The use of trendspotting in this project was to find a point of departure from which I could start the design process. A market matrice with the latest trends in the culinary scene was made, to try and categorize what market segment they were targetting. The "Convenient Gourmet" was a trend I spotted in the cooking devices popular in kitchens today, typifying products that could perform gourmet techniques in a much quicker and consumer-friendly manner.

Through research and case studies, another trend in the way industrial applications are slowly brought into the commercial and then consumer sectors struck me as being an interesting occurence. Case in point being the Searzall, a new device that repurposes a gas torch into becoming a handheld broiler.

A working model (pictured bottom right) was made in order to isolate the heat and fan components and make them independent of each other, to test a wider range of effects than was allowed by the stock heat gun.

Kueh Lapis, a type of traditional layered cake local to Singapore, was made using the heat gun. The process is arduous, consisting of layering a batter, baking and repeating to get attain that unique finish. With a personal portion (ramekin) however I found that the same process could be achieved in a faster time compared to a standard oven.

After proving the effectiveness of the handheld heatgun as a cooking device, I moved on to testing if it could bake bread using a makeshift attachment, in this case with a metal tin and modified mason jars. A small ball of dough was placed under the different enclosures and tested to bake at 200°C for 30 minutes. The results with the open bottomed glass jar were the most successful, leading me to inform the design with a series of attachments to perform different functions.

Feedback about the prototype and what it could be used for was received through interviews I conducted with two chefs:

Chef LG Han from Labyrinth and Chef Yiyi from the Snack Culture Company.

 

The design of the heat gun was envisioned through the words "queit functionality", a no-frills concept that would hinge on a clean and simple way to deliver the function whilst preserving ergonomics and safety.

1. Air enters through the inlet holes located on the top
2. After passing over the heat coils, hot air is trapped within the Pyrex cone to form the baking enclosure
3. Air outlets prevent the buildup of pressure in the system, allowing baking to take place

 

1. For gourmet searing techniques, reaches similar temperatures of blow torch, without the use of butane gas

2. Used as a quick and energy efficient way to heat up food for individual portions, as compared to an oven

3. Portable heat source in the kitchen, with the flexibility to be used on almost any surface 

4. Provides for different use cases with removable attachments

 

 

The aesthetic prototype was built using SLS 3D printing for the body, and vacuum forming PVC sheet for the baking attachment. LED displays were simulated using printed stickers and acrylic cutouts.