Reconceptualizing the Things On or with Which You Eat
I'm not certain how I missed this, but I only this moment came across Ferran Adria's tableware designs: http://www.facesdesign.com/indexf.html
Although I don't love all the ideas on the site, I do like seeing this sort of thinking; it's so easy to take for granted the objects we use every day, even if they're not necessarily ideal for our purposes.
Any thoughts on this, and have any of you ever had ideas for practical revamps of tableware, which might update or replace traditional designs?
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10 Comments:
I'm a big fan of the spork. If they could add a cutting edge, it would solve a lot of problems over setting/clearing/washing in my house.
Keight at 7:25PM on 01/15/09
I'll have to come back to this when I think more about tablescapes, but the thing that popped up in my mind was a comment posted about small kitchens being an excuse not to put out good food (not). The guy wrote about using his canoe paddle as a cutting board and also as a plate while roughing it camping and producing some terrific food. The image was just so charming, it stuck in my head. Now there's some good old fashioned American ingenuity, as my grandpa would've said. BTW, just made our camping reservation for August...warm weather envy. Sigh.
dhorst at 7:42PM on 01/15/09
I have to throw in Martha here, sorry guys, she picks that greenware and or white plates and the food is the art work. Spain is behind us on trends so I guess this is their period to gaudy it up. I hope they enjoy it. It will all be at garage sales for a buck in the next 5 years
JerzeeTomato at 8:00PM on 01/15/09
Ina also has some nice ideas too.
@Jerzee, that Spanish gaudy stuff would probably be nice with plain old white plates as an accent here and there. Or...my MIL would love it, not to be mean but she's way behind the times and would feel very trendy. ; )
dhorst at 8:22PM on 01/15/09
I didn't see anything I'd consider gaudy, although I didn't look at dishes, just serving platters and a bunch of other kitchen things. I'm a big fan and love the interesting, artistic designs. Fell in love with the figure 8 salad tongs, but wonder if they'd be a little hard for my arthritic hands to squeeze. Gorgeous things, in my humble opinion. I should have been an artist like my daughter. Those things excite me.
PerkyMac at 12:00AM on 01/16/09
Oh, I'd love any of that service...If I worked for NASA. Seriously, no thanks.
therealchiffonade at 12:45PM on 01/16/09
Some of those were really sleek and lovely; I wouldn't call it gaudy. I especially like the 7bowls. I'm a whitewear girl myself, but I like to mix it up with unique serving and accent pieces.
emgroff at 7:31PM on 01/16/09
Love the flatware...hate the price.
bessfour at 4:12PM on 01/17/09
Hmm... I like the design of the knives in the flatware section. Many of them look like feathers, which I think is quite lovely. I'm not a big fan of the two-pronged forks, though. They just look too pointy. I'd be tempted to poke someone sitting next to me for no reason.
I'm a sucker for good design. I love the sleek, smooth look, but I also am in love with some more whimsical design choices as well. When I lived in Thailand, I became a fan of Propaganda, and if you are fond of multitasking kitchen tools (calling all Spork fans), you might enjoy Propaganda's combination fork and bottle opener, combination spoon and chopsticks, and combination fruit bowl and knife.
If I ever find myself in Bangkok again, I'm hitting up the Propaganda store something fierce. One can only seem to find a few places here and there that sell a few Propaganda pieces online, but not the whole catalogue.
tastyfever at 12:03AM on 01/18/09
Back to the Adría collections: the Gélida XL set ... come on, how serious is it to avoid condensation? Stainless steel interior with glass exterior? I sure hope that's Pyrex. I think the nesting 7Bowls set is clever.
Adría's own tableware designs: I read some worshipful prose about his designing tableware specifically for certain dishes, things that no one had seen or thought of before, but I don't see it here. That Bandeja Mars – the ultra-divided stainless steel platter with separate compartments for each individual canapé – irritates me intensely. I love deviled eggs and such, but I hate divided plates! A handsome piece that I never want to see on my table!
The slotted spoon is very pretty, but makes a virtue of bad manners, I think – it's designed specifically to permit you to eat the tidbits out of your soup without the broth, or hot cereal without the milk.
The only thing in Adría's own collection that makes me smile are (the damn slotted spoon) and the appetizer spoon, just big enough to hold one little serving.
Everything on that site looks sleek and lovely in a futuristic (or whimsical) way, but most of it looks unnecessary and a few pieces actually look awkward to use. All in all, a waste of brilliant design talent.
The online stores? Ish.
gentlyferal at 2:35PM on 01/18/09