(pdf version of this page)

About 3 billion people still cook on an open flame–a method that is inefficient, unsafe, and leads to the death of 1.6 million people every year through indoor air pollution. In many rural villages, an overwhelming majority of women spend 5-10% of the household’s income of less than $2 a day on firewood so that they can prepare a meal for their family. Especially in areas where deforestation is an issue, women need a safer and more fuel-efficient method of cooking to help them combat the rising cost and shortage of firewood.

3brick design works with local partners to develop affordable wood burning stoves for families in the developing world. Our current stove design uses a third of the wood of an open flame and can boil water four times faster. We accomplish this through a stove design that channels most of the heat from the fire to the pot. In contrast, only 10% of the energy produced by burning wood on an open flame reaches the  pot; the rest of the heat dissipates into the environment and is wasted. Our customers are able to cook even just with gathered twigs because of the stove’s efficient design. Our insulated stoves also protect the women and their children from the fire, while keeping the flame as hot as possible.

The technology of the 3brick design cook stove is based on the Rocket Stove, which was created by Dr. Larry Winiarski at the Aprovecho Research Center. However, we adapt the design of our stove to the needs of the specific country we’re working in. For example, our current model is designed for women in Myanmar who squat while cooking and have very little space. Hence, our cook stove is low to the ground and compact. The price of the stove and the materials available to build it also vary depending on local manufacturing capabilities. Our most recent prototype can be manufactured for about $5.75 in Myanmar, and sold for less than $7. We continue to try to bring the price down to meet the needs of our customers.

Although other cook stove designs have been introduced around the world, 3brick design takes a unique, holistic approach to our work. We believe that developing great technology is only the first step; creating sustainable plans for manufacturing and distributing the stoves are equally important. To get our product into the hands of our customers, we work with local businesses and organizations to adapt our stove’s design to the local cooking conditions and materials. We place our customers at the center of our decision-making, constantly showing them prototypes and asking them about their needs. Lastly, we help our partners develop a complete go-to-market strategy, including manufacturing, distribution, marketing, and education plans; we trust our partners’ local expertise, but we also seek to build their knowledge to ensure that they are well-equipped to continue the work on their own.

3brick design emerged from a class called “Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability” at the Hasso Plattner Institute for Design at Stanford University in Spring 2008. The original team, composed of Larissa Co, Jacqueline del Castillo, Jeff Buenrostro, and Matthew Spetzler, worked with International Development Enterprises Myanmar to design our cook stove for rural Burmese women. Before the project started, Jacqueline, Jeff, and Matt spent a week in Myanmar talking to women there and understanding their culture of cooking.

By the end of the class in June ‘08, we had developed at least 13 prototypes with our global team and had two locally-made prototypes that were being tested by women in Myanmar. Right after Cyclone Nargis, one of the members of our local team visited the village where they had left our prototype, and found that the women there were able to cook for more than 30 refugees with our stove and didn’t want to give it back!

Jacqueline and Larissa continued to refine prototypes with IDE|M over the summer while Matt and Jeff moved on to other equally exciting endeavors. A year after the Extreme Affordability class ended, Jeremy Orlow joined our team. While travelling across India to visit a mutual friend’s lighting project, Jeremy witnessed many women cooking on biomass stoves. When he came to see our stove demo at the class expo last year, he expressed interest in helping us push the project forward.

Motivated by our newest member, the three of us decided to re-launch our cook stove project under the name “3brick design“. Our name reminds us of the three bricks or stones that women often rest their pots on while cooking on an open flame. When we first saw these “stoves”, we immediately assumed it would be easy to create a better design. However, their durability, ease of use, and minimal up-front cost make three bricks tough competition–they have been around for thousands of years. Our team’s name is about having respect, understanding culture, and designing a solution for our customers that suits them just as much as their current method of cooking, yet saves them time and money.

We continue to work on improving our technology and manufacturing plan, which we hope will make our cook stoves even more affordable and efficient. We are currently looking for local partners in areas where wood is scarce who are interested in working with us to develop, manufacture, and sell cook stoves that are suitable for their community. As a small, self-funded team, we also welcome advice and funding for materials and travel expenses; to create a product that truly fits with what local women need, we believe it is necessary to visit our partners and understand their cooking culture.

We are often asked, what’s in it for you? The chance to put our skills to work, the chance to get to know a community intimately and be part of their struggle for a dignified way of living, the chance to see a woman excited about our stove–all these things keep us going, and we hope that you can share our excitement.

Feel free to contact us at team@3brickdesign.com.  We’d love to hear from you!  You can find out more about individual team members here.  You can also view a booklet we made here.