The company’s most expensive model targets high-volume crafters and aspiring businesses.
Cricut, a company that makes popular cutting machines for crafting projects, announced a new model today. Although its devices are relatively affordable, the new Cricut Venture is a higher-end $1,000 machine aimed at “incredibly enthusiastic makers and those who sell their crafts.” In other words, this variant is less for occasional hobbyists and more for hardcore makers or small businesses selling their creations somewhere like Etsy.
Cricut Venture is a “large-format” cutting machine that can handle bigger projects — whether physical size or higher volume. The device, the company’s biggest yet, can cut up to 75 feet of repeated images and 12 ft of single images. Cricut says it’s also its fastest machine, cutting up to 25 inches per second. “Cricut Venture is optimized for size and speed,” said Michelle Fishberg, Cricut’s VP of Global Product Management. “You will find the beautiful design and quality Cricut is known for, with increased precision and attention to detail, all of which make cutting on this large-format machine an easy and productive experience.”
Like the company’s other models, the Cricut Venture can handle materials like vinyl, iron-on, cardstock, bonded fabric, leather and poster boards. Engadget’s Terrence O’Brien reviewed the printer-sized Explore 3 in 2021 and found it worked well for projects like vinyl decals and cardstock animals (that he may or may not have ever fully assembled). However, these machines are more limited by the user’s experience with crafts than technology: The company lists banners, engraved metal, debased leather, custom cards, t-shirts and color stickers among the various tasks it can handle.
The Cricut Venture will be available from the company website and retail partners starting on July 25th. Its $1,000 sticker price is for the machine only; Cricut also offers bundles with a stand or materials to help you get started.