[Barbour International, Inc.]
One of the cash cows for Barbour is the Bayou Fryer product line. Helping a classic product remain a strong contender in the market requires constant updates and innovation.
In 2018, I undertook a product “face-lift” for the most popular size, the four gallon fryer. Scheduled for release in early 2019, this fryer will meet a price-point above the current four gallon, but below the current nine gallon. The vessel was redesigned for a more accurate 4-gallon volume. The lid was made with thicker material, and it can be detached for any service and maintenance needs. The lid handle also has a silicone grip for safe handling. A permanent cart was added based on customer feedback.
For future concepts, I have spent a majority of 2017-2018 looking at projects that will be 2-3 years out. I am forecasting features, user needs, and challenging the normal paradigms of a residential deep fryer.
The 4 Gallon Freestanding Fryer was updated in 2020. This is a comparison between the units before (right) and after (left).
[Barbour International, Inc.]
How can you have an outdoor cooking company without grill tools. Until 2018, Bayou Classic had historically created the appliances without the tools. But they didn’t simply appear that year; they were three years in the making. I first had to find a factory that specialized in this type of product, one who knew the differences between and griddle spatula and a grill spatula. Then I visited the factory in person to understand their capabilities. Only then could I sit down to design a unique line of outdoor cooking accessories for Bayou Classic.
[Barbour International, Inc.]
When I first interviewed with Bayou Classic, my soon to be employer stated, “we have the worst cast iron in the industry.” That did not sound very encouraging. Accepting the challenge, I fully redesigned the line for a new push in Bayou Classic cast iron cookware. We located a better supplier, and I worked hand-in-hand to create a unique design language to carry throughout the entire line. With new molds and more modern techniques our new supplier was able to create anything we could imagine. Fifty new or updated products later, I feel we have successfully shaken off the old imagine of Bayou Classic cast iron.
[Barbour International, Inc.]
Bayou Classic has given focus to some soft goods items since 2020. This diversification allows us to utilize new colors and textures not possible with steel or aluminum. It allows a new perspective on the lifestyle of the Bayou Classic customer. Portable and rugged are two important descriptions we keep in mind when deciding new product choices in this line.
[Barbour International, Inc.]
Some design projects will take 2-3 years to take from concept to introduction. But sometimes a project is inspired, designed, ordered and manufactured in a fraction of that time.
In the fall of 2015, Barbour Marketing and Design collaborated to create a product that combined a large stockpot with a high-powered cooker. Since the pot would be large and heavy, considerations for the cooker were not only to be small enough to fit in the carton, but also strong enough to safely support a full pot of food. This all stainless steel single jet cooker was designed in the early fall to be combined with an 82Qt stainless steel stockpot. The first container of 200 pieces was in-hand from an international supplier in January. The only issue was that the products were an instant success and inventory ran out before the next order could be placed. The cooker has since been combined with a 62Qt stockpot too.
[Barbour International, Inc.]
How do you design to compete with a grass-roots, “welded in my garage” type product? The answer is never fast or easy. This is because the constraints of cost and mass production do always allow for a consistently high-quality product. In the instance of the Bayou Classic Smoker Grills, the final solution was in working directly with the factory to design what they could learn to build. Agonizing over production processes and methods resulted in the highest quality smoker grill on the market at a good price.
Some of the top features are 1/8” thick steel throughout, 10mm bar stock grates, air-tight seal on the doors, and the ability to mass produce and fulfill hundreds of orders. An additional positive is that the product line can be added to with minimal start-up cost because new designs reuse many of the same parts.
[Barbour International Inc.]
Sometimes it’s the little things that make the most difference.
Bayou Classic is renowned for their large stockpots. Included with most of those pots are equally large baskets. They are commonly used for large boil cooking of crawfish, crabs, peanuts, corn, etc. However, with the large scale comes extremely heavy weights, compounded by the water used to cook. One of the main service concerns has been that the heavy weights cause the baskets to contort and even tear after extended use.
I devised a solution to reinforce the baskets at no extra charge. The supplier of our large aluminum stockpots already added an indentation near the top edge of the smaller Bayou Classic pots (to how up a basket off the bottom for steaming). By added this same process to the larger baskets, they are able to hold their shape better over time. This cuts down on damage and returns, and continues to set the Bayou Classic brand apart from its competitors.
The solution was such a great success that it will be gradually introduced into the stainless steel stockpots as well.
[Freelance Design Project]
From time to time I am able to accept freelance projects that both reinforce and challenge my design abilities. In the fall of 2014, I was able to create 3D CAD renderings for some keychain concepts that were to be giveaways during the holiday season. My images were used as guides for clay model prototypes, and print and media advertisements.
[Viking Range Corporation]
Induction cooking technology has been around since the 1970’s, but it wasn’t perfected for about three more decades. Viking engineering found good results in 2005-2006 first with cooktops, and then moved on to rangetops and full ranges.
A secondary design challenge for this project was changing to a new ceramic glass supplier. I spear-headed the industrial design department’s input for this transition; approving all color schemes and creating the company-wide standards for future projects.
[Viking Range Corporation]
The Viking Designer Kitchen Line was developed for the more contemporary customer, blending modern American design with some European influence as well. I was tasked as the lead industrial designer for the ventilation category. The final solution was a sleek curved glass hood; easy to blend into the wall, and easy to clean. The Viking Designer Series won both the IDEA Bronze Award and a GOOD Design Award in 2009.
[Viking Range Corporation]
One of my first projects at Viking was a capacitive-touch control cooktop line. I designed the surface detail, infinity edge, and control interface. The project involved working within the parameters of the technology, working with an outside manufacturer, and cost control.
[Auburn University]
In the spring of 2004, while enrolled in graduate school at Auburn University, I traveled to Nairobi, Kenya for a mission trip. It was then that I began to process how Industrial Design could meet real world problems. When developing the concept of my graduate thesis, I considered the education and living conditions of the children at the Good Samaritan Orphanage located in the slums of Nairobi. Because the classroom was also the sleeping room for the girls, I decided to focus my design solution on the furniture in the room.
The final solution was a multi-seat desk that converted into a multi-person bed pallet (raised off the filthy floor). Some of the considerations and constraints for the final solution were: infestation issues, bed wetting, durability, easy-of-use, safety, child size, and cost. The desk, nicknamed HomeSchool, was designed to be built by the older boys of the orphanage to reduce cost and improve their woodworking skills for future trade opportunities.
