New York designer Matthias Kaeding has designed a pair of ceramic cooking knives inspired by Stone Age tools.
The NeoLithic project is the result of Kaeding’s research into archaic forms and low-tech design.
Kaeding claims the caveman-inspired knives are just as good at chopping, cutting, scraping, mincing and scooping as contemporary knives.
These images are renderings and full-size models to explain the concept.
Here are further details from Kaeding:
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NeoLithic – Ceramic Cooking Knives
Cooking knives have evolved over thousands of years to become specialized in shape, precision and functionality, creating the need for a variety of designs that seem to have different purposes.
NeoLithic knives are inspired by the shape of Stone Age tools for a more back-to-basics approach to chopping, cutting, scraping, mincing and scooping.
Many of the knives kept in museums are still sharp and work perfectly well today thanks to their utilitarian shape and material.
The knives can be turned to allow for a sharp or blunt blade and are manufactured in ceramic – the modern refinement of stone – giving them the edge over their Bronze Age cousins.
July 13th, 2009 at 9:19 am
Um… Is it just me… or… when you do a article on a really cool knife… and half the images are computer models/ artistic minimal studio lighting…. I wanna see it in action! None of this dramatic minimalist crap! Chop! Mince! the POWER OF OxyGEN! ____ I’ll have three! Thanks!
July 13th, 2009 at 9:55 am
mixing up flint, ceramic, stone, bronze, this looks like renderings of a formal idea without any thinking about how uncomfortable this should be, or how unappropriate ceramic is to have sharp edges…
July 13th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
I don’t se a problem material wise. There are ceramich blades outthere. but this design is an ergonomic nightmare…
July 13th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
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Hello, This is Morgan
On the surface, in the same vein as the project titled Nouveau Neolithic by Ian Ferguson of PostlerFerguson.
http://www.postlerferguson.com/index_en.php?cat=work&item=2007_NN
The main difference here is that Ian’s approach looks at the possibility and need to revert back 6000 in order to cope with the effects we are having on the environment now and in the near future. Somehow post-apocalyptic and thought provoking. A realist approach to a scenario which we evade in our consciousness. Ian’s project goes hand in hand with the scenario and aesthetic of the movie Time of the Wolf by Michele Haneke. http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/05/34/time_of_the_wolf.html
Sorry, back to this project…
….Habitat?
yours,
Morgan
July 13th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
I like it…back to the Stone Age!!
Design doesn’t need to be practical…it could also be a breakthrough!
I look forxard to see them in action!
July 13th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Morgan-
Yes, it is similar to postlerferguson’s work, more similar in fact to their affordance & affinity diagrams …
http://www.postlerferguson.com/index_en.php?cat=work&item=2007_AA
July 13th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
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Hello This is Morgan,
Elef, yes, well spotted. I believe that that diagram was the preliminary research for the later project.
Yours,
Mg
July 14th, 2009 at 1:57 am
Haven’t got a chance to use a ceramic knife. however, Karim Rashid did came out with a ceramic craft knife that claims to cut just as well as a metal blade.
I like the form and the idea.
July 15th, 2009 at 6:40 am
wow, this looks dangerous…
the same colour of the blade/handle will definitely be disastrous in my kitchen..
big no-no
July 15th, 2009 at 7:21 am
ceramic knifes are extremely sharp but even more so brittle… this is impractical and definitely not breakthrough. you will NEVER see these in professional kitchen, but maybe for the home foodie who has the money to spend on another gadget to join the other “breakthrough” gadgets in the bottom cabinet