Flatworld Orikaso Fold Flat Dishes
By Jon Sharp

While sifting my way through all the products showcased at this year's Winter OR show, I found my vision going hazy. So many products looked nice and good, but they were just more of the same. As I staggered to and fro, I found myself face-to-face with the inventor of something I didn't recognize. He had some sort of bright plastic thing that he was folding and unfolding. It caught my attention and I couldn't stop watching him. It was almost hypnotic. Once he knew he had me, he broke the trance by explaining what he was doing and what he was holding.

"It's a foldable cup, you see." I did see. I was amazed. Finally, the trance was completely broken and I began to ask questions— questions I thought would be hard to answer and that would expose the gimmick. They weren't hard questions, as it turns out. After a few months of using these products, I have found no gimmick.

In a nutshell, there are three foldable dishes: a cup, a bowl, and a multipurpose dish. Yes, they are really foldable. That is, they are all made of polypropylene—a food-grade plastic that is durable and, er, foldable. When not in use, they are flat and, as such, easy to store, pack and clean. When folded, they become useful dishes. The concept is simple: When backpacking or camping it is a nuisance to try to fit cups, glasses or bowls into your pack without wasting space or damaging the dish. By creating a product that unfolds into a more packable shape—flat—the folks from Flatworld have given the world a solution that is the best of both worlds. Moreover, they're light-weight—an essential ingredient in any successful addition to a backpackers pack.

Rather than try to explain the technique, I'll just point out here that folding and unfolding the Orikaso dishes was simple to learn. The instructions on the packaging explain it all very well. When folded, they do their job exactly as they should: they keep food and drink inside. Clean up is a cinch. Simply unfold and wipe clean. All throughout our testing, I never had any problems with any of the dishes. In fact, although not officially sanctioned, I have microwaved them quite often with no discernable change to the product.

Summary: Just when you think they've already thought of everything, someone like Flatworld comes along with something so useful and so ingenious that you wonder why you didn't think of it yourself. Probably the most innovative product I have seen this year, the Orikaso dishes by Flatworld work flawlessly. At the time of this writing, after months of use, I have found no problems with these foldable dishes. At only $3 for the bowl, $6 for the multi-function dish, and $4 for the cup, I recommend them to light-weight backpackers and weekend campers alike. They fill a niche without filling your pack.

Jon Sharp is a contributing editor for GearReview.com who likes to microwave ramen noodles in his fold flat mult-purpose Orikaso dish.

For more information, contact:
Flatworld (UK) Ltd.
www.flatworld.co.uk
-or-
www.orikaso.com
info@flatworld.co.uk