AMPEL AND STUZZICO: FOR CUTTING AND PRESENTING FOOD
NICOL MOALLI
AMPEL & STUZZICO MADE BY DISABLED FOR EVERYONE
DESIGN MEETS HANDICAP SS 2022 PROFESSORS: HACKL KLAUS BERRONE RICCARDO GIACOMO FESTI PROJECT: DESIGN SPRINT 1 & 2 NICOL MOALLI
Collection of paintings inspired by the artist Picasso, realised by the Clients of prad (disabled people working there).
ABSTRACT
Can you imagine what happens when a discipline like Design, meets a physical and/or mental disabled person? Well, if not, you are welcome to discover it by retracing our journey in the project Design Meets Handicap. Handicap is commonly associated with something degrading and more often society diminish disabled peoples’ capabilities and worth because of their conditions. This discriminatory attitude hides behind sympathy and causes their isolation from social and working life. As a result, disabled struggle fitting into society and limit their personal growth living in their own microcosmos, where they feel safe and free to be themselves, without being judged. Design meets handicap can be intended in two ways: designing products for disabled to use or designing products for disabled to produce, and these can of course come together. However, the aim of this project is to destroy the barrier between people
with, or without conditions and to achieve this, disabled should design for everyone and get recognized for it. My two products Ampel and Stuzzico have this aim in mind. Both manufactured by disabled, they are wooden boards with distinct functions: Ampel is a set of three cutting boards, each for a determined food category to avoid cross contamination, it’s built to be stackable, and each board can be bought independently, according to the customer needs, these cutting boards will live on your kitchen plane and last for generations. Stuzzico is a tray-shaped wooden board that contains three small ones, each board has features that speak about their function and indicate where to put what. This product is meant to be used in bars and pubs during aperitivo time, therefore it is designed to be light to carry and versatile, as well as easily storable.
RESEARCH |08 DESIGN PROCESS: AMPEL |22 DESIGN PROCESS: STUZZICO |36 CONCLUSIONS |52 PRODUCTS’ PHOTOS |54 BIBLIOGRAPHY |59
CONTENT
-Excursions: Workshops / Museums -References: Historical background / Focus -Conclusion -Concept / Typological research -Realisation -Prototyping -Materials -Technical drawings -AMPEL
-Source Material -Concept / Typological research -Sketches -Mock-ups -Models -Technical drawings -Prototyping / Materials -Technical drawings -STUZZICO
DESIGN SPRINTS 1 AND 2: Research
During the fieldtrips and the visits of the museums, we took pictures and videos to use as visual material. Then we chose some references between the products produced in the workshops and started to investigate the already existing products placed on the market, together with the ones produced by other companies that work with people with Handicap, like Side by Side. We were also asked to make connections between the new product and the territory features of Vinschgau we discovered during our trips, also taking inspiration from the objects produced by the farmers in Dietenheim.
Design meets handicap |08
09
DESIGN SPRINT 1: Excursions Excursion to Vinschgau Duration: 3 Days Visit to the workshops of Latsch and Prad: structures built for the rehabilitation of disabled people, the socalled clients. In these workspaces the clients are taught to take care of themselves and their surroundings by exercising important values like punctuality, consistency, and discipline. These principles are indeed fundamental for the integration in a working environment. The main activities are gardening, carpentry and cooking in Latsch, and painting, wood carving, sculpting and sewing in Prad. Indeed the two workshops have different approaches: Latsch is more centred on teaching their clients specific jobs in order to become more independent despite their disability, while Prad is pointing to enhance their self-expression through arts and crafts.
Design meets handicap |10
11
Wood workshop in Latsch Equipped like every normal carpentry, a place where human manufacture and technology come together. Here clients produce wood boxes, simple geometrical objects, parts of assembled shelves, bird houses, raised beds (hochbeet) etc. The
raw Materials are pine and larch. The carpentry keeps clients occupied thanks to a systematic series production, that as Design-students we were asked to implement, in order to give to these people the opportunity to have a stable workplace and earn money.
Greenhouse in Latsch Gardening activities inside and outside, here clients plant seeds, take good care of the plants and keep the working environment nice and clean. People from outside, customers, can come to buy gardening products and the structure is also willing
to offer other activities, like cutting flowers to make bouquets, picking up herbs to make infusions etc. During our visit we had the chance to eat a meal cooked by the clients, it was made from fresh vegetables and homemade pasta...delicious!
Design meets handicap |12
Wood workshop in Prad We have met Bertold and his band: clients that share a common space full of musical instruments. Edoardo (the man in the back of the second picture) works also in the carpentry, he produces the so called Keschtnriggl,
a chestnut basket made of wicker work. Despite his physical and mental Handicap, he works with extreme precision and focus. Indeed, he is an excellent example of how working can help people with conditions regaining control of their mind and body.
