A student in China has developed a concept device that captures the aroma of a meal on a postcard using a camera, printer and "smell extractor" as part of a Sony design competition.

Li Jingxuan, from the Fashion and Art Design Institute of Donghua University, invented something called a food printer in honour of her love of good food and travel. The idea is that if you are enjoying a trip away you can try local food and then use the machine to take pictures and collect its fragrance. You can then print the picture and smell onto a postcard to send to friends.

The system is still a concept at this stage, but would work by using an aroma sensor (or electronic nose) at the top of the machine, which would analyse the smell coming form the food and then simulate that smell by mixing different aroma inks that would be stored inside the machine. Once the right formula was achieved, it would be printed onto part of the postcard.


It was reported in The China Daily that the gadget was designed over several months and that it won the "most fun" award in the Sony Student Design Workshop 2012. The Sony China Creative Centre's assistant manager, Han Jia, said this year's work started last September when they visited nine universities and colleges to promote the workshop.

A spokesperson for the Creative Centre told Wired.co.uk: "We think this idea is very interesting. In China many people love to take photos of delicious food and upload them to social networking services for family and friends to see. This design can help record the memory of the event too. Recording the smell of food is very interesting because you get good and bad smells, it will make communication with friends more amusing."

The winners worked with Sony designers in Shanghai to turn the ideas into reality. The electronics company said all work by students were design concepts that they had no plan to commercialise at the moment -- although they might in the future.