What you want to make
Sketch, photo or sample, whichever's to hand. We start from what you actually have.
Service · hand work
Hand-poured food moulds for first-run work.
Not every food mould needs a steel tool. A hand-poured silicone mould is where scaling starts, and for many artisan producers, where it stays.
Overview
Hand-poured food moulds for first-run work.
Bench work is the honest starting point for any food-contact mould. It gives you a real cavity to try, at a real cost, before anyone commits to a production tool.
We hand-pour food-contact silicone moulds for artisan chocolatiers, patisseries, gastronomy schools and small food producers. Single cavities, small trays, first-run samples. A single mould is a real order.
What we make
Common asks in this service.
01
First-run prototype cavities
A single cavity poured on the bench, sized to your product, food-contact grade from day one.
02
Small artisan production trays
A four- or six-cavity tray for artisan production, where the maths of a compression tool doesn't work.
03
Signature dish moulds for chefs
One-off moulds for a chef's signature dish, hand-poured around the shape they draw.
04
Test cavities before scale
A hand-poured proof-of-concept before we commit tooling. If the release is wrong, we'd rather find out on cavity one.
05
Replacement matches at hand-poured scale
If you already run a hand-poured tray and need a match, we can lift the form and pour a replacement.
How it gets made
Drawn, proofed, then poured.
Every hand-poured mould starts as a drawing we agree with you. We make a master, pour a single proof cavity in PFAS-free platinum-cure food-grade silicone and let you test it with your own recipe.
Once you are happy, we pour or press the full tray, record the grade against your order and keep the drawing on file for reorders.
What we ask up front
Four questions on every enquiry.
How you'll fill and demould it
The demould motion matters even on a single cavity. Tell us how you plan to work with the mould.
How many you actually need
A hand-poured tool is right for tens or hundreds, not tens of thousands. We'll be honest about when to graduate to a production tool.
The grade
Food-contact from the start. We don't use a general-purpose silicone on a food job and swap later.
Typical work
Case studies and further reading.
Prototype
First-cavity signature dish
A single hand-poured cavity for a chef's signature dessert, prototyped in a day.
See project
Artisan
Six-cavity artisan tray
A six-cavity artisan production tray for a small chocolatier's praline range.
See project
School
Teaching mould set
A set of hand-poured teaching moulds for a gastronomy school's pastry programme.
See projectQuestions
Four that come up on this service.
Is there a minimum order?
No. A single cavity is a real order.
Is a hand-poured mould food-contact?
Yes, when we build it for a food job. We use food-contact grade silicone from cavity one, and record the grade against your order.
How long does a hand-poured mould last?
Depends on use. A test cavity might last a handful of pours; an artisan production tray, hundreds or thousands. We'll say up-front where a bench mould stops being the right answer.
Can we scale up if it works?
Yes. If the bench cavity works, we already know what a production version needs. That knowledge doesn't get lost between orders.
Ready?
Talk to us about hand-poured moulds.
Send a photo, a sketch or a sample. We'll come back with a route and a quote.
Real people, a real workshop
You deal with the people who make it.
No call centre and no middlemen. When you contact TCI Culinary, you speak to the team who design, build and check your mould.
- A real Warwickshire workshopUnit 15, Waterloo Park, Bidford-on-Avon, Alcester B50 4JG.
- Real people on the phoneCall the team on 01789 224228, Monday to Friday.
- The same team on every jobDesign, production and aftercare come from the people you see here.
- BRCGS Grade AATechcraft Industries Culinary Ltd. See the certificate details.
Thomas LaneManaging Director
George PrestonDesign & Project Manager
Kelly BallingerHead of Partnerships
Jim AndertonProduction Manager
TheodoreEmployee Welfare