Olivia Ioannou
For me, the act of eating goes beyond the stimulation of the palate by an explosion of flavour. I’m interested in exploring, understanding and questioning the whole experience, how different variables like location, atmosphere or cutlery affect or even enhance the whole experience. The relationship we have with food is not only affected by our cultural heritage, but also the environment in which we interact with it. This project started by exploring the ways and tools we already use to consume food, including spoons and chopsticks, and how even the size, shape, material and texture of these tools affects our perception and enjoyment of food.
Eating with chopsticks subconsciously forces you to look at your food, thoughtfully select your next bite. The added visual reference results in a greater appreciation of your food.
Eating with your fingers however, provides a more sensually stimulating experience, as it involves direct contact with the food and may suggest a deeper connection with your food.
I wanted to fuse these two ways of eating by creating wearable chopsticks. They maintain the need to visually reference what you are eating, while still maintaining the motion of eating with your hands.
In my work I always aim to create in an environmentally conscious manner, and come up with ways that allow us to behave and think more sustainably. So moving on to make edible cutlery seemed like the obvious direction to take, while still exploring possible vehicles for transferring our food from plate to mouth, that will give a different effect on the whole experience.
