GravitATE Tableware by Yueyue Zhang is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 Bronze A' Design Award in Bakeware, Tableware, Drinkware and Cookware Design Competition Category.
BronzeKitchenware· 2020
GravitATE Tableware
by Yueyue Zhang
Client: Yueyue Zhang
Bronze A' Design Award Winner in Kitchenware Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #89275The Design
About GravitATE Tableware
A tableware set that invites and encourages users to share interactions and eat slowly. GravitATE contains three personal dinnerware items and three service bowls. It has the potential for movement and interpersonal interaction. The form invites and encourages users to share these interactions intuitively. The result is that users take their time, sharing conversation and savoring food slower than with traditional tableware. This provides a positive dining experience for all.
The Recognition
About the Bronze A' Design Award
GravitATE Tableware is a Bronze A' Design Award winner, a highly prestigious recognition granted to outstanding designs distinguished by creativity, ingenuity, and astuteness. Bronze winners are amply skillful and strikingly creative artifacts that authenticate the vast experience, imagination, and resourcefulness of their designers. GravitATE Tableware is expected to be a highly regarded, admired, and cherished object that is notably professional and innovative. This Bronze A' Design Award-winning design incorporates best practices in art, science, design, and technology, and is excellent for its attention to detail. GravitATE Tableware splendidly satisfies needs, touches desires, charms feelings, and appeals to curiosity.
Interviews
Design Interview
What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
The problem that this design addressed is how to make people involved in the mealtime more. Letting them slow down and be more focused, so as to improve their dining experience. In my design process, I don't want the final direction to be a restaurant-style experience that allows people to lose interest after the first experience. Therefore, in the process of creative development, I attach great importance to the feasibility of the concept and whether it can really inviting people more.
What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
Does the product help users to eat slowly through more interactions is the main question that I considered during my design process. I hope my design can help people create a sweet mealtime scenario that people take their time, sharing conversation and food, interact with each other intuitively.
What are your future plans for this award winning design?
It should continue to improve this design. For now, this design is not enough for the home environment. Such as finding a better way to store them. Similarly, whether the final material used in this design is suitable for mass production, processing methods and costs are all I will continue to improve.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- A tableware set that invites and encourages users to share interactions and eat slowly. GravitATE contains three personal dinnerware items and three service bowls. It has the potential for movement and interpersonal interaction. The form invites and encourages users to share these interactions intuitively. The result is that users take their time, sharing conversation and savoring food slower than with traditional tableware. This provides a positive dining experience for all.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Service bowl No.1 (polyhedron): Width 185mm x Depth 185mm x Height 120mm
Service bowl No.2 (Main image): Width 245mm x Depth 165mm x Height 70mm
Service bowl No.3 (Image #1): Width 175mm x Depth 175mm x Height 120mm
Personal tableware (Bottom): Width 175mm x Depth 175mm x Height 50mm
Personal tableware (Middle): Width 160mm x Depth 160mm x Height 55mm
Personal tableware (Top): Width 115mm x Depth 115mm x Height 58mm - Tags
- Tableware, Dining experience, Interaction, Slow eating, Sharing
- Production Technology
- 3D-scanning and 3D-printing are two key digital tools to support my design. It is a circular design process:
1. Pick a direction(idea 1.0)
2. Build a quick mock-up using clay or foam
3. Scan the model
4. Digital modeling based on the scan result
5. 3D-printing prototype
6. User testing
7. Rebuild a new idea 2.0 or improve an existing idea1.1 - Design Challenge
- Through the user testing of the previous concepts, I found that the concepts with the potential for movement are more inviting. However, how to combine the design of tableware is a big challenge: Does the product help users to eat slowly? Does it invite the user to interact with it? Does it contain food well? Does It create an interesting experience? Does it suit for dining environment?
- Research
- This design originated from a recent dining phenomenon, which people are ignoring their dining experience but more focused on their phones, and finish the meal faster and faster. Firstly, literature research, observation, and interviews with the target users were conducted. I found that more interactions and slow eating can improve dining experiences. Then, the market research of restaurants helped me to sum up the factors that influence user behavior and experiences.
- Inspiration
- Eating with others and eating slowly can create a positive dining experience. Nowadays, people are getting busy with their work, which makes it harder for them to eat together and also, they are unwilling to spend much time eating.
- Project Duration
- The project started in August 2018 and finished in April 2019 in Rochester, NY.
- Operation Flow
- According to the different forms of GravitATE, each service bowl produces different ways of movement, so that people can share food in different ways. For example, (Main image) although a person can take food from it independently, the shaking movement can remind other people to provide support. Two of the personal bowls can produce a small amount of sway, and they have been verified by user testing to allow the user to be more focused while eating and to a certain extent avoiding fast eating.
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