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The Cuicui
By : Rudimenterre
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 17th edition
Discipline : Product : Grand Winner
Categories : Special Awards / Sustainable & Environmental Design : Gold Certification
Categories : Product Design in Small Series & Hand-Made / Object, Accessory, Kitchen & Bathroom Product : Platinum Winner
The Cuicui is a modular and versatile domestic terracotta cooking dish that can cook all foods. It was designed to compose a simple, healthy and economical cooking in a sustainable, united and desirable future.
If the simplicity of its design sets it apart at first glance, it has been designed to be sensitive, intuitive and scalable to reconnect us to what is essential: the living.
The Cuicui can be used placed over a pot of water or in the oven without preheating.
It offers 3 rapid or optimized cooking techniques, appropriate to the environmental and medicinal context: steam/stewed, bain marie or oven without preheating.
Available in different kits, the Cuicui is structured around 5 modular elements: 2 containers of 1500 and 1300ml (with or without a chimney), 2 lids (one with a chimney for cooking, one without a chimney for storage) and 1 carrot stopper.
Each performs multiple functions and evolves independently, either alone or stacked in groups.
Grouped together, as in an ecosystem, they multiply their strengths and possibilities by pooling their heat to generate connected thermal flows.
The chimney container is the key to this ingenious system. In steam/stewed mode placed over a pot of water, it allows the circulation of steam while preserving the juices and the pure evaporation water introduced by distillation. We thus obtain a complete and seasoned dish, while retaining the maximum of nutrients and vitamins. In oven mode, the chimney diffuses heat into the center of the dish to perfectly balance the cooking of a bread or cake.
The clever architecture and sensitivity of the thermodynamic material of the Cuicui allow the significant reduction of our environmental footprint in the kitchen:
With it we cook more with less: we save energy, drinking water, food, disposable packaging materials by optimizing heat flow and flavors.
In a post-growth economic context, the fair and appropriate design of the Cuicui questions the legitimacy of high-tech for household purposes. Its simplicity of use, committed against planned obsolescence and the standardization of tastes, questions the link maintained between humans and their tools.
By re-appropriating low-tech techniques, the Cuicui allows us to find a space for sharing, emotions and creation by repositioning the user at the heart of the kitchen in order to restore the meaning and taste of our food.
The Cuicui is made from Quebec clay on demand in the Rudimenterre workshop in Montreal.
The clay, from the low-temperature family, helps to reduce energy consumption during manufacturing.
Modeled by hand, a mixed production technique has been developed to minimize water consumption and clay losses.
The Cuicui is carefully delivered in natural and recycled materials.
A Rudimenterre zero waste recipe booklet is provided with each Cuicui to help the user getting acquainted with it.
If you also want to switch to Rudimenterre mode, culinary demos are organized by appointment.
Collaboration
