Interview about Firo fire cooking set, winner of the A' Bakeware, Tableware, Drinkware and Cookware Design Award 2018
FIRO is a multifunctional and portable 5kg cooking set for each open fire. The oven holds 4 pots, attached removable to a drawers rail construction with a swiveling support for maintaining the food level. Thus way FIRO can be easily and safely used like a drawer without spilling food while the oven lays half way in the fire. The pots are used for cooking and eating purposes and are handled with the cutlery tool which clips in each side of the pots to carry them in temperature insulation pockets while hot. It also includes a blanket which is as well a bag that holds all usefull equipment.
View detailed images, specifications, and award details on A' Design Award & Competition website.
View Design DetailsLooking into fire has always held a magical fascination for us humans. Fire was once the cornerstone of our modern civilization and the center of our lives. It gave us light, warmth, safety and security, enabled us to prepare food, promoted sociability and gave us a feeling of connection. This is so deeply anchored in us that it is still impossible to imagine our lives without it. For coziness, we light candles, sit by the fireplace, grill in the summer or light it in a campfire or fire bowl. However, since cooking with an open fire is not an easy undertaking due to the different and sometimes very high temperatures and the irregularly blazing flames, the food is usually grilled over glowing coals or with the help of gas on warm summer evenings and the fire bowl later ensures coziness and conviviality. The combination of both was the starting point for the development of FIRO. The oven allows an even and gentle food preparation within the fire as well as an operation in a fire-free area. FIRO therefore stands for the connection between origin and modernity.
To ensure even heating of the food in the Gratino containers, it was essential to keep the bowls floating so that they do not come into contact with the oven material. The way a Ferris wheel works gave me the inspiration I needed to maintain the food level. The idea of operating the oven outside the fire while the oven itself can remain in the fire came from using an ordinary drawer, the contents of which can be accessed by simply pulling it out. The final appearance of the implemented solution is the result of a lengthy development process. The porcelain bowls are now in the most compact and stable form to ensure technical functionality. Its design, both shape and size, is the result of an ideal combination of capacity, size, weight, manageability, cleanability and functionality, which was constantly adapted in the simultaneous development of the oven. Mathematics and physics as well as design and creativity helped me to find the balance and the right balance between all components and requirements.
That wasn't easy. The obvious choice was to have the oven forged from cast iron. But this would have been to the detriment of mobility and portability. I found an alternative in technical ceramics that allows the oven mold to be made in one cast and is also significantly lighter and yet heat-stable and has a good ratio between heat conduction and heat storage. The material thickness can also be regulated during production and I found a good ratio between stability and weight here too. I designed all components to be multi-purpose for portability and only used as much material as necessary. So even every screw has a dual function that it has to perform, right down to the obvious functionalities of the individual components.
Multifunctionality allows material to be saved, which in turn reduces the overall weight. From the beginning it was important to me to ensure portability so that the oven could also be used in nature. Such as at a campfire site in the forest or on the beach.
The oven allows for the fascination of an open fire and safe, modern food preparation at the same time. It is deliberately designed to be reduced and simple in order to provide a contrast to the high-tech and increasingly complicated world. People long for roots and simplicity to re-ground themselves and connect with nature. As a side effect, this deprives our everyday lives of the speed that makes us all so restless.
In my research into existing open fire cooking options, I realized that the issue of safety was the biggest one. On the one hand, the safety of the food being cooked and grilled, as well as the safety of people during operation. For this reason, most preparation variants are those that tame the open, irregularly flaming fire in the form of glowing coals, as in grilling, or lock up and confine it, such as in rocket stoves. In cases where the fire is actually allowed to burn, the preparation takes place over the fire, as with the tripod with a boiler, and therefore represents a safety risk. For this reason, I had to find a solution to ensure an operation outside of the fire, because this area seemed safer to me than over the fire. That was the birth of the idea of drawer operation.
The search for a suitable oven material took some time. Cast iron was the obvious choice, but portability would no longer have been guaranteed. Technical ceramic, on the other hand, is significantly lighter and yet dimensionally stable, fireproof, heat-conducting and heat-storing. The material chosen for the Gratino bowls was porcelain because it is not only used for cooking but also for eating. Glazed white porcelain is hygienic, easy to clean and also provides an aesthetic contrast to the black technical ceramic of the oven.
Firo is a cooking set that is primarily used in communities. Although it only offers space for 4 bowls inside, one Firo can easily serve up to 12 people. The food preparation is dynamic and resembles a social raclette round, which consists of putting the food together, preparing the food in the oven and eating it. Since the latter can be done while standing without a table or chair due to the handy shape of the bowls, a flexible, dynamic social gathering is encouraged. Due to the flexible option of eating while standing, the Gratino bowls are also an advantage wherever there is a lack of seating and table space. Also at trade fairs, exhibition openings, etc.
I believe that the award alone will not have any impact on future development. If Firo finds a producer, then people's demand will determine which direction the development of future outdoor cooking equipment will take.
I would like the Firo oven to help people, beyond the digital world, come into more real, tangible contact with one another. This is the real potential of Firo. Back to the roots and yet flexible, modern and safe. Firo will certainly always be a niche product and function as an additional cooking practice. It won't replace anything, but rather complement it.
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