15 week project | Easton Nguyen and Maria Bowman | Fall 2022
Objective: Create a homegood based on the research provided by another design team.
The Stack and Smoke is a miniature grill made to bring people together into a small space during the cooking preparation process. Created by Maria Bowman and Easton Nguyen, inspired by research from Sarah Kocher and Jason Dionisio.
We got the chance to show off ten of this early product version at The Ohio State University's Fifth Annual Winter Market. We managed to sell all 7 grills we had up for sale.
Look below for the long story version!
The Research
The start of this design comes from research about personal space at the gym. As we began to explore this observed research and how to turn it into a home good, we wanted to find a way to make cooking a collective experience that brings people into a small space. The research was able to provide us with information on how people share space during an equipment heavy activity.
We started from exploratory thumbnail sketches combining our inspirations of bringing personal space together and cooking.
Our next sketches focused on feature exploration, looking at airflow, stackability, size, and intuitive flow of shapes.
We also explored how users might interact with two of our favorite designs, and how those experiences differed from each other.
Once we settled on the design of a 3D model, it became time to scavenge, craft, mess it up, and try again.
We were able to demold out cast grills and look at at the details, take pictures, and actually use the product!
Finally, we got the chance to show off ten of this early product version at The Ohio State University's Fifth Annual Winter Market. We managed to sell all 7 grills we had up for sale.
The designers behind it all, Easton (left) and Maria (right)
