9/4/2020
Busy Bee Ritual (10 min or less)
When time is limited, I like to bring more intention to my cacao making process. You can put on one of your favorite songs, more meditative if you want to inspire a sense of calm, or more upbeat if you’re wanting a more energized start. Bring presence to the process of making the cacao by using your senses. What does it smell like? Notice the sounds of pouring your water, and feel the warmth of the cup as you hold it in your hands. When you are ready to drink your cacao, first pause and hold the cup to your heart feeling the warmth, and with a smile on your lips, set your intention for the day knowing that it is being infused into your cup of cacao.
The text describes some aspects when preparing and experiencing a cacao ceremony. I will start with them. For example, the pouring process. It could be a vessel that emphasizes the sound of liquid when pouring; or one that has to be held by two hands to pour, because the gesture is more ceremonial compare to one hand.
https://ceremonial-cacao.com/pages/create-your-own-ceremony/
9/4/2020
Spout, Shaakira Jassat
This design challenges the act of pouring. The vessels have unusual forms, making water to spill out easily. I like how the water is poured out. It comes out from multiple openings. The gesture of holding is different from mundane actions, giving the process a sense of ritual.
http://studio-sway.com/project/spout/
How We Drink, Shaakira Jassat
The vessel is inspired by the shape of the hands when cupping two palms together to hold water. Different from drinking from a conventional cup, this cup builds more connections with the body. The intimacy of drinking water from hands makes users cherish the water more. The shape is simple and can explain itself, which is suitable for making by hands using clay.
18/3/2020
In the 18th Century, there was a type of pitchers that was designed for drinking hot chocolate. It has a hole on the lid for inserting a frother, a wooden beater used to froth the chocolate and improve its flavor.
The ritual,
rubbing the beater
Put a candle at the bottom.
8/3/2020
Single-origin chocolate
"Even though the term single-origin chocolate is a new one, historically people categorized the good stuff by location. In The New Taste of Chocolate, Maricel Presilla recounts that the Aztecs “arranged their stores of cacao by place of origin, as we might distinguish between Blue Point and Cotuit oysters.” In the late 1700s, Peruvians even wanted to create official fixed prices for cacao “according to quality and place of origin.”
The idea of identifying cacao based on where it was grown faded with the industrial era, though; at first bigger companies simply wanted to keep their recipes secret, but some started combining lower-quality beans from many different locations and over-roasting them to mask their acidity and bitterness and create a uniform product."
https://www.thekitchn.com/what-is-single-origin-chocolate-227843
Chocolate industry and child labor
"On average, cocoa farmers earn less than $2 per day, an income below the poverty line. As a result, they often resort to the use of child labor to keep their prices competitive."
"On cocoa farms, 10% of child laborers in Ghana and 40% in the Ivory Coast do not attend school,[2] which violates the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Child Labour Standards."
https://foodispower.org/human-labor-slavery/slavery-chocolate/
2/3/2020
Social farms & gardens
https://www.farmgarden.org.uk/your-area/london
R-URBAN
Cocoa and climate change
https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-and/climate-chocolate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYIVcZydpeg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXlDdzeRWQk
http://www.climateaction.org/news/scientists-urge-action-to-save-chocolate-from-climate-change
1/3/2020
Manga Plates, Mika Tsutai
Cultural, S., Food Player. Gingko Press, Incorporated
Banana Story, Björn Steinar Blumenstein and Johanna Seelemann, 2016
https://johannaseelemann.com/Banana-Story
The handle at the bottom reminds me of chopsticks.
Bowl made of coconut shell. Sustainable
The discs are placed vertically, which reminds me of licking the yoghurt cap.
Zebra drinking, back to nature.
Source: Shops on the Columbia road
Makeshift Tray, Dean Brown
I like the combination of folded sheet metal and hand-carved wood.
https://www.dezeen.com/2014/12/02/fabrica-one-and-only-collection-nine-unique-objects-larcobaleno/
Westiental cutlery, Wen Jing Lai, 2014
Integrate western and eastern culture.
