The Fork

5 min readSep 26, 2017

Personal Selection

A functional tool that I believe is well designed would be a fork. A fork is an everyday object that we use to transport food from a plate to our mouths. The overall design of a fork is aesthetically simple and is a necessary tool that we (as users) prove as helpful whilst eating. A fork is a well-formed and well-designed utensil with one main purpose, that is why I chose this tool.

History

The fork has greatly improved in quality and design since around the 4th century, when they became commonly used. The fork started out as “two-pronged” objects that were used by Persian nobility and in the Byzantine Empire. While there is no specific inventor, it is thought that the Eastern Roman Empire invented the fork. However, using forks stirred up controversy, as people believed God did not want them to eat with forks as a substitute to using their own hands to eat with. Eventually, forks became popularized by Catherine de Medici. She was a trend setter who popularized many other things back then. The fork also served to be more hygienic, so people could reduce their risk of sickness and disease. It was more commonly used by the upper class and by women, since men considered them to be a more feminine tool. When the industrialization period came along, other classes, such as the lower and middle, could afford forks as well. Forks easily became the most popular utensil over time.

Function

The primary function that a fork serves is for eating. You would mainly find the most useful functions for a fork to be in the kitchen while eating or preparing food. Usually with a plate or bowl on a table, the person using the fork picks up the food from the plate or bowl and guides it to their mouths for effortless and cleanly eating. By using a fork, a person’s hands remain clean while eating their meal and prevents any germs (from your hands) from entering your mouth. People also use forks to scoop food, for instance, from one plate or bowl to another. But, primarily, it is a kitchen utensil that serves a huge impact while delivering food to our mouths. The design of the fork makes it easy to grasp with our hands and the prongs (typically four) on the other side make it easy to grab (or stab) food.

User

Generally, anyone who can grasp things can use a fork. Any gender, culture, or profession can use forks, since it is a universally accepted tool to use while eating. As for age groups, any child should be able to use a fork. Infants, however, are probably the only age group that would not be capable of using a fork, since they need to be hand-fed by their parents. In some cases, people with disabilities or elderly people have trouble feeding themselves, so they would therefore be unable to use forks unless someone helps them. However, the fork can also have a variety of forms. Some designers have designed forks that make it easier for people with almost any disability to be able to use a fork that is specially made for them. The same goes for the elderly. Designers have made forks usable for literally anyone. So, overall, the fork is a widespread tool that anyone can use if they are capable of grasping it. Designers definitely thought more about the user while making the fork.

Materials + Production

Forks are made from stainless steel, which is a kind of metal that is iron-based. However, some forks can be made of sterling silver or a base metal. Forks are also mass produced and they undergo a manufacturing process. Summed up, the process includes blanking, rolling, annealing, cutting to outline, forming the pattern, silver plating, and finally buffing and sand polishing the fork (“madehow.com”). The overall process is complex, but it makes sense to have the forks be mass produced since people all over the world use them. The material of the fork is durable and perfect for the function of grabbing food.

Affordance

For a person who has never used a fork, it does not necessarily convey how to use it just by looking at it. You can tell that you are probably supposed to pick it up with your hand and use it to pick something else up with it. However, if you have seen someone use a fork before, you can make sense that it is used to pick up food to bring up to your mouth. The fork has a quality of affordance because it affords “stabbing” the food that you are about to eat. The fork determines picking up or stabbing food with the pointed ends on the fork. The fork is structure that serves as an extension of your arm so it is easier to pick up food. As for signifiers, the fork does not communicate to the user where to use it or how to use it. Therefore, a fork would be an invisible signifier since it does not tell us what actions to perform or where to perform them. But, for the most part, it is obvious to many how a fork works and where you should use it. The fork’s overall usability is very easy and not hard to understand. Even without an absolute signifier, the fork still proves to be a very usable tool to use while eating.