scholten and baijings vegetables

a view into the showcase
image © designboom

recently the dutch designer duo scholten and baijings opened a retrospective at
vivid gallery in rotterdam. they called their exhibition ‘from japanese furniture to vegetables’.

during milan design week 2010, at rossana orlandi in milan they showcased inedible
vegetables with a great sense of realism to real produce. from a distance the stalks
of raw rhubarb look almost real. however, it’s only when this fabric trompe l’oeil is right
under your nose that the woven texture and the stitching is visible.

vegetables by scholten and baijings

the realism is especially evident in the red stem that gradually becomes a paler in pink as
it reaches the leaf. details such as the inclusion of dark veins makes these ‘fake’ vegetables
especially convincing. the leaf curl up whimsically and slowly graduate in color from
a green to a soft yellow and, finally,  to a pastel pink. even the half-round, slightly hollowed
out form of the stalk is photorealistic.

vegetables on display
image © designboom

cabbages
image © designboom

image © designboom

image © designboom

cabbages

cabbage

cabbage

image © designboom

artichoke

image © designboom
lemons

Via DesignBoom

Bento, Chocolate, & Beyond: 10 Intriguing Examples of Food Art

As the fear of the obesity epidemic rises, food is seen more an more as simply something one has to cut back on. Lunch is no longer a joyful time to cherish, but a disappointing time spent in front of a microwave. Not everyone has succumbed to this despair, however, and a lot of people are compensating for smaller, healthier, portions, with beautiful aesthetics. Here are 10 beautiful and mystifying artworks made out of cuisine:

(Images via modes4u, lostateminor, neatorama, twolia)

Bento boxes are single portion takeouts and home prepared meals that are extremely popular in Japanese culture. Some people take it very seriously, and love to turn an otherwise mundane preparation into an applause worthy artistic expression. One can only imagine how difficult it would be to start chowing down if your microwave meal was being oohed and aaahed as much as one of these preparations would be.

(Images via neatorama, slashfood, wonderhowto, cadbury)

Chocolate portraits are an increasingly popular artistic expression. The concentration here is on appearance, not taste, so they may not taste as great as you’d think, but they certainly are eye-catching. Chocolate has the advantage of coming in a variety of colors and hues, and being both malleable and hard enough to maintain its form. Through sculpture and careful pouring and manipulation, chocolate artists can create incredibly realistic depictions.

(Images via pixdaus, jorymon)

Nothing spices up a pot luck like strategically arraying your food into a classic painting or character portrait. Such simple and intriguing displays are a bit inspiring. How much harder would it be to add a few distinctive features to your otherwise mundane dish? You may not want to tackle the Mona Lisa the next time you set out cheese and crackers, but a nice smiley face never hurts.

(Images via obesityhelp, popfi, funnypictures, guardian)

Some believe that higher powers work in mysterious ways… whether these are examples of this, or just fortuitous coincidence, is hard to say. Regardless of the source of these inspirational portraits, nobody can deny they’re intriguing. The phenomenon of seeing Jesus’ face in random food products (like the cheeto, naan, potato chip, and fish stick pictured above), isn’t constrained to the food itself:

(Images via bitchspot, popfi)

Household items can showcase unearthly portraits as easily as a potato chip. Whether you find excitement over these occurrences ridiculous or spiritual, they’re definitely interesting.

(Images via guardian, amandamorrow, popularasians, chilloutpoint)

Sushi is delicious, and no one will argue that the taste of a good sushi roll can be affected by the artistry of its creation, and its appearance on the plate. There are some who take this to an extreme. A portrait of President Obama and the face of a friendly panda may have been the inspiration for a sushi vinyl toy that does not look happy to be on the plate.

(Images via foundshit, geekologie, break4fun, insomniadiaries)

Meat is something a lot of people like to eat, and it’s also something a lot of people don’t like to think about. Whether you’re a meat lover or not, the above sculpted artworks are a bit nauseating, and very unique. After taking a look at this assemblage of strange sculptures, it will be hard to see a muscle car the same way again.

