Narwhal BBQ Skewers

PROCESS

Narwhal Skewers began with a few sketches and clay sculpts to get an idea of the size and shape of the skewer. One of the key points was giving it a tactile feel by having the tail loop around the finger, to establish a good grip.

With the help of a number of CAD/industrial designers to 3D scan, shape, and create the joiner for skewer and handle, a number of variations were tested using 3D printed sandstone and handmade skewers. Issues like skewer size and carving out mass to make a lighter weight handle were resolved in these stages, while refining the design to achieve the perfect narwhal shape.

The rewards featured a set of diecut stickers that were shipped out with postcard backs and designed to be shipped through the mail, hand printed t-shirts and aprons featuring the variations of Meat Eater Narwhal, Vegetarian Narwhal, and the later unlocked Sweet Tooth S'mores Narwhal, foil-stamped bags to store the skewers in, as well as custom printed tubes to ship them in. Several artists contributed posters and original artwork as additional rewards.

Upon receipt of funding, the skewer was sent to a factory in China to have a new sample made that would become the final production. There, the best materials were selected, the design was refined for any molding errors, and differences smoothed out from the 3D printing process to lost wax casting process.

Post shipping, new packaging was commissioned to be designed for retail, as well as identity items like Purchase Orders/Invoices, business cards and more.