After years of experience in the chef equipment industry and great success with Furi knives, mechanical engineer Mark Henry is back in business with the launch of Australia’s only pro cookware, AUSfonte cast iron pans by Brisbane-based Solidteknics.
Made of Australian steel in an Adelaide foundry and built to last for generations, the Fonte Tough Love pan features an ergonomically engineered ‘love handle’ for comfort and control, and will have anyone cooking like a pro.
Tough Love owes its existence to a Kickstarter crowd funding campaign that really took off, exceeding the target by more than $20,000 as people sought to get behind an Australian product.
“It was very satisfying, and a huge relief to get across the line after so much hard work, and to see such strong support from the cooks of Australia,” says Henry.
“It was a big investment in moulds but our automated world-class Australian foundry makes the final price quite competitive versus the very high end French cast iron, and we have some big performance benefits over traditional cast iron pans with our much more comfortable ‘love handles’, clean Australian iron and smooth pre-seasoned cooking surface.
“This really is the start of a whole new cookware industry for Australia, because we are the only pro cookware made in Australia. This should be the good news that all Aussie cooks want to hear.”
The Tough Love pan is just the beginning for Henry. “We have three very interesting patents pending for other kitchenware innovations,” he says.
“I’ve always wanted to ‘stir up’ the cookware industry like I did with the knife industry, particularly traditional old cast iron. And it was about time someone did something about those uncomfortable, hot, stubby little handles on cast iron pans. Our long and broad love handles might be cute, but they aren’t a gimmick; they’re carefully engineered for more comfort, control and less heat transfer up the handle… for high performance chefs.”
AUSfonte pans will hit the shelves of some of Australia’s best cookware shops in November.
