Nakatashi Metal Co.

Design Factory Melbourne

A unique taste experience using cooling technology

One of the 2020-21 SUGAR projects was a global collaboration between Japan-based company Nakanishi Metal Works Co., Ltd. (NKC) and a team of students from Design Factory Melbourne and the Kyoto Institute of Technology. Addressing the challenge of finding new and exciting solutions which benefit users, the team centred their project on improving the experience of campers to help promote outdoor recreation.

The team created Mogii, a portable smoker which incorporates unique cooling technology, offering users a new outdoor food experience. Super cold smoking is a cooking method which smokes foods while controlling the temperature between -10°C and 10°C. With Mogii, campers can smoke foods for roughly 15 minutes by simply burning smoke chips. The easy cooking process provides campers with a taste that cannot be experienced at higher temperatures. In addition, Mogii enhances sociability by bringing people together at the campsite to share new taste experiences.

Concept by Jackie Lin (Interior Architecture, Honours), Mark Vandersteen (Industrial Design, Honours) & Terry Chen (Master of Design), and students from the Kyoto Institute of Technology; Laura Hoppula (Master of Design), Shin Okamoto (Master of Design), Ayaka Mizuno (Master of Design) & Zhen Li (Master of Design).

Industry Partner: Nakanishi Metal Co.

New cooking way in camping cooking

Detail of cooling and smoking system

Mogii has 3 color options

Working prototype that has generator of smoke and refrigerator system

Final mock up of Mogii

Acknowledgement of Country

The School of Design and Architecture respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners and knowledge-keepers of the lands, waters and sky that surround us, where we work, learn, create, communicate and make place. We recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded and this always was and will always be Wurundjeri Country. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who continue to make a better world through design.

We extend our acknowledgement to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students, alumni, real-life clients, and knowledge keepers, who have contributed to our own education diversity and growth. We will continue to ensure that staff and students respectfully honour ancestral connection to Country and Place in everything that they do.

We are dedicated to the notion of design to make a better world and we acknowledge that making tools, shaping place, sharing stories, making meaning, wayfinding and collaborating have long been and continue to be both central and integral to First Peoples' cultures. We recognize that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ cultural contributions have continued relevance to design practice and commit to: reconciling ancestries of design and contemporary practice as well as pursuing culturally and professionally appropriate ways to engage with a diverse population of colleagues, industries and clients. In a time of treaty-making and voice we understand that there are overlaps between caring for Country and the sustainable production of goods, services, experiences, products and buildings.

Guided by the principles of respect, reconciliation, and reciprocity we undertake to indigenising and decolonising design practice by dismantling colonial structures and challenging biases that have marginalised Indigenous voices and design.

As students of SoDA you will be given opportunities to both engage with and educate yourself in Indigenous creative practices and cultural protocols through a lens of inclusivity, diversity, respect, mutual understanding, inter-cultural dialogue in all aspects of design practice. Indigenous people have been telling stories, making tools, and connecting to Country through visual media, placemaking and place marking for more than 60,000 years and these practices are part of an ongoing, evolving and live tradition.