Introducing Tongs With a Difference

For newer readers, multi-sensory interplay is the term for the discovery that each of our senses affects all the others, altering our overall experience for better or worse. We know, for example, that the colour, shape, texture and feel of objects in the surrounding environment can not only enhance or detract from the experience of eating but, by altering our physical chemistry, can actually alter the flavour of food and drink.

The same holds true for mood. A sense of wellbeing or a sense of agitation changes our entire experience. Aesthetics, comfort, ease of use, convenience – all these things subtly but profoundly affect our mood and alter an experience for the better. Conversely what is ugly, uncomfortable, difficult to use or inconvenient will alter our physical, sensory experience for the worse. And it is surprising how powerful an effect the smallest thing can have!

Few of us use sugar cubes today and even fewer are likely to have been presented with a pair of fine, Georgian silver sugar tongs to enhance the enjoyment of our afternoon tea or coffee. Much more likely is that you will have observed, or used, a set of salad, or spaghetti or bread roll tongs which were basic and utilitarian in design and frustratingly poor in functionality. More often than not the lack of aesthetic appeal and inconvenience of use of such objects detracts, unnoticed, from that sense of wellbeing which helps to create a truly pleasurable dining experience.

• Beautiful to look at, touch and hold, as a group of products they create a natural form similar to a shoal of fish, or a rolling countryside landscape.

• The heads of the Grove tongs have an internal bowl shape, allowing ease of collection and gripping food items, without the need for teeth or serration.

• Low entry tongs have been designed for larger, flatter food items, served on shallow vessels.

• ‘High entry’ tongs have been designed to use for food items held in deep vessels.

• Polished to a mirror finish and manufactured from 18/10 stainless steel, Grove tongs are as beautiful as they are durable.