![Juicy Salif - 78365](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Juicy_Salif_-_78365.jpg)
Juicy Salif, a
citrus reamer designed by
Philippe Starck
Philippe Starck (; born 18 January 1949) is a French industrial architect and designer known for his wide range of designs, including interior design, architecture, household objects, furniture, boats and other vehicles.
Life
Starck was born on ...
in 1990, is considered an icon of
industrial design
Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advan ...
, and has been displayed in the permanent collections of the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
and the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
in New York City, as well as the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
in London.
It has also received this distinction at the
RISD Museum
The Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD Museum) is an art museum integrated with the Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence, Rhode Island, US. The museum was co-founded with the school in 1877, and still shares multiple build ...
and the
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...
.
Description
Made of cast and polished aluminum by the Italian kitchenware company
Alessi, the tool measures in diameter, and high.
But the device is not easy to use, and its polished aluminum finish is vulnerable to
corrosion
Corrosion is a natural process that converts a refined metal into a more chemically stable oxide. It is the gradual deterioration of materials (usually a metal) by chemical or electrochemical reaction with their environment. Corrosion engine ...
and producing an unpleasant taste, as conceded in its official instructions.
The kitchen tool is not dishwasher-safe, and must be washed by hand, while taking care to avoid injury from its sharp point.
History
![Juicy Salif mould](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Juicy_Salif_mould.jpg)
The sleek, exotic-looking shape was inspired by a
calamari
Squid is eaten in many cuisines; in English, the culinary name calamari is often used for squid dishes.''Oxford English Dictionary'', 3rd edition, 2002''s.v.''/ref> There are many ways to prepare and cook squid. Fried squid is common in the Me ...
squid; the original drawings were sketched on a pizza-stained paper placemat.
The founder of the manufacturer, Alberto Alessi, later recalled:
I received a napkin from Starck, on it among some incomprehensible marks (tomato sauce, in all likelihood) there were some sketches. Sketches of squid. They started on the left, and as they worked their way over to the right, they took on the unmistakable shape of what was to become the juicy salif. While eating a dish of squid and squeezing a lemon over it, Starck drew on the napkin his famous lemon squeezer.
Alberto Alessi, in a recorded video interview posted on ''
Dezeen
''Dezeen'' is an online architecture, interiors and design magazine based in London, with offices in Hoxton and also previously in New York City.
History
''Dezeen'' was launched in London by Marcus Fairs at the end of November 2006. Its New Yo ...
'', said "I am very happy with this project because I consider it a big joke to everybody.
..It is the most controversial squeezer of the century I must say, but one of the most amusing projects I have done in my career."
He regarded it as one of the company's most successful products.
Sales
For the tenth anniversary of its launch, 10,000 Juicy Salifs were issued, individually numbered and gold-plated. But this luxury version came with instructions warning that the juicer should never be used with actual fruit, because the finish would corrode.
There has also been a grey/black (
anthracite
Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the hig ...
) coloured version, of which 47,000 un-numbered examples were produced between 1991 and 2004.
[Alessi Company Archive] Both now are collectors' items, though an
urban legend
An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...
perpetuates the idea that the anthracite version is rarer than the gold-plated one.
By 2003, a total of more than 500,000 of the iconic design artifacts had been sold.
Critical reception
Starck has publicly stated that his citrus reamer was "not meant to squeeze lemons" but "to start conversations".
An image of the Juicy Salif was featured on the front cover of
Donald Norman's book ''
Emotional Design''.
The gold-plated version was described as an "ornament" because
citric acid
Citric acid is an organic compound with the chemical formula HOC(CO2H)(CH2CO2H)2. It is a colorless weak organic acid. It occurs naturally in citrus fruits. In biochemistry, it is an intermediate in the citric acid cycle, which occurs in t ...
from fruit would discolor and erode the gold plating.
An article in the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' about bad design included the Juicy Salif among other examples, and proposed that the original "chamber of horrors" at the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
be revived, to showcase modern examples.
References
{{reflist
External links
Juicy Salif Centre Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
, Paris
Juicy Salif Alessi
Industrial design
Food preparation utensils