RAFT (Real Architecture for 3-D Tissue) is a new system for scientists to create 3-D tissues. Cells and neutralized collagen are mixed, pipetted into a special 24-well plate, and incubated. Gentle, controlled compression is applied to the cell-seeded hydrogels (by absorbent plungers) to remove some liquid, increasing the cell and collagen concentration 100-fold. The construct surface can be embossed with microscale topology, and it could be used to mimic the in vivo stem cell microenvironment and then culture a different cell type on the surface. RAFT allows complex multilayer tissues to be formed with different cell types in each layer and allows cells to be co-cultured in a well-controlled way. The resulting biomimetic tissues, made from fibrillar collagen (the main component of extracellular matrix), are strong, transparent, and 50–100 µm thick.