CHIL-DISH project

Activity: Talk or presentation typesConference presentation

Description

Can a plate not have legs and arms? Why couldn’t a teapot look like a house? We are used to eat our food from certain types of tableware. CHIL-DISH project challenges the social and design norms dictating our eating behaviors and asks children how they would like to eat. Why children? Their imagination is still unspoiled and their habits are less ‘dyed-in-the-wool’, so to say. At the same time children should already at an early age be taught on new technologies and responsible food. In short CHIL-DISH merges the creativity and enthusiasm of kids, modern technology, design and food and turns children’s drawings into real porcelain tableware. The process starts with a workshop where kids are asked to draw ‘the world’s greatest’ tableware. They can think about their favorite food or drink and draw a tableware design for that. They will get necessary guidance from the facilitators and from their parents of course. The authors of the project will then selected the most interesting and producible drawings and translate them into 3D models by using a 3D modeling software. After initial check-up the models are sent to the 3D printing service Shapeways in New York where they are manufactured in 3D printed porcelain. The biggest challenge of the translation process is to interpret the kids’ drawings and turn them into functional and printable objects without losing the original idea. The technology Shapeways uses makes it possible to produce even the wildest designs in food safe porcelain – something that would be almost impossible with traditional methods. In total three drawing workshops have been facilitated for kids of all ages, two at the Helsinki Design Week (in 2015 and 2016) and the latest at the Dutch Design Week in Autumn 2016. The workshops have produced in total more than 500 imaginative tableware ideas from which ten have been translated into 3D models and manufactured in 3D printed porcelain. These first ten pieces made their way to their respected designers, the kids, during a cooking event organized at the Michelin-starred restaurant Olo on Saturday 12 March 2016. The makers of the ten designs were paired with ten top chefs from Finland. Each pair went first to the local food market to get some fresh produce and then returned to the kitchen where they together created a wonderful dish to be served naturally from the tableware the child had drawn. While the workshops are about designing and learning about 3D printing technology the cooking event is about food and where it comes from and how it is prepared. These parts come together when the kids are eating a dish made by them from a dish drawn by them. Hopefully this magical moment ignites a spark in the children’s minds and will inspire them to become the makers of the future.
Period17 Feb 2017
Event titleInternational Conference on Food Design
Event typeConference
Conference number3
LocationVirtual conference, UnknownShow on map

Keywords

  • Food
  • Design
  • Children
  • Tableware
  • Collaboration
  • Paticipatory design
  • Designing with children
  • 3D Printed Ceramics
  • Porcelain