Hello Montie Gear community! I am Rachael Hughes, a design/drafting intern here at Montie Design since January 2013. I am currently a senior at North Carolina State University in Technology, Engineering, and Design Education with a concentration in Graphic Communications.
My most recent project at Montie Design grew from a challenge from Montie to design a product for family car camping.
The Concept:
I decided to design a product or products that would keep your utensils from setting on the surfaces typical to camping, such as the picnic table or the top of your cooler. (The current design is at the bottom of this blog.)
The Design Process:
The first design was a simple, flat product that could be hung up and held cooking utensils, eating utensils, and dish towels. To hold a dishtowel, a slot could be used, but then the moisture from one towel could be transferred to the other, so I instead used a keyhole design, so that the corner of the towel could be inserted into the larger end and pinched tightly into the smaller end of the keyhole.
Version 1:
Version 1 Prototype:
The prototype for this version proved to be very crowded when all functions were used, so I went back to the drawing board (in my case, SolidWorks) and began to redesign. To alleviate the issue of crowdedness, I decided to break the product down into three pieces.
Version 2:
Cooking Utensils Rest:
Eating Utensils Rest:
Dish Towel Hanger:
The Cooking and Eating Utensils Rest idea developed into a design that could be used by hanging from a carabiner or at the picnic table like the prototypes show.
Version 2 Prototypes:
Cooking Utensils Rest:
Eating Utensils Rest:
Dish Towel Holder:
During testing these prototypes, I was able to make sure that this design could also hang from a carabiner and still efficiently hold the silverware as well.
It was during this phase that I also developed an idea for a Paper Towel Holder.
Version 2 Add-On:
Paper Towel Holder:
Using the same shape as the Dish Towel Holder, a wire could be permanently connected at one corner, ran through the paper towel roll, guided through a small notch for stability, and a loop on the end could attach right to the carabiner.
Version 2 Add-On Prototype:
The four items comprised The Clean Kitchen Set, Version 2:
The Current Design:
After consideration, the this specific Paper Towel Holder has been excluded from the set because ideation sessions with Montie yielded a completely different configuration to be pursued at a later date. The Cooking Utensils Rest, the Eating Utensils Rest, and the Dish Towel Holder, however, have continued to develop. The design of the Cooking Utensils Rest and the Eating Utensils Rest are as follows:
The final design of the Dish Towel Holder has not yet been decided on, but here are the three contenders:
Option A:
Option B:
Option C:
(If you have any suggestions, or preferences, please feel free to leave a comment for me!)
Current Status:
The Cooking Utensils Rest, Eating Utensils Rest, and all three possible versions of the Dish Towel Holder are currently being cut at a water jet cutting facility nearby. We are testing these designs in both aluminum and ABS plastic. I will update soon with pictures of the prototypes when we receive them.
Share on Facebook
