food for design

LOCAL RIVER :: MATHIEU LEHANNEUR

2008-05-13T13:15:00.006+02:00

Local River, home storage unit for fish and greens

The Locavores appeared in San Francisco in 2005 and define themselves as ‘a group of culinary adventurers who eat foods produced in a radius of 100 miles (160 km) around their city’. By doing so they aim to reduce impact on the environment inherent to the transport of foodstuffs, while ensuring their traceability.

Local River anticipates the growing influence of this group (the word ‘locavore’ made its first appearance in an American dictionary in 2007) by proposing a home storage unit for live freshwater fish combined with a mini vegetable patch. This DIY fish-farm-cum-kitchen-garden is based on the principle of aquaponics coupled with the exchange and interdependence of two living organisms - plants and fish.

The plants extract nutrients from the nitrate-rich dejecta of the fish. In doing so they act as a natural filter that purifies the water and maintains a vital balance for the eco-system in which the fish live. The same technique is used on large-scale pioneer aquaponics/fish-farms, which raise tilapia (a food fish from the Far East) and lettuce planted in trays floating on the surface of ponds.

Local River responds to everyday needs for fresh food that is 100% traceable. It bets on a return to favour of farm-raised freshwater fish (trout, eel, perch, carp, etc…), given the dwindling supplies of many saltwater species due to over-fishing. It also demonstrates the capacity of fish-farmers to deliver their stock live to a private consumer as a guarantee of optimum freshness - impossible in the case of saltwater fish that has been netted.

Local River aims to replace the decorative ‘TV aquarium’ by an equally decorative but also functional ‘refrigerator-aquarium’. In this scenario, fish and greens cohabit for a short time in a home storage unit before being eaten by their keepers, the end-players in an exchange cycle within a controlled ecosystem.

[+ website]

FLOGOS

2008-05-09T09:16:00.002+02:00

We've all heard of high-level advertising but now Flogos has created flying logos. The cloud-like logos are the idea of Francisco Guerra of SnowMasters, a special effects company that specializes in creating snow and foam.

Made of helium and soap (the company promises they are environmentally friendly), a Flogo generator (think big, complicated bubble machine) pushes the bubbly creation through a stencil that gives it the desired look. Flogos can be molded into any form and you can see some examples on the company's website.

[+ website]

PERFECT ICE FOR PERFECT DRINKS

2008-05-08T13:39:00.005+02:00

In some of Manhattan's better Japanese-staffed bars, like Tribeca's underground B-Flat, ice cubes are noticeably absent; ordering your scotch on the rocks gets you a large ice sphere. With less surface area than the same amount of ice rendered in cubes, a globe of ice will melt more slowly, keeping your drink cold without making it watery.

As an industrial designer, your correspondent couldn't help but notice the parting line on B-Flat's ice spheres; after all, it has to come out of a mold. But now a company called Taisin has come up with a clever device for making a perfect ice sphere with no parting line.

How does it work? You sandwich a large chunk of ice in between the two metal pieces pictured above. As the ice slowly melts, gravity brings the top half to close over the bottom half, enclosing what ice remains in its spherical cavity. Because the ice is in the process of melting into its new shape as the top closes, there's no parting line. Clever!

[+ website]
via core77

WINE MAKING = MATH :: ENOLOGIX

2008-04-25T14:52:00.003+02:00

Enologix makes software that predicts how a wine will rate in reviews even before it is made. It claims that wine quality can be measured chemically, and a score assessed, much like a wine critic. In order to achieve the high rating, winemakers invest in processes rooted not in agriculture but in biochemical information. Wine making becomes an information science. Care for a nice norisoprenoid anthocyanin blend?

[+ website]
via wired

SOIL LAMP :: MARIEKE STAPS

2008-04-22T15:08:00.003+02:00

‘Soil Lamp’ by Marieke Staps. This lamps works with mud, the metabolism of the biological life generates enough electricity to light an LED. The only thing this lamp needs is a little bit of water from time to time.
photo by Rene van der Hulst

via pruned

BIG DIPPER :: SARAH VAN GAMEREN

2008-04-22T11:02:00.007+02:00

Big Dipper is a machine that produces candle chandeliers by automatically dipping wick into vats of molten wax. Designers Tim Simpson and Sarah van Gameren of Studio Glithero present new versions of their mechanically made candle-wax chandeliers in their installation at the Panta Rei exhibition Nilufar gallery, plus a new machine that produces individual candles.

