“I can’t stand people who do not take food seriously,” said Oscar Wilde. But he certainly could not have imagined food as artwork. As in the creative research of Cecilie Rudolphe, of Danish origin but based in London, who combines a passion for food and the textile universe, in a “mixture of Nordic aesthetics and sophisticated couture elements,” in a playful, elegant way.
With the Velbekomme project (bon appetit, in Danish), “I investigate the meaning of consumption and refuse, proposing new forms and modes of use.” Hypnotic ‘Food as an Image’ with the illusion of a central role, to make table linens ‘delicious,’ part of the experience of dining and tasting.
The adventure just begun in Milan by Mariangela and Titti Negroni is in tune with these ideas, in the recently opened Funky Table, in search of a mixture between “the imperfection of handicrafts and everyday irony.” “We want to create a dialogue between objects from different parts of the world, capable of updating our tables with a few new pieces,” they explain.
The displays feature ceramics in the form of vegetables, or flatware engraved with initials in exaggerated lettering. There are also edible cracker dishes that can stand up to the heat of a soup. Guaranteed zero waste.
Discards are also the theme of the research of Berlin-based artist Uli Westphal, who with his ‘Mutatoes’ puts the spotlight on ‘flawed’ vegetables and fruits, specimens in which nature seems to have played a prank, modifying their shape. In front of his camera a potato that looks like a snail or a branching carrot can be transformed into a star.
“’Mutatoes’ is the ultimate chance to understand the vastness of the diversity and morphological plasticity that exist in agriculture,” Westphal explains. From research he has proceeded to production, in the ‘Cultivar series’ that focuses on cultivated varieties based on free pollination, which the artist says are “on their way to extinction.”
As we know, at the market consumers want red apples, hopefully polished to an attractive shine.Spontaneity is the theme of GnamBox.com, a multiform social networking project that shifts from the Internet to the kitchen: “We believe food is a tool of communication in its own right – say the creators of the initiative Riccardo Casiraghi and Stefano Paleari – through which to encounter and narrate people, places, favorite products.”
Always around a table, that of the home of the two ex-designers, where personalities of Milan are invited to cook, or for specially organized events. The photos, portraits and recipes are all online, in a mosaic of opportunities of ongoing composition, also with a Horoscope “to understand if you are in a crunchy or smooth phase, or a tough one like a frisella from Apulia.”
by Paola Romagnoli
