The culinary art engages various senses. Apart from taste and smell, it also concerns sight and touch. Why do various types of pasta taste different with the same sauce? Those which are served in a bowl taste different from those served on a plate. We also think differently about food which is presented beautifully, in a ‘spacious’ manner, or when it is cluttered on a small vessel. The shape affects the taste of what we eat. The shape also affects the way we eat.

The Art Food project concentrates on such nuances: the relationships between form and taste, form and gesture, form and intention. The students of Domestic Design at the School of Form were occupied with this topic for the whole semester of the second year of their studies. They were investigating and discussing the topic with the anthropologist dr Ewa Klekot, the renowned chef Wojciech Amaro, who was the first Pole to receive a Michelin star, as well as designers and organizers of mass events. They also took under scrutiny human behaviors as well as forms created by nature. They asked questions and observed.

At the same time, supervised by Marek Cecula, who led the project, together with Olga Milczynska and Arek Szwed from our ceramics studio, they were exploring the art of ceramics: form, porcelain molding and firing. Their task was to create a form of a pure beauty which would inspire the chef to prepare a dish dedicated for this vessel.

A whole new journey has started when they got to the conclusions of their practical and theoretical research and formed the prototypes of the “food carriers”.

The students from School of Form, together with their peers from the Royal College of Art (six people from each school) spent three weeks of July in the Ćmielów Porcelain Factory – the oldest fine porcelain manufacturer in Poland, established in 1790.

They learnt how to adjust their ideas to the requirements of mass production. They began a difficult process leading from an idea atv accessories to a product.

Not many factories decide to take up such experiments, and not many students get the chance to participate in them. Still, it is a rare occasion to find a producer working together with a designer, striving to achieve the best possible effect, that would satisfy both parties.

Those 12 students, at the verge of their career as designers, had a chance to learn how to ask important questions. The Polish Porcelain Factories in Ćmielów acted without precedent, opening the Ćmielów Design Studio under the leadership of Marek Cecula. We hope that this idea turns out to be contagious.

The students from Poland and England spent together three weeks in Ćmielów.

We do not know what will happen next. How many of them will continue to explore the field of ceramics, or how many will become designers. Even if their fate will lead them to a different field, there is one thing that will remain: the experience of friendship and cooperation, the exchange of knowledge, emotions and skills.

This is yet another side of this project, who knows, if not the most valuable …

The products created in the Art Food project were presented in July at Concordia Design in Poznań, Poland.
They will be presented again during the London Design Festival 14-22 September, and during Łódź Design Festival, 17 – 27 October in Łódź, Poland.

artfood2013.com