Dr Crunch 

Quite possibly, the worlds first, ever, macadamia nut cracker made from macadamia Nut tree wood. As part of a local design initiative, design collaboration 'QUENCH', consisting of 6 Brisbane based designers David Shaw, Jason Bird, Bjorn Rust, Surya Graf, Alex Loterzstain and myself, set out to create six designs using harvested macadamia Tree wood. Macadamia wood is a rainforest hardwood, related to the Grevillia family, it exhibits medullary rays similar to those that distinctively appear in species like Silky Oak. We worked with its qualities to explore the wood as a boutique resource. Our ideas were exhibited at Tokyo Design week, and Artisan in Brisbane, the nut cracker was also shown at Workshopped16 in Sydney. 

I chose to explore the woods decorative qualities by creating a form turned on a lathe, while utilising its mechanical qualities as a hardwood to create possibly the world first macadamia nut cracker made from its own source of wood.

The nut cracker works by resting a macadamia nut in the cup, and striking the two halves of the wood together, one piece in each hand. The energy created by the inertia of one half, is transferred to the nut and into the second half, creating enough energy to crack the macadamia without causing shock to the hands. 

Designed 2016