Reviews > Cook Gear > Cooking Accessories > Flatworld Orikaso Picnic Set > Roger Caffin > Initial Report

Initial Report - Orikaso Fold Flat Picnic Set
Roger Caffin

Product Information

Product Description

The commercial arrangements for this product seem a shade complex. The package which arrived had 'Orikaso' across the front, but the package also stated in fine print that this name and 'flatworld' [sic] are trademarks of Flatworld (UK) Ltd. I have assumed that Flatworld is the manufacturer in the conventional sense, although they do say they have had the items actually made by Remploy Workscope, a disability workshop. The package I received came from Axis Outdoor in America, and their brochure was included with the package. It would seem from the brochure that Axis Outdoor distributes the product in America, along with several other known outdoors products.

While the Flatworld web site enthused greatly about the Orikaso products, it was surprisingly short on actual product details, apart from an FAQ page. In particular, details such as weights and capacities were simply not there. I found this somewhat frustrating. Far more product information was available on the web site for Marvelox, a Flatworld distributor in New Zealand. Their specifications are given above, and their Product information is quoted below. In brief, these are flat sheets of plastic which can be folded up into a cup, a bowl and a dish.

"Orikaso Flatworld - non breakable backpackers flexible flat cups, bowls, and dishes - all available in red or blue. This range is compact, easy to clean, multifunctional, simple to fold, incredibly durable, lighter than titanium, unfolds completely flat, takes up hardly any space, and is very versatile. It is ideal for Camping, Backpacking, Picnics, Barbeques, or Caravanning. Dishwasher safe, not for microwave, max temperature 120°C (boiling water ok, not for hot oil), made of food grade polycarbonate [sic, but it is actually polypropylene] and food grade colouring.

Bowl - besides it obvious uses, can also be used serving water to your Dog
Cup - features insulated handle (well suited for hot drinks)
Dish - 1) deep dish, 2) shallow dish, 3) food strainer, 4) spout, 5) funnel, 6) plate, 7) chopping board, 8) coffee strainer (with filter paper), and more.
Picnic set - convenience of buying a complete set"

One is given to understand that the product range was invented by one Jay Cousins while studying industrial design at Sheffield University, and that the University helped him commercialise it. Curiously, while the cardboard package they came in is boldly labeled 'Orikaso', the design embossed lightly into the middle of each item is 'Flatworld'.

My Preamble

Right now I carry a cheap plastic Decor bowl, a cheap plastic Decor mug, a small plastic bowl for soup and a flat bit of polyethylene sheet, all for eating off. But these are far from perfect, although they are fairly light. The Decor bowl is a little shallow for sloppy stews, and too deep for buttering biscuits conveniently. In fact, I don't use it all that much these days, and I have been considering a change. The plastic mug is fine, but it's getting old and I have started looking for a new one. The soup bowl, a Tupperware-style food container, is OK, but rather inconvenient to pack. (I carry it extra to my cup because I don't like soup flavour in my coffee!) I have been using my soup bowl for the main course as well as for soup recently because it has higher sides than the Decor bowl. However, something a shade larger would be nice. The flat polyethylene (PE) sheet is great for cutting on and for buttering biscuits etc, but seems a little excess with all the others.

So, I was in the market for something better. This Orikaso set looks to be a wonderful and novel variation - if it works that is!

Getting information: Web Sites

When I first looked the Orikaso web site was under construction, so I had to look at several distributors' web sites. Later on I found the Orikaso web site up and running (actually the Flatworld web site), with good pictures of the product. Good pictures, but apart from an FAQ page, there was virtually no real detail there. The distributors had much more useful product information than did the Orikaso or Flatworld web sites. However, once I had seen a few pictures and read the description, there did not seem to be much more information needed anyhow. The FAQ did resolve the question of what plastic was used (polypropylene) - one of the distributors listed polycarbonate by mistake.

Initial Reaction

The Picnic Set turned up in a flat cardboard folder. I mention this because it is a dominant feature of the Orikaso set: it packs flat. Even so, I found it slightly startling when I first unwrapped it to find this stack of flat red plastic 'things'.

