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found/Founded’s Rice Maker Serves up a Small Portion of Bold Design

05.11.23 | By
found/Founded’s Rice Maker Serves up a Small Portion of Bold Design

In many households around the globe the rice cooker holds perpetual court within the kitchen, always ready to prepare a couple cups of rice for a meal (or keeping leftovers warm from the night prior). But even our own small sized unit designed for a modest 2 to 3 cups capacity requires a considerable amount of counter space. The appliance’s appearance while contemporary, is also a tad gaudy, embellished with attention seeking illuminated controls and shiny metal detailing – par for the course within the category. Even the brand most often associated with modern minimalism in the domestic context features more buttons than most people will ever need or use. The Bowld Mini Rice Cooker by Korean design firm found/Founded by comparison is intentionally sparse in detail and options, a thoughtfully pared design extolling the virtues of “less as more.”

Bowld rice maker set upon cotton cloth with small pile of uncooked rice, bowl of cooked rice in traditional Korean brass rice bowl, and black rice serving paddle to the left.

found/Founded’s small rice cooker is realized in opaque thermoplastic and amorphous polymer (aka ABS plastic), a gently tapered bowl shaped more closely like traditional stone vessels once used to cook rice rather than the squat and elongated shapes now associated with top electric models.

Overhead views of various design explorations of the rice maker's paddle and top lid designs.

Four of found/Founded's early 3D printed prototype models shown set upon three sheets of concept sketches.

Overhead view of Bowld rice cooker with person's hand turning the rounded stone dial lid lock.

Bowld’s most conspicuous detail is its upper dial handle. Resembling a polished river stone, its smooth finish tempts eyes and hands toward the black dial. Give it a twist and it locks the rice cooker’s lid and forms a seal. Closed, the dial also regulates and directs steam output from the inner cooking pot safely toward the back while cooking.

Front view of Bowld rice maker with two white ceramic rice bowls to its right in partial view.

The rice cooker’s simplicity is further underlined by its lone control button, thankfully uncomplicated by the icon-drawn hieroglyphics normally plastered or illuminated across many rice makers.

Front and back views of Bowld rice cooker, revealing its power cord storage.

Bowld’s power cord can be looped to shorten its length or hide it completely from view.

Unfortunately for minimalist design aficionados Bowld is currently only a concept, one of numerous case studies showcasing found/Founded’s wide range of design solutions showcased across the Seoul-based design studio’s website.

Gregory Han is a Senior Editor at Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, hiking, tide pools, and road trips, a selection of his adventures and musings can be found at gregoryhan.com.