ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the configuration of women's cooking practices by the innovator for their transmutation into the mechanical actions of kitchen appliances. It explores the innovator's design for the use of the machines by the actors of the domestic world and the inscription of this use in the shapes and the properties of the technical objects. The chapter considers the outcome of research on the processes of the design, production, distribution and use of kitchen appliances. It discusses the innovation phase and was conducted in a French company that produces and markets small household appliances. The food processor is an electric appliance designed to perform a number of different food preparation tasks mechanically. In order to design new processors with new functions or combinations of functions, the cooking practices of women must be known, and in particular their food preparation activities. The designer's initial aim is to conceive a use which is simple, effective, pleasant and safe.