The Baja BBQ Firepack by mike and maaike

This product has nothing to hide, and what you witness in these photographs is what makes it such a bold work of genius. From San Francisco design duo mike and maaike, comes the Baja BBQ Firepack (patent pending), which offers a dramatically innovative and environmentally sensitive approach to outdoor grilling. Mike Simonian and Maaike Evers designed the Firepack for Design Annex/Lazzari, a San Francisco-based cooking fuel company in business since 1908, with the hopes of making an American pastime, a cleaner and more practical process. By housing 2 lbs of natural lump coal within a burnable structure made from 100% recycled biodegradable paper pulp, the product will burn when lit from the bottom, and virtually transform itself into working coals within 15 to 20 minutes. It obviates the need for starter chimneys or polluting and (and toxic) lighter fluids, to say nothing of the drudgery of cleaning up a messy fire pit or grill at the end of the night.

Just in time for those Dog Days, the Baja BBQ Firepack will surely be a practical addition to a summer party or picnic where grilling takes place. The Firepack is currently available at gourmet supermarkets. For more information on this product and the designers themselves, please visit mike and maaike.

(All photographs courtesy of mike and maaike)