Food by design

“I design shit,” says Dutch eating designer and guest editor of the “Design:Digest” edition of Design Indaba magazine, Marije Vogelzang.

Of course she is not talking about poor quality work. What Marije is actually inferring is that her approach to design is ephemeral; her designs don’t last, and she likes it that way. World renowned for her interesting approaches to food, eating and design, Marije initially studied product design under revered trend forecaster Li Edlekoort.

“I feel closer to the design world,” she says, making her the ideal candidate to creatively oversee Design Indaba magazine’s latest offering.

“It makes sense to use food as a topic and medium for design. The world has never seen more schizophrenia on the food side of life than today,” she observes. Her assessment is certainly astute – on one side there is a growing movement towards organic and slow food, and on the other side the junk food industry continues to boom. And while Marije’s own work is about innovative ways of seeing food and human behaviour towards the life source, the magazine covers a range of international and local food topics and people.

Chefs Ferran Adrià and Rene Redzepi, MoMA curator Paola Antonelli, nutrition activist Marion Nestle, urbanist Carolyn Steel, behavioural economist Brian Wansink, innovator Homaru Canto, and designer Martí Guixé headline the latest Design Indaba publication. A special bumper edition, contemporary eating topics such as pop-up restaurants, food markets, foraging, farming, synthetic food, alternative materials, vegetarianism, future food, conviviality, sustainability, sovereignty and packaging are all featured through the perspective of design.

Then there is the “Food Fight” debate which sees over 40 designers, thinkers and activists articulating heir opinion about the state on eating in today’s world. Readers are invited to share their views at designindaba.com.

Besides “Design:Digest” Marije has also recently relaunched an extended version of her book “Eat Love”, a memory game called “You Are What You Eat” and a new  lunchbox recipe book called “Broodtrommelbook”.

“In my work I hope to show that when you combine food and creative thinking you get more than just pretty shapes… in my own work it is important that taste tells a story. It doesn’t have to be luxury, but it should always be tasty.”

For Marije food is already perfectly designed by nature, therefore she doesn’t consider herself a food designer but rather an eating designer. By focusing on the verb ‘to eat’ her designs are inspired by the origin of food and the preparation, etiquette, history and culture surrounding it.

From covering root vegetables in clay and firing them (leaving the guest to decide whether to smash the clay to eat the vegetable or save it as an ornament), to inviting people to eat from the hands of gypsies as they tell their life stories, Marije’s food always goes beyond mere sustenance. Although it leaves no traces, it does leave memories and poignant messages about food and our relationship with it.

More information: www.designindaba.com, www.marijevogelzang.nl

Design Indaba, Q411 “Design:Digest”, is launching on 16 November. Find it at selected Exclusive Books, Woolworths and other stockists, or online.

WIN Marije Vogelzan’g memory game ‘You Are What You Eat’. First person to email web@visi.co.za with ‘Marije Vogelzang’ in the subject line wins.