What if Yamaha designed tools for playing with fire?

Overview

Can we design an experience that lets people control fire?

In this thought experiment-style design project, designers from Yamaha and Yamaha Motor collaborated on a common theme: the outdoors.
Imagine riding a motorcycle, feeling the wind in your hair, and then arriving at a campsite, gathering around a campfire, and playing the guitar in a relaxing natural setting. The outdoors offers us enriching experiences that allow us to leave our daily lives behind to connect with ourselves and nature. Yamaha musical instruments and Yamaha Motor mobility devices have facilitated these moments in many people’s lives.
What kinds of new experiences could we create if we reexamined the outdoors from the unique perspectives of both Yamahas? In this project, we used that question as a launching point to explore the potential of new outdoor tools.
We focused on fire—a means of cooking and keeping warm, but also a special element that people have lived alongside since ancient times. Many people feel an ineffable sense of comfort and immersion when gazing at a flickering flame or adding a log to the fire.
We decided to look beyond the practical functions of fire to consider it as something that offers the joy of control, much like a musical instrument or a mobility device. The joy of total control. The sensation of physical interaction. The quiet captivation. We identified these quintessentially Yamaha values in our relationship with fire and created four concepts centered on the main theme of “playing with fire.”
This project was an attempt to make time spent outdoors more enriching and exciting by reexamining the relationship between people and nature from new perspectives.

Bon-Burner

This is a new form of single burner with a motif of the way firewood is laid in the bonfire. The five slender bars act as both stand and trivet to hold the cooker (a pot or pan, for example). Five bars can be folded to fit into a compact cylindrical shape, making it easy to carry. You can also adjust the amount of gas and change the heat strength by turning a control knob on the center ring. This tool allows you to enjoy the time waiting for the food to be ready, like watching a bonfire.

Designer: Etsuto Mimasu/YAMAHA MOTOR DESIGN

Bon-Player

It turns the simple process of adjusting the heat into something exciting. This unique gas stove was created by Yamaha's playful spirit. You can dynamically and delicately control the flame size by turning a large disc on the top of the unit, and increase the firepower by pushing the ring down.
The more you turn the ring, the more the flame spreads out from the center, a bit like the connection between the throttle and the engine sound. The flames, which increase in force as you push the ring down, also feel like the accelerator pedal, which increases speed when you step on the gas.
It has a user-friendly interface that sets it apart from conventional gas stoves.

Designer: YAMAHA MOTOR DESIGN

Bon-Grill

A portable cooking stove that allows you to enjoy a variety of grill marks. Just as a plate design complements the dish, you can add grill mark decorations to your dish in camp. The criss-cross grill marks on your steak make the meat taste even better, and changing the grill pattern according to the ingredients makes cooking even more fun. As when you choose a favorite piece of music by the record sleeve and enjoy the music, choose one of the various mesh jacket patterns and set it on the Bon-Grill. The colorful seared pattern will make your camp meal look more glamorous.

Designer: Kazuya Washio/Yamaha Design Laboratory

Bon-Flame

A new shape for outdoor heater attachments. A tool that warms the body by converting the flame of a single burner into far-infrared heat. The metal plate emitting the heat glows red, providing a comforting visual effect. A bimetallic sheet made of two pieces of metal glued together takes advantage of the varying expansion rates of the different metals, allowing the sheet to change shape with the heat. The small ball-shaped bimetal at the end rotates and opens like a flower, eventually transforming into a large flame shape.
Making the heater look beautiful with a fire shape provides more visual comfort.

Designer: Kazuya Washio/Yamaha Design Laboratory

Process

We sought value beyond the functionality required of outdoor tools, while of course intending to preserve that functionality. We believed that if serious tools can deliver the same sense of playfulness and peace of mind as musical instruments and mobility devices, then they can also possess a captivating appeal. Focusing on how we interact with fire, how we use it, and the quality of the time we spend with it, we developed ideas to make the relationship with tools a source of joy.