Primitive Kitchen: back to basics with HIMACS

The paleolithic age. An anonymous human imparts a whole new function to “stone” objects. Man begins to  break food into pieces, cut it and crush it.

2017. While people watch TV cooking programmes looking for for the very latest hi-tech kitchen devices, Swedish designer Erik Bele Höglund goes back to basics, and designs the Primitive Kitchen Tool, fashioned from HIMACS, for modern cavemen.

There’s a lot to be said for cooking in traditional ways: there is a spirit that makes food taste better. Handling the ingredients while cooking, without using modern implements, helps one to rediscover foods, their consistency and their very essence. It makes things more interesting, but also gives a real physical sense of cooking, transforming it into a highly personal and unique act.

The Primitive Kitchen Tool turns cooking into a veritable ritual. It is constructed from HIMACS, a new-generation acrylic stone that is ultra-resistant and completely hygienic, and thus perfect for use with foodstuffs. Its pore-free surface prevents any build-up of waste or bacteria, making the kitchenware easier to clean.

Further, the ability to seamlessly join HIMACS means that it appears to be fashioned from a single piece of material, as if created by nature. We have thus moved on from natural stone to acrylic stone, but with improved safety and functionality.

The Primitive Kitchen Tool is made up of two pieces: a platter, with various hollows in which foods may be placed and prepared, and a “stone”, which has two functions: the sharp end, to slice and cut (with different sized blades), or the blunt end of the handle, to crush and grind as with a traditional pessle and mortar.