I'm a Western Sydney University Industrial Design Honours Student with an interest in appliances and manufacturing. On the side, I use my interest in different fermentations to sell and market wines, beers and spirits at an independent bottle-shop as a casual worker. In my free time, I enjoy experimenting with fermentation processes and modifying objects and software. I have taught myself how to code in Lua, and can produce accurate 3D-models for products that can be realistically manufactured using proper manufacturing processes.

Dane van Staden

 

Fermenting beverages at home is a growing hobbyist activity that is currently quite affordable to enter. This growth comes from a recent surge in popularity on social media, and the specialist spaces online that provide plenty of details of the equipment and ingredients necessary to homebrew. Despite this increasing popularity, there are problems that have yet to be solved within the space, namely the issues of space and overspecialisation. The majority of homebrewing kits are designed with only one type of ferment in mind, whether it be beer, wine or kombucha, despite the huge overlap between every ferment in terms of the equipment needed. This specialisation is present throughout many of the communities online, and misleads beginners on the amount of variety possible using the equipment that they purchase. Space is another huge problem, as many homebrewers currently utilise large garage spaces for large batches of brew, spaces that are entirely unavailable for the increasing number of people living within small apartments. My proposition, taking all of these points into account, is to design a counter-top appliance that condenses the space necessary to create ferments, while marketing itself as something more generalised. The goal is to enable people living in small spaces to participate in fermentation and create small batches of fermented beverages, while also providing a space that encompasses and accommodates many different ferments. Fermentation is an ancient practice, and providing a modernised space for people to experiment is what this project aims to accomplish.