Design Food: Raw Ingredients.

We’re back with our second instalment of mini content series in association with Smeg, which sees us exploring the intersection of food and design. (You can visit our previous article on Culinary Architecture here.)

As an Italian company committed to the finest quality and high-end design, there’s a seamless alignment and a synergy between Smeg and our content which explores edible moments that are sculptural, inspiring, interactive, visionary and radically contemporary. Most importantly, these examples recognise the importance of marrying style with technology, reflecting one of Smeg’s core values.

Once again, we look at food that unites design and art in the most fantastic of ways. The kind of food with an unapologetically conceptual bend. This is not the sort of stuff you are going to want to cook up at home, but it’s most definitely the stuff you will be referring to when dreaming up your next creative concept that goes beyond the obvious.

Today’s roundup delves into Raw Food – a visual celebration of fruit, vegetables and grains that elevate the humble ingredients into sometimes subtle, other times monumental works of art. Ultimately, most of the today’s examples celebrate nature’s own artistry, brought to life by seriously clever set designers, art directors and photographers.

Related:
Design Food: Styled Ingredients.
Design Food: Culinary Architecture.

‘Fruits Du Mal Powder’ by Gustav Almestal and Niklas Hansen for The Gourmand // For the last couple of years, photographer Gustav Almestål and set designer Niklas Hansen have been intrigued by the look of things when powdered. One of their recent collaborations saw them capturing powdered raw food in a cinematic and luxurious expression, effortlessly bringing together colour, lighting, composition, and a slight hint of the surreal sense of humour. Perfect.

November: purple cabbage, bok choy, shallots, cauliflower, tangelo, pomegranate seeds & sunchoke.

September: corn, garlic, beans, Mexican sour gherkins, ground cherries, sunchoke & dill.

July: figs, plums, oregano, ochre, greens, raspberries & onions.

December: pears, potatoes, sage, rosemary, brussel sprouts, persimmons, shallots, nutmeg, mandarins & cranberries.

October: mushrooms, greens.

‘Food Scans’ by Hargreaves Levin & Caitlin Levin // Henry Hargreaves and Caitlin Levin‘s series of delicious ‘Food Scans’ present raw fruit and vegetables in richly coloured, surrealist compositions that spotlight the beauty and bounty of seasonal produce. Organised by month, the images take on kaleidoscopic mesmerising configurations that explore the symmetry and aesthetic characteristics of everyday eats. Brilliant.

‘Colourful Winter:’ Fruits & Vegetables Still Life by Florent Tanet // Paris-based photographer and fashion designer Florent Tanet pursues personal work that brings together his obsessions in still life, minimalism, colours and daily objects. Early in 2013, Tanet held an exhibition dubbed “A Colourful Winter”, which showcased his clever images at Grande Epicerie at the Bon Marché in Paris.  These images take ordinary fruits and give them an extraordinary spin by capturing them in unimaginable ways that showcase produce that’s half peeled, deconstructed or rearranged in a playful manner. Nice.

‘Cubes’ by Studio Lernert & Sander for de Volkskrant // In 2014, Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant asked Amsterdam-based Lernert & Sander to create an image for their documentary photography special on the theme Food. The duo rose to the occasion by transforming raw, unprocessed ingredients into perfect cubes measuring 2.5 centimetres. There were 98 isometrically-arranged cubes in total, showcasing a myriad of ingredients such as red cabbage, dragon fruit, mushroom, tuna and much more. The artists chose to photograph the food in an isometric perspective, as this makes all individual ingredients appear equally important.

Each near-perfect cube was cut over the course of a five-day shoot, using a tool designed specifically by the duo’s carpenter – a modified Mandolin slicer of sorts. “If you look really closely, you will notice the cubes aren’t perfect after all; they all have tiny imperfections. The food looks great because it was cut just before we took the photo. They are all radiating from the fresh cut,” explain the artists.

Broccoli House.

Cucumber Killer Whale.

Blackberry Poodle.

Conceptual Food Photography by Brock Davis // Brock Davis is no stranger to these pages. The Minneapolis-based artist, creative director, thinker, and maker has worked in advertising for the past 17 years and is widely recognised for creating ground-breaking work. Davis has a unique perspective on life and demonstrates optimism throughout his photos – always witty and clever, and sometimes just plain hilarious. His Instagram is also definitely worth a little follow. You’re welcome.

Escargots.

Escargots.

Macho Avocado Mask.

Macho Medicine Man.

Macho Mr Loco.

Macho Tony.

Escargots & Macho Men by Carl Kleiner // My love of Carl Kleiner‘s work is well documented. The Stockholm-based photographer is known for his unique take on colour and exacting compositions. I’ve personally always admired his eye for detail, and a sense of irreverence and visual wit he portrays in his work. His Escargot & Macho series shown above are much like the rest of his portfolio which makes one think, look twice and laugh out loud. Besides, how could you not like a man that loves his veggies?!

