If you're new here this is a blog about, The Spring Oven; a baking pot with a difference, steam. Today I'm taking a look at some of the prototypes we have been filming for the Kickstarter campaign video, going live in June.
Over the last month or so, the first full prototypes of The Spring Oven have been in production. It's been a nervous time, since I've been told anything can happen in terracotta production. So far news coming back from the manufacture of the first prototypes is really positive and the prototypes should be ready for collection by the beginning of next week. Next week I will send out another update to show the results.
We have just finished on the third day filming of the Kickstarter video. This part of the video has been about looking back at the origins of the Spring Oven and how the concept originally came about. So I have had to dig out all of the prototypes that I made during my university degree to test my design ideas.
The Original concept actually came from the idea of baking bread within a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers by nature hold all of the steam/moisture in a vacuum, since I was investigating into high humidity cooking, pressure cookers were a good place to start. After testing bread made in a pressure cooker I realised I would not have to make a sealed environment to cook bread in, I could still create a high concentration of steam inside a vessel without having to use high pressure (which is also much more complicated to do). So I started to develop concepts, and I quickly came to the idea of using a water reservoir inside the vessel to create steam.
The product was always designed from the beginning to be used with oven gloves thats why I designed all of the handles to be held with a flat palm. As the design has developed and I moved away from producing the Spring Oven in a cast metal and redesigned the product for terracotta. To match the shape of the lid, the base of the product gradually lost its handles, in favour of a slanted side that is held much like a baking/roasting dish. This change was intended to improve the production quality of the base and also hopefully create a more durable product.
Having completed the penultimate filming session the Kickstarter video is coming along well to release with the Kickstarter campaign in June. Also in June I will be exhibiting the finished Spring Oven product with the University of Brighton Product Design. The event is on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of June at Jubilee St in Brighton
In the mean-time why not sign up to my newsletter for the latest information as it comes out on the full prototype's, video sneak peeks and the Kickstarter launch coming up. As always please follow and share these posts on the social media I've got going, its exciting times!