Painting and sewing Workshop in Prad Here we met women like Mrs. Maria, an old sweet woman, who’s lost part of her sight but continues sewing beautiful and incredibly precise drawings on cloth (detailed cars, houses and flowers). Every client we met was open to dialogue and
extremely happy to get in touch with us. This young lady in the picture above has a severe mental disability and the structure in Prad provides her a safe place, where she can enjoy all sorts of activities like learning to count through volumes that fit into shapes.
13
DESIGN SPRINT 1 Museums Visit of the St. Benedict church, Mals It is part of the historical cultural heritage of Vinschgau, as the oldest church of the territory. The round arch doors and windows are characteristic of the St. Benedikt’s Church. In the interior of the church behind the round arched windows, there are three altar niches and two pre-Romanesque pictures of the founders. These frescoes, dating from around eight hundred, are amongst the few remaining examples of Carolingian mural painting. Visit in the “Ora et labora” Museum, Benedictine abbey, Marienberg The show rooms on the ground floor of the Marienberg reflects the history of the monastery and the region. Artworks and artefacts dating from the 11th century take visitors back to the early days of the monastery, almost 1,000 years ago.
Design meets handicap |14
DESIGN SPRINT 2 Museum Guided visit in the Volkskundemuseum, Dietenheim We got in touch with the rural life in the so called Masi, with a particular focus on the utensils the farmers had to fabricate in order to follow some working activities. The maso is a typical rural dwelling in which people used to live and work, surrounded by meadows for fodder collection, pastures where cattle graze and forests for wood collection. It is a self-sufficient microcosm in that raw materials such as cereals, flax, meats and cheeses are produced there, necessary for the livelihood of the family. FARMERS USED TO MANUFACT EVERYTHING THEY NEEDED, THEREFORE EVERY PIECE HAD ITS SPECIFIC FUNCTION.
15
DESIGN SPRINTS 1 AND 2: References
As source material for the first Design sprint I was particularly interested in realizing something that would embed the landscape features that characterized the territory. I took inspiration from the so called Waale, water canals dig to collect water and irrigate fields. I came fast to the idea of realizing a cutting board and therefore researched proper materials, sizes and shapes. On the contrary, for the second design sprint I started from a collection of objects, exhibited in the Volkskundemuseum in Dietenheim. In particular I was inspired by a squared cutting board for hard bread that had three of its four sides lifted, creating a sort of box.
Design meets handicap |16
17
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The older cousin of the cutting board is the butcher Block: it differs from it because of the thickness, therefore the butcher block is still used in butcheries, as the name suggests. I researched some examples of this objects and found interesting that they can also be used as a piece of furniture. Traditionally made of hard Maple, it requires a proper care for longevity of the material and food safety. If the material is regularly exposed to water and not properly cleaned mould can form. The seams where the wood is joined can buckle as the wood expands and contracts. Keeping the material well oiled allows it to maintain a rich colour and its water repelling properties. To properly care for the butcher block any foreign material should first be removed, it can be disinfected with vinegar (or in extreme cases, bleach), allowed to dry well, and refreshed with mineral oil or other food safe sealant.
Design meets handicap |18
FOCUS
Everyday use objects easy to manufact and to handle - Super Normal objects. I focused on the already existing cutting and presenting boards and I found an enormous quantity of products. These are just some examples:
19
CONCLUSIONS
Thanks to the excursions I had the chance to meet wonderful people and visiting the workshops helped a lot to face the reality of machine disposal, raw materials and manufacture. We started ideating with limitations in mind and were encouraged to find smart solutions through smart products. We also spent times with the clients and understood their needs together with their difficulties, in this way from the beginning of both design sprints we were fully involved
Regarding the products I learnt a lot about materials for cutting boards, as there are many, and the way the surface should be treated after each use and how to avoid hygienic issues caused by cross contamination. After gaining this knowledge I already started thinking: how can I make a cutting board that stands out from this massive already existent collection of products?
Design meets handicap |20
21
DESIGN PROCESS: AMPEL
Design meets handicap |22
23
Concept and typological research After researching deep into the cutting board field, I asked myself what the simplest way was to cut vegetables, fruit or raw meat. The answer is that a flat surface or a plane should be enough. However, I would not want to cut an apple where few minutes before I cut a raw filetto, so more surfaces or more space is required, here I moved from designing a single cutting board to design a set. Moreover, I looked for specific features that I considered essential for a good product, and I sorted out the cutting boards that had these components:
Design meets handicap |24
lifting the board allows fingertips to go below it and secure an easier grab
FEET FOR EASIER GRAB
ENGRAVED CANAL TO CATCH LIQUID DERIVED FROM FOOD Source material: Waale I noticed resemblance between this ancient irrigation system and the engraved canal on cutting boards, indeed they perform the same function of collecting water.
