Designed by Angela Sant Anna for Electrolux’s Designlab Competition 2012, “The Pearl” is an electric cooker that enjoys a sensual, spherical shape with touch screen controls and a stylish opening. The spherical shape was chosen to allow uniform cooking without any heat loss. Interestingly, the color pattern on the cooker’s surface changes with the temperature. The touchscreen menu helps the user select the recipe and the resistances on the bottom and around the inner cooker control the heat levels. The stylishly round interactive touch screen with ‘Virtual Chef’ program helps in cooking at the right temperature and in time as per the mode selection. The tags help users organize the recipes.
The Pearl electric cooker features different cooking modes. The “Self Control” mode lets you control the temperature and time or go for a listed recipe by ingredients. The “Mood” mode lets users feed in their mood at the time of cooking, such as comfort, fun, romantic, sociable, spirited, bold (random recipe), impatient (fast and easy), sweet toothed (for desserts) or landspired (Asian, French, Greek, Italian or Mexican). The “Occasion” mode is meant for special events like Birthday, Christmas, Halloween and other festivities.
The touch menu shows the ingredients and then helps users cook with the ‘step by step recipe’ feature. You can pull off from the cooker, which tilts at 45-degrees to allow easy reading. Every mode on the Virtual Chef has a color palette that interacts with the heat level of the cooker to change colors, which express the user’s frame of mind, emotions and behavior.
The Pearl’s insert is non-stick and removable for easy cleaning. The tempered glass lid features a magnetic sealing edge and an innovative opening that allows users to add the ingredients without opening up the lid every time. The Pearl has been designed around the idea of creating an interactive and emotional connection with an electric cooker.
Cheers! Angela Sant Anna
