Frunge

Intro:

Sharing a kitchen can be challenging as housemates try to manage their busy schedules and remember (or avoid) to wash the dishes. Seamlessly embedded into the interaction of washing dishes, Frunge allows housemates to leave each other messages which play back when another housemate comes by to use the sink. Whether words of encouragement or apologies for leaving dirty dishes, Frunge promotes communication, empathy, and emotional connection between housemates in their shared space. Frunge aims to abate the passive aggressive tension built up by housemates who do not clean up after themselves by enabling housemates with a simple tool to establish communication, create empathy, and be accountable. 

Ideation: 

When brainstorming ideas and sharing pictures of our kitchen, we noticed that we all had roommates that did not pick up after themselves. In some cases, they were busy, dislike doing the dishes, did not care about the cleanliness of the shared space, or both. We wanted to create an object that not only motivated people to clean, but rather, one that went a level deeper and tried to deal with the social aspect, or lack thereof, in this particular kitchen dynamic.