26/2/2020
Cubes, de Volkskrant
The shape of food - cube, which is very neat and precise, makes me think of modified food.
http://lernertandsander.com/cubes/
Medical Heirlooms, Tamsin van Essen, 2019
The work explores the stigma of diseases. It is a creative way of using ceramic and traditional jars.
http://www.tamsinvanessen.com/medical-heirlooms/2015/10/15/jbdbx16pp7y9j6epzb12hgq7oeuc56
Reversed Volumes, mischer’traxler, 2010
A bowl that emphasizes vegetables. I could also use the imprint to record the food production process.
http://www.pcmdesign.es/index.php?/projects/reversedvolumes/
Cow&Co, Anastasia Eggers and Ottonie von Roeder, 2017
A design that demonstrates the manufacturing process of milk to the public. By letting users get milk in the fields from a real cow, it reconnects consumers to food production. It connects virtual and reality. I could use an app to guide people to places where food come from. For example, asparagus on hills.
https://anastasiaeggers.com/Cow-Co
Trend Food Forecast, Anouk van Ranst
I like how the designer uses the flower as a container to serve food.
https://www.designacademy.nl/events/archive-events/graduation-12/project?ProjectId=399
New DNA research suggests that there has been a dramatic decrease in the biodiversity of the world’s rice crop over the past 2,000 years.
It may be the staple food of a third of the people on Earth but we rely overwhelmingly on just two domestic varieties of rice – japonica and indica – and until now, we have had only a sketchy idea where they came from.
https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/rice-biodiversity-has-collapse-in-past-2-000-years
https://www.statista.com/outlook/40060000/100/pasta-rice/worldwide#market-revenue
London Visits
1. Victoria and Albert Museum, FOOD: Bigger than the Plate, 18 May 2019 – 20 October 2019
The Human Pollination Project, Laura Allcorn, 2009
This is a design that responds to "Colony Collapse Disorder", where honeybees are disappearing since 2006. This toolkit is used for hand pollinating so that wearers can experience what honeybees are doing. I like how it reveals the process of pollination using these tools. I want to design a series of tableware that allows users to hold a ceremony.
Eating Utensils, Charles Michel and Andreas Fabian, 2014
The use of material and surface is brilliant. When filled with cold water, the highly conductive silver beaker can transfer the temperature to the user's skin instantly, making it feels like drinking from a stream using hands. The bowl with rabbit fur engages users with its content - rabbit stew. I could use materials to intensify users's sensory experience.
2. TwentyTwentyOne
Interesting combination of salt jar and spoons. I can see how users take salt using these spoons from their shape. I like the two materials - clay and brass. They create a sense of rituals.
3. a shop in Covent Garden
Telescopic fork/spoon. The handle of the fork/spoon can extend.
4. Pollock's Toy Museum
French Plaster Food on English Plates with German Cutlery
The collision of three cultures
Personal Context
Food waste on a plate.
Watching TV shows while eating instant noodles.
Eating ritual in fast food.
The cake underneath can neutralize the oil from the mutton.
The way food is served(mutton on a stick) determined how eater eat the food. Eaters will use chopsticks or fork if the mutton is placed in a plate.
There was a large chunk of fish. The shape is suitable for a knife to cut a fork to pick.
Materials and Methods of Making
Digital manufacturing
3-D printing
Mass manufacturing
Injection moulding
Assembly-line manufacturing
This way of manufacturing can ensure the size and weight of each ball is exactly the same.
10/4/2020
Local is Lekker, Shaakira Jassat
This design is a remoulded European sized plate that is suitable to consume Japanese cuisines. Japanese tableware is much smaller and it is designed for a Japanese way of eating. The tableware retains the western culture and the designer alters it according to the art of Japanese dining principles, making the tableware more accessible for Europeans to experience a Japanese eating lifestyle. I like the idea of fusing a strange culture with something that users are more familiar with. In my case, it is adding ancient Maya culture to modern life.
10/4/2020
The Ancient History of Chocolate, Gift of the Gods
In today’s society, chocolate is a popular treat, and comes in many forms, including blocks, paste and powder. Several centuries ago, however, chocolate was considered a luxury item, and came only in one form – as a drink.
