meet TONY®, a clay-based refrigerator powered by evaporative cooling

TONY® by lea lorenz helps properly store fruits & vegetables

Signed by industrial designer Lea Lorenz, TONY® is a modern-day reimagining of the clay jug cooler method. Unlike its ancestral design, this portable refrigerator and food container is powered by evaporative cooling, all thanks to its porous raku clay shell. This material naturally absorbs water from a reservoir and, through evaporation, lowers the interior temperature to a range of 13°C-17°C without any electricity. ‘It creates an ideal storage environment for foods that, on the one hand, a fridge is too cold for and that, on the other hand, spoil more quickly at room temperature,‘ writes Lea. The designer elaborates with some food safety facts: fruit and vegetables are sensitive to cold and lose their flavor if stored in temperatures that are too low, which also inhibits post-ripening processes. Incorrectly storing foods leads to unnecessary spoilage and, eventually, avoidable waste. With TONY®, fruits and vegetables could stay fresh much longer than in a standard refrigerator or on the counter. The project was selected as part of the BioArtLaboratories Talent Pressure Cooker programme at Dutch Design Week 2023. 

meet TONY® | all images courtesy Lea Lorenz

a multi-layered raku clay design with evaporative cooling

To perfect that cooling range, Lea Lorenz (see more here) conducted intensive experiments with different types of clay and clay mixtures. Results have shown that a Raku clay shell absorbs water from the tank best and thus produces an optimal cooling effect. Each TONY® clay container consists of a water tank, a food container, and a lid, allowing each section to work independently and with its water supply. The surface of the outer wall is subtractively machined to increase the surface area for greater water evaporation and a quicker drop of temperature inside. As direct sunlight or a nearby heat source can increase the internal temperature, the designer paired the cooler with a wooden stand so users can move TONY® around. With the cooling method tackled, Lea explored the proper way of storing fruits and vegetables: both should generally be stored separately. For that, the designer built up TONY® as several rectangular clay containers of different sizes that can be stacked on top of each other, thus giving each group of produce its place.

CAPILLARY FORCE – Experiment with different types of clay

low-impact, low-energy and fully recyclable

According to Lea Lorenz, neither the extraction of the raw materials, the production of TONY®, or the use of the product releases any substances harmful to the environment. The Raku clay is sourced from the Westerwald region of Germany, avoiding long transport routes and reducing CO2 emissions. Ceramics, meanwhile, are made by firing a mixture of inorganic substances and are environmentally friendly. After production, the clay coolers are fired at the lowest possible temperature of 1000 °C for minimal energy consumption. ‘The Tony clay cooler is an object for daily use. Therefore, it is built sturdily to last a long time. However, if the cooler is no longer intact or functional, clay coolers can be recycled by grinding them into fireclay. The fireclay can then be incorporated into clay bodies to manufacture new coolers,‘ concludes the designer. 

TONY® with separate food containers

SURFACE – Experiment to increase the surface area so that more water can evaporate

the product is a reimagining of the clay jug cooler

CAPILLARY FORCE Experiment with different types of clay

creating stackable food containers

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MANUFACTURE - Individual elements of the clay cooler

RESEARCH - Caly pit in Westerwald, Germany

project info:

name: TONY®
designer: Lea Lorenz

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.

edited by: lea zeitoun | designboom