The Tuckerbox in action, providing easy convenient cooking in the great outdoors.
With summer looming, industrial design graduate Cody Tucker reckons he has the device to make outdoor living and cooking easy and enjoyable.
It’s called the Tuckerbox, and while close in name to its designer, is aimed at being closer to the great outdoors, with its twin purpose of holding your camping gear and then transforming into a functioning kitchen.
His all-in-one kitchen made of anodised aluminium and poplar plywood has been designed for the enthusiastic camper who doesn’t want to spend their time in the outdoors cooped up in vans or mobile homes cooking.
“The grab and go nature of Tuckerbox provides organisation in advance of any camping adventure,” he says. “It ensures with a quick visual check that all the required items are in place, sorted, with nothing crucial left behind.”
Mr Tucker’s design is among 12 Red Dot Awards to be presented to industrial design graduates and staff of Massey’s College of Creative Arts by the global award agency Red Dot in Singapore later this week.
The ingenuity of Tuckerbox is in its quick 10 second set-up and takedown process.
It integrates features from home kitchens such as bench height, and drawers to access cutlery, condiments and storage. This provides a familiar environment to what can often be a rummage through assorted plastic boxes, he says.
The legs have been designed so that Tuckerbox never has to be placed on the ground or that users need never to bend down to pick it up. They simply fold down to a stable splayed position, when triggered from the side handholds.
Other features of Tuckerbox include a pivoting arm to hold a lantern, paper towel roll or to hang a spatula while cooking, a sliding top that quickly doubles the surface area, a place to hang a tea towel; elastic inside the drawers to secure the objects while travelling and a place that secures any kind of cooker you may already own.
Getting rid of the rubbish is catered for too. The slide-out timber bench with plastic bag mounts and opening for waste also encourages responsible camping etiquette.
His design was inspired by roof top tents that are securely attached to a rack positioned on the roof of a truck or car. Its quick convenient set up leaving more time to explore the outdoors –something Mr Tucker wanted to apply to the task of outdoor cooking.
A keen outdoor camper, the 22-year-old has trialled his design with other campers on his travels all over New Zealand.
He has also been working with an outdoor manufacturer and distributor to further investigate the commercial potential of his design.
“It’s something elegant that could work for everybody and change the idea of cooking simply by using the idea of a grab and go box.”