Every food has different properties and produce different waste, the blood of raw meat for example is full of bacteria. Using different surfaces prevent food contamination
DIFFERENT SURFACES
25
REALISATION
Mockup in cardboard
First render
Sketches after correction
Design meets handicap |26
During the first review with the professor I already had in mind the object I was going to realize, therefore I made a cardboard model, in this way I was able to make variations directly on the model. Once defined the measurements and the general shape, I created a mdf
model to test actual volumes and weight. I presented the mdf models to the clients, 2 stackable cutting boards, and together we decided to create a third one, plus I adjusted some features like the height of the feet and the section of the canal frame.
Model in mdf
By testing the mdf mockup I noticed that the canal frame was too deep, therefore it was difficult to clean. As
a result I changed it and as soon as I was satisfyed with the outcomemade the final Prototype, in Maple wood.
27
PROTOTYPING: workshop realization 1:1 Model
Machine Production Process: The CNC Machine cuts out the main shapes of the cutting boards from a wooden board (bought or previously made from wood slats glued together). Than the boards have to be sended and finally the feet are glued.
Human Refinement Process: The feet of the cutting boards differentiate them by creating a color coded system, the Clients will paint them and add rubber pads under them to prevent the cutting boards from sliding away while cutting
Design meets handicap |28
Why three, instead of one? Bacteria or allergens can easily be transmitted from one part of the kitchen to another or from one food to another via knives, hands, or surfaces such as chopping boards. To reduce the chance of this it is advised to use separate boards for different types of food. I personally designed this simple colour-coding system: • • •
Red cutting board: raw meat and fish. Yellow cutting board: dairy and bread. Green cutting board: vegetables and fruits.
29
MATERIALS
Kitchen cutting boards are often made of wood or plastic and come in various widths and sizes. There are also cutting boards made of glass, steel, or marble, which are easier to
Maple
clean than wooden or plastic ones, but tend to damage knives due to their hardness. Hardwoods with tightly grained wood and small pores are the best choice.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION The wood has a close, fine texture and is generally straight-grained. PHYSICAL PROPERTIES The wood is hard and heavy with good strength properties. In particular, it has high resistance to abrasion and wear. WORKING PROPERTIES Hard maple dries slowly with high shrinkage.
I chose wood over plastic primarily because the workshops of Latsch and prad don’t work with plastic, secondly
because as a living material, it’s self healing and entirely sustainable.
Design meets handicap |30
Wood or Plastic?
31
TECHNICAL DRAWINGS Units: millimeters
400
15
260
300
360
25 5
15
15
20 10 20
Design meets handicap |32
DETAILS
When stacked each board keeps 5 mm space from the one above and below, allowing every surface to dry. Maple takes quite some time to dry, therefore I designed this stackable structure in order to spare space, still allowing air to pass through.
The feet have this particular conic shape with a quarter cut off, to fit perfectly through the angles of the cutting surface of the next board. In this way the cutting boards are stackable on each other securing stability and stillness by cutting.
33
AMPEL
Set of cutting boards
The Ampel chopping board set was born after an excursion in the beautiful Venosta Valley, whose customs and traditions inspired me to create this product. Particularly important is the frame of the chopping board that has the function of collecting the liquids of food, this is located at a lower height than the cutting surface and recalls the so-called “Waale” (ancient system of irrigation of the fields: the water of streams and rivers
is channeled into these channels often carved into the rock or built with wood). Tradition meets novelty, a three colors coded system: red, yellow, and green (hence the name Ampel, traffic light in German), which indicate the type of food suitable for that area. All this comes together in a design product that is easy to manufact, smart and useful in every kitchen.
Design meets handicap |34
35
DESIGN PROCESS: STUZZICO
Design meets handicap |36
37
SOURCE MATERIAL
Dietenheim, Volkskundemuseum
The museum’s collection was rich of everyday-use objects, that women used to cook with. During our visit I noticed peculear cutting boards meant for cutting hard bread. they were made of wood and characterised
by a boxy shape. The base was square and three or two sides were closed, in order to keep crumbs away from the table. In some cases a knide was attached to the cutting surface.
I was inspired by these rustic cutting boards and decided to design something similar but with a different purpose, instead of cutting I would realise something to bring and present food to customers, meant especially for aperitivo at bars. In fact this kind of environment is often underastimated, because presenting boards focalise
especially on the aesthetic, without paying attention to little details that could make the difference in terms of function. Bars and Pubs are indeed places where everything happens fast to garantee an efficient customer service. Therefore there is no place for excessive decorativism.
