A message from one of the generous sponsors of Jacques Pépin Heart & Soul:
Our Roots
OXO began with a few simple questions - Why do ordinary kitchen tools hurt your hands? Why can't there be wonderfully comfortable tools that are easy to use?
The man who asked these questions was Sam Farber, who had recently retired as an entrepreneur in the housewares industry. Sam, approaching seventy, and his wife Betsey, who had arthritis, found ordinary kitchen tools uncomfortable and difficult to use. He was thus inspired to create a line of cooking tools developed under the philosophy of Universal Design—creating products that are easy to use for the widest spectrum of users—including those with arthritis. Sam’s goal was design tools that were not only more comfortable, but that were developed with a keen attention to maximizing performance.
After hundreds of models, dozens of design iterations, and extensive research, OXO was born. In 1990, the first group of 15 OXO Good Grips kitchen tools was introduced to the U.S. market. These tools, complete with their pudgy black handles, set a new standard for the industry and raised the bar of consumer expectation by offering a comfortable, easy-to-use, high-performing alternative to the kitchen gadgets they had used for generations.
Our Philosophy
Each OXO tool is developed based on the concept of Universal Design (also known as Inclusive Design), a philosophy of making products that are easy-to-use by as many people as possible. The concept of Universal Design makes room for all users by taking as many needs as possible into consideration in the design process. For OXO, it means designing products that are used and love by young and old, male and female, left- and right-handed and many with special needs.