The Case for the Nesting Bowl

Introducing an elegant bowl set for popcorn, fruit, mashed potatoes, chips, dip and on and on...

The Nesting Bowl set was a design collaboration between TBA founder Nick Moen and resident designer Adrienne Eliades.

They wanted to create a set of bowls that were ideal for entertaining and aesthetically pleasing to have around when not in use. The result was a three-bowl set offering a wide range of uses: The largest bowl is perfect for popcorn, salads, or a landing pad for a fresh bag of lemons. The smallest is great for dips and snacks, and the medium fits everything in between. All three combined will contribute to your daily life in countless ways.

Have a look at THE NESTING BOWL SET

Over recent years, we’ve witnessed a handmade renaissance. Why is that? In a heavily consumer world, perhaps people are ready to fill their lives with goods that bear some identity. The handmade movement allows us to curate meaningful items into our lives, rather than collecting more and more disposable clutter. Goods that are crafted by someone who has found purpose in their own lives through what they make, make purposeful items to others. When we think about the handmade movement, we think of quality, function, and style without compromise. Our new Nesting Bowl set is all of that.

The functionality of the bowls were prioritized in the design concept from the very beginning. Starting with the smallest size, Nick and Adrienne found the perfect shape and volume, and then built the two larger bowls using that golden ratio.

Nick recalls,

“Once we decided on the volume for the bowls and their specific purposes, we stuck to our aesthetic of non-round forms with sleek, faceted plains. We offset the lip to give the bowls some visual interest as a set and scaled them so that you could fit your hands in between each bowl to easily stack and unstack them.” 

The end result: three bowls that stack together in a subtly spiraling elegance.

The design process began with a cardboard form that allowed Nick and Adrienne to determine the volume of each bowl based on the foot and lip - essentially a 3D sketch. With this sketch, they were able to create a 3D-printed plastic prototype that brought their design to life for the first time.  

The plastic prototype was then molded in plaster and kept in the studio. Plaster is used for its absorbent quality, so the team at The Bright Angle can use the molds to make multiples of the new form in a process known as “slip casting.” This is done by pouring liquid porcelain (aka “slip”) into the plaster molds. The plaster immediately begins to pull moisture out of the slip, leaving a solid porcelain shell. Since the slip only hardens next to the plaster, the slip in the middle can be poured out, leaving the hardened form sitting inside the mold and viola! A brand new nesting bowl is born and ready to be glazed and fired. 

The nesting bowl set is the perfect gift for friends, family, newlyweds, or new homeowners. It caters to those who appreciate organization and functionality, just as much as they care for design and quality. We are excited to share this product with you as a new kitchen and dining staple.  

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