Juice up a frenzy on Pancake Day with mysqueeze

It’s Shrove Tuesday (also known as Pancake Day) and it’s the day many of us traditionally eat pancakes before the start of Lent. Like our homes, pancakes need a bit of embellishment, and what goes better with a pancake than freshly squeezed lemon juice and a sprinkle of sugar? In my books, nothing, and using the mysqueeze citrus juicer by Roland Kreiter makes squeezing your lemon a super stylish experience.

The mysqueeze is an exciting collaboration between mydeco.com and the Italian manufacturer Alessi. It features a unique and stylish ‘twisted elipse’ design that emulates the shape of a lemon.

When Roland Kreiter won the Pure Creativity competition, run by mydeco.com in 2009, with his design for a juicer that could be manufactured using 3D rapid-prototyping, judge Philippe Starck immediately saw the design’s potential.

From left to right: Roland Kreiter and Philippe Starck

Starck, best known for his iconic Juicy Salif citrus squeezer, was particularly struck by Kreiter’s innovative and stylish design.

Not only did Starck give Kreiter a prestigious internship working at his Paris studio, he also picked up the phone to Alberto Alessi and told him he’d found his next iconic juicer.

Describing the moment his friend Philippe Starck contacted him about the mysqueeze, Alberto Alessi recalls: ‘He wanted to tell me that, as a juror in a competition held by mydeco.com, he had awarded a project by a young German designer, Roland Kreiter, which he thought deserved to be produced. This seemed to me like a worthy tribute to Juicy Salif (1990), the most controversial citrus squeezer of the twentieth century.’

To celebrate the launch of the mysqueeze citrus squeezer, mydeco.com searched for filmmakers to create a short film showcasing the product that Kreiter created.

The four winners of this competition won the opportunity to make their film and have it shown on mydeco.com. From narrative films inspired by American Psycho to conceptual films focusing on the shape, the filmmakers challenge our perception of what the mysqueeze is and makes it a desirable object.

This slightly sinister but intelligent offering, written and directed by Mark Tintner, is my favourite:

Discussing his first mass-produced design, Roland Kreiter said: ‘I was just finishing up school and starting to think about the ‘business’ side of being a designer when I entered the competition. Everything has moved so quickly since. To create something that is being compared to Starck’s Juicy Salif, and for it to not only lead to my dream job but also reignite the collaboration between Starck and Alessi has been remarkable.’

To get to know a bit more about the mysqueeze, I spoke to Kreiter about his stylish citrus juicer:

The mysqueeze is a clever and elegant design. What inspired its conception?

‘My design philosophy is to create new things, real material, easy to understand – less is more! I try to reinvent rather than to make things better. It’s always about the idea. An idea is nothing, more or less, than the solution for a problem. I try to solve problems which do not exist. In each case the result will be a new thing that we have never seen before. The design of mysqueeze is form following function.’

Can you recall the moment you found out your design had been picked by Starck as the winner of the mydeco.com competition? How did you feel?

‘In that first moment I could not believe it; a dream come true to meet my favourite designer in person, Philippe Starck.’

If you had to describe the mysqueeze in just three words, what would they be?

‘Art with function.’

What do you look for in good design?

‘The idea behind the product, between the design process and the realisation. Very often a huge amount of the idea gets lost so I am glad that Alessi was able to realise my drawing exactly as I wanted it.’

And other than lemon juice, what would be your ideal pancake filling on Pancake Day?

‘I would fill my pancake with more pancake…’

The mysqueeze is available through mydeco.com.