geLOE is a minimal and convenient knife for aloe vera gel extraction

industrial designer keren golan created geLOE, an aloe vera gel extraction knife intended for amateur use. the designer discovered that there are only a few designed tools for this purpose, most of which are improvised kitchenware, so she decided to create her own.

all images courtesy of keren golan

the project by keren golan started with comprehensive research in the field of DIY cosmetics making at home. the industry of aloe vera farms and more specifically the tools used for gel extraction are the designer’s main source of interest. she started researching domestic tools of extracting, mostly improvised kitchenware to the biggest factories of aloe vera farms in south america. over there the most common tool of extracting is a machete knife.

the designer started the process off by analyzing the act of extracting by trying it herself by using impromptu tools and later on with models she built. she also visited a local israeli farm and a factory of aloe vera products in an attempt to learn from the experts. the process involved developing a tool in parallel to a method of work. karen kept the method simple and intuitive by thinking about the right shape for the action. eventually, the process was reduced to 3 main actions – cutting off the edges, penetrating the ‘flash’, and detaching the gel out of the leaf by applying circular movement.

project info:

name: geLOE

designer: keren golan

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.