Cacao seeds were fermented, roasted, and ground into a paste. The cacao paste would then be mixed with water or wine, ground maize and a variety of flavorings. These flavorings include chili pepper, vanilla, allspice and honey. The mixture would then go through a process called frothing, in which it is poured back and forth from pot to cup until a deep foam was formed on the top.
https://www.ancient-origins.net/history/ancient-history-chocolate-gift-gods-002770
19/3/2020
Milk Factory, 5.5 designers
The shape is based on the nipples of cow, which reminds users of milk's origin. However, only mimiking the form is too simple.
https://www.5-5.paris/en/projects/product/milk-factory-domestic-cow-2016-17
The Introverted, 5.5 designers
Eater unveils the chocolate layer by layer, and finally reveal its origin. Furthermore, the percentage of cocoa increases nearer to the centre. I really like the way the design presents the idea, inspired by Russian nesting dolls, showing the truly precious part of chocolate.
https://www.5-5.paris/en/projects/product/chocolat-factory-turrones-2009-31
6/3/2020
The Ancient Art of Chocolate-Making | National Geographic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l3TFieqIvk
The history of chocolate
https://www.ted.com/talks/deanna_pucciarelli_the_history_of_chocolate/transcript#t-212387
More Than a Drink: Chocolate in the Pre-Columbian World:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPjQ82-MlSs&t=875s
Cacao in Olmec Society
https://sites.bu.edu/gastronomyblog/2017/07/20/cacao-in-olmec-society/
History of Chocolate
https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-americas/history-of-chocolate
Cocoa life
28/2/2020
The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci, 1490s
“One of you will betray me.”
"Take this bread, for this is my body, take this wine, for this is my blood, and remember me."
The relationship between Christ and his disciples; the relationship between earth and human.
Tantalus Dinner, Ioli Sifakaki, 2009
https://www.dezeen.com/2009/07/06/tantalus-dinner-by-ioli-sifakaki/
Art & Design Context
The Five K's, Jasleen Kaur, 2017
The Five K's carpets is a reconfigured version of the five items commanded to be worn by Sikhs in 1699. Jasleen Kaur asks participants to put the "bum on the carpet" and "plate on the floor". Her rules for eating make viewers reconsider the cultural relationship of Indian food in Britain. The artist take inspiration from her religious culture and change its form to eating rituals. Food and eating are a more universal way of communication. People from different cultural background can understand easily.
Foragers, Dunne&Raby, 2009
These devices allow human to digest and process barely edible resources. A problem caused by insufficient food.
Biogas Power Plant, SKREI, 2017
Body I-II, SKREI, 2017
An individual biogas production unit which could use domestic waste to create and store energy to make house self-sufficient. I like the idea of using food waste to generate energy.
Political Context
Enemies and Kitchens, Michael Rakowitz
This project is about the conflict between America and Iraq. The food truck brings food labelled "Product of Iraq" into America. The chefs are Iraqi and servers are American veterans of the US - Iraq War. The foods become a symbol of culture.
Yeryüzü Sofrast Earth's Table, 2013
During the Gezi Park protests in Istanbul in 2013, people from different religious, socio-economic and ethnic background came out onto the streets for a meal, to break the Ramadan fast as a group. In this case, the Ramadan became an act of unity against a repressive government.
Articles / facts / reports
Average purchase per person per week of burgers eaten out in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2006 to 2017/2018 (in grams)
Spending in the United Kingdom (UK) takeaway market reached an estimated 9.9 billion British pounds in 2016. This figure was forecast to continue increasing each year up to 2021.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/584999/takeaways-household-spending-united-kingdom-uk/
1. Gastrophysics, Synesthesia, Multisensory Side of Eating
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0950329311001807
2. The taste of food also depends on the material you eat it from.
3. Heavy cutlery enhances diners’ enjoyment of the food.
https://flavourjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13411-015-0036-y
4. Food waste
5. Insufficient food in the future
6. Reward mechanisms in eating
7. Receptors on the tongue
8. Mood and shopping
9. Securing food supplies up to 2050: the challenges faced by the UK - Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmenvfru/213/21304.htm
End User Context
Astronaut working in space
Zero gravity condition. The foods and drinks will float in the air.
