Jasper Morrison portable barbecue references Portuguese pots

(Image credit: Jasper Morrison Studio)

Jasper Morrison has launched a portable barbecue, inspired by Portuguese terracotta pots and available exclusively at his London shop on Kingsland road.

A contemporary portable barbecue

The small barbecue (only 316mm in diameter) is made of galvanised steel that has been rolled, swaged and spot welded, and is equipped with a purpose-made grille. It is handmade in a small run in a workshop in Portugal, in collaboration with designer Nuno Viola.

Portuguese clay pot — The inspiration behind Jasper Morrison's portable barbecue

The starting point for the portable barbecue design was a Portuguese terracotta barbecue featured in Morrison’s book The Hard Life, a collection of photographs of mundane objects from Portuguese rural tradition, first shown at the National Museum of Ethnology, Lisbon. ‘We like the idea that some of these old product masterpieces can be brought back to life and sold at the Jasper Morrison Shop,’ says Morrison. ‘When we couldn’t find any to buy with the requisite charm, we set about finding a Portuguese potter who could make one.’

The process, however, took Morrison and his team on a two-year exploration of the design; when a series of experiments with clay didn’t yield the expected results, they decided to try a tin version, adapting the terracotta original in metal. ‘We found a Portuguese tinsmith to work with. We sent him a drawing and we received back a barbecue that looked right, cooked well and stayed intact. The tin version has a lot of character, albeit a very different character to the terracotta original which inspired it, but it’s pleasing that it works just as well as the terracotta one without falling to pieces.’

Tin Barbecue, £120, currently available exclusively in-store at the Jasper Morrison Shop, 24b Kingsland Road, London E2 8DA

@jaspermorrisonshop

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Rosa Bertoli was born in Udine, Italy, and now lives in London. Since 2014, she has been the Design Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees design content for the print and online editions, as well as special editorial projects. Through her role at Wallpaper*, she has written extensively about all areas of design. Rosa has been speaker and moderator for various design talks and conferences including London Craft Week, Maison & Objet, The Italian Cultural Institute (London), Clippings, Zaha Hadid Design, Kartell and Frieze Art Fair. Rosa has been on judging panels for the Chart Architecture Award, the Dutch Design Awards and the DesignGuild Marks. She has written for numerous English and Italian language publications, and worked as a content and communication consultant for fashion and design brands.