INTERVIEW Cookplay The ability to connect and create is a gift, and Ana Roquero does this through design. Cookplay’s CEO gives Tableware International’s editor Mairead Wilmot some insight into how she creates collections that speak to the heart… Tears
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For Ana Roquero, design is inherent. She turns her hand to a tabletop collection as quickly as she does flatware. The object, however, always remains the same; to innovate, but to innovate in a meaningful, useful way. With a background in industrial design, Cookplay’s CEO and chief designer spearheads an enigmatic approach to product which has resulted in her collections being used in some of the most innovative restaurants around the globe – think Paris’ two-star Maison Rostand, Barcelona’s threestar Disfrutar, London’s three-star Gordon Ramsay – the list goes on. Cookplay began life 10 years ago with a simple ideal, Ana wanted to create a brand which responded and adapted to gastronomic trends. Crucially, Cookplay wanted to do it in a way which held the principles of innovation, design and sustainability as fundamental cornerstones of their design process. “These aspects are totally linked to quality,” Ana tells Tableware International.
Tears which Ana describes as “a milestone” for the brand. The team wanted to mark a decade in the hospitality market while simultaneously paying tribute to their inaugural series. “Tears is an evolved redesign of what has always been our iconic collection,” Ana reveals. “It is never easy to redesign such a characteristic and recognised shape but I introduced surface textures that I had designed 10 years ago, recovering my drawings from that time, and the result has been very genuine.” Keeping in step with market demands, Cookplay has also designed Eko – a biodegradable and compostable line for the hospitality market. In imagining the concept for Eko, Ana explains Cookplay was responding to the sector’s need for the replacement of single-use plastics. “We looked for sustainable materials to replace single-use plastic pieces. After several trips to Japan researching new materials, we pioneered the use of sugar cane, a 100 per cent biodegradable
“Design is my passion, I like it in all its dimensions” Rama
The Cookplay design ethos is so involved and detailed the company launches just one collection each year. “It takes a long time to detect a new need, work on the design concept and different formats, produce it and bring it to the market,” Ana explains. “It could be said the beginning is the creative part, everything is designed and drawn manually. Then it becomes technical, all the information is modelled in 3D for prototyping with the first samples and returns to be handmade – although our pieces by their formal complexity are porcelain injection, which requires more technology.” Ten years on from Jomon, Cookplay’s first collection, comes 62 TABLEWARE INTERNATIONAL
and compostable material. We also incorporated it into the design of our porcelain collections, offering a product that is not only sustainable but also innovative.” Cookplay has also developed the Rama cutlery line which they describe as joining “functionality and innovation with a fresh and brave approach into the cutlery field”. But was approaching a cutlery collection any different to tableware, we ask? Not at all, says Ana who approaches each project with the same eye for detail. “My background as an industrial designer has always led me to design under a briefing that serves as a guiding thread. My creative phase is very open, that is, I can design a collection of