Bitta — a tableware set for sharing polenta

The brief, themed around hospitality and Venice, asked us to design an object rooted in local tradition. We chose polenta — a dish at the heart of Venetian cuisine — and studied the tools traditionally used to prepare and serve it, along with the gestures of eating together. Out of that research came a few guiding principles: stackability, reversibility, simple forms and real functionality.

• Research We looked into the culture of polenta and the traditional utensils built around it, and chose beech as the material — a resilient wood with a fine, even grain and low porosity, ideal for kitchen tools. We also studied the gestures of sharing a meal, so the design could support and celebrate eating together.
• Concept Bitta took shape not as a loose collection of utensils but as a single object built around the convivial act of sharing polenta. The name and the form draw directly from Venetian heritage, tying the warmth of hospitality to the city's food culture.
• Modules and harmony Each piece keeps its own identity while answering a clear functional need, and a constant rhythm of proportions ties the set together. The pestle fits three times into the plate, and the curve of the spoon is exactly a quarter of the plate's circumference — small geometric rules that give the set a coherent, intuitive feel.
• Production Bitta was conceived to be made either by manual turning or by CNC. Each component splits into two halves to optimise the process: on the lathe the pestle needs a single axis of rotation while the plate needs two, and a 3-axis CNC requires the model to be cut in half and rejoined with dowels and slots — whereas a 5-axis CNC can machine it in one piece.
• Use The set follows the whole ritual: hot polenta is served on the concave face of the plate, the pestle leaves a groove for sauces, leftover polenta can be covered with a second plate to set, then the plates are flipped and the solid polenta is served on the board.

• Complete set of three coherent utensils: plate, pestle and spoon
• Designed for both manual turning and CNC production
• A geometric system of shared proportions across every piece