[+ website]

[+ movie]

DIET SUNGLASSES :: YUMETAI

2008-04-11T15:05:00.004+02:00

A Japanese company named Yumetai seems to have given some serious thought to the matter, creating dieter's sunglasses with deep blue lenses that make the food you're eating look, well, disgusting.

There's more to it than that - according to Yumetai, there's a scientific explanation behind these sunglasses and the lenses are blue for a very good reason: the color blue acts to calm the brains appetite center.

At the same time, the lenses block rays of red light which tend to stimulate the appetite. Make sense?

[+ more]
via moreinspiration

CHOCOLADE PENCILS :: NENDO

2008-04-07T09:27:00.005+02:00

Chocolate-pencils is a collaboration with patissier Tsujiguchi Hironobu, the mastermind behind popular dessert shops like Mont St. Claire and Le Chocolat de H. Tsujiguchi created a new dessert based on his impression of Nendo after conversations with us, and we designed new tableware for them.

We wanted our plates to show off the beauty of meals and desserts like a painting on a canvas. Based on this idea, our “chocolate pencils” come in a number of cocoa blends that vary in intensity, and chocophiles can use the special “pencil sharpener” that comes with our plate to grate chocolate onto their dessert.

Pencil filings are usually the unwanted remains of sharpening a pencil but in this case they’re the star!

[+website]
via dezeen

WATER CYMATICS :: SO SAKAI

2008-04-04T14:47:00.006+02:00

Link, has established since 2005, is aimed to exhibit at the international design trade fairs as not just students in the product designcourse of Tohoku University of Art and Design but independent professional designers.

So Sakai, of the link design group, exhibited this piece as part of the designersblock exhibition in london. phase of sound #08 'reflection' vibrates the surface of the water, creating interference patterns from the waves produced by the two or more motors. the various patterns produced draw out a visual expression on the water of the inputted wave form and its boundaries.

[+ website]
via designboom

CANDYFAB 4000 - WORK IN PROGRESS

2008-04-04T13:07:00.003+02:00

Since its debut in May, CandyFab has gone from 5 ppi to 20 ppi (as demonstrated in the small photo to the right) and can actually produce edible content! Right now, they're working on a new heater to stick the sugar together.

An open source project, CandyFab is looking for volunteers to help bring the technology forward.

[+ post]
[+ website]

P-WALL :: MATERIALSYSTEMS

2008-04-04T12:11:00.004+02:00

This project investigates the self-organization of two materials, plaster and elastic fabric, to produce evocative visual and acoustic effects. Inspired by the work of the Spanish architect Miguel Fisac and his experiments with flexible concrete formwork in the 1960-70s, p_wall attempts to continue this line of research and add to it the ability to generate larger and more differentiated patterns. Starting from an image, a cloud of points is generated based on the image’s grayscale values. These points are then used to mark the positions of dowels which constrain the elasticity in the fabric formwork. Plaster is then poured into the mould and the fabric expands under the weight of the plaster. The resultant plaster tile has a certain resonance with the body as it sags, expands, and stretches in its own relationship with gravity and structure. Assembled into a larger surface, a pattern emerges between the initial image’s grayscale tones and the shadows produced by the wall.

[+ website]

DESIGNER CAKES :: JAMIE FOBERT

2008-04-04T10:08:00.004+02:00

These cake was designed by Jamie Fobert, an architect, for the London bakeries Konditor & Cook. He was inspired by the work of the sculpture Barbara Hepworth.
4 more British design talents did some other designs, they will all become available in course of the year at the London stores.

via wallpaper

CARTESIAN WAX :: NERI OXMAN

2008-04-04T09:38:00.006+02:00

Oxman's "Cartesian Wax" is a material designed to replicate the multiple functionalities of living tissue. It uses a combination of flexible and rigid resin to create a building "skin" that evokes living matter and responds to its local environment; its transparency level is modulated based on local heat and light conditions. The work was inspired by Descartes's Wax Argument: Descartes argued that because we can identify wax as wax, even when its physical properties change in the presence of heat, we know our mind has an important role exceeding that of our limited senses.

[+ website]
[+ blog]

EDIBLE TABLEWARE :: RICE-DESIGN

2008-04-02T10:39:00.001+02:00

Japanese designer Nobuhiko Arikawa of Rice-Design has created edible tableware for Orto Cafe in Japan. The plates, bowls and chopsticks are intended to replace disposable paper tableware. The pieces are made from hardtack, a biscuit dough made from flour, water and salt which was traditionally used as dry emergency rations at sea.

