Dezeen Magazine

Magnifying spoon designed to detect contaminants in food

Designer Ernesto D Morales has proposed a spoon made out of magnifying glass as part of a series of absurd products for his fictional company Object Solutions (+ movie).

Magnifying Spoon by Ernesto D Morales

The spoon, designed by Ernesto D Morales, is intended to enable the user to inspect each area of a meal prior to consumption to ensure the absence of glass, hair, bugs or other contaminants, and then eat the food using the same implement.

Morales came up with the idea after finding a shard of glass in a take-away meal.

Magnifying Spoon by Ernesto D Morales

"Since I was already in the practice of proposing absurdist inventions, I thought: what if I'd been equipped with my own tool for pre-inspecting this meal? My spoon was already at hand, so I reimagined it," he told Dezeen.

Magnifying Spoon by Ernesto D Morales

The spoon was crafted from lens glass and stainless steel with help from a lens maker and a jeweller in Mexico City, and is intended as part of a suite of products designed to engage people in questions about consumer culture.

"By posing as a company, I'm basing the criticism within the familiar media of advertising and product demos," said Morales.

Magnifying Spoon by Ernesto D Morales

"I want to create dissonance in the viewer, where it becomes unclear whether these are real proposals. Humour is an important tool, as it provides an entry point for engaging in criticism. Ideally, the viewer will later turn a more critical eye, and maybe have a laugh, at the actual product landscape that surrounds them."

Other product concepts from Object Solutions include the Lint Investment System, a drying machine expansion pack that generates new clothing from accumulated lint, and the Rotisserie Patio Table, an outdoor table that rotates slowly to allow balanced sun exposure among its passengers.