About Us
"How the randomness of life can spark an idea into existence still baffles me..."
Jois James (founder of aggcoddler.com)
Key Moments of the ÄGGCØDDLER
1964 A young, blonde Swede named Wiveca marries her high-school sweetheart Sten and receives a collection of English porcelain from her great-aunt as a wedding gift. They have two sons, Henrik and Jois, and live a (mostly) happy life. The porcelain remains untouched for four decades.
In 2008 Wiveca loses her battle to cancer.
2012 Sten rediscovers love with Gullvei.
Building a home together, Gullvei discovers two Royal Worcester egg coddlers among Wiveca's things. She puts them on display in the living room because they look nice, but she doesn’t know what they are.
Their happiness is cut short as Sten unexpectedly passes away the following year.
That same year in 2013 Jois and his partner Kyle clear out much of the house in Sweden, discovering the coddlers. They’re taken by their charm, but like Gullvei, have no idea what they actually are.
At the end of the summer when gourmet and former café owner Helen pays a visit, the mystery of the egg coddlers is finally solved. She prepares several. Jois is hooked.
One year later in 2014 on one sunny Swedish summer evening, the idea of redesigning the coddler is born. Jois remains ever grateful to Helen for having introduced him to this delicacy, although he’s perplexed about how it could have slipped into the mists of history and been forgotten.
Using his training in design and advertising, Jois launches the ÄGGCØDDLER in 2015.
Friends and family are taken by storm and slowly but surely the outside world gets wind of this culinary toy as well after some exposure in the press. Jois' brother Henrik suggests a larger version. He loves it, but he loves food more. Or, to be exact, just more food. Customers begin to suggest the same.
Early adopter, cousin and close childhood friend Malin stands by Jois when after ups and downs, he begins to question the survival of the Äggcøddler in 2016. Offering not only financial support, she convinces him to continue, reassuring him in his darkest moment that his parents would have been proud over his achievements.
That same night in Stockholm, looking out her courtyard window over at the apartment that used to belong to their grandmother, Ragnhild - Malin suggests naming the new grey Äggcøddler in planning after her. She was always so chic and proper, just like her daughter Wiveca.
At the end of the year three more Äggcøddlers are launched.
2017 Jois & Kyle move to the south of France to build a new life, exchanging the Nordic dark and cold for the balmy sea breezes of sunny Marseille. Jois’ sister-in-law Hanna offers to handle all the logistics for aggcoddler.com, ensuring the survival of the brand.
Late 2018 a shiny red xxl Äggcøddler “Hanna” is launched just in time for Christmas.
Hanna’s eldest son, Oskar, gets involved in logistics, wanting to be part of the fun. He helps out his mom regularly, especially with all things computer related. The new color proves to be such a success that soon the regular-sized “Oskar” Äggcøddler in brilliant red is launched in early 2019.
After living for one-and-a-half years in France, Jois realises that there’s only one color missing in the Äggcøddler collection to complete the French flag, “Le Tricolore” – dark blue. Jois can’t think of a better person to name this new hue after than his friend Emma. She was Jois and Kyle’s first friend after they landed in Marseille and they owe much of their social life to her. The “Emma” Äggcøddler is launched in summer 2019.
Since he couldn’t keep saying « everything » until blue in the face, he decided to create the ultimate cheat sheet: a list of possible ingredients—well, as many as space would allow—which are printed on the "Œuf" Äggcøddler.
In 2022 Äggcøddler teamed up with MANUFAKTURA CHODZIESKA, based in Poland. The new partnership will support this family-owned business that has been operating since 1991 and to maintain its wonderful European know-how. Äggcøddler’s “Made in the EU” guarantee acknowledges our commitment to the highest quality standards as well as sustainable development. This change is our way of being more respectful and mindful of our planet.
MANUFAKTURA CHODZIESKA was inspired by Äggcøddler’s story and products and was eager to be involved in the evolution of the brand. Along with Jois, they designed a brand-new Äggcøddler, one characterized by simplicity, minimalism and uniqueness. While it looks to the future with its sleek design, it reconnects to its egg coddler roots by re-introducing the open ring lid, which allows you to hang the coddler in the pot instead of placing it on the bottom for cooking. The turn-lock system replaces the silicon band.