[+ rice design]
via dezeen

THE CULINARY ART OF SOUS-VIDE

2008-03-20T11:29:00.006+01:00

For nearly four years, an obscure culinary discussion forum called eGullet has had an anonymous guru of sous-vide. The technique — which involves using vacuum-sealed plastic bags to cook foods in water at precisely controlled temperatures — is both relatively new to the home chef and poorly documented. But thanks to user "nathanm," eGullet offers a wealth of insider knowledge, everything from comprehensive tables of cooking times to tips on food safety.

So who is this mysterious Jedi Master? Turns out, nathanm is über-technologist Nathan Myhrvold, former CTO of Microsoft and noted billionaire. Myhrvold first encountered sous-vide at a culinary school in France, but he found the lack of practical information frustrating. "I wanted to figure out how long to cook things," says Myhrvold, now CEO of the "invention" firm Intellectual Ventures. "I did some experiments and then wrote a program using Mathematica to model how heat is transferred through food."

[+ more]
via wired lifestyle

S-XL CAKE :: DING 3000

2008-03-19T00:28:00.005+01:00

It's for kitchen junkies, for half-portions, for insatiables, for dieters, for the undecided.It's a necessity for everybody. Whereas formerly you had to estimate and manually portion the cake The clever housewife now bakes with this new silicon form. built-in portioning sections and differently high levels magically produce piece by piece 15 different portions.

[+ website]
via moreinspiration

COOKING AT THE END OF THE WORLD :: MICHÈLE GENTILLE

2008-03-17T11:02:00.002+01:00

In a freely available article, The Wall Street Journal reveals how chefs cook at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Cooking at the South Pole needs lots of innovation and creativity. Let's look at some of the challenges. First, the South Pole Station stands at an elevation of 2,835 meters and temperatures varied between -13.6° C and -82.8° C. Then, all the food for the 250 scientists based there comes by plane and is obviously frozen. And it can take up to two weeks to defrost meat or poultry. Finally, because of the moisture-free air, cooking must be exclusively done with electric equipment, which can take a very long time. But read more...

[+ article]
via primidi

POWERS OF TEN :: EAMES OFFICE FOR IBM

2008-03-16T22:20:00.004+01:00

Powers of Ten is a 1977 short documentary film written and directed by Charles Eames and his wife, Ray. The film depicts the relative scale of the Universe in factors of ten (see also logarithmic scale and order of magnitude), starting from a picnic.

[ + website]

AQUADUCT :: IDEO

2008-03-13T14:40:00.003+01:00

he Aquaduct is pedal powered vehicle that transports, filters, and stores water for the developing world. A peristaltic pump attached to the pedal crank draws water from a large tank, through a filter, to a smaller clean tank. The clean tank is removable and closed for contamination-free home storage and use. A clutch engages and disengages the drive belt from the pedal crank, enabling the rider to filter the water while traveling or while stationary.

The Aquaduct is the winning entry in the Innovate or Die contest put on by Google and Specialized. The contest challenge was to build a pedal powered machine that has environmental impact.

[+ contest]

PERCEPTION OF FOOD - PIXAR RATATOUILLE PAPER

2008-03-12T11:39:00.005+01:00

The passion for cooking and food are the central theme of Pixar's recent film - Ratatouille. This complex and multi-faceted problem posed many challenges that were solved using diverse computer graphics and production techniques. In this course we will comprehensively cover all aspects including modeling, dressing, shading, lighting and effects.

The story called for working cooking stations and sloppy mess of a busy, functional kitchen. We will review some of the set concepts, visual framework and even dynamics simulation techniques that were used to create this illusion. We will illustrate with several examples including final plated dishes, mis-en-place setups and the Food Locker.

The challenge of shading food on Ratatouille was to work within the stylized look of the film and yet keep it recognizable and appealing to eat. We developed subtle illumination techniques that added up to a general approach we could use on a variety of objects. We will breakdown examples ranging from vegetables to plated dishes.

Lighting played a key role in making the food look appetizing, a task further complicated by different types of food such as bread, cheese, soup and wine that pushed the boundaries of standard surface based lighting. We will discuss our general approach to lighting food as well as specific challenges and solutions posed by the various dishes.

[+ paper]
via pixar

SINGLE PERSON COOKER :: ALEX BRADLEY

2008-03-10T15:41:00.006+01:00

As its name suggests, the Single Person’s Cooker (SPC) responds to some of today's eating habits that are evolving because of the rapid pace, increasing solo existence and less structured routines of many people's daily lifestyles. The compact and stylish cooking device features a WiFi connection, and its associated website provides recipes and information for producing nutritious healthy meals, and supports quick and efficient preparation. The recipes are automatically linked and stored on the SPC to programme cooking times, and heating controls. Ideally suited to the batchelor pad or studio space, the SPC provides a desirable cooker and interactive web-based connections that also steers less confident cooks away from ready meals and encourages them to prepare their food themselves. Not only is the user more likely to think about their diet and improve their well being as a result, but the SPC becomes an object of focus and discussion in the kitchen.

