REDEFINING THE MODERN TABLE!
Cookplay is a new-coming basque editor created by the designed Ana Roquero to redefine the modern table offering a more creative and fresh tableware by being closer to the sensibility of the new food culture.
Everything started winning a Red Dot Design Award for the design of a shell-like looking plate ergonomic in the hand and now Cookplay is known as the tableware brand of cutting-edge design, presented in more than 60 countries and achieving numerous worldwide awards in different areas such as design, business and hospitality.
Since 2014, Cookplay has looked toward a future of new habits and meals with a deeper awareness of our environment. With this in mind,
Cookplays’ porcelain products are designed to last and are made with biodegradable materials.
Our lifestyle editor, José Berrocoso, chats with Ana Roquero about her role leading Cookplay, the future of the industry and much more.
“I think I am more like a minimalist person, I like things that are quiet, pure and graphic but sensual and organic at the same time. I like to push a little bit the boundary, both in life and work, and that´s what identifies me”
Ana Roquero, CEO & Designer of Cookplay
CityPages Magazine: Your work has caught quite a lot of attention off and online. Could you tell us more about your story and how you got to the place where you are now?
Ana Roquero: My intention in creating Cookplay was to break the limits of the traditional table by proposing collections of utensils that challenged the established through a very relevant design, a good quality and a very powerful communication that will intensify the perceived value of our brand. Our success is the success of the image we have transmitted of innovation, freshness and good work. Values that are the authentic value of our product and so we have come to places that sought our values of change and regeneration at the table.
CPM: What lead you into working with ceramics? Are you self-taught or have you learned it from someone else?
AR: I am not a ceramist; I am an industrial designer and my goal as a professional is practice of the design. As the new habits are intuited, the use of the most suitable materials and ecological, the industrialization of a serial product so that it can reach the market to a reasonable price. I work with pencil, paper, computers and 3D printers.
CPM: How would you define the style of your work and how did it develop?
AR: I think I,m more like a minimalist person, I like things that are quiet, pure and graphic but sensual and powerful, and a little bit pushing the boundaries , both in live and work.
CPM: Which materials fascinate you the most except for clay? Are there any that you have not worked with but would like to try out?
AR: Materials and their finishes are one of the basic tools of a designer. The ones that fascinate me the most are the most natural in their genuine texture and color, the matte stones and the untreated woods, so in my porcelain collections I have used the biscuit, without enameling, to be able to appreciate its texture and touch in a more sensual way. The most ecological material in my disposable tableware is the sugar cane pulp, totally biodegradable and with a fabulous surface appearance both for eating and for touch. I am convinced that in the coming years we will see new bios materials that will give us new perspectives for new uses in the world of household goods.
CPM: What is the most important aspect for you when you are designing a plate?
AR: Each collection corresponds to a specific function that I defined previously and that responds to a new need in the kitchenware, for example, how to eat standing catering, or how to eat sharing at a table, or how to shape the dishes of essential meals or the small formats of fusion food… in the last collections the functions are more emotional and I have been carried away by shaping the feelings “form follows feelings”. In all of them I always like to study how we relate to objects, how we take, serve and eat with them, I really like to analyze the emotional connections that are around a table and the new proposals to set a table breaking the established.
CPM: How do you put together a collection and what influences you?
AR: The different pieces of the collection are part of the set of creative drawings, each volume corresponds to a more or less deep dish, more or less large, they are still part of the free exercise of that most creative part. At a more advanced stage, I take into account the capacity of each piece and if it fulfills its function according to the range, but until this point I like to break the established and I always propose bold formats that also help you to be more creative in your recipes, for example, the Jomon collection with the concave bowl that does not have any straight plane to lean on the table creating a dynamic on the table that helps to share.
CPM: You’ve collaborated with so many great chefs worldwide. What is it about this process that you enjoy?
AR: Indeed, many great chefs have liked my collections, they find in my pieces the ideal volume for the creations of their dishes, it coincides that they see in them the place to plate their creations. I don’t design my collections for any of them in particular, but they end up finding in them that emotion they want to express in their meals. We both seek the same result, innovate and offer sensitivity at the table.
CPM: How would you describe the creative scene in terms of sustainability and how does it impact your own work? Let us know about your recently launched Chikio Collection.
AR: From the beginning of Cookplay my great goal was to work with sustainable materials, porcelain is the ideal material for gastronomic collections because it is the most durable and sugarcane pulp is the most suitable 100% biodegradable material for disposable utensils, which day by day is becoming a majority trend, not only in catering, but in Delivery and Takeaway and community food, where we have to stop using plastic and replace it with ecological materials. Our Chikio collections also offer a refined and innovative design in sugar cane to raise the level of image and quality when eating in disposable pieces.
CPM: You have achieved wonderful international awards including Red Dot Design Award for Jomon Collection in 2014, Best in the Show at Maison & Objet Paris and Finalist ELLE Decor Internation Design Award in 2015, Best in The Show in Las Vegas Market Fair in 2017… Do you have a dream project that you would love to realize someday?
AR: Indeed we have had awards for design, the hospitality sector and the company that make me and my team feel very proud, also the commercial successes such as being in The Peninsula of Hong Kong, the Burj el Arab in Dubai, Guggenheim in Bilbao, Selfridges in London, La Rinascente in Milan, BHV Marais in Paris, … they have been very important in our trajectory and we consider them vital to grow. Personally I would like, as a designer, to have a piece in the Design Store of MoMA in New York.
CPM: How do you see the culinary scene in the Middle East? Are your products available in the GCC?
AR: Since our beginnings in 2014 our products have seduced numerous gastronomic concepts such as Burj Al Arab Jumeirah, Emirates Palace (Abu Dhabi), W Hotel The Palm, Vida Hills Hotel Dubai, FIFA World Cup Qatar and in Kuwait we work with chefs such as Ahmad Al Bader, Adlah Alsharahn, Khaled Al Baker, Ahmad AlZamel and shops for example.
