A Chopstick Fruit Bowl

The finished Make That! fruit bowl
(with a pumpkin as stand-in for fruit)

I've seen lots of references online to a diy chopstick version of the MOMA "Satellite Bowl".

As far as I can tell, the knock-off version originally appeared on a website called "Design Without Reach" and was then linked to by other sites. Design Without Reach has either vanished or renamed itself, so we're left with the other websites' pictures of the finished product and a handwaving suggestion to hold everything together with an elastic band.

("Design Without Reach" appears to have been a play-on-words on "Design Within Reach", a store that I'd never heard of but that does still exist.)

Knock-off Chopstick Bowl (upper)
& MOMA Satellite Bowl (lower)

From the photo, it looks like the MOMA version is screwed together. I may try making one that way if I re-accumulate enough chopsticks.

The elastic band diy suggestion does not work. If you're patient, and if you have just the right amount of fruit, you may get something that stays together long enough to take a picture. But you certainly won't get anything that you'd trust with an unattended apple.

My version does work.

It's not quite as sturdy as I'd like.

But, it does the job, it looks ok,

... and it gets rid of all the chopsticks that have been cluttering up the back of the cutlery drawer.

1. Take your chopsticks. I used 20.


2. Drill two holes in each chopstick. I made the holes a 1/2" apart. I put the upper hole 4 1/2" from the fat, square end of the chopstick and the lower hole 5". Were I to do it again, I would drill the holes closer together. I think that would make a taller, narrower bowl.

3. Thread the chopsticks together. I used copper wire. If I was to do it again, I'd try using fishing line. Run the wire through the lower hole of one chopstick and the upper hole of the next. Then wrap the wire half way around the second the chopstick and thread it up through the second chopstick's lower hole. And so on.

4. When all the chopsticks are sewn together, you'll have a tight chopstick fence. Bend the fence around into a circle and run the wire through the upper hole on the first chopstick. Keep following the original wire path through the chopsticks for a bit to secure things and to get rid of the end piece of wire.

5. Finally, pull the square end of the chopsticks apart to create the open top of the bowl. The chopsticks should twist naturally to create the spiral shape and the base.