heart parts fall in love with some considerate cutlery and perhaps you wont want to throw them away by fatima fazal from usa

The Cause: We threw away over 100 billion plastic utensils into our landfills last year. It breaks my heart, quite literally, because each of these forks, knives and spoons was probably only used once, for the 10 minutes that it takes someone to devour a meal. But there is nothing about a plastic fork that makes you want to keep it. It is cumbersome, breaks easily, and it is not exactly the most cutting edge piece of cutlery you want to keep in your wallet.

What if we fell in love with our plastic cutlery so much that we wouldn't want to throw it away? What if it was easy to carry around, good looking, and considerate too? What if it was made with 66% less plastic than a regular plastic cutlery kit so even if you accidentally left it in your bento box or threw it away, you could do so with a lot less guilt and it would take up less space in our landfills?

The Cutlery: Meet the Heart Part. A biodegradable, reusable, heart shaped eating utensil that cuts, pokes, and scoops! Its hard to believe that a 3 inch plastic heart (that looks a bit like a coaster) can do all of those things, but if you snap apart a Heart Part, it opens up into two forks, two knives, and two scoops. Share a fork with a friend, or have your own cutlery kit for eating on the go, this multifunctional utensil is the ultimate eating companion that is biodegradable and dishwasher friendly. So, every time you reuse one Heart Part you are saving 2 forks, 2 knives and 2 scoops.

The Concept: Coming from a big old indian family, my meals would begin by tearing apart a chapatti, sharing it, and using it as an extension of my hands to eat with. You would get very close to your food, and your family, which was a very intimate way to dine. I wanted people to consider the notion of 'sharing' before they began eating their meal, so that they would eat with intention and consideration. Since the essence of mealtimes is about sharing food and conversation with the people you love, I tried to create a piece of cutlery that injected the romance and emotion of eating, back onto our plates and into our planet. With mealtimes migrating from the dining table, to our desks and couches, I hope that people can still experience 'sharing their meals with their loved ones' simply by eating with a Heart Part instead.

And since we donate a percentage of of our profits towards people who are in need of a healthy hearty meal, know that as you eat with one side of the Heart Part, you are in essence also sharing your meal with someone who really appreciates it.

The Creation: I used to work on large scale events, designing spaces and experiences that helped people connect with brands. In doing so, I learnt about the wasteful nature of the event industry and wanted to create something that was going to 'take away' from all that we were throwing away, instead of adding to it. That is why it was so important to me to re-design disposable plastic cutlery. Yes the concept can be translated to many different materials, but plastic is the material we instantly associate with 'throwing away'. we need to start re-thinking that, because plastic is a very durable material. Human beings are smart enough to keep something that is worth keeping, so I tried to create a treasure out of something that we would otherwise trash.

Believe it or not, it is very difficult to find manufacturers that mass produce, with care and consideration. Not only is the Heart Part surprisingly difficult to tool, but it was imperative that the Heart Part was also made with a lot of LOVE. After searching far and wide, I crossed paths with the warmest, kindest, and most talented engineers based in Delhi. This 3rd generation of cutlery manufacturers have since become an extension of my 'big old indian family' and are the people behind ensuring that each box of Heart Parts is almost 'kissed' out of the factory.

I am really proud to share that so much of the inspiration behind the brand comes from India and it wasn't until my first trip to the factories that I finalized the 'iHeart' Logo. You will notice that the 'E' and the 'A' forming the heart, hangs from the horizontal bar that holds the word together. This is a typical feature of written hindi and was the inspiration behind the logo. The colors and flavors of the boxes were also put together after a trip to Jaipur, which is ironically known as the 'pink city.' We also test drove them in our first school in India: It was heartwarming to have the kids at 'Shanti Bhavan' intuitively eat their thalis with them and I hope to be able to introduce them to more institutions like that in the near future.

Since I was born in the UK and currently live in NY, the Heart Parts also have a slice of these countries engraved in them too. The researchers that developed the additive that we put into the polystyrene to render it biodegradable are based in the UK, and where else to start spreading the love than the city that coined the phrase iHEART, New York. It is an international product, that is perfect utensil for eating a fusion of international foods. And in the spirit of its DNA, it is slowly travelling around the world selling in stores from Colette in Paris, to The MoMA Design Store, in NYC.

The Hope: Anyone that purchases cutlery from restaurants, to food carts, to schools, hospitals, and airlines can all be a part of spreading the love in a movement towards this future world. I look forward to eating in this world when our streets, stadiums, and landfills are not littered with billions of plastic utensils. Picture people eating with a sea of colored Heart Parts instead. Eating with a little more intention, and a lot more love, is going to lead to a more considered planet, and hopefully a lot less waste in our landfills.