Juicy Salif

Last updated
Juicy Salif
Type Citrus reamer
Inception1990
Manufacturer Alessi S.p.A.

Juicy Salif, a citrus reamer designed by Philippe Starck in 1990, is considered an icon of industrial design, and has been displayed in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art [1] and the Metropolitan Museum of Art [2] in New York City, as well as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. [3] It has also received this distinction at the RISD Museum [4] and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. [5]

Contents

Description

Made of cast and polished aluminum by the Italian kitchenware company Alessi, the tool measures 14 centimetres (5.5 in) in diameter, and 29 cm (11 in) high.

But the device is not easy to use, and its polished aluminum finish is vulnerable to corrosion and producing an unpleasant taste, as conceded in its official instructions. [6] The kitchen tool is not dishwasher-safe, and must be washed by hand, while taking care to avoid injury from its sharp point. [6]

History

A Juicy Salif mould at the Design Museum in London Juicy Salif mould.jpg
A Juicy Salif mould at the Design Museum in London

The sleek, exotic-looking shape was inspired by a calamari squid; the original drawings were sketched on a pizza-stained paper placemat. [7] [6]

The founder of the manufacturer, Alberto Alessi, later recalled:

I received a napkin from Starck, on it among some incomprehensible marks (tomato sauce, in all likelihood) there were some sketches. Sketches of squid. They started on the left, and as they worked their way over to the right, they took on the unmistakable shape of what was to become the juicy salif. While eating a dish of squid and squeezing a lemon over it, Starck drew on the napkin his famous lemon squeezer. [8] [9]

Alberto Alessi, in a recorded video interview posted on Dezeen , said "I am very happy with this project because I consider it a big joke to everybody. [...] It is the most controversial squeezer of the century I must say, but one of the most amusing projects I have done in my career." [7] He regarded it as one of the company's most successful products. [7]

Sales

For the tenth anniversary of its launch, 10,000 Juicy Salifs were issued, individually numbered and gold-plated. But this luxury version came with instructions warning that the juicer should never be used with actual fruit, because the finish would corrode. [10] There has also been a grey/black (anthracite) coloured version, of which 47,000 un-numbered examples were produced between 1991 and 2004. [11] Both now are collectors' items, though an urban legend perpetuates the idea that the anthracite version is rarer than the gold-plated one.[ citation needed ]

By 2003, a total of more than 500,000 of the iconic design artifacts had been sold. [10]

Critical reception

Starck has publicly stated that his citrus reamer was "not meant to squeeze lemons" but "to start conversations". [10]

An image of the Juicy Salif was featured on the front cover of Donald Norman's book Emotional Design . [12] The gold-plated version was described as an "ornament" because citric acid from fruit would discolor and erode the gold plating. [12]

An article in the Financial Times about bad design included the Juicy Salif among other examples, and proposed that the original "chamber of horrors" at the Victoria and Albert Museum be revived, to showcase modern examples. [13]

Related Research Articles

Alessi is a housewares and kitchen utensil company in Italy, manufacturing and marketing everyday items authored by a wide range of designers, architects, and industrial designers — including Achille Castiglioni, Richard Sapper, Marco Zanuso, Alessandro Mendini, Ettore Sottsass, Wiel Arets, Zaha Hadid, Toyo Ito, Hani Rashid, Tom Kovac, Greg Lynn, MVRDV, Jean Nouvel, UN Studio, Michael Graves, and Philippe Starck. The Alessi company in the UK is worth around £2.4 million.

<i>Citrus</i> Genus of flowering plants

Citrus is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus Citrus is native to South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Melanesia, and Australia. Various citrus species have been used and domesticated by indigenous cultures in these areas since ancient times. From there its cultivation spread into Micronesia and Polynesia by the Austronesian expansion ; and to the Middle East and the Mediterranean via the incense trade route, and onwards to Europe and the Americas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grapefruit</span> Citrus fruit

The grapefruit is a subtropical citrus tree known for its relatively large, sour to semi-sweet, somewhat bitter fruit. The interior flesh is segmented and varies in color from pale yellow to dark pink/red.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philippe Starck</span> French architect and industrial designer

Philippe Starck is a French industrial architect and designer known for his wide range of designs, including interior design, architecture, household objects, furniture, boats and other vehicles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandarin orange</span> Small citrus fruit

