What we are working on next

Most manufacturers write about what they have finished. This is a note about what we have not, because the open problems say more about a workshop than the closed ones.

Induction, properly

Induction is arriving in Indian commercial kitchens faster than the cookware around it has adapted. Most "induction ready" catering vessels are gas designs with a flat base added.

The open questions we are working on:

• Holding base flatness at temperature across larger diameters, where bowing is harder to control than on the sizes our induction kadai currently covers.
• Whether the traditional profiles of our range need reshaping for induction rather than merely re-basing.
• Matching base diameters to the commercial hobs actually being installed, which vary more than domestic ones.

Handles

Handles are the part of our range we are least satisfied with. They are welded, which means they are the only joints left in an otherwise jointless vessel, and on heavily used vessels they are what eventually needs attention.

We are looking at attachment geometry that spreads load over a larger area, and at whether some lug shapes can be formed rather than welded.

Weight at the large end

A size 52 patila is 17.2 kg empty and holds 125 litres. Full, that is not a vessel one person moves.

We are not willing to solve this by thinning the wall. So the question is whether it can be solved by geometry — where the metal sits rather than how much there is — and by better lifting points.

Lids

Lids get far less design attention than bodies, industry-wide, and it shows. A lid that seats properly, sheds condensation back into the food rather than down the outside, and survives being stacked, is a harder object than it looks.

Finish longevity

A mirror polish looks superb for about three weeks in a commercial kitchen. After that it is a patina of fine scratches.

That is cosmetic and we say so plainly. But there is an open question about whether a different finish would age more gracefully — looking deliberately worn rather than scuffed. Front-of-house live counters make this a real commercial question, not a vanity one.

What we are not doing

Coatings. Non-stick is a consumable, and a consumable surface contradicts everything else we build. We will not make it.

Thinner budget lines. There is demand, and we understand why. But a thin vessel fails at the seam in two to four years, and putting our name on that is not a trade we want to make.

If you have the problem before we do

The most useful development input we get comes from kitchens, not from us. If something in our range is not doing what your kitchen needs, that is the brief we want. Tell us — specific complaints are how most of the work above started.