Class of ’91 | “The best thing about the BananaBunker is the humor it seems to spread,” says Paul Stremple GFA’91. “It certainly functions very nicely now, and solves a real problem, but I just get a kick out of people’s response. That’s the most important thing about products for me—they should be lots of fun!”
Stremple trained and practices as an architect—he’s an associate partner with Breuker Design in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts—but he’s also an inventor who designs products: cosmetic-display trays, light-dispersion panels, and now containers for individual pieces of whole fruit. His moment of soft-fruit inspiration came five years ago, when his sister complained about a banana that got crushed in her briefcase and wondered why there wasn’t a protective container for such things. Five years and four manufacturers later, the Cultured Containers BananaBunker was born. (Stremple founded the Boston-based product-design firm Cultured Containers two years ago.) Originally made of polypropylene, the new generation of Bunkers is made of K-resin. The product’s slogan, according to its website (http://bananabunker.com) is: “Pamper your banana with the BananaBunker.” And in the continuing saga of form following function, the BananaBunker has been selected for “SAFE: Design Takes on Risk,” an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York that opens October 15. —S.H.
