Napoleon Freestyle Grill Concept
When I found out that our team at Shape Products would have the opportunity to work on design concepts for a new line of grills for Napoleon, I was nothing short of fired up. This project was an opportunity to get out of my comfort zone, having never worked on a grill design before. Not knowing the fine intricacies of sheet metal design or the limitations of using different cast metals, I had to make certain educated guesses about how to propose my design in a way that I was confident would be manufacturable.
The project was mostly an exercise in design styling, but it was so refreshing to be working on something completely different. While working on my concept for the freestyle grill, my goal was to keep the overall Napoleon brand language, and some of the same visual details as current grills, while pushing the forms and surfaces into new territory.
I also worked hard to inject several thoughtful design details and features that I would appreciate as a consumer that genuinely enjoys grilling in the summer (even if the only BBQ I own is a Weber kettle). I loved working on this project; I must have done something right, because after all, at least my gas control dials, wheels and integrated accessory hooks made it into the final production model!
