Portable Chopstick Designs

10 Jul 2006 Category: Conscientious Design, Features, Products, Top Page 10

Portable Chopstick Designs

a small selection from a big range of chopsticks

When living and working in such a busy city as Tokyo, you tend to eat out between 2-3 times a day. Since you will most likely be using chopsticks you’ll go through about 2-3 pairs of waribashi (disposable wooden chopsticks), offered to you at your local convenience store and even at more expensive restaurants. That is quite a lot of garbage and you probably don’t even notice, since using waribashi seems like the most natural thing in the world over here. What ever happened to all those precious designed chopsticks - from lacquer ones to natural bamboo, Korean metal styles to colorful children’s chopsticks? PingMag wants to draw a little more attention towards quality and design for chopsticks in every day life while preventing garbage: portable chopsticks!

Written by Ryoko
Translated by Chiemi

Even though disposable chopsticks have a long history in Japan as well, I actually think that people used to care more about their chopsticks back in the days…

When I was a kid, my mom bought me my first personal pair of plastic chopsticks at a supermarket. The one I picked had a case with a Japanese manga character on it and I loved them. I used to have to bring my own lunch for picnics or special occasions at school and every time I had a reason to use my chopsticks I got totally excited. I can still see kids at elementary school with their own chopsticks, but somewhere between there and university that idea seems to end…

portable chopsticks for any kids’ picnic - these ones have Disney’s princesses and lots of glitter on the case

The general use of chopsticks has spread all across the world, since Asian food now seems to meet the taste-buds of people in all different countries. Yummy, isn’t it ;-) Statistically about 30% of the population on the planet now use them. I think chopsticks are a great invention to pick up even the smallest bits of food, to divide bigger into smaller pieces and - what many say here in Japan - the food actually tastes better with non-metallic cutlery! Sometimes I use them even for eating pasta…


Saibashi - long chopsticks for cooking

a genius eating noodles using chopsticks with his left hand…!

Because we eat a lot of fish in Japan, the Japanese chopsticks are very pointy to take out bones and to break up the fish meat into pieces. There is a whole big range of chopsticks: Chinese ones are usually much longer and equally thick, Korean ones are out of metal, there are very long chopsticks for cooking which often have riffles on the pointy end (to take out noodles and check if they are done for example), chopsticks for kids being much shorter than for those for adults, …


Korean steel chopsticks are great for eating Kim-Chi: they don’t stain with the red-chili color, don’t take up garlic smell and also feel elegantly heavy!

from the left: Chinese, Korean and Japanese chopstick tips

Chopsticks travelled from China over the Korean Peninsula to Japan and although we use them all the time now, they used to be very sublime and were mainly used for offerings in those days. At that time most chopsticks were made from bamboo, but as lacquer ware started to develop in Japan during the Edo period, coated chopsticks have become diversified, too.

Bamboo chopsticks

‘Tsugaru’ style coated chopsticks from Aomori prefecture. These are very expensive!

Even though everyone is using them today, it doesn’t mean that everyone is using them right! This is how you are supposed to do it:

This is the proper way to hold chopsticks. If you want to know more, click here

And now let’s find out how the average person at our office deals with chopsticks:


Boooo! Her thumb is not holding it properly!

No, no, no! You should hold your chopsticks with your fingers, not with your hand!

His chopstick is between the forefinger and the middle finger: Bad!

And he holds them with his thumb and his middle finger! Oh dear!

The ignorance of youth! Seems like we have to do some serious practice here! I got a pair of correctional chopsticks for kids! Maybe that could be some help?

correctional chopsticks for kids

However, these look very complicated.. Let’s see what the other’s say!


Mmm…..

Difficult, isn’t it?

Are you sure that those are chopsticks?

Guys! These are for left-handed kids!!!

Now that we know how to or how not to hold our precious sticks, let’s take another look at the chopsticks as such.

Indeed, those disposable waribashi do come in handy when having a quick noodle soup on the go, are hygenic and sometimes even come with stylish designs.


Waribashi from the trendy select shop United Arrows

Cool illustration!

However, their frequent use is a bit worrying (although there are alternative solutions to transfer chopsticks into furniture for example, but that doesn’t really solve the problem, I guess…).

