If you have a hankering for designer kitchen ware, the Miniature Hot Bertaa Kettle lets you bring Philippe Starck into your kitchen on the cheap.
Thursday Bram
Thursday Bram is a freelance journalist of over five years experience. She has worked in real estate and property management, learning the hard way the difference between the appliances that people like and the appliances that actually work in a home. Thursday currently lives in Maryland.
Philippe Starck designed the original Hot Bertaa Kettle for Alessi in 1989: the company's CEO, Alberto Alessi, considers it his favorite design fiasco. Alessi pulled the kettle from the market in 1997 because of its complex valve system--turning those still available into collectors items overnight. But this year, Alessi had Starck reinterpret his design in miniature. The result is the . This kettle is a 1:3 scale model of the original and is part of a line of iconic designs from the past 60 years that Alessi has re-released, including work from Carlo Alessi, Michael Graves and Frank Gehry.
The Miniature Hot Bertaa Kettle is made from chrome-plated zamak and has a thermoplastic resin handle--the same materials used in Starck's original design. It's only 4.25 inches wide and 3.25 inches high. The kettle is available for $30, allowing anyone to have an authentic piece of modern design in their kitchen without worrying about space considerations. I wouldn't recommend relying on the Miniature Hot Bertaa Kettle for water, though. The size combined with its complex valve system makes this kettle more of a display piece than a useful piece of kitchenware.
