WHAT WOULD PATAGONIA CREATE IF THEY ENTERED THE OUTDOOR COOKING MARKET...
This project was aimed at understanding the values of the Patagonia brand and reiterating their commitment to sustainable and thoughtful design. The products also needed to fit within the target consumer lifestyle and frame of reference.
Three products were created to aid the user in areas such as packaging, water storage and heating meals.
PATAGONIA BRAND VALUES
NATURE
RESPONSIBLE
SUSTAINABLE
FORM RESEARCH
With such a premium and material focussed company, a high amount of attention
was placed on creating designs that could be viewed as rugged, trustworthy and most importantly long lasting . To do this, theme based sketches were first made before moving onto different sizes of foam models to understand the size and form. The final stage was creating functional 3D printed parts for presentation.
Concept 1 - Engi Camp Flask
This product starts as a normal flask designed for weekend trips that can hold hot or cold water for extended periods of time, it features a minimalist design with a colourful fabric grip to ensure it isn’t lost in the outdoors.
The difference however, is the electric heating module that magnetically connects to the underside. This attachment is charged before heading out and can boil the water inside twice using induction methods.
To understand the size of the average camping food, I tested different packets to ensure that this size of cup would fit a large enough portion. These were then tested with multiple prototypes to create the correct size.
CONCEPT 2 - ENGI CAMP BOWL
Complimenting the flask, this bowl for larger meals features the same colour
styles and has a compresssible top to take up less room when on the move.
This product also works with the heating module, fixing onto the underside. The heater recognises that it is attached to the bowl and will use the whole charge to boil this larger body of water.
Both products aim to replace the heavy use of gas cookers in the wild which, in many different ways, are harmful to the environment and potentially the user.
CONCEPT 3 - PROVISION CUPS
A sustainable update to the current ‘Patagonia Provisons’, the food comes in one of these cups. This can either be placed into boiling water or add the water with the contents to cook. The meal can then be eated from the cup. Once used, the product can be compressed to take up less space.
The materials are more tactile than normal packaging to encourage the user not to throw the cup away but to either reuse it by putting their own food in it (for example, to take to work) or they have the choice to return the cup to the supplier for re-use at a small return in cost.
final prototypes
Foam models were created to understand the size and form of the flask, before moving on to 3D printed parts. The heater accessory was also looked into in depth.
Patagonia are not an electrical company and so this is a very transformative product for them. The use of electric does however provide clear benefits to past gas powered cooking products and so fits with their goal of reducing the impact of modern society on nature.
The heater has been simplified as much to make it feel less of a device, magnetically attaching to the bottom and having only a twist function to turn on.