Some environmentally slightly better waribashi come from the Nara prefecture in Japan. Here is where Yoshino cedars are planted as building materials and from their scaps those high quality cedar one-way-chopsticks are produced.


waribashi made out of Japanese Yoshino-cedars

high quality disposable chopsticks

Those are pretty expensive, high quality chopsticks, though. The usual kind you get at the convenience stores are very splintery and coarse. Even though you might like them, because they are essentially that - convenient - you might have to do without them soon! Convenience stores are currently debating if they need to charge for them. Seems like they are running out of cheap supplies!

Therefore, the best thing you can do: Get your own portable chopsticks! Pick your favorite design from the huge range that is out there and feel like you are the super-hero saving the planet with every new meal you eat!

Here is our PingMag selection:

Japanese style
There are a lot of beautiful Japanese style chopsticks on the Hashikyu website. This one is slightly more male…

male portable chopsticks from Hashikyu

…this one slightly more female…

female version from Hashikyu

…and that one very grown-up!

more elegant version from Hashikyu

All wood
Minimal version from Muji, which makes a nice rattling sound in your bag!

very simple bamboo version from Muji

Hard plastic shell
Most kid’s designs have a hard plastic shell, but there are also some “easy to take care of”-versions that are more sophisticated.


Snoopy chopsticks for kids

arabesque design - those are my favorite ones!

Pan-Asian designs
Designs from Thailand, Vietnam and other Asian countries are certainly what everyone is after who cares about chopsticks these days. Here are a few:

chopsticks from Thailand with different colored wood inlays and wooden elephants on the embroided sachets

typical Asian chopsticks in a woven container

beautifully crafted chopsticks from Vietnam from IC-Craft

Do-It-Yourself-Chopsticks
These following chopsticks might look a bit weird to you. In fact, these are take-apart chopsticks for the times when you don’t want to carry something that long! Tokyu Hands and a couple other stores rank these under “outdoor chopsticks”!

Japanese style take-apart chopsticks are from Hashikyu

Fountain pens? No! These are take-apart chopsticks.

very small to store in every pocket

Funny children sets
And last but not least - I’d like to introduce the cutest chopstick-sets I found!

red and white picnic-essentials: lunch-box, mug, fork and chopsticks from mint mint

Smile chopsticks with fork and spoon - sold out :-( from underwood brand

Go and get your own pair today and join the Happy Private Chopsticks Fan Club!

Happy Private Chopsticks Fan Club: Ryoko with her favorite new pair of portable chopsticks, Uleshka with Thailand-chopsticks and Chiemi with the Muji version

85 Comments

  1. finally, i’ve been waiting for this…. consciusness and awareness.. and beautiful as well…..

    Posted by: ill p.e. on July 10th, 2006 at 11:26 pm

  2. You guys are onto something with PingMag! Good luck…and more please!

    Posted by: Pocho! on July 11th, 2006 at 12:35 am

  3. This is great! I’ve always had a facination with chopstick designs. These are some wonderful samples!
    terrific article =D

    Posted by: Kevin on July 11th, 2006 at 12:39 am

  4. I always wondered how you’re supposed to clean off the dirty chopsticks before putting them back in the nice clean container.

    Posted by: Charles on July 11th, 2006 at 1:46 am

  5. im hungry now

    Posted by: dacio on July 11th, 2006 at 2:30 am

  6. check out our website

    Posted by: Gabriel Cabral on July 11th, 2006 at 3:59 am

  7. We get waribashi in the UK too. I save all mine to make masts and spars for my model boats . . .
    . . . and I have a nice personal pair with hare and autumn moon design. No case though . . . your article gave me some nice ideas for making one.

