Hotpot is one of the most popular meals in Asia and Asian community all around the world. People gather around a pot full of simmering nutritious broth and put in carefully prepared meat, vegetables, meatballs, seafood…you name it. Then they transfer food or soup from the hotpot to their individual bowls when they are ready. It’s one of my personal favorite meals to have with my family and friends either at a restaurant, order takeout, or cook at home.

Serving hotpot is all about transferring food and liquid from a hotpot to individual bowls. An ideal tool should be able to ladle, drain, skim and stew at the same time. However, the current tools are great for certain things, but it’s hard to find a tool that meets all the requirement of a hotpot lover. Therefore I did 2D and 3D sketches and study the sequence of the serving process. I came up with the following design. 
In order to test out my design, I made a works-like model. I carved the ladle out of bass wood.

After finishing the model, I tested it out and put it in comparison with the tools that I currently use for home-cooked hotpot.

Stew:Ladle:
Drain:
Skim:

I then focus on the looks-like model and made several changes to the work-like model and came up with the final design: