design ideas - Pepper fox

I'm working on a series of designs that use animal iconography.  The pepper fox model above was a very quick exploration of form using a cheap bit of pine.  It needs a lot of refinement, but I've designed a nice grinding mechanism driven by squeezing the tail to the body that allows it to be used one handed and the ears allow you to unscrew a lid for re-filling. I'm also working on a rabbit jug and swan decanter.

the daily grind

This week I noticed my salt mill had stopped working.  On inspection of the grinder mechanism, I found the reason that it no longer ground the salt was because the grinding area had worn smooth.  There was also evidence of small plastic flakes coming off the mechanism (follow the arrow in the image).  I had no idea salt could be so abrasive and also wonder how much plastic I've been grinding/counsuming in my food?  As it happens I'm working on another pepper mill at the moment, more on that to follow...

design idea - Salt n pepper

I’ve been thinking about products that could be emailed to a customer, rather than transported physically. In the same way that data is sent to a manufacturer who imputs it into a computer that cuts a tool, that makes a product.

I’ve heard that in the future every home will have a rapid prototyping tool, in a similar way to the Star-Trek replicater. My thought was, what if every home with a printer already had the beginnings of that tool, what could I design that could be downloaded then printed out and easily made.

My first design idea (simple, practical, with no moving parts) is a salt and pepper pot. I’ve been experimenting with various designs and having made several prototypes have come up with two interesting shapes that can be constructed from a sheet of A4 paper.