The Curious Case of the Ekocycle 3D Printer

Where can you buy a 3D printer? Harrods, of course.

Harrods is perhaps the world’s most notable high-end department store. Their flagship London outlet draws shoppers from literally around the world to purchase astonishing items at outrageous prices. All high-end brands are represented in this store. 

Our team took a stroll through Harrods the other week and stumbled across a bit of 3D printing hidden within the massive store, which is mostly filled with expensive fashion items of all sorts. 

Here we found the Ekocycle area, in which Will.I.Am’s fashion brand is prominently displayed. The area is easily located by simply following the Ekocycle logos pasted on the floor in a path you can follow. 

Once in the Ekocycle area you can see a selection of fashions and accessories as seen here. 

But then turn to the right and you’ll see a display of Ekocycle 3D printers, right beside the fashions! As shown here, the display includes several Ekocycle 3D printers, printer cartridges and sample prints. 

These are in fact the same Ekocycle machines announced with great flair at CES 2014. They’re actually 3D Systems’ Cube3 personal 3D printers that have been rebranded with Will.I.Am’s Ekocycle markings, with the notion of reusing recycled plastic material. 

At the time of our visit, we did not observe anyone purchasing a 3D printer, nor even looking at them, although the Ekocycle clerk seemed quite excited when we started to examine the stylish machines. 

The price of the Ekocycle 3D printer at Harrods? Apologies, but we don’t know. We never look at prices in Harrods because we literally cannot afford anything in that store, except possibly a small cupcake in the Food Hall (£4.00 or USD$6.10 each).