Core77

Today's role of materials in design is not merely that of passive means fulfilling the technical requirements - materials also create form and expression. These ceramic sharpeners, awarded with this year's iF material award, demonstrate how embracing new material qualities opens doors to new design aesthetics. Design and manufacturing has been realized in a cooperation between the Ceramics group of the University Bremen and the University Of The Arts, Bremen.

"The shape of the sharpener provides two guides where two pins of different size can be introduced from opposite sides to be sharpened by rotating. Extremly hard technical ceramic (Al203) is the material for the body and the cutting edges of the sharpener: easy to clean, resistant against wear and corrosion, light and smooth. The fabrication line applies a new process called freeze gelation allowing to form green (unfired) ceramic bodies with their final shape by direct consolidation of ceramic powders. After sintering at 1400°C a final diamond grinding step provides the sharp cutting edges of the sharpener."