3D printing spawns whisky sculptures

Japanese advertising agency TBWAHakuhodo created amazingly intricate 3D-printed ice cubes for a campaign for its client Suntory Whisky. 

To create the cubes, the agency used a CNC (computer numerical control) milling machine or router to whittle blocks of ice into sculptures, according to IBT Times, which include the Statue of Liberty, a scorpion, a horse leaping out of your drink, space ships and many more.

The campaign, called “3D On The Rocks”, has won a branded content and entertainment Lotus trophy at the Asia Pacific Advertising Festival in Thailand.

Each ice cube took up to six hours to create on a router that was chilled to -7C, with a thick drill peace carving out each rough outline before being switched for a finer one, which sculpted the more intricate details.

Miwako Fujiwara from TBWA/Hakuhodo told CNET that “a touch of chilled whisky polishes the surface of the ice and gives a beautiful shine to the sculpture.”