The mandarin orange, also known as mandarin or mandarine, is a small, rounded citrus tree fruit. Treated as a distinct species of orange, it is usually eaten plain or in fruit salads. Tangerines are a group of orange-coloured citrus fruit consisting of hybrids of mandarin orange with some pomelo contribution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaffir lime</span> Citrus fruit native to tropical Southeast Asia

Citrus hystrix, called the kaffir lime or makrut lime, is a citrus fruit native to tropical Southeast Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Citron</span> Species of citrus plant

The citron, historically cedrate, is a large fragrant citrus fruit with a thick rind. It is said to resemble a 'huge, rough lemon'. It is one of the original citrus fruits from which all other citrus types developed through natural hybrid speciation or artificial hybridization. Though citron cultivars take on a wide variety of physical forms, they are all closely related genetically. It is used in Asian and Mediterranean cuisine, traditional medicines, perfume, and religious rituals and offerings. Hybrids of citrons with other citrus are commercially more prominent, notably lemons and many limes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhode Island School of Design</span> Art and design college in Rhode Island, US

The Rhode Island School of Design is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the accessibility of design education to women. Today, RISD offers bachelor's and master's degree programs across 19 majors and enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduate and 500 graduate students. The Rhode Island School of Design Museum—which houses the school's art and design collections—is one of the largest college art museums in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orange (fruit)</span> Citrus fruit

An orange is a fruit of various citrus species in the family Rutaceae ; it primarily refers to Citrus × sinensis, which is also called sweet orange, to distinguish it from the related Citrus × aurantium, referred to as bitter orange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Achille Castiglioni</span> Italian architect and designer (1918–2002)

Achille Castiglioni was an Italian architect and designer of furniture, lighting, radiograms and other objects. As a professor of design, he advised his students "If you are not curious, forget it. If you are not interested in others, what they do and how they act, then being a designer is not the right job for you."

Patricia Urquiola Hidalgo is a Spanish architect, industrial designer and art director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Hutten</span> Dutch designer

Richard G. J. Hutten is a Dutch industrial designer, art director, and artist who is active in furniture design, product design, interior design, and exhibition design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Citrus reamer</span> Utensil to extract juice from citrus fruit

A citrus reamer, also known as a lemon reamer or simply a reamer, is a small kitchen utensil used to extract the juice from a lemon or other small citrus fruit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lemon squeezer</span> Kitchen utensil

A lemon squeezer is a kitchen utensil designed to extract juice from lemons or other citrus fruit such as oranges, grapefruit, or lime. It is designed to separate and crush the pulp of the fruit in a way that is easy to operate. Lemon squeezers can be made from any solid, acid-resistant material, such as plastic, glass, metal or ceramic.

Salif may refer to:

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Job Smeets</span>

Job Smeets is a Belgian contemporary conceptual and sculptural artist and designer and founder of Studio Job based in Antwerp, Belgium. Known for producing "high-end works toying with politically loaded signifiers", he combines traditional and modern techniques to produce art and design objects.

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References

  1. "Philippe Starck. Juicy Salif Lemon Squeezer. 1988". MoMA. The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  2. ""Juicy Salif" Lemon Squeezer". The Met. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  3. "Juicy Salif | Starck, Philippe". Victoria and Albert Museum: Explore the Collections. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  4. "Juicy Salif". RISD Museum Collections. Rhode Island School of Design. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  5. "Juicy Salif Citrus Squeezer". Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  6. 1 2 3 Orr, Christy (1 May 2019). "Philippe Starck's Juicy Salif lemon squeezer: Genius design or just a cool fruit squeezer?". DesignStudies1. Medium. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  7. 1 2 3 Hobson, Benedict (9 July 2014). "Philippe Starck's Juicy Salif was "the most controversial lemon squeezer of the century"". Dezeen. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  8. "Starck Juicy Salif", hivemodern.com
  9. "'Juicy Salif' lemon squeezer by Philippe Starck for Alessi, 1990". Powerhouse Museum. 2000. Retrieved 27 November 2008.
  10. 1 2 3 Chadha, Radha (22 November 2016). "The irrationality of pure design". Mint. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  11. Alessi Company Archive[ full citation needed ]
  12. 1 2 Norman, Donald Arthur (2005). Emotional Design . Basic Books. p. 114. ISBN   0-465-05136-7.
  13. Heathcote, Edwin (30 October 2015). "Design horrors: the bad, the ugly and the dysfunctional" . Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2022-12-11. Retrieved 2022-02-11.