The first industrial laser cutter was developed in 1965 to cut holes in diamond dies. The technology required decades of cost reduction before it became accessible to small fabrication shops and eventually hobbyist maker spaces. The widespread availability of affordable laser cutters in the 2010s (through services like Ponoko and local maker spaces) created an entirely new category of small-batch fabricated goods and directly drove the laser-cut aesthetic into mainstream design.

The Epilog and Trotec laser cutter brands became so dominant in the design and fabrication community that their names became genericized terms — asking for something to be cut on an Epilog the way a copy is made on a Xerox. The machines' ability to cut acrylic, wood, leather, fabric, and paper with the same tool created a new category of multi-material designer-makers who worked across substrate types that previously required separate specialized equipment.