Created by Mathieu Lecoupeur and Soy Phompraseuth, LEBLOX is an app that allows you to digitally build miniature, pixelated, Perler-style models that are then 3D-printed and delivered to your door. The creation element of the process uses augmented reality to give you a realistic impression of what your 3D design will look like, in its exact size and proportion. Designs that you particularly proud of can be shared with the LEBLOX community and printed by other users.

The two Parisian developers behind LEBLOX have tapped into both the desire for self-expression, the need for tangible, rather than just digital objects , and also a certain nostalgia for the years of digital infancy.

As 3D-printing becomes an increasingly large part of our lives we're beginning to see its ability to produce physical representations of our imaginations. A good example of this being LEO the Maker Prince, a children's book that took advantage of this popular printing innovation to make even the youngest among us familiar with a technology.