Wood Bowls With a Midas Touch (2011/12/16)
   Good design results in an everyday utensil that can go from kitchen to dinner table without raising its pinky and that even deserves gift-wrapping for a cook. This sleek, shiny stainless-steel slotted spoon with an extra deep bowl can lift pieces of meat, chunks of fish and mussels in their shells from a casserole or serving dish. It can also dredge up macerated fruit from a bowl of wintry glogg and transport it neatly into punch cups. A ladle will take care of the liquid.
   After learning a technique known as water gilding from a master gilder in Hamburg, Germany, Michou Osterwald applied it to some surprising objects: hand-carved African wood bowls. “Instead of always making predictable French mirrors and stuff where gilding is expected, I decided to try this out,” said Ms. Osterwald, a South African artist and designer who also runs a Cape Town cabinetmaking shop. “It takes something that is reserved for a formal context and applies it to something that’s quite raw and unrefined.”
   To create the pieces, Ms. Osterwald collects bowls made by artisans across Africa from woods like jacaranda, wild olive and Zimbabwean teak, and then adds gold or silver leaf in her workshop to give them a rich, reflective finish.
   What style are you considering? There’s this American look which I think comes out of this factory-barn idea. The materials that are used are the kinds I find very appealing. I love cement. I love wood. I love shingle. I love casement windows. I’m now in love with shake roofs. I’m interested in roofs because they’re the most undervalued yet beautiful part of a home.
   Sichuan Jucheng Science & Technology Developing Co. Ltd is a professional bamboo dinnerware and bamboo tableware manufacturer based in China. We are specialized in producing environmental friendly bamboo dinnerware and bamboo tableware of unique design in 4 series, that is bamboo plates and bamboo dishes: 7', 8', 9',10', 11', 12', 13' bamboo plates,four-sided plate, hexagonal plate, octagonal plate; bamboo tray: 7' ,9',11' square foodtray, rectangular plate; oval plate; bamboo flatware and bamboo cutlery: bamboo knife, fork, spoon, bamboo spork, birch wood knife, fork and spoon; and others: dip and saucer, bowl, lunch box, cup,noodle barrel, hand tool and hangtag of superior quality.