Look in your kitchen; those handle connections on the pots and pans under your sink are kinda icky. For one, any seam between two different materials (even those lovely rivets so popular on the interiors of name-brand frying pans) serves as a gather point for bacteria and gook. Some super-high-end cookware even uses external weldments rather than rivets to moderate this problem. Such connections, however, while extraordinarily sanitary, also happen to conduct heat quite well, so the handle is often hollow, but then rarely comfortable. Those handles become a liability when users transfer the pot from browning on the range to cooking in the oven, since oven mitts (with their own set of problems) are needed for removal. An alternative solution is to use plastic, but for baking, that same plastic handle will chip or wear. Further, for those of us who machine wash our pans (yes, you, even though the instructions tell you not to), the external handle often takes up unwanted washer space, occasionally blocks the spray nozzle mast, and sometimes breaks stemware (see, we told you that you weren’t supposed to put that in there).

On a parallel path, ergonomic handle technology for all other (non-oven) kitchenware has been on a steady rise since Sam Farber created Oxo for his wife Betsey’s arthritic hands. The rubber handles in our spatula drawers are a far cry from the chippy hard nubs that project from the sites of our pots. That’s why it’s so refreshing to see student work like that of Alberto Vasquez which happens to be pretty, cleanable and completely designed for disassembly. Even though cookware isn’t exactly the sexiest product for a young designer to attack, Vasquez manages to make it curvaceous and sleek. Although a fair amount of product testing might be required to make sure that the interior lip of those handles doesn’t interfere with the food, we can guarantee that the clip style of the handles provides plenty of space for water and detergent to spray, splatter and clean (in the sink or the, ahem, washer). Further, the metal component of the pot is held tightly enough that it won’t spin even when flipping omelets Julia Child style.

The double pot handles are of arguably less utility, since it becomes a two handed job deep inside the oven, but the deep finger grooves and lengthy side plate should keep fingers cool and happy. According to the designer, the handle is made of a polymer that can handle 300-400 Celsius, so you could probably even put it in the oven by accident without incident. It’s also quite nice to see Alberto’s design and ideation sketches, which are pretty enough for Pininfarina, even though they’re destined for the kitchen. Perhaps if someone hires this kid, we’ll be able to find them there.