The new Äggcøddlers – Äggcøddler Julia “Small” and Äggcøddler Sussi “Tall” – are introduced in September 2022 at the Maison & Objet trade fair in Paris.
The small version is meant for one egg, the tall version for two. Sussi and Julia are lifelong friends of Jois who share his passion for art and design. Sussi gave crucial advice on Jois’ art portfolio before he was accepted to Middlesex University in London. It was there he he met Julia, who was studying visual communication design.
Also in 2022, Äggcøddler embarked on a new creative collaboration: Launching in September at Maison & Objet 2022 in Paris:
The first collection of handmade artisanal Äggcøddlers by Léa Tardito.
The meeting between Jois James, founder of Äggcøddler and Léa was pure chance. While visiting a local pottery market in the Var in southern France, he stumbled upon Léa’s uniquely beautiful creations. He was eager to rekindle his interest in pottery dating from high school, so he started taking classes at Léa’s studio. They hit it off and Jois asked her if she’d be interested in a collaboration.
For Ägg Love Léa, Jois and Léa agreed on a new design. The new coddlers are similar to the original ones, somewhere between the regular and XXL size. But none of them are exactly the same. They all have a unique profile since they are 100% hand made. After the first coddlers came off the wheel, it was a wonderful surprise to realise that they all differ slightly in shape and size due to the fact that they are 100% made by hand.
Léa uses white stoneware clay that is fired once at around 800 degrees. When they come out of the kiln, the coddlers are immersed in a glaze bath which gives them their finishes. Ägg Love Léa codders come in three tones, pearl/white, a grey/green and blue/green. They all have a natural, earthy feel. The finishes are sometimes more shiny, sometimes more matt. It depends on the clay and the day.
Ägg Love Léa is a wonderful expansion to the Äggcøddler family: handmade quality for the refined gourmet wanting a one-of-a-kind culinary experience.
In 2023 Jois teamed up with one of Italy’s most creative ceramic artists, Daniel Cavey. American-born Cavey works out of his studio near Parma in northern Italy. His creations focus on the consequences of human action upon the current biosphere. His work involves irony, tension and even despair, eliciting emotions and provoking serious thought about problems that the artist feels humans, as the dominant species on earth, must take responsibility for and solve.
The two designers/artists began toying with the idea of a new collaboration in early 2022 when they met at Maison & Objet. A partnership felt destined as they share an enthusiasm for voluminous shapes and textures when it comes to home decor and objets d’art.
Jois’ was also inspired by a desire to question the boundaries of art and its relation to function. It’s commonly thought that one cannot "assign" a function to art. But in this case, boiling an egg with a piece of art upends that view.
When a functional kitchen utensil is transformed into something more than what it was originally invented for and infused with aesthetic, emotional, and cultural value, can it be seen as art? Where is the tipping point?
Cavey’s creation for Äggcøddler revolutionises the original egg coddler. It features an oval base, elegantly lifted by three legs with a screw-on top and a small handle on the lid that adds both aesthetic and practical value. The green-blue glaze and the shiny bright yellow on the inside gives the coddler a playful twist, reminiscent of a cartoon spaceship about to take off.
Jois couldn’t be more thrilled for the Äggcøddler brand to enter this new realm – an object that functions both as kitchen tool and artistic statement. This is a piece of art that also tastes incredible. What more could one want?
The summer and winter of 2023 saw the Äggcøddler flying off the shelves at various markets in the South of France. Vive les marchés! Jois has decided to take it up a notch in 2024 with a powerful BANG, a burst of FUN and a splash of COLOUR!
The white XXL model proved a crowd favourite in 2023, and it’s easy to see why. The larger model gives you the flexibility to choose to make your creation with one, two or three eggs, depending on your appetite. So the new models to launch at Easter will also be extra roomy, but popping with rich color. You can choose between a XXL Äggcøddler with a dark yellow cup and a black lid or one with a pink cup with a green lid.
It took Jois a while to pick the colour combinations, but it was clear from the get-go that these would be dedicated to his close friends from university days, Karin and Hanna. They met in their first year in Maidstone, England while studying art and design. Back then, the three loved experimentation, especially when it came to fashion. These days, the sometimes appalling outfits are behind them, but their colorful characters and close friendship remain.
Coincidently Jois still remains convinced that once you've tried it, you will never go back to boring old boiled eggs again. Promise.