ID Bestik

For a time I developed outdoor kitchens for Coop a cooperative firm that is Denmark’s leading consumer goods retailer In natural extension of tables, benches, chairs and barbecue utensils I was asked to design an everyday cutlery set. I am geared for cutlery; I mentally forge things when I draw. My first commission after my graduation as a designer was the cutlery series Erica for Raadvad and Functional Form for Fiskars, and ever since, cutlery series have been a recurring design task from my clients. Well-designed cutlery provides an optimal user experience, creates beautiful forms on the table and interacts well with the meal. Coop has a social and democratic outlook, and I have had the privilege of contributing to the organization’s aid projects around the world, including in Honduras and Zimbabwe. My everyday cutlery series for Coop was to reflect the same democratic line and have a simple expression, be straightforward to produce and be affordable for the consumer. I asked myself, what is it possible to stamp out of a simple sheet of metal? That is a cost-efficient production method and puts a simple, no-nonsense product into the hands of the consumer. That process resulted in the characteristic planes and pictogram-like expression of the ID Bestik (ID Cutlery). If the design was used on motorway signage, it would be easy to decode: restaurant/café ahead. The rounded edges send a nod to the Danish designer Piet Hein’s brilliant Superellipse, which famously strikes the balance between rectangular and curvy. Fun fact for those interested in the more technical design aspects: in order to achieve a clean, linear optical expression, I had to modify the otherwise straight line of the knife ever so slightly. To complete the design experience, the cutlery was packed in cloth bags. Every Christmas during my childhood, my mother would roll out felt bags containing the family silver, and it was my job to polish it. A lovely ritual that I wanted to pass on to the end user as a way of conveying that I consider everyday cutlery every bit as valuable as fancy silverware.