[ + website ]
via dezeen

JAR TOPS :: JORRE VAN AST

2008-03-06T12:38:00.005+01:00

By screwing on plastic tops, these readily available jars are turned into vessels with a specific function. A generic jar is transformed into kitchenware, creating more practical and emotional value.
The family includes a sugar pot, milk jug, chocolate sprinkler, oil&vinegar set and a water jug.

[ + Jorre Van Ast ]
[ + Royal VKB ]

EGG FRACTAL :: MICHAEL CHICHI

2008-03-04T09:20:00.005+01:00

After having eggs one morning, the residue left in the mixing cup hardened, leaving a fractal like history of energy dispersion. The simple everyday artifacts of a morning breakfast, transform into a muse.

[+ website]

MACARONI EXHBITION OF ARCHITECTS

2008-02-28T14:26:00.006+01:00

In 1997 a number of architects were invited to participate in the production of macaroni. The exhibition showcased their macaroni models--fifty times larger than ordinary macaroni--along with their production intent and original recipe for cooking macaroni, as well as the participants' profiles and master works. As macaroni is made of ground grain, it can basically take any shape. However, macaroni is an architecture that guarantees conditions much harder to fulfill than is first imagined. Working conditions include "a shape that can be evenly heated", "an ample area that can be coated with sauce", "a shape easily mass-produced" and "appealing to the sense of taste". The operation exerted in this project can be expressed as "architecture for food". The participating architects thus competed with each other in the architectural design of food. As a result, the philosophy of each one is revealed practically as "macaroni". Thus, the creative ideas of architects, which often seem too heavy for the general public to understand, have now manifested themselves as plain, practical media. Production by Kenya Hara.

[+ Kenya Hara]

AIR RAY :: FESTO BIONIC LEARNING

2008-02-26T10:09:00.002+01:00

The Bionic Learning Network is part of the company’s commitment to vocational and further training. Cooperating with colleges and research companies, Festo promotes ideas and initiatives that go beyond the core business of automation and didactics, and may well give rise to promising areas of application in the future.

Air_ray, modelled on the manta ray, is a remote-controlled hybrid construction consisting of a helium-filled ballonet and a beating wing drive. Its light design makes it possible for it to “swim” in the sea of air, boosted by helium, in a similar way to the manta ray in water.

Propulsion is achieved by a beating wing drive. The servo drive-controlled wing, which can move up and down, utilises the Fin Ray Effect® and is based on alternate pulling and pushing flanks connected via frames. When pressure is exerted on one flank, the geometrical structure curves automatically against the direction of the influencing force. A servo drive pulls the two flanks alternately in the longitudinal direction, thus moving the wing up and down.

[+ website]

ECO-COOK :: KECHENYI CAMILLE

2008-02-21T16:46:00.005+01:00

Eco-cook is an object that helps to save water, energy and time. Everyday, everyone, has to cook pasta, rice or various vegetable. Therefore different pots are needed. In a unique pot, the eco-cook enables to divide 2 or 3 space and to boil different food at the same time. Thereby, water and gas or electricity is saved. Moreover when food is taken out the eco-cook, it will automatically drain out, allowing to win precious time.

via designboom

HYRDOPHOBIC SAND

2008-02-20T11:55:00.003+01:00

Magic sand, also available under other names, e.g. Mars Sand or Space Sand, is a special type of hydrophobic sand. It can be blue, green, or red in color. Magic Sand was originally developed to trap ocean oil spills near the shore. This would be done by sprinkling Magic Sand on floating petroleum, which would then mix with the oil and make it heavy enough to sink. However, due to the expense of production, it is not being used for this purpose. It has also been tested by utility companies in the Arctic areas as a foundation for junction boxes, as it never freezes. It can be also used as an aerating medium for potted plants.

Due to its water repellence, grains of the sand will adhere to each other in the presence of water. When sprinkling grains onto the surface of water, they will at first form a "sand raft," until the weight of the agglomerate is large enough to break the surface tension. The mass will then sink to the bottom as a single object. When immersed, the sand forms columns in order to reduce the surface area in contact with water. As soon as the sand is taken out of water, it is completely dry and flows freely.

