This project was a collaboration between the Industrial Design programs at Columbus College of Art and Design and the Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts in Xi'an, China. This project was challenging because we had to design for a culture that we weren't familiar with, and communicate across a language barrier with the Chinese students. At CCAD, we split into teams to redesign a Chinese kitchen utensil. My team chose the Chinese Rice Paddle. My role was to research how the current paddles are used and how we could improve upon it, as well as refine hand-drawn concept sketches for digital use. For the research, I watched different cooking tutorials using the paddle, and then used it myself to cook a meal to understand the ergonomic issues. I refined the five concept sketches in Adobe Illustrator.
