Design: NEX GEN Shaker Set
Materials: Concrete, Cork, Silicone, FDA Approved Sealer
Pitch: "While Culinarium is not yet two years old, I have been working for over a decade to perfect the concrete formula that composes our products. We always endeavor to create products that are elegantly simple and without gratuity, but the impetus for submitting the NEX GEN Shaker Set is the innovative functionality of our newest creation."
"Indeed, it has taken many prototypes as well as countless hours of testing and tweaking before we were satisfied with this version. Crafted to provide a lifetime of satisfaction, our concrete shaker set allows one to adjust the dispersion of salt & pepper. An added benefit of their composition is that they are just porous enough to discourage caking. The recycled concrete is a beautiful and tactile medium, but it also serves a real function. Granted, this is only a shaker set, but we would humbly submit that our design elevates what is typically a prosaic item into a set of small vessels that subtly, yet aptly communicate the great care and effort that was applied to their very creation."
DESIGNER INFO
Designer: Jordan Castro
Link: Culinarium
Location: Newburyport, Massachusetts
SHOWCASE INFO
• Main Info Post
• Submission Form (until Sep. 14)
• Follow on Twitter - #ATShowcase
• About Design Showcase 2012: Every September we celebrate the best new creations for the home. We're hosting a select number of independent designers, makers and creatives from around the world, giving them some precious real estate and watching them pitch their wares. Our panel of judges and editors along with our general body of readers will select a few exemplary exhibitors for special mention.
Apartment Therapy's Sofa Shopping Guide
Nikki’s Sweet and Cheery Print Studio
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Stanley Console by ...
5 Things Paris Taught Me About Travel
Recipe: Ham, Cheddar & Chive Egg Bakes
I don't use twitter, but these are pretty nice.
Lovely. And the blurb, or whatever you call it, is also lovely writing.
A win!
wow, these are gorgeously simple.
Awfully serious talk for a simple salt-and-pepper set (something I consider useless anyway, since food is seasoned when prepared). Cement is an astoundingly non-green substance, involving open-pit mining of limestone, highly polluting and energy hungry treatment in a kiln, transport by truck, mixture with sand or aggregate (that is also mined) to make concrete. Then to have the shakers read "concrete"? That's redundant.
Someone needs to tell ^ to take a chill pill. I like the idea of rotating the cap to adjust the amount of salt/pepper dispensed. It's the type of thing that has to be experienced to be appreciated.
I felt compelled to thank everyone for their kind words and constructive criticism. Particularly, I did want to address the one negative comment that we have has so far (I hope the only negative comment!). I typically would not post a response in this venue considering we are the feature, however I think that some clarification is in order.
With that being said, I do agree with "rueful" that I take our products seriously. It might be only a salt and pepper shaker set, but when we design something at Culinarium, we want to do the very best job that we can. I think this is why we are so fortunate to have such great customers (to whom we are forever grateful) and why we are having such a great reception in the marketplace this year. We really care about all of the products that we design and produce, even a little salt and pepper shaker!
Also, I wanted to address the indictment that our products are "astoundingly non-green" While it is true that the action of producing cement does not exactly tread lightly on the earth, I want to mention that we only use approximately 10% cement in all of our products, the rest of the contents are composed of roughly 50% recycled stone dust (from the countertop industry) and sand aggregate.
Finally, we have embossed the word concrete on all of our salt and pepper shakers because we have had a lot of people ask what our wares are made of. The fact is that when I first started creating our first salt cellars, a lot of people thought our products were made of soapstone! If everyone were as brilliant and perceptive as 'rueful' then perhaps it would not have occurred to me to emboss each piece with the word concrete.
Thank you everyone in advance for your support!!
Jordan
www.culinarium.etsy.com
www.facebook.com/theculinarium
Please feel free to email us any questions you have in regards to our products.
I've seen these work, and I think they're an amazing product, and I love the simple, clean design-beautiful! I can really appreciate the craftsmanship that went into creating such a unique product. Aside from the functionality of them, I think they're a wonderful conversation piece.
Oh My Gosh... these are AH-Mazing! I haven't seen anything like it! What a great gift to give. Can't wait to see what comes next! So glad I discovered you. Definitely "sharing" :-) Ummmm who doesn't utilize S&P shakers during the holidays? Only a bad host would leave them out....
when I go to the museum of fine arts in boston,I just want to touch the art work.I want to feel the marble,try to imagine what the artist was thinking.... life is too short for ordinary . these pieces are works of art that you can hold and use every day. and they DO look like you will have them forever! gold is hallmarked.silver is hallmarked and so should these sculptures be hallmarked. (even though I am most certainly brilliant AND perceptive). bravo to the artist.
I love the design. It turns simple, borinf Salt & Pepper shakers into something fun to use, and conversation pieces!
I wish I could see these in person! Everything I buy, I put a lot of thought into it before I do, because I do not want a bunch of things that I will want to get rid of later, so I am so happy to see someone take salt and pepper shakers seriously. I feel that everything material that we own and manufacture should have more thought put into it like in previous generations of people. I am against disposable, and these shakers seem so simple and perfect! I'll have to look into getting a pair!