d-printed-consumer-products/fashion/), [architecture](https://www.voxelmatters.com/category/professional-additive-manufacturing/architecture/), you name it. This project specifically brings this potential to the table and shows how creativity and technology come together to breathe new life into something as ubiquitous and mundane as a fork and knife.

[![Designers use 3D printing to reinvent cutlery](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/joliengo-white-bg-1200x-e1781492515235.jpg)](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/joliengo-white-bg-1200x.jpg)Jolie Ngo's "Anima" 3D printed cutlery, 2026

Among the artists selected for the project were American designer Misha Kahn, who created a set of futuristic 3D printed stainless cutlery called "Oregano's Fable"; architecture firm Charlap Hyman & Herrero, which used the same technology to create "Liquid Flatware", a set of cutlery that appears like it is spilling or melting; and Vietnamese-American artist Jolie Ngo, whose "Anima" 3D printed fork, knife, and spoon bear a distinctive cartoonish quality. In fact, all the 3D printed cutlery sets have been made using stainless steel powder and powder bed fusion.

[![Designers use 3D printing to reinvent cutlery](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/so-il-white-bg-1200x-e1781492588955-340x300.jpg)](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/so-il-white-bg-1200x.jpg)"TBLW.AIR" by
Solid Objectives Idenburg Liu (SO–IL), 2026

"If handmade flatware represents ‘Version 1.0,’ and industrial manufacturing marks ‘Version 2.0,’ then 3D printing heralds Version 3.0,” commented Ngo. “These twelve designs are forward-thinking in both form and production technique, demonstrating that—like its social function—flatware is constantly evolving.”

While it's doubtful that these intricate and entirely original 3D printed flatware designs will make their way into the mainstream, the collection shows the broad possibilities that can exist for functional design objects, especially when 3D printing is involved.