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Experimental Cutlery That Challenges Traditional Ideas of Usability

Merging design and haute cuisine, Amsterdam-based company Steinbeisser collaborates with designers and artists to produce surreal cutlery that operate beyond traditional ideas of usability for their online store Jouw… (Dutch for “your”). The tableware doesn’t necessarily make the experience of eating easier, but rather encourages the user to reconsider their relationship to utensils and how they are used.

“Yet it is not only about beauty, we also believe in sustainability,” explain co-creators Jouw Wijnsma and Martin Kullik on Jouw…’s website. “That’s why all the pieces are crafted only from natural materials, such as wood, calabash, stone, clay and glass. Often sourced locally and using materials that are found, recycled and/or reused. Even the smaller parts of the pieces such as glue, paint and glazing, are organic and biodegradable.”

One artist that incorporates reused materials is Swedish artist Maki Okamoto who works which antique silver nickel cutlery which she inherited from her husband’s grandmother. You can see more examples of experimental cutlery by more than 20 artists on Jouw…'s Instagram.