Opposite Aesthetic: Cast Iron

Before I talk about the opposite of my project’s aesthetic, I have to reestablish the actual aesthetic as it has changed slightly since the first post. The aesthetic I am now going for is of light, aluminum, outdoors gear. For example, my aluminum spoon would work well with this carabiner below (image from US rigging). The clean lines and bright silver finish will be seen in my final spoon.

This aesthetic is modern, light, airy, and bright. An example of an opposite aesthetic would be of old cast iron tools and objects, for instance a 1900’s cast iron skillet (image below from Women’s Outdoor News). These cast iron objects are heavy, dark in color, and are not very portable. Cast iron is made by pouring molten iron into a mold. It often not machined or finished in a clean way. It is very brittle and doesn’t deform easily. My spoon will be the opposite of these traits. Being made of aluminum, it will be very light, fairly ductile, and the finger loop at the end of the handle allows it to be easily clipped to a carabiner on a bag or belt.

If I were to try to acheive this aessthetic, I would make a foam model of a spoon with a similar handle to the one above. I would keep all the curves very smooth and make it very antique looking. This would also be very cool, but it would not have the functionality that I am going for. I think my current design is much better suited for camping due to all of the reasons I detailed above.