Narwhal BBQ Skewers — Narwhal Skewers

The Narwhal BBQ Skewers and their branded Kickstarter backer rewards — tees, aprons, skewers, and pins

Context

Narwhal Skewers are cute, functional stainless-steel barbecue skewers shaped like narwhals. The project brought together a number of designers and contractors to establish both the product and the brand in time for a Kickstarter campaign — incorporating a business, building a presence through press and social media, producing merchandise to incentivize sales, and designing two rounds of packaging and a full suite of business identity. The Kickstarter launched in 2013 and raised $17,178 from 304 backers — more than double its $8,500 goal; 2014 brought the first production round and product launch. Narwhal BBQ Skewers are sold through multiple retailers worldwide.

Process

Narwhal Skewers began with sketches and clay sculpts to find the size and shape. A key detail was the tactile feel — the tail loops around your finger for a good grip. With help from CAD and industrial designers to 3D-scan, shape, and create the joiner between skewer and handle, we tested variations in 3D-printed sandstone and by hand, resolving issues like skewer size and carving out mass for a lighter handle while refining the perfect narwhal shape.

Early narwhal skewer sketches

Clay sculpts exploring the size, shape, and tail grip

The 3D-printed prototype

Once the design was set, we made the final prototype in 3D-printed stainless steel and used it to build the campaign. We commissioned a short video that walked through the build and featured a barbecue with the skewers as proof of concept, and designed custom merchandise for backer rewards — die-cut stickers with postcard backs made to ship through the mail, hand-printed t-shirts and aprons featuring the Meat Eater, Vegetarian, and later-unlocked Sweet Tooth S'mores narwhals, foil-stamped storage bags, and custom printed tubes. Several artists contributed posters and original artwork as additional rewards.

The Meat Eater Narwhal, printed on backer-reward apparel

The Vegetarian Narwhal design

The later-unlocked Sweet Tooth S'mores Narwhal design

Once funded, the skewer went to a factory in China for a production sample: the best materials were selected, the design refined for molding, and the artifacts of 3D printing smoothed out in the move to lost-wax casting.

A cast production sample of the narwhal skewer handle

Comparing the tail-joint finish of the factory sample and the 3D-printed prototype

A closer look at the tail-joint detail

After shipping, we commissioned retail packaging along with identity pieces like purchase orders, invoices, and business cards.

Retail packaging for the narwhal skewers

The narwhal skewer packaging illustration

Printed retail packaging and mailing tube