Tangram Doshirak

Doshirak is the Korean word for Bento box. I wanted to create a product that was creative but also something that could be used in everyday life, and, continuing with my love for my Korean culture and food, I decided to make a doshirak that is customizable for everyday use. I often pack lunches for my mom that she can easily eat at work, and there are many Korean foods that are great even cold that I love to make—bibimbap, kimbap, egg rolls, and many more. One thing that frustrated me was the lack of containers for the bento box we have: it is a standard shape, but it only has two dividers that don’t hold liquids, so I would have to make a makeshift container out of aluminum foil for lunches that had kimchi (which often overflowed to the other sections under the dividers) and sauces. It was a hassle for her to remove these containers to microwave, but other lunch boxes we looked at did not have the luxury of compactness bento boxes often have.

Considering all this, I decided to make a bento box with fun shapes that the user can mix and match to their liking. Though I wanted to make it a magnetizable puzzle with infinite ways to arrange the containers, I realized that if I wanted it to be dishwasher-safe and microwave-safe, I couldn’t put connectors like magnets. I decided on relying on a classic puzzle that already has many different ways to arrange its pieces: a tangram.