Flaer
Student Project

Product Design (MDes)
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From Jinying Yu, MDes '18:

Flaer: Salt and Pepper Spinner Set

Flaer is primarily inspired by the shape and structure of windmills. The mechanism is inspired by studies done on how wind movements and particles behave in relation to one another. The design looks and functions like a pinwheel. Flaer’s competitive advantage over other salt pepper shakers that are currently in the market is the design’s ability to bring control to the user while seasoning their food with salt or pepper. The product is designed in such a way that the speed of the spinning movements administered by the user dictates how much salt or pepper is dispensed.

Flaer is offered in two colors, white for salt and blue for pepper made from slip cast porcelain.

For prototyping purposes, I used AMACO because of the ease of casting and it was an accessible material. However, in production I'm going to change the material to porcelain. I arrived to porcelain because I'm trying to stay away from harmful plastics in an attempt to stay environmentally friendly as well as be cautious about plastics near food items. In terms of costs injection molds and machining metals such as aluminum is too expensive to be able to produce in my price range. 

Origin of the name
Flavor & Air  
Flair: Stylishness and originality
Flare: A gradual widening 

IDA Award Winner
In 2018, Jinying Yu won the Bronze IDA Design Award in Home Interior Products/Kitchen Accessories/Tabletop for her project Flaer.