Green Kettle

Tea brewing re-imagined

I wanted to design a unique form of a kettle that would push its function forward and serve as an aesthetic piece of design a user would want to have on their counter space.

The Green Kettle doesn't just boil water but also brews loose-leaf tea. It combines the two passive steps of waiting for the water to boil and waiting for the tea to steep while adapting the form of the kettle to this brand-new function.

weeks

20 sketching

model making

storytelling

3D printing

Opportunity

There are 6 main types of tea that all have unique processes of brewing displayed below. Inserting the tea at the wrong temperature for the wrong amount of time can greatly influence the flavor of your tea. This general guidance and measuring the time and temperature becomes very important when wanting to get the most out of your brew.

However, keeping track of every step requires a lot of time and equipment.

"I know that if I had a way I should control the temperatures of the tea because of how important it is...

I usually steep my tea for the time it takes for me to do my morning stretches and meditation.”

Camilla Fuller's story

professional chef and a tea enthusiast

Imagine...

What if you could wake up in the morning, pick out your favorite loose leaf tea, pour in the water to your kettle, put your loose leaf tea in to a pod, set it

and go do whatever you wanted!

Only to come back to a perfectly brewed warm cup of tea each time! The kettle would insert the tea at the correct temperature and lift out the tea after the correct steep time for your type of a brew.

Insert - Twist - Start the boil.

How often do you forget wether or not you clicked your electric kettle to start boiling the water?

Incorporating a more haptic feedback where the whole body of the kettle turns 90 degrees and clicks into position was intentional to reduce the problem that so many interviewees had. With this smooth twist the position of the handle as well as the LED light indicate that you have begun your tea brewing. It also adds a satisfying sound and feel to the experience.

The form progression

Goal: Make a kettle that is new and inventive.

Traditional kettles have been around for hundreds of years. More recently electric kettle designs have strayed away from traditional forms and have introduced an element of playfulness while keeping the straightforwardness of the function and rather focusing on its modern pleasant visual look.

CAD

Since The details of the kettle evolved a lot in the last phase, I wanted to think about manufacturability and creating a continuous and cohesive form. Since I was using Rhino, a lot of the time it was a lot easier to re-model with each iteration. This really made me very aware of every detail and aspect of the form.