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Conjoined Utensils

Posted by Adam Kuban, May 7, 2007 at 3:00 PM

There are only so many ways you can eat food. Ancient China gave us chopsticks (which, everyone knows, are also great for catching flies), and sometime before 1000 A.D. the Middle East gave us the fork, which was apparently met with resistance in 12th century Europe ("God in his wisdom has provided man with natural forks—his fingers. Therefore it is an insult to Him to substitute artificial metallic forks for them when eating.")

Since then there's been little innovation. And when you look at something like this contraption, you see why. Fun to look at as a novelty but impossible to eat with, I'm sure. $25 for six, from Charles & Marie. (See also: Chindogu)

2 Comments | Tagged: chindogu, utensils

Swiss Chindogu

Posted by Nathalie Jordi, January 23, 2007 at 11:48 AM

Rooted in the Japanese tradition of chindogu is the Swiss art of Umdenken. Whereas chindogus self-identify as the deliberate invention of the useless, the Swiss are actually quite resourceful. As is their wont.

I especially like the Schweizerstäbli, the Ölfinger, the T-Fresh and the Sommerpedale.

Thanks Paul for the link!

Post a Comment | Tagged: chindogu, japan, Switzerland, Umdenken

More From The Land of the Rising Sun...

Posted by Nathalie Jordi, January 16, 2007 at 5:27 PM

Okay, I pointed to these guys already but they keep giving and giving, I can't resist. Check out these (apparently discontinued, sadly) sushi USB drives, strawberry milk sausage, and sushi-making robot.

This "head tired sexy knee pillow" has NOTHING to do with food but it may be my favorite thing on the site.

1 Comment | Tagged: chindogu, gadgets, japan, sushi