Outcome

I use my Instant Pot regularly, and noticed that usage could be streamlined by having a better way to remove the inner pot after the food has finished cooking but while the pot is still very hot. Thus, I designed this removable handle to safely remove the inner pot of food.

I used laser-cut wood as the core structure and added clay on top for a more ergonomic form. However, I left the slot in the handle as bare wood in order to retain the the rigidity there. 

Here's my mood board/documentation, which shows some of the removable handle designs that I drew inspiration from as well as my (very mediocre) marker renderings, initial calculations of pot dimensions, CAD, and laser-cutting files.

Below are some pictures of the CAD files in Solidworks that I made of the inner pot and the handle.

And finally, here's what the laser cutting file looked like (from Slicer) as well as the assembled wooden core.