Edible Picks: GoMacro
After one bite, you might think that creating delicious, wholesome treats was GoMacro’s sole mission, but the company’s goals extend well beyond that. For Kirchoff and Sonkin, food isn’t just somethin...
Edible Picks: American Skillet Co.
"...American Skillet pans double as a functional and artful centerpiece."
Can cookware be considered art? According to American Skillet Company founder, Alisa Toninato: absolutely. “Cookware, especially used cookware, tells a lot about someone's lifestyle. The visual narrative of how someone's cookware hangs, gets stored, its cleanliness, where they use it and how the environment immediately around it is kept, is like looking at a little snapshot into that person's character. This is a similar experience, I think, as when you see art and you grab a sense of something by looking at it.”
A quality skillet is a staple of any kitchen. We use them nearly everyday, whether it be for frying meats, veggies or even making a simple grilled cheese. For Toninato, she saw an opportunity to celebrate her home state of Wisconsin. She started making what she calls “Graphic cookware,” while studying sculpture at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design by taking thrift store waffle irons and replacing the classic grid pattern with her own designs. After receiving her degree in 2005, Toninato and some friends built their own foundry at her art studio in Riverwest. To celebrate the occasion, she made a cast iron skillet in the shape of Wisconsin; this was the first of thousands.
Toninato’s Wisconsin skillet idea grew into a massive art piece titled “Made in America,” where 48 skillets were cast in the shapes of the contiguous states to make a unified map of America. Of course, residents from all over the nation started asking where they could get their own home-state pans, which lead Toninato to build American Skillet Company. Currently, only eight states and a USA pan are commercially available, but new states are being added as requests come in.
They may look great, but does the functionality mimic the artistic quality? While it may not be the most traditional of designs for cooking needs, these cast iron pans can be used for anything you would normally cook in a skillet, all while elevating the dish’s presentation. The versatility and durability of cast iron has inspired many families to pass down their cast iron cookware from generation to generation. The culinary fad of using cast iron has been making a strong comeback in recent years, and with its unique shape, the American Skillet pans double as a functional and artful centerpiece for any dinner party. As Toninato says, “To me, cookware is the perfect vehicle for connecting with people, and symbolizes a beacon of being ‘home’, both metaphorically through my art practices and chosen medium of cookware, and also in my love for Milwaukee and everything that I learned while living there."
You can order your own cast iron pan at www.AmericanSkilletCompany.com
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