time bomb – kitchen timer - 1999
This kitchen timer features a weighted base allowing it to wobble, but not fall down. The first product designed by GRO in 1999.
spike - fruit bowl – 2001
This highly sculptural fruit bowl and polished stainless-steel tray were inspired by travels to Asia where after a meal cut fruit was often placed in the center of the table to refresh the palette.
The ‘spike’ can either be placed on top of the tray to store whole fruit, or under it to serve cut fruit at the dinner table. The tray is hollow and when refrigerated it functions as a thermos - keeping cut-fruit chilled when served at the table.
The bone-like plastic arm is repeated nine times to create a highly sculptural form. These arms are held together by a two-part chromed metal core. During production the parts are pressed together to create a rigid bowl. In this way complex and expensive tooling was avoided.
peanut plus - serving containers – 2000
Two identical stainless steel pressings are held together by a central plastic container. It is produced in a range of three colours: taupe brown, bone white and olive green.
We appreciated a simple ‘peanut-like’ sketch for its sculptural elegance. Conceived with the simple principle that well designed products can be enjoyed both in use, and as purely beautiful objects.
During development discussions - based on our CAD files and model - the Chinese supplier insisted that the pressing would twist and buckle after the stainless steel was trimmed. After some careful thinking and negotiation he agreed to take on the production challenge. Our persistence and his considerable skill and pressing knowledge resulted in this sculptural container.
message holder – 2002
Our homes are filled with photographs and postcards we keep as precious reminders of friends and family. We explored this observation in a number of projects. The message holder is a simple, flexible object that becomes a personal sculpture of memories.
Five independently adjustable arms are held in a simple weighted base. Each arm is capped with a chrome sock containing a sprung clip. This grips the postcard or photograph firmly in any position. The engineering solution is very elegant as no screws or construction is visible in the finished product.
pencil case & base – 2002
Our client encouraged us to create functional designs with appropriate material combinations. In this project we utilized extruded aluminum profiles to create a pencil case and base. To protect the pencils we lined the case with a soft santoprene rubber lining and a simple plastic clip securely holds the two halves together. An extruded aluminium base also allows the pencil case to be used as handy pen pots on a desk.
calabash & cone - money pots – 2000
These money pots use the repetition of a coin slot to create a decorative surface pattern.
Using pressed stainless steel allowed us to create two very different styles at little extra cost - a conic geometric and a curvaceous natural.
cd top ten – 2000
A recurring creative theme was the potential for objects to remind us of cherished memories. 'CD top ten' combines a photo frame with a favorite CD collection. A rubber coated base grips the table and allows the container to easily rotate between the CDs and the picture frame.
dimple & pimple - candle holders – 2002
During our early visits to suppliers in China we began to consider projects using ceramics and glass. Porcelain is beautiful; its weight, feel and surface quality makes it perfectly suited for gift items.
Relatvely low tooling costs and initially low sales volumes made ceramic production an interesting method to produce products for the portfolio. We envisaged these candle holders to be bought in multiples to link down the center of a dining table.
photoholder – 2001
A functional gift designed to promote awareness of the new brand. We designed a series of flat stainless steel products which were small enough to stick onto a standard postcard. Once home, the user could remove the flat object from the postcard and simply fold it to make their own product.
A five year creative collaboration began after a chance meeting with the company owner, Benson Pau. Our shared goal was to create products that were highly functional gift items for the home. For our new design studio the collaboration was a true creative partnership with the client and his team. By 2004 we had developed, through to manufacture, a portfolio of 25 products.
As well as designing the product portfolio, we established a distinct brand identity, material, colour and packaging philosophy. The logo was designed in collaboration with Anneko Feiz-van Dorssen in 2002. Together with engineering partners we developed products that not only functioned beautifully, but crucially each product had a highly sculptural value while not in use.
Through regular meetings and visits to manufacturers in China we supported the complete development process. We experienced first hand the world class quality, pride and manufacturing skill available in China. Beyond our influence was finding global distribution partners. It highlighted that design, however attractive and functional, cannot make a business venture viable on its own.
