The Tiffin: An Untapped Market?

A recent trip to World Market tipped me off to one of the most ingenious inventions ever - the tiffin tin. I am hooked. They are so pretty!! And smart! They originated in India, used by wives to pack a fresh lunch for their husbands. They might include things like rice, dal, curry, and/or vegetables, things that are best kept separate. Thus, the stacking containers. Brilliant.


Well, as difficult as it is to resist shiny objects, I'm not sure about buying this one. The problem with the tiffin tin is that it's metal - not microwavable. If I were to use this to bring food to work, a microwave would really be only heating option (as much as I would rather not submit my food to radiation).

Yes, there are plastic options out there - more on the tiered bento side. In fact, I'm kind of digging this babushka one that's shown below. But most of what's available is specifically kid-geared. Thus, the "untapped market." The well-designed, adult-geared, microwaveable tiffin/tiered bento box. I'm thinking there should be a "Threadless" for the tiffin/tiered bento box. Yeah? I feel like this is probably an amazing idea. Not just because it's almost 3 in the morning, because it is.


[found at sugarcharms.com]

Even if this Bento Threadless I dream of never pans out, I would just LOVE to see some of my favorite illustrators tackle the tiffin/tiered bento. Aesthetic Apparatus? Eight Hour Day? Diana Sudyka? Jason Munn? Dirk Fowler? Anyone care to take this on?

No? I may just have to put that on my list of things to do.

GOOD Doodle: A Day Without Technology

So I recently decided to try my hand in a doodle contest on the GOOD website. They had a very interesting prompt that I couldn't pass up, and I'm always looking for a good creative outlet. Well, I didn't get first place, but I am second on the slide show! I'm guessing that means runner up? Yeah, that's what we're going to go with. (see the winners here)


The prompt was, "A Day Without Technology." There are so many ways you could go with this - so many useful items are getting lost in the hubbub, there's too much nostalgia. I decided to stick with one idea, keep it simple.

I love going to antique/thrift stores, and one of the most interesting things to look through is Encyclopdia sets. What we "knew" about things back then, the illustrations/images. The nostalgia of needing to look something up for a school project, going into the garage and standing on my tip-toes to find the Sn-Sz book. The way that we find information has changed so drastically.

I also think of the Friends episode where Joey buys one encyclopedia from a traveling salesman, and learns all about things starting with...W? Friends wasn't that long ago.

Did anyone else repeatedly vow to read through the entire encyclopedia set, but only ever get through the first few entries of "A"?

Anyway, this is my day without technology. No more "Googling it." A day of questions without having the answers at your fingertips. A day of laboring to find what you need. Of really learning something (maybe).

This prompt really got me thinking. I might continue with a series of illustrations. We'll see what happens.