Juicy Salif

Juicy Salif, a citrus reamer designed by Philippe Starck in 1990, is considered an icon of industrial design, and has been displayed in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art[1] and the Metropolitan Museum of Art[2] in New York City, as well as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.[3] It has also received this distinction at the RISD Museum[4] and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.[5]

Philippe Starck's Juicy Salif citrus reamer (1990)

Description

Made of cast and polished aluminum by the Italian kitchenware company Alessi, the tool measures 14 centimetres (5.5 in) in diameter, and 29 cm (11 in) high.

But the device is not easy to use, and its polished aluminum finish is vulnerable to corrosion and producing an unpleasant taste, as conceded in its official instructions.[6] The kitchen tool is not dishwasher-safe, and must be washed by hand, while taking care to avoid injury from its sharp point.[6]

History
A Juicy Salif mould at the Design Museum in London

The sleek, exotic-looking shape was inspired by a calamari squid; the original drawings were sketched on a pizza-stained paper placemat.[7][6]

The founder of the manufacturer, Alberto Alessi, later recalled:

I received a napkin from Starck, on it among some incomprehensible marks (tomato sauce, in all likelihood) there were some sketches. Sketches of squid. They started on the left, and as they worked their way over to the right, they took on the unmistakable shape of what was to become the juicy salif. While eating a dish of squid and squeezing a lemon over it, Starck drew on the napkin his famous lemon squeezer.[8][9]

Alberto Alessi, in a recorded video interview posted on Dezeen, said "I am very happy with this project because I consider it a big joke to everybody. [...] It is the most controversial squeezer of the century I must say, but one of the most amusing projects I have done in my career."[7] He regarded it as one of the company's most successful products.[7]

Sales

For the tenth anniversary of its launch, 10,000 Juicy Salifs were issued, individually numbered and gold-plated. But this luxury version came with instructions warning that the juicer should never be used with actual fruit, because the finish would corrode.[10] There has also been a grey/black (anthracite) coloured version, of which 47,000 un-numbered examples were produced between 1991 and 2004.[11] Both now are collectors' items, though an urban legend perpetuates the idea that the anthracite version is rarer than the gold-plated one.

By 2003, a total of more than 500,000 of the iconic design artifacts had been sold.[10]

Critical reception

Starck has publicly stated that his citrus reamer was "not meant to squeeze lemons" but "to start conversations".[10]

An image of the Juicy Salif was featured on the front cover of Donald Norman's book Emotional Design.[12] The gold-plated version was described as an "ornament" because citric acid from fruit would discolor and erode the gold plating.[12]

An article in the Financial Times about bad design included the Juicy Salif among other examples, and proposed that the original "chamber of horrors" at the Victoria and Albert Museum be revived, to showcase modern examples.[13]

References
  1. "Philippe Starck. Juicy Salif Lemon Squeezer. 1988". MoMA. The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  2. ""Juicy Salif" Lemon Squeezer". The Met. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  3. "Juicy Salif | Starck, Philippe". Victoria and Albert Museum: Explore the Collections. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  4. "Juicy Salif". RISD Museum Collections. Rhode Island School of Design. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  5. "Juicy Salif Citrus Squeezer". Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  6. Orr, Christy (1 May 2019). "Philippe Starck's Juicy Salif lemon squeezer: Genius design or just a cool fruit squeezer?". DesignStudies1. Medium. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  7. Hobson, Benedict (9 July 2014). "Philippe Starck's Juicy Salif was "the most controversial lemon squeezer of the century"". Dezeen. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  8. "Starck Juicy Salif", hivemodern.com
  9. "'Juicy Salif' lemon squeezer by Philippe Starck for Alessi, 1990". Powerhouse Museum. 2000. Retrieved 27 November 2008.
  10. Chadha, Radha (22 November 2016). "The irrationality of pure design". Mint. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  11. Alessi Company Archive
  12. Norman, Donald Arthur (2005). Emotional Design. Basic Books. p. 114. ISBN 0-465-05136-7.
  13. Heathcote, Edwin (30 October 2015). "Design horrors: the bad, the ugly and the dysfunctional". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2022-12-11. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
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