(Images via panric, pxleyes, saufnase)

For artists with a photographic and technological bent, food is more enjoyable to manipulate with photoshop. Mixing and matching different objects in entertaining and shocking ways is a great way to catch someone’s attention and show off your skills with photo manipulation.

(Images via rockstartemplate, humor-articles, unstructured musings, weirdspy)

Artists choose a variety of strange materials, and food is no exception. Some artists love taking the everyday and turning them into something more powerful. A good photo changes an otherwise temporary piece of art into something that can brighten up someone’s day for as long as the internet is around.

(Images via philagrafika, hackedgadgets, blisstree)

Toast is the foundation for any good breakfast, in television commercials, and in the average home. One might say toast is both the most common and most boring part of breakfast, but new technology aims to change that. Possibly inspired by the faces of Jesus that kept appearing on slices of bread, some engineers put together a toast printer that can imprint any image you’d like onto a piece of white or wheat. Some versions work like a real printer with the bread as paper, while others use an external tool to burn the decorations. However it’s done, it sure seems like a lot of fun!

Via WebUrbanist

Nature Inspired Dishware

Nao Tamura, who won the I Salone Satellite Award during Milan design week 2010, created these super cute leaf like serving dishes. The plates, called Seasons, were created from silica sand, are flexible, dishwasher and microwave safe. See her website here.

Via 2Modern

The Oreo Cookie Manhole Cover

If every manhole cover was made out of Oreo cookies, there would be a lot of holes in the city. (Yum). Sculptures by Andrew Lewiki.

Via Illusion

These slices of bread make breakfast fun and colorful!

ryohei yoshiyuki: bread palette

‘bread palette’

‘bread palette’, a project developed by japanese designer ryohei yoshiyuki which aims
to rekindle people’s artistic sense by encouraging the experimentation of colors
on slices of bread.

using condiments as paints and bread baked in the shape of paint palettes with a hole to
insert your thumb, users are meant to mix and match colors and find elements of
play in one’s ordinary, everyday activities.

‘bread palette’ was created for japanese paint company turner as part of ‘creation into color’,
a project initiated by japanese magazine fukusyoku techo.

‘bread palette’ with various condiments

alternative palette shape

Via DesignBoom

This was a very concept design that shows how cooking can be turned into a dining experience.

The designs are clean and simple with many considerations of the user.

——————-

Make Cooking A Dining Experience

Why is it the kitchen and dining area are in two separate rooms? They function together in a symbiotic relationship more so than any other in a house. Space is a premium so designers are thinking modularity and this exercise in efficient cooking/dining is probably just one of many concept we’ll see . It’s a dining table with a work/cook top; or is it a work/cook top with a dining table? In one fell swoop, you get both with the added bonus of an office nook. The ceramic cook top is insulated with silicon to protect that beautiful wood beneath. I want this badly.

Designer: Jonas Buck

Via YankoDesign

I came across this article in the NY Times and thought that it was very interesting and applied to this blog. It’s about people who take pictures of their foods before they consume it.

“In the unconscious mind, food equals love because food is our deepest and earliest connection with our caretaker, so it makes sense that people would want to capture, collect, catalog, brag about and show off their food.”

I’ve been doing this for a few years now and have collected lots of photos. The side bar on the right shows my most recent eatings!

The article, First Camera, Then Fork, also mentions the group on Flickr called “I ate this”. I contribute to this group several times every month. It’s a great place to share what you’ve created, made, eaten, etc., and eye candy for your stomach! I’m always hungry when I see what everyone else has eaten through their photo documentations.

“It’s driven me to seek out interesting, photogenic foods…”

You can read the article here.

Visit my “I ate this” set on Flickr.

]]> http://nomminess.com/inspirational-images/first-camera-then-fork/feed/ 0