A sculpture for the backyard. Four functions in one form. Red Dot 2016, iF Design 2016, Elle Decor, Design Turkey.
Aniva already had a barbecue. What they wanted next was something else entirely — a premium outdoor product for upper-segment customers that could function as a piece of garden art as much as a piece of outdoor equipment.
They came to me with a clear ambition and an open brief. The challenge I took on was to deliver something that had never quite existed: a product that looked like a sculpture, performed like a professional tool, and did both without compromise.
The brief pointed in one direction: maximum function, minimum visual noise. Every decision — form, material, mechanism — had to serve both the aesthetic and the use case simultaneously. Neither could come at the cost of the other.
I defined the design geometry first, then worked outward from it: each function had to be embedded in the form naturally, not bolted on. The aluminum casting requirement shaped the entire process — I pushed Aniva's technical infrastructure to its limits to make the geometry manufacturable without softening the design.
Form follows function — until the form becomes the function.
Idea
The premium outdoor market was full of products that were either beautiful or functional. Rarely both. Aniva wanted Cosa to make that distinction irrelevant.
The idea was deceptively simple: one sculptural object, four distinct uses. Barbecue, pizza oven, garden stove, indoor bioethanol fireplace. The geometry had to allow all of them — without ever looking like it was trying to.
Form
The form is the product. Cosa's geometry isn't a shell around a mechanism — it is the mechanism. The curves, the proportions, the chimney that folds down: every element carries functional weight while contributing to a single, coherent visual identity.
The wooden legs complete this language organically. They balance the cast body's hard industrial character — turning the product into something that belongs in a garden, not as cold equipment, but as a warm object.
Aluminum die casting was the only material capable of holding this geometry at scale. It demanded precision from Aniva's production line — and they delivered.
Function
Four configurations. One form. The chimney lowers to convert from stove to barbecue. The lid attachment transforms the grill into a pizza oven. The bioethanol mechanism brings it indoors as a flueless fireplace.
None of these transitions require tools. None of them feel like an afterthought. The design geometry makes each one feel inevitable.
Differentiation
Most outdoor products choose between looking good and working well. Cosa refuses that choice. I designed it for customers who expect both — and who notice when either is missing.
The product also introduced a new category logic for Aniva: a single form family that scales across leg heights, colors, and configurations, opening up a range without multiplying complexity.
Impact
Red Dot 2016. iF Design 2016. Elle Decor Best Garden Furniture. Design Turkey. UNESCO recognition.
Five international validations for a product that, at its core, asked a simple question: why should outdoor equipment look like outdoor equipment?
The core challenge of this project was one of discipline: how do you build four functions into a single form without the form knowing it?
Every time a new functional requirement entered the process, the instinct was to add. Mine was to absorb — to find where the geometry could carry the function without growing, without complicating, without losing the clarity of the original idea.
Aniva's willingness to push their casting capabilities to the limit made this possible. This was a genuine collaboration between design ambition and manufacturing courage.
Cosa became Aniva's flagship product and one of the most recognized outdoor design objects to come out of Turkey. Five international awards in a single year confirmed what the product already communicated on its own.
It is still in production. Still in demand. Still, unmistakably, itself.
