Tetra

Tetra started as an internal design provocation: could frog make a dishwasher cool? Dishwashers were desirable, sure, but the ‘best’ dishwashers were designed to blend into cabinets so you couldn’t see them. It felt like a fun challenge.

Along the way, we partnered with Heatworks to make it real.

Dishwashers are an amazing piece of technology - cleaning better than people and using significantly less water and power per plate, there are almost no downsides - except size.

By shrinking the dishwasher, similar to those popular in SE Asia (but even smaller), we could create a countertop design and open up the US dishwasher market to renters who can’t install a traditional dishwasher. Using less water vs standard dishwashers due to the decreased amount dishes, it could heat up the water faster, drastically shortening cycle times. But a countertop dishwasher still takes up a lot of room on the counter - unless you make the majority of the (mostly empty) volume clear - visually shrinking the device and creating an iconic design in the process.

Tetra went on to win CES and IDSA awards.

skills: Design Direction, User Research, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Design

years: 2017-2019