French professional cookware start-up Soufflé is on the rise thanks to colourful design from Pentagram
Cooking is not technology, it is comfort and sustenance; high-tech materials, gimmicky gadgets and – heaven forbid – smart devices have little place in the modern enthusiast’s kitchen. New French start-up Soufflé has grasped this from the outset, filling its debut range of high-end cookware with emotional ingredients. The company’s identity, as well as the four-piece cookware set itself, was designed by acclaimed agency Pentagram.
Owner Rocco Ghrenassia commissioned the studio to create a design that evoked the age-old French traditions of informal yet exceptional cuisine. The company’s pans and dishes are intended to be long-term investments, with the comforting solidity of enamel and steel implying a long functional lifespan.
These are dishes designed to go from oven to table, so the aesthetics must match the performance. Soufflé was committed to manufacturing in north-eastern France using traditional methods, so the design process involved extensive research into processes and materials. The pans also use existing manufacturing tech, which imposed further limitations. Within this framework, the design team has managed to create a cookware set that references the very best of French industrial design, from the proto-high tech furniture and architecture of Jean Prouvé to the ribbed metalwork of the classic Citroën H Van.
The pans use carbon steel coated with enamel and are offered in four different colourways, clementine and Mediterranean blue, as well as lemon and peach. The ribbed pressed metal handles allow for easy hanging on the matching hook and rack system. The graphic design is just as important, combining a serif word marque with a ligature and upturned accent, ‘giving a feeling of lightness and joie de vivre, paired with hand-written graphics by Marion Deuchars and whimsical packaging illustrations. The result is a recipe for success, appealing to the heart and the eye, and hopefully the stomach as well.
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