‘Yolk’ by Camilla Wordie & Vici Watkins for The Gourmand // The power of a great image comes from the understanding that some things are best left underdone. ‘Yolk’ is a perfect example of such an approach. This playful collaboration between London-based conceptual artist and food stylist Camilla Wordie and photographer Vici Watkins focuses on the beautiful tones and textures of eggs, exploring the potential of a single, humble ingredient.

Florent Tanet for Le Monde // Paris-based photographer and fashion designer Florent Tanet (our friend from a couple of projects ago – slide up to see more) is commissioned weekly by the daily French newspaper Le Monde (one of the most important and widely respected newspapers in the world) for an ongoing series of images that bring together his love of still life, minimalism, colour and everyday objects such as food. Delicious.

Cotton Candy with Candle.

Duck.

Martini.

Burger.

RICE KO by Henry Hargreaves & Caitlin Levin // Food stylist Caitlin Levin and photographer Henry Hargreaves recreated some of Mark Rothko’s priceless works of art using rice. Sounds completely weird, I know, until you see the brilliant results of Levin’s hand-dyed rice used to duplicate the simple compositions with feathered edges that match the brush strokes of the late painter.

The story goes that in 1958, the Four Seasons restaurant in New York City commissioned Rothko to paint a series of works for their dining room. Rothko accepted the commission but later regretted his decision, stating that the elite establishment went against his principles, and that he wanted to “ruin the appetite of every son of a bitch who ever eats in that room.” Rothko eventually returned the money and took back his paintings. When the Four Seasons restaurant was announced it was closing, Henry Hargreaves and Caitlin Levin decided to pay tribute to Rothko and the beloved NY restaurant with the project cheekily dubbed Rice-Ko. So good.

Sunflower Seeds Installation at Tait London by Ai Weiwei // In 2010, famed Chinese artist Ai Weiwei covered the floor of the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern in London with more than 100 million individually handmade replica sunflower seeds that spanned 1,000 square metres of the hall. The installation challenged our first impressions: what you saw is not what you saw, and what you saw is not what it meant.

The sculptural installation was made up of what appeared to be millions of sunflower seed husks, apparently identical but actually unique. Although they looked realistic, each seed was made out of porcelain, intricately hand-crafted by hundreds of skilled artisans. Poured into the interior of the Turbine Hall’s vast industrial space, the seeds formed a seemingly infinite landscape.

The precious nature of the material, the effort of production and the narrative and personal content made this work a powerful commentary on the human condition. Each piece was a part of the whole – a poignant commentary on the relationship between the individual and the masses. There were over one hundred million seeds, five times the number of Beijing’s population and nearly a quarter of China’s internet users. The work seemed to pose numerous questions. What does it mean to be an individual in today’s society? Are we insignificant or powerless unless we act together? What do our increasing desires, materialism and number mean for society, the environment and the future?

Related: Ai Weiwei Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts London.

Red Hong Yi’s Portrait of Ai Weiwei Using 20,000 Sunflower Seeds // Malaysian-born Shanghai-based artist Red Hong Yi (Red) used 20,000 expertly placed sunflower seeds to create a giant portrait of Ai Weiwei. The seeds were sprinkled onto a canvas in celebration of an artist who is forever questioning and asking for accountability from government establishments through his art. “In light of all the absurdity that is and will keep on happening in this world, here is a piece made of 20,000 seeds, inspired by Ai’s quote – The seed is a household object but at the same time it is a revolutionary symbol”, she says.

Monumental Installations with Salt by Motoi Yamamoto // Japanese artist Motoi Yamamoto creates monumental and ephemeral installations using painstakingly arranged grains of salt inside some rather spectacular locations, like, you know, 13th-century medieval castles in France. Yamamoto’s creative interpretations of this natural ingredient appear as intricate mazes, lace and bubble-like patterns, often symbolic of memories, fragments of time, life and death, resurrection, rebirth and vitality. The artist’s intricate, labour intensive installations take on average 5 days (45 hours) to complete.

The Geometric Food Art by Sakir Gökçebag // Turkish artist Sakir Gökçebag skillfully re-imagins the idea of raw food through his series of artworks that organise various fruits and vegetables into visually striking patterns. His final images are not digitally manipulated, combining meticulous orchestration that creates perfectly formed geometric forms and straight lines.

Painted Foods in Disguise by Hikaru Cho // Young Japanese artist Hikaru Cho misleads the viewer by painting and visually transforming different foods – bananas appear as cucumbers, tomatoes as oranges, eggplants as eggs. Super cunning.

I just hope nobody falls for her hyperrealistic food interpretations. I mean, can you imagine biting into an eggplant and feeling raw egg run down your face? Ummm… gross. I suppose biting a raw eggplant is a weird thing to do in the first place, so we’re probably safe from that random little fantasy of mine. Anyway, as you were.

Food Sculptures by Dan Cretu // My parents raised me to believe that playing with your food is not a done thing. Romanian photographer, artist and maker, Dan Cretu, clearly had a very different upbringing. Either that or he was a bit of a rebel. I just love his super fun little sculptures of everyday objects made with food. Incr-edible!

This Yellowtrace Promotion is proudly brought to you in association with Smeg.

[Images courtesy of the designers & photographers as noted.]