PickNick is a light weight, portable grill for outdoor use. Foldable design enables easy use without having to assemble its parts and provides generous space for charcoal. Perfect for traveling or camping.

It’s called the PickNick Grill because of multiple reasons. The most obvious one is that it's pronounced as “picnic”, a social event where you would normally use a grill. It’s also a perfect wordplay between the word “pick” which implies it’s easy handling and the name Nick, who, as the story says, was my inspiration. The idea for this grill came up on a Sunday picnic. While carrying a clumsy old grill I looked at my friend Nick carelessly unfold a chair. That’s it, I thought. Pick Nick is a portable charcoal grill designed for a relaxed picnic.

- Janez Mesaric

I am always looking to solve a problem. And as I live in a country where picnics in the summer are an absolute most-do-almost-every-weekend, I wondered if there was a better solution out there as the grill which I normally carried with me. The one that I have is very clumsy to set up, as most portable grills are. The second problem is storage - I wanted to make a product which doesn’t take up too much space.

- Janez Mesaric

The process went from a simple hand-drawn sketch to a computer 3D model, from which I made a presentation. The project was initially made for a client but never presented. I had been keeping it in my drawer for quite some time and when I was updating my website, I decided to include it as a concept because i think it is representative as my design thinking (Simple and functional)

- Janez Mesaric

Tools used are rhinoceros for modeling and VRay for rendering, Photoshop for final enhance. I got my idea from a different product, a foldable chair, and I thought, well if you can fold a chair to take up as little space as possible, why couldn’t you do the same with a grill? Well, considering the fact that this is only a concept not an actual product, I didn’t have many challenges. The only one’s I had were on how to design a foldable structure. In my experience, most challenges come to you in the prototyping and production phase, where you need to solve problems with the construction, materials and final execution of the product.

- Janez Mesaric

I haven’t done any revisions yet, due to the fact that PickNick is merely a concept. I do however realise that the first prototyping phase would probably take up quite a few revisions. Even when you’re completely sure and the product you designed seems as-simple-as-it-gets to produce, there are always going to be problems to solve before you can make your first prototype. It’s never simple.

- Janez Mesaric

About Janez Mesaric

Janez Mesaric is a product designer from Ljubljana, Slovenia. He has been focusing on setting up his own design studio Mashoni and they develop new brands such as Ribrand, Ubiqaudio and Boatguard. Hence, his work has also extended in the fields of brand consulting and creative direction. You can find more of his works on his Behance profile or website.