Six new cutlery launches from Alessi, Skitsch and others celebrate shapely forms and innovative materials.
1. Join by Konstantin Slawinski
The German manufacturer’s knife, spoon and fork, made of high-performance plastic, feature a “magic joining mechanism” on the handle that allow them to be used as Meccano-like building blocks. The collection comes in white, black, purple, pink, green, blue and yellow.
2. Cold Cut by Mathias Hahn
The British designer launched this flatware collection at IMM Cologne last month. Inspired by the cold suppers served in Austria and Germany, the asymmetrical knife and fork are specifically shaped for meals of bread, cold cuts, pickles and vegetables.
3. Forest Spoon by Nendo
The Japanese design studio created these quirky spoons for Japan curry house Coco Ichibanya; the restaurant chain is giving away 100,000 of the spoons to customers through a lottery this month. “We wanted to make a spoon that would be fun to look at when it wasn’t in use,” says the firm. While a single spoon looks like a tree, a number of the spoons together create a “landscape in the home.”
4. Normann Cutlery by Normann Copenhagen
Aaron Probyn re-worked the archetypal cutlery aesthetic in this matte steel collection, which includes a simple but elegantly styled fork, knife, spoon and teaspoon. “I wanted to create a range where each piece would compliment each other visually and physically,” says the designer, “and would be the first items people would instinctively choose from their cutlery drawer.”
5. Table Manners by Skitsch
The stainless steel fork, knife and spoons in this collection by Dutch design studio Minale – Maeda are etched with an arabesque embroidery motif. The line also includes cotton placemats plates and glasses.
6. Zlin by Alessi
Originally designed by the late Jan Kaplicky of Future Systems in 2008 to be used as airline silverware (Zlin refers to Czechoslovakian fighter planes), the flatware line was launched in 2010 with more residential applications in mind – “dinners to which you’d like to give an unconventional tone,” suggests the manufacturer. The thermoplastic resin set somes in neon yellow, blue and green.