The web site information I started with listed the set as containing 2 cups, 2 dishes and 1 bowl. I thought having only one bowl in the set was a bit of a poor arrangement as surely the set would otherwise do for two people. But it would seem that someone had realised this in the meantime, as the set which I received did contain two of everything. I was pleased by this.

Of course, the first thing any gear freak would do with this sort of toy would be to put it together, and I am no exception. The web site has quite good assembly instructions with both clear colour pictures and diagrams, and the cardboard folder had good assembly pictures as well. I had no trouble in 'building' the cup, bowl and dish without having to consult the instructions at any length. The only brief puzzle was the handle on the cup: the diagrams had not been all that clear. With the 'thing' in my hand and a glance at the pictures, it was quickly clear where the tab at the end of the handle went.

Looking more closely at the sheets of plastic, I found it had very definite creases where the plastic had been crimped (thinned down) by some sort of stamping machine: these crimp lines are the fold lines, and are illustrated to the right at high magnification. There didn't seem to be any trouble in using them: the obvious reduction in stiffness there meant the plastic folded fairly naturally the first time. One concern I had from the start was just how long the corners of the folds would last. Well, the FAQ page said on this score:

Polypropylene is practically the only plastic that can be folded without breakage, in fact the more you fold it the more durable it becomes along the hinge.

I have not yet been able to test this, but a few folds I have made so far do not seem to have created any obvious signs of weakness. We shall see.

More detailed analysis

The Cup

This is the most complex item in the set, and is the right hand item in the top picture. The instructions for the assembly of the cup consist of no less than 10 pictures. Assembly is fairly simple all the same. The bit of plastic consists of a round plus a long tab sticking out the side: the handle. First the side opposite the handle is folded in two places over a metal press stud. This stud is visible in the top picture. Then the handle side is folded inwards in two places. Another metal press stud could have been used here, but it turns out this isn't necessary. Instead the folds are held in place by the handle, which is folded down over the outside. Here I was a bit puzzled for the first time, as I was not sure quite what to do with the end of the tab/handle. A quick check of the instructions gave the answer: it gets poked into a fold at the bottom of the cup as shown in the picture to the left. This wasn't a very stable arrangement at first, but some creases in the handle plus a second look at the pictures showed that a rather neat origami trick would reinforce the whole handle. I am not going to try to describe this: the picture shows what to do with the sides of the handle far better than any words could. It is interesting, or perhaps very convenient, that the resulting handle shape is a bit like a wedge, and can be held quite firmly.

A kitchen test on the cup showed a need for some care in use. My old plastic cup holds about 300 mL (1/2 pt or 10 fl oz), so I filled it with cold water and poured the contents into the Orikaso cup. The water fitted, but some started to leak out immediately. Oh dear! The reason was not hard to find: the water level came above the middle of the metal press stud, and the stud had a hole through the middle. Closer examination of the cup showed that there is a mark on the inside by the handle: a line and the word 'max'. Checking the specifications listed above shows that the cup is only specified to 250 mL (8.3 fl oz), and this corresponds to the max line. Yes indeed: my initial water level was well above this line. Once I reduced the contents to the prescribed amount all was well. However, this does mean that I will have to be rather careful when filling the cup with hot coffee, and with picking it up when it is full. It also means I don't get quite as much coffee in the morning - hum. On the more positive side, even full of cold water the cup seemed quite stable.

The Bowl

This is neat: pure origami! Well, all done with folds anyhow. And what's more, the design looks good. It is the middle item in the top picture. The sides are high enough to hold quite a range of stuff, and the capacity is large enough for most meals. I can see this being a good container for both soup (first course) and stew (main course). I am most confident about this item because there are no studs on it to develop problems or to trap food scraps.

However, there is a small trap for the unwary while assembling this item. It is held together with origami-style tabs, as shown to the right. These seem (so far) to hold fairly well. They are slightly tricky to get in place - if they were not the bowl would probably fall open too easily. But I have already found that it is possible to assemble the bowl back to front as it were. The assembly diagram and my picture show the tab folding outwards, but it is possible to assemble the bowl with the tab folding inwards. When I tried to do this (accidentally), the bowl seemed a lot less structurally sound. Well, actually, it wouldn't stay assembled at all. Just briefly, this was very puzzling - but now that I have done it once I do not think I will make that mistake ever again.