Cerebral palsy sufferers
Eaters with visual impairments
For those living with the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.
People in the field
Soldiers at war
7/3/2020
stir-cup, nendo, 2019
Stir-cup is specially designed for drinking Calpico®, a popular Japanese drink. It simplifies the preparation and adds a unique kind of ritual to the drinking experience. I love the simplicity of the form. Furthermore, it eliminates the complex measuring procedure to an enjoyable ritual.
http://www.nendo.jp/en/works/stir-cup/?egenre
U4HK, 5.5 designers, 2015
https://www.5-5.paris/en/projects/product/u4hk-u4hk-2015-49
https://www.dezeen.com/2008/04/04/chocolate-pencils-by-nendo/
29/2/2020
I looked at how ancient human eat.
Back then, human were strongly connected with nature. It contrasts with modern life today. People living in the city forget the origin of food. While in rural areas, many people still live upon nature. They pick up food materials in the mountains and sell them on markets.
Stone tools used to cut meat, around 420,000 years old.
Left: Flint nodule; Right: Hand axe
Teeth remind me of chewing. The shape of teeth could show what kind of food living beings eat.
Source: Photos and videos are taken in the National History Museum
How ancient human eats
Pathway Context
Beyond Taste collection, Teresa Berger, 2020
The collection aims to strengthen the connection between eaters and foods. Teresa Berger uses various approaches to design these tablewares. Some are about playing with food. For example, the Dancing Bowl creates a playful interaction with soft, gelatinous foods. It consists of a plate that will start to jiggle when touched with a spoon. Some facilitate the Italian ritual of "fare la scarpetta", which is about food remnants. For example, The Dripping Dish has a strainer that releases liquid into the bowl underneath. I could start with the quality of foods. It could be gelatinous food, saucy dishes, liquid or foods like caviar or boba. Learning from eating rituals is another way. For example, there is an old Chinese saying "Every grain comes from hard working", telling us not to waste food.
https://www.dezeen.com/2020/01/27/teresa-berger-beyond-taste-tableware-multisensory/
Annoyingly Dependent Objects, Lillian Tørlen, 2019
These plates rely on other supportive structures. I like how the shape of the plate interacts with the food. The irregularities make eaters rethink where and how to place these plates.
Volcanic Rock Collection, Piamundo, 2018
The lid is made from Caribbean walnut. It helps keep flour tortillas for tacos warm and moist when stored inside. The design applies the chemical properties of the wood. I could study the properties of materials and how they affect the food.
https://www.dezeen.com/2018/08/22/volcanic-rock-collection-piamundo-bowls-vases-candle-holders/
Loïc Bard, 2018
Use untraditional shaped utensils to play with food.
Spamt Tool Kids Kit, Martí Guixé, 2000
Tools needed to make Spamt + Techno-Tapas. I like the tool to measure the size of the tomato when shopping because it includes the shopping part. The selection of Ingredients is a key procedure in cooking.
Swartz, J., 2011. Martí Guixé: Food Designing. Corraini Edizioni.
My Soft Office, Hella Jongerius, 2001
This design questions the relationship between working and living. We often see people working while eating. This design allows users to reflect on their behaviour. My aim is the opposite of this.
http://www.jongeriuslab.com/work/my-soft-office
Funeral Dinner,Marije Vogelzang, 1999
Dinner in special events.
Vogelzang, M., 2009. Eat Love: Food Concepts By Eating-designer Marije Vogelzang. Bis Publishers.
Historical Research
Slow Food Movement
An international movement started in December 1989 in Paris.
Kuksa, double loop handle
Kuksa has been the drinking vessel of the Sami(the indigenous people of far northern Scandinavia) for centuries. They are made of birch burl, which stops them freezing to lips during arctic winters. The characteristic is determined by the weather condition of the region. The kuksa has two loops, so users will put two fingers into the loops to hold it.
Sleek spoon, Achille and Pier Giacomo, 1962
The shape allows food to be scraped from the side of jars.
It's not that long ago where we start to put all the dishes on the table.
Cultural Context
Sharing food on the dining table
Friends and family gathering during festivals
Food and class differences
Diet and Obesity