Design meets handicap |38
TYPOLOGICSAL RESEARCH
The concept of aperitivo is to socialise with others by eating and drinking, activities that help people to open up and relax. Therefore everything superfluos on the table represents a distraction. People should be able to
look at eachother while talking and everything on the table should be displayed following this purpose.
39
REALISATION: SKETCHES
Design meets handicap |40
41
Mockup 1
I first designed something very similar to a Pallet, but the object came out to be too complex, because there were too many surfaces, in addition the moving mechanism was difficult to mantain over time, due to wood expanding in humid environments.
Finally the presenting board was too small for its purpose and uncomortable to grab and carry around. Moreover it was too distant from the source material. The positive aspects were that it was entirely made by hand and compact.
Design meets handicap |42
Mockup 2
150 102 10
194
58
400
14
127
20
5 15
300
I took out of the source materials the main shapes, but the object I designed didn’t speak about its function: it was too complex and large, the han-
dle made uncomfortable carrying the board around, which was also difficult to grab from the table.
43
Since I had struggles finding an idea that satisfyed me, I changed completely my strategy: I asked myself what would I want as a presenting board, to serve guests, and I started making a list. I came up with the idea of making a tray that would contain blocks of wood, used as cutting boards: each board would have its own features and would tell to the user where to put what, however it was still too big in dimensions and too complex since there were too many components, moreover the thickness was also a problem for the weight, it was to heavy.
Model 3
Design meets handicap |44
Model 4
Model scale 1:1 in cardboard I then made a cardboard model to help me understand the volumes, the model cleared my ideas and I finally got my design in mind.
45
Final Model
Technical Drawing Units: millimeters
4 96
4 4
60
60
330
10
15 30
15
2
330
330
330 6
11
19 15
60
Design meets handicap |46
15
296 10 30
R18 60
47 64
96
15
20
20
330
330
4
R30
Production process & Materials
First I glued some wood sticks together in order to create two panels 40x40, two centimeters thick, then, once I got the techincal drawing I cut the pieces using the cnc machine. However, in the workshops, the clients can also realise the entire product without the use of cnc, by creating wooden blocks that can be then carved following the shapes of the design. After that I sanded my pieces and applied the gummy feet.
The prototype was realised of beech wood, however this product can be customised and realised in any type of wood, as long as the cutting surfaces are made of hardwood.
Design meets handicap |48
Rubber/Silicone feet, to avoid slipping: often people use a wet piece of cloth under the cutting board, so it doesn’t slip away while cutting.
Ceramic bowls to fit inside the board frame, in order to present sauces with chips, or marmelade and homey with cheese.
49
STUZZICO Your best choice when it comes to aperitivo time
Stuzzico is a tray-shaped wooden board that contains three small ones, each board has features that speak about its function and indicates where to put what. This product is meant to be used in bars and pubs during aperitivo time, therefore it is designed to be light to carry and versatile, as well as easily storable. the base is squared and slightly lifted to allow a secure grab, inside it three long and thin pieces of wood fit perfectly, leaving room for the wood to expand depending on the humidity of the environment. The three boards are exchangeable and designed respectively to cut bread, contain, and
present food. The one that presents and the other which cuts, are thicker than the third, creating a sort of hierarchy of surfaces. Stuzzico is the first person of the Italian verb “stuzzicare” which has two meanings: on one hand it means to eat appetizers and finger food, while on the other hand it means to tease someone. Stuzzico is indeed an object that brings people together in social occasions among laughter and mouth-watering “stuzzichini”.
Design meets handicap |50
51
CONCLUSIONS This Project was inspiring and enriching, I had the chance to meet the amazing people of the workshops and the heads of these centres: Diego Satto and Philip Tappeiner. Moreover I also learnt a lot about sud tirolean culture and history. Design meets Handicap was not only a dive into the world of disabled people, but also a discovery of the beauty hidden among the territory, that is usually given for granted.
During the design sprints i overcome difficulties and learnt a lot about wood and its type properties. Finally I think that the most important lesson I got was to keep things simple, because in this world of consumption there are already enough objects createt for invention’s sake. These are often the ones that get into the trash quicker, while quality and functional products last over centuries.
Design meets handicap |52
53
Design meets handicap |54
55
Design meets handicap |56
57
BIBLIOGRAPHY https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com https://www.cuttingboard.com/butcher-block/ https://www.bonappetit.com/story/best-cutting-boards https://www.larchwoodcanada.com/ https://www.johnboos.com/product_group. asp?s=r&grp=JBC0051 https://sidebyside-design.de/ Morrison, Jasper; Fukasawa, Naoto: Super Normal Erni, Peter; Marchand, Christophe: transfer. erkennen und bewirken. Lars Müller, 2006
Design meets handicap |58
59