The assembly instructions for the Bowl consist of five pictures, three of which I found to be fairly meaningless. The critical item is what to do with the tab: it has to be tucked in as shown to the right. Unfortunately, the pictures do not show this very well at all, and I found them of no use. (Technical photography as required here is surprisingly tricky to get right.) The text instructions are correct, but they too were not a lot of help. However, assembly turned out to be dead easy once I had 'played' with the design for 5 - 10 seconds. I suspect this is the best way of learning how to assemble the Bowl.

The kitchen test followed assembly. The bowl is specified as holding 550 mL (but there are no 'max' lines), so I poured this amount of water into it. The bowl rocked a bit as the water first went in, but then stabilised once it had some weight in it. This was reassuring as the bottom area in contact with the table is actually rather small. I had been concerned the bowl might prove unstable once filled, but this was not so. The water level was about 12 mm (1/2") below the rim: an adequate margin for safety while the bowl is sitting on something. Picking up the bowl when it was full of water did show some problems: the water sloshed around a bit and a small amount spilled. Part of the reason for this is the high degree of flexibility the sides of the bowl possess. I can see that some care will be required in the field. Of course, if it was stew and rice I was putting in the bowl it would not slosh around the way water does, so the safety margin would be higher - unless the heat makes the plastic even softer. We shall see.

I normally have muesli for breakfast at home and when walking - rather a large amount, with yoghurt and fruit salad piled on top when at home. So I piled it all in. Yes, my normal large breakfast all fitted, and the bowl was fairly stable. The one thing I did notice was that a few little bits of muesli ended up hidden in the folds. These were quite easy to rinse off afterwards provided I opened the bowl up into a flat sheet.

The Dish

The dish seems the most simple in some ways. The design is illustrated to the left: one folded unit and one unfolded. It is a simple flat sheet which is made into a 'dish' by folding up the sides and 'pinching' the corners so the black press studs can be joined. I am slightly puzzled by the arrangement of the press studs: two corners have two studs each, while the other two corners have single studs. I presume this is meant to allow a range of folding styles to be employed, and this idea is supported by the range of creases embedded into the plastic. I was able to get a 'dish' out of most of the creases, although it does seem that many of the combinations are really only suited to dry items which won't leak out the corners. This is supported by some of the pictures on the package: they show mainly dry items in the dish.

The black press studs are some sort of plastic, and seem to have been set in place by a machine. (I use similar plastic studs in the tents I make, so this was of technical interest to me.) They are quite tight in the plastic right now: it will be interesting to see if they loosen later - at which point they might leak. However, the press studs are very near the top edge and I doubt I would ever fill the dish that far.

The assembly instructions for this item are two pictures: far simpler to understand at than any amount of words. One picture would suffice. Some little force is required to do up the press studs; I found I had not pressed hard enough on all of them the first time. Again, this is something very easily learnt.

The kitchen test looked at two things: capacity folded and use when flat. The latter really means something like morning coffee with toasted raisin bread and blackcurrant jam - it handled this very well. Walking, it would mean biscuits and butter and jam and so on. Capacity depends on how the dish is folded. Done right up as shown to the left it was able to hold at least as much as the bowl, and seemed a bit more stable when full too. In other configurations the edges are a bit too low for it to be really useful as a water container, although I believe it will hold a stew quite well (to be tested). It functions as a sort of funnel quite well, pouring water out of one corner, but I doubt I will even need to use it thus.

One thing which did come out of the kitchen test was that the many creases could push the shape around a bit. This is discussed below.

The Press Studs

The bowl has no studs, the cup has one metal stud, and the dish has two corners with two plastic studs each and two corners with one plastic stud each. I assume that the different sorts of studs have been chosen deliberately. The forces on the dish studs don't seem to be very great, but the force required to hold the cup together seems to me to be rather greater. Having used both plastic and metal studs in other applications I know that the metal ones are stronger. Still, it will be interesting to see how both sorts last over time. I will be looking for signs of wear in the plastic studs and signs of corrosion in the metal one.

