God bless 3D printers and all the creativity they’ve unleashed on this world. I can’t tell you how much of my Instagram feed is just these quirky, gorgeous products created by builders who can now rapidly prototype their ideas. Colby Geary comes to mind, with his creative endeavors garnering a cool million followers on Instagram. Another creator working his magic on IG is Gazzaladra, who uses a combination of design as well as 3D photogrammetric scanning to build nature-inspired devices like mushroom lampshades and the like.
This particular one isn’t the result of a 3D scan, but it captures Gazzaladra’s creativity perfectly, as he looks at objects around him for inspiration for everyday products. Designed to look like a thick slice of watermelon, this knife block holds as well as dries your knives in the coolest way possible. The slice comes with four slots to chuck thick knives as well as your honing rod in, but for smaller knives, they just mount magnetically on the side, thanks to tiny magnets hidden behind the watermelon’s seeds! It’s so poetic, I honestly want to see Gazzaladra turn this into a real series!
Designer: Gazzaladra
Most knife blocks are just wooden afterthoughts, designed with a bunch of slots that you chuck your knives into. Some of them, like the IKEA ones, have just a little more character, with their transparent outer shell and the reeds inside that let you drip-dry your knives post-wash. Gazzaladra’s knife block gives you that same ease-of-use, but in a design that’s filled with character and beauty. The watermelon is detailed, from the dual-color peel right down to the white rind and the red flesh, dotted with teardrop-shaped seeds.
The block’s four slots are for either chunky knives like the thick chef knife or your large bread knife, as well as for peelers, honing rods, etc. Gazzaladra fills the inside with stone chips that give the block weight, while also allowing the water to drip dry naturally without creating a puddle inside the block or on your countertop. This, obviously, gets added later, after printing.
The magic, however, is in the magnetic knife rack on the side. The print file comes with hidden slots to mount magnets into, as well as parts that conceal the magnets so you’re left with illusion and mystery. The rind holds a few magnets, as does the flesh. Smaller pieces (like the seeds) then go on top of the magnets, hiding them from plain sight. The result is magnetic adherence without any obviously visible magnets. The block holds up to 5 knives per side, although I’d probably just keep the one side magnetic so that the other side can show off the watermelon’s design without getting obscured by knives. Besides, anyone who has more than 10 knives in their kitchen might need to re-evaluate their life choices.
The beauty of this Watermelon Knife Block is that you can make it yourself instead of buying it. For as little as $9 a month, you can become a member of Gazzaladra’s Thangs3D page, where you get access to all his 3D printed designs. You can then print as many products as you want (and as many times as you want too). If your knife block gets damaged, just re-print the parts you need, and if your friends come over and rave about your gorgeous kitchen accessory, go ahead and print one for them too!
