#HTE

HOP Design’s Font Cutlery Range: Inclusive Eating Utensils

Industrial designer Michael Hoppe runs Sydney-based HOP Design, whose work is about “more than form following function,” he writes. “There needs to be an emotional connection to the product if it is to be truly successful. Materials, processes and sustainability help to define outcomes.”

HOP’s Font Cutlery Range caught my eye:

“Font is a cutlery set that uses design and technology to create an inclusive dining experience for users with different abilities. Most culery sets for domestic use are ‘one size fits all’ and have no provision for people with disabilities. Different levels of hand strength, dexterity and contol can result from age, injury, arthritis, congenital issues etc. To create a universal solution for this diversity is impossible.”

“By using parametric CAD modelling and 3D printing, a product with a strong overaching aesthetic holding it together can be turned into a variable range which provides a broad range of solutions for different user needs. Custom products can be designed and developed based on current user products and requirements. These variations can be added to the growing database. The similar but different products create a family.

"Starting from a simple profile, small, incremental iterations create variations with different functionalities.”

“There is scope for further development of this range,” Hoppe notes. “One third of the world’s population uses chopsticks to eat and face the same issues with dexterity.”