Though blue, green, or red in color, immersed columns of magic sand appear silvery because of a layer of air that forms around the sand.

These remarkable properties are achieved by covering ordinary beach sand with tiny particles of pure silica and exposing them to vapors of trimethylsilanol (CH3)3SiOH, an organosilicon compound. Upon exposure, the trimethylsilane compound bonds to the silica particles while forming water. The exteriors of the sand grains are thus coated with hydrophobic groups.

[+ wiki]

SPECTROGRAPHIC PAPER CUT :: JEN STARK

2008-02-06T17:01:00.000+01:00

Employing a spectrographic range of colour, self-similar shapes and contours in her pieces, Jen Stark’s works might at first appear as if they were computer rendered. Instead she cuts through sheets of layered paper, revealing the colours below and shaping the cut paper into complex sculptures with mathematical precision.

[+ website]

FROM WHENCE IT CAME - LASER ETCHED LUNCH MEAT

2008-02-05T10:21:00.001+01:00

Mleak : "These are my testers for a project I'm working on using processed lunch meats etched with a laser cutter. Ultimately, I would like to show the entire process from animal to ambiguous pink slice of meat over the course of a package of lunch meat, beginning here with bologna. This neat packaged disc of food has always seemed so far removed from its source."

[+ flickr]

CAPSULA MUNDI :: ANNA CITELLI AND RAOUL BRETZEL

2008-01-30T10:52:00.001+01:00

The most earthly looking eco-burial container that we’ve found is the Capsula Mundi, created by a pair of Italian designers who wanted to remove the taboo from the burial process and give it a new conception.

The Capsula Mundi is an egg-shaped container made of bioplastic. The body of the deceased rests in a fetal position within this capsule, which gets planted in the earth like a bulb. A shallow circular depression is dug above the capsule to symbolize the presence of the body, in the center of which a tree is planted. Over time, the groups of burial sites become a sacred memorial grove.

The Capsula Mundi has made appearances as a design piece in exhibitions around Europe, including one with Droog Design last year. As a show piece, the design is a quintessential representation of a sprouting seed, perfectly encapsulating the designers’ goal of regarding death as an opportunity to nourish the earth for the future.

[+ website]

BUBBLEGUM SEQUENCER :: HANNES HESSE

2008-01-18T21:59:00.000+01:00

The Bubblegum Sequencer is a physical step sequencer that lets you create drumloops by arranging colored balls on a tangible surface. It generates MIDI events and can be used as an input device to control audio hardware and software. Finally, people can't claim anymore that electronic music isn't handmade.

Here's how it works: A grid of holes, consisting of several rows with 16 holes each is the canvas. On it, you arrange colored gumballs. The 16 columns represent the 16th-notes in a measure. Each color is mapped to a specific sample.

Because the output is generated in the form of MIDI events, the Bubblegum Sequencer can be used to control any kind of audio hardware or software.

If you'd like to know more about the Bubblegum Sequencer, read their paper

[+ more]
via makezine

LEVITATION WITH SUPERCONDUCTORS

2008-01-16T14:33:00.000+01:00

Superconductivity is a phenomenon occurring in certain materials at extremely low temperatures, characterized by exactly zero electrical resistance and the exclusion of the interior magnetic field (the Meissner effect).

Superconductivity occurs in a wide variety of materials, including simple elements like tin and aluminium, various metallic alloys and some heavily-doped semiconductors. Superconductivity does not occur in noble metals like gold and silver, nor in most ferromagnetic metals.

[+ wiki]

LAGRANGE 34 CHOCOLATE :: JjUICE

2008-01-13T23:38:00.000+01:00

In a world where technologies become more exciting by the day, sometimes it may be nice to relax and be cuddled by tradition. But then, when a design studio and a historic confectionery company join forces to create something new, it may happen that even tradition may spur new stimuli.

Since the XVII century, Turin is a city that has been considered one of the Italian realms of chocolate. It is here that, at the end of the XVIII century, Mr. Doret invented a revolutionary machine that could solidify chocolate, allowing it to be moulded in shapes. It is also here that architects Sergio Viotti and Giuliana Succo were born and graduated in architecture.

As a result of an intense professional experience, they felt the need to embrace a unique challenge: making the cultural heritage of their hometown join forces with the trends of the contemporary design, and produce a new line of innovative products. So they proposed to their long time friend Max Gertosio, heir of what since 1890 was the artisan shop of another great chocolatier, Pietro Viola, to collaborate on the manufacture of a new line of chocolate bars called Lagrange 34 - just like the address of the confectