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Cantilevered Flatware, Yea or Nay?

Cool design. Are they practical?

By Rain Noe - February 29, 2016

in Object Culture

I'm sure Carson from Downton Abbey would flinch, but this set of Cantilever Flatware can not only be presented face-up, but also face-down. That's because the designers (ILoveHandles, whose work we previously looked at here) have chunked out the handles to keep the business end of the utensils up off of the table surface, "improving hygiene and reducing mess," in their words.

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They've also given this treatment to a set of chopsticks and a pair of cooking utensils:

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As for why this is in "Yea or Nay:" My first thought when I saw these was "Ah, that's cool." Then I started thinking about how I'd actually use these, and am not sure I'd avail myself of the features. Think about how you dine and see if you agree or disagree.

Once utensils have touched food, I never place them back down onto the table surface; if I need both hands, say, to make offensive gestures at my dining companions, the utensils always go back down on the plate or bowl that I was in the process of excavating.

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The chopsticks require they be placed down on one of their four sides in order to achieve the cantilever. Mid-dining, I just don't see myself taking the trouble to inspect them to find the red dot (admittedly a nice touch) and rotate them accordingly.

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The cooking utensils seemed a win for me, until I considered that they're usually dripping in sauce or oil during cooking, and setting them down as advertised will keep the utensil off of the countertop, but will probably drip. Also, I have a particularly tiny kitchen and can't spare the countertop real estate, which is why I usually leave utensils balanced across the pot/pan's rim and handle. (Admittedly not a good solution.)

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To be clear, I'm in love with the form of all of these utensils—I'm just not sure I'd actually use them as they're meant to be used.

What say you?

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Mark H

8 years ago

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[img]http://imgur.com/gallery/5P920aw[/img]
I figure it meats doing this.

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Red Stone

8 years ago

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Looks like some museum shop Chatskie. Kinda of interesting ,not practical. Ends up a the bottom of a draw.

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Rachel Mc

8 years ago

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I could see maybe using the cooking utensils, not a bad idea for that application, but otherwise useless I think. I've also certainly seen chopsticks that use this principle before, with the lower half larger all the way around, so you don't have to lay them down on any particular side, so this isn't at all innovative in that particular form.

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Peter Carrasquillo

8 years ago

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What about a cantilevered paint brush? Specifically one that kept the handle elevated, rather than the bristles.

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Mike Cheung

8 years ago

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Agreed - once soiled, all eating tools get leaned against the plate or bowl. Placing them back on the table would never work for me, and I'd never put them bottom side upward.

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