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A Twist on the Barbecue: Everyone Cooks Their Food Inside Their Own Brick

Bricknic is a communal dining experience

By Rain Noe - June 1, 2021

in Food

Bricknics, invented by product designers and Eindhoven grads Timm Donke and Leif Czakai, are bricks that are actually "modular cooking tools." Their "Build-and-eat" concept calls for loading the two-part clay bricks up with food, stacking them into an oven shape with a group of friends, then setting a fire in the middle. (Alternatively you could throw them onto a grill or in an existing oven, but that'd be no fun.) "You can use it for baking, boiling, steaming, grilling and frying," Donke and Czakai write.

The duo invented Bricknics for the purpose of enhancing group activities. "Inspired by the age-old process of brick firing in East Africa, this collaborative way of cooking aims to put social bonds back on the menu and celebrates community spirit. Like in traditional brick firing, every single brick is essential as it forms part of a temporary build structure and helps retain the heat of the firing oven."

"One brick alone can't do much, but together we can build anything. Join the Bricknic, let's build, and eat!"

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Bricknics originated as a thesis project between Donke, Czakai and Nathan Fordy at Design Academy Eindhoven a couple of years ago. Today it's a business run by Donke and Czakai, who source the bricks from German clay pot manufacturer Römertopf and sell them on their website.

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Andy Collins

3 years ago

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I admire their idea but this isn't for me.
The practicalities stack against it as does the cost.
40-50 Euro for each cooking pot seems very high. It's all about community but only a community of people who can afford $40 each for a skillet. That doesn't solve anything for me.
Bring back fondue if you want to cook together :-)

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Anthony Towers

3 years ago

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oh dear, soon to be seen in restaurants, alongside chips in shopping trollies, meals on chopping boards and ice cream on a piece of slate.
We Want Plates

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Nathan D.

3 years ago

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And if you want to check if your food is done steaming you just have to put on some fireproof gloves and move every single brick to get to it all the way on the bottom, then put them all back. Repeatedly.

This only has value for very small loaves of bread.

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