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How to Make Tomato Salad in the Kitchen of the Future

What if your kitchen were one giant iPhone?

Zak Stone
By Zak StoneOct 14, 2010
Zak Stone
See Full Bio

What if your kitchen were one giant iPhone? That's the question that French designer Michaël Harboun explores with his mock-up of the The Living Kitchen. Using his finger as his guide, the cook of the future can customize his kitchen's apps (appliances, not applications) by drawing, tapping, sliding, and pushing.

In the photos above, the artist shows how to make a tomato salad in the Living Kitchen. Drawing lines, circles, and sunbursts across the multifunction kitchen surface allows the cook to morph his wall into a shelf, his shelf into a tomato slicer and bowl, and his bowl into a serving dish.

Don't expect to see The Living Kitchen in real life any time soon. The technology needed to make it happen–known as "claytronics," where millions of tiny robots stick together and talk to one another–is still in its earliest research phases at Carnegie Mellon.

Photos by Michaël Harboun.

tomato saladthe living kitchenmichaell harbounfrench designfuture kitchenkitchenclaytronicsfood and drink

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