Essentiel de pâtisserie - design Matali Crasset and Pierre Hermé

The designer and the pastry chef

The friendship between the designer and the pastry chef goes back a long way. They have knowen and admired each other for many years and have shared a mutual passion for objects, design and gluttony.

From utensil to essential

To understand the main and principal uses of pastry chef at work in Pierre Hermé's atelier. She dtudied this cosmos in minute detail, noting how everything, including gestures, proportions and deadlines, is precise and rigorous, while utensil are rational and extremely straightforward. "I decided to define a clear use scenario for each instrument - explains matali - with the aim of maintaining the simplicity I had observed in the pâtisserieutensils. I therefore designed objects that are at once professional and generous, by which I mean thatthey are also accessible even to non specialists".

Three utensils and a cake plate

The "essentiel pâtisserie" collection consists of three indispensable instruments for the pastry chef's "panoply" - the Cul-de-poule mixing bowl, the Whisk and the Spatula-and a Plate for serving cake.

The cake plate

"This plate is a pedestal - explains matali - As a matter of fact it is there to put the spotlight on the cake, to show off the high quality pastries, and in this sense is an invitation to become a gourmet. The idea came to me white I was pondering concentrinc circles in pastry making. In this case, too the range of colours has been developed precisely to radiate a harmony that is both lively and stimulating"

The Cul-de-poule mixing bowl

The Cul-de-poule is a semi-sphercal stainless steel container that comprises an amusing round bumè which allows you to mix the ingredients in small quantities at first, in particular at the beginning of a recipe, hence before increasing the proportions to be mixed in the main container. Says matali "I love the image of the pastry chef embracing the utensil with a gesture that is both fluid and crnal. In contact with the non-slip silicone, the movement is more distinct and effortkess and you can use the bump as though it were a handle".

The Whisk

This utensil combines two elements: a Whisk with elastic wires and a corolla equipped with rigid wires wrapped in silicone. In the flexible version, i.e. without the corolla, it can be employed for light operations, such as beating egg whites. With the corolla, on the other hand the utensil becomes more rigid and can be used for thicker blends such as creams and pastes. Says matali "Bestowing two distinct uses on the same instruments is a way of simplifying and rationalising the work of the pastry chef. I have combined the archetypal form of the whisk with a corolla of vegetal inspiration".

The spatula

The spatula is the upshot of the fusion of a plastic spoon and a silicone blade. It therefore has two functions: the rigid part serves to mix the ingredients at the beginning, while the soft part allows you to finish a mixture and scrape the container empty. Says matali:...For this particular item the idea was to mingle a spatula with a spoon, hence to bring about mutation rather than evolution".