    Posted by: hadashinopanda on July 11th, 2006 at 4:12 am

  8. Haha. Cool article! But it’s sad that I hold my chopsticks incorrectly eventhough I’m an Asian. :P

    Posted by: Ben Tong on July 11th, 2006 at 4:25 am

  9. I like the look of the take apart chopsticks shown, but I think my Japanese made backpacker chopsticks I bought at REI are pretty cool -

    http://www.rei.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?storeId=8000&catalogId=40000008000&productId=6204297&parentcategoryrn=5777365

    Posted by: Mike on July 11th, 2006 at 10:24 am

  10. Great chopstick article :) , here in indonesia there are lots of food tastier when using chopstick.

    Posted by: kuswanto on July 11th, 2006 at 10:46 am

  11. nice =]

    Posted by: kiwi on July 11th, 2006 at 3:50 pm

  12. lol wow i never knew you could get take-apart chopsticks! But what happens if someone puts gum into the slots? or if you lose 1 half?
    the arabesque design is pretty cool. but i can’t see myself carrying around chopsticks here in australia. here, in asian restaurants, we either have those use-once chopsticks or we use plastic ones and they wash them every time, which can get unhygenic, i know.
    i’m a chinese living in australia, but i like to just get down and dirty and rip the food off the bone (or off the plate, whatever) with my hands!

    Posted by: random person on July 11th, 2006 at 5:11 pm

  13. please stop! pingmag always makes me buy things… >_<)

    Posted by: drone9 on July 11th, 2006 at 5:25 pm

  14. My mom got me those exact chopsticks when she went to Thailand! sewn on elephant and everything.

    Posted by: Emory Allen on July 12th, 2006 at 12:06 am

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  16. Fantastic article. Sadly, it is hard to find a lot of the chopsticks covered for sale on English speaking websites.

    If anyone has URLs to share, please do.

    Posted by: Alex on July 15th, 2006 at 4:06 am

  17. [...] PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things” » Archive » Portable Chopstick Designs PingMag wants to draw a little more attention towards quality and design for chopsticks in every day life while preventing garbage: portable chopsticks! (tags: food culture chopsticks japan) [...]

    Posted by: no sense of place :: links for 2006-07-18 on July 27th, 2006 at 1:11 am

  18. Awesome awesome write up. This is one of my new favorite sites.

    Posted by: Duck on August 3rd, 2006 at 11:37 am

  19. i can’t believe they have training chopsticks for kids! wow, i would’ve never thought of that. i still don’t know how to hold chopsticks. the designs are beautiful!

    Posted by: Jonelle on October 6th, 2006 at 2:46 am

  20. I don’t know who said using Korean chopsticks was the easiest…Try eating a fried egg with Korean (stainless steal) Chopsticks! Pretty hard at first but then you get used to them.

    Posted by: Dan on November 9th, 2006 at 7:38 am

  21. [...] PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things” » Archive » Portable Chopstick Designs L’autre pays de la baguette (tags: cool preparedness nourriture EDC design) [...]

    Posted by: Grandes Poches » links for 2006-12-02 on December 2nd, 2006 at 5:24 pm

  22. I first saw steel chopsticks this year when I ate dinner with a korean friend in college. Woh, I didn’t know those existed…even though I’m 28 years old and I lived in Japan for one semester. The smoothed-finished japanese ohashi are more difficult to use. The Thai chopsticks are the most uniquely beautiful. From where can I buy those?
    Thanks for cool ohashi info.

    Posted by: Peter ピーター on December 11th, 2006 at 5:59 am

  23. Hey I am from Australia and I am a package desinger, at the moment I am in the middle of creating recyclable chopsticks…. just wondering if you could email me some useful information about chop sticks-manufactured…and so on …good luck on your web site is great!! An easy read and well designed

    Posted by: Charlotte Cowdery on March 18th, 2007 at 7:07 pm

  24. Where can I buy the portable chopstick in the US? The site (http://www.hashikyu.com/) isn’t in english and doesn’t look like they can ship to America.

    Posted by: Daniel on May 26th, 2007 at 5:00 pm

  25. [...] Ping Mag, an online design magazine based in Tokyo, has an entry on chopsticks with lots of fun photos. NotCot has a great blog entry specifically covering modern versions of portable chopsticks. [...]

    Posted by: Tidbits » Blog Archive » The Things We Carry: Portable Chopsticks on November 20th, 2007 at 10:53 am

  26. [...] 3. Portable chopsticks design http://pingmag.jp/2006/07/10/portable-chopstick-designs/ [...]

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