This blog post is dedicated to the work we do with our visionary friends in the hospitality sector, especially the restaurant business. It is no coincidence that we have increasingly worked with top chefs, sommeliers and companies such as Fazer. Food is at the center of the human experience. We eat and drink every day, not only to satisfy our physical needs but also as part of cultural and social interaction.
William Shakespeare wrote 'All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players'. In designing a restaurant we have the rare opportunity to consider every aspect of 'the stage' and explore how it sets people in new, surprising and exciting roles. The work we do in collaboration with our visionary clients we can at best change the way people are, and feel in the world. Together we work in order to add beauty, happiness, wonder as well as critical thinking to the lives of our audience.
Food Architecture for Tommi Tuominen & Bocuse d'Or
Bocuse d'Or is the world's most prestigious chef competition, which has been organized since 1987. This year for the Finnish trials we collaborated with chef Tommi Tuominen in order to create a completely new kind of 'food architecture' for his display tray. The tray is a mirrored steel sheet on which the food in shown to the audience, judges and media before being plated for tasting. We wanted the design to reflect Tommi's dynamism as a chef. He is a classically trained but also future oriented, and constantly in movement, constantly improving.
The 'food architecture' for him was based on the idea of dynamic forms which create a sensation of movement. We designed an oily, black, fluid structure, nicknamed the Beast. It wraps around two large heated soap stones on which the main ingredients - two ducks - are placed. On the swirling surfaces sitting on smaller soap stones are all of the dishes created from the duck, such as duck liver pate and duck hearts. It is as if the all the smaller dishes erupted from the two ducks and now orbit them in a wild movement. Nested within the curves of the Beast are hand blown glass saucières named Birds in Space as an homage to Constantin Brancusi, a master of fluid form.
An Object for Beauty and Performance
Bird in Space (homage to Brancusi) is a glass saucière developed for Chef Tommi Tuominen's Bocuse d'Or tray. The object fits the hand perfectly and when preheated the thick glass retains the heat of the sauce steaming hot. When we design objects such as the Bird in Space, we always considered them a part of an environment, an experience and a service. The Bird in Space works as a visual and haptic instrument for delivering a culinary experience.
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