The Plastic Surface

The sheet plastic used is embossed all over with a fine pattern, but the patterns on the two sides are slightly different. The outer surface seems to have a finer pattern. I do not know why this is so, and it may simply reflect how the sheet plastic was supplied. The thought crossed my mind that it might have been better to have the finer pattern on the inside, but my limited experience so far (with muesli) did not show any real problems.

The Creases

One thing I have noticed about the 'flat' sheets of plastic is that after just one day of experiments they are no longer really 'flat'. Well, they can be made flat, but they do tend to hold some memory of the folds. This has some benefits: the next time I go to fold an item up the creases prompt me for the right directions. In the case of the dish it means I do have to 'tell' the creases which ones I want flat and which ones I want folded: they all try to be folded at the start. But this is very minor, and not a hassle. In fact, I can leave the press studs on some corners of the dish undone and it still has the edges curled up like a shallow plate. It may be that this will determine which of the bowl and dish I use for different meals: the dish for dry foods and the bowl for wet foods most likely.

That said, the creases do tend to argue a bit with me when I want the dish to take up a certain shape. The side of the dish can bulge outwards a bit at the second crease line (indicated with a small arrow in the picture). This in turn can prevent the corner folds from being quite square and rigid. Only time will tell whether this is a problem.

Test Plan

Well, obviously, the basic idea is to eat out of them on lots of trips. But I can go far beyond that in testing, and will be looking for some answers to the following:

• The first question is whether they stay folded up while in use. Will the sheet plastic flow or the press studs loose their grip over time, or when hot? Oh, the possibilities (for disaster!).
• There are fasteners on the cup and the dish: how well will they hold over time?
• How long will the 'hinges' last? My wife and I do a LOT of walks, so the hinges will be really tested.
• In particular, I worry about the corners of the folds or hinges where there is increased stress on the plastic. Are they going to develop small leaks there?
• These are made of flexible plastic, and plastic softens when hot. Just how flexible do they get when filled with hot food like stew or soup?
• How reliable are they when handled? I do the evening cooking for the two of us, while my wife sits at the back of the tent in her sleeping back, waiting to be fed. I pass her dinner in a bowl, but that means a wobbly bowl could deposit the lot on her sleeping bag. The consequences would be severe: I would have to wash the bag after the trip, but worse, I might have to give her my dinner to replace what has been spilt!
• Can I cut on the dish when it is opened out flat? I sometimes chop up cheese and sausage for our dinner. Will the surface take it, and is the plastic strong enough to allow this? Equally, can I butter biscuits (or French bread) on the flat plastic? Will the surface get badly degraded by all this cutting?
• Morning tea and coffee is a bit of a ritual for us while walking. Are those fold-up cups really going to handle many, many cups of near-boiling water? Will the handles collapse after a while?
• How easy is it to clean the plastic? Yes, we do a proper washing up after dinner each night, with a little bit of hot water and (environmentally-friendly) washing-up liquid.
• Will the press studs accumulate food scraps? There could be a health hazard if they do. How easy are they to clean in the field?

Biographical Details

Reviewer:	Roger Caffin
Age:	59
Gender:	M
Weight:	61 kg (134 lb)
Height:	166 cm (65")
Email address:	r dot [surname] at acm dot org
Home:	Sydney, Australia

Backpacking Background

I started bushwalking (the Australian term) at 14, then took up rock climbing at University with the girl who became my wife and is my walking partner. Later on we took up ski touring and canyoning. Winter and summer, we prefer long hard trips by ourselves: about a week in Australia, up to two months in Europe/UK. We prefer fast and light in unfrequented trackless country. We would be out for at least three months a year. Over the last four years we have reduced our pack weights from 18 - 20 kg (40 - 45 lb) each to about 12 kg (26 lb), including food, for week-long trips. I designed and made much of our lightweight gear myself.

I am also the maintainer of the Australian aus.bushwalking FAQ web site www.bushwalking.org.au/FAQ/.

Reviews > Cook Gear > Cooking Accessories > Flatworld Orikaso Picnic Set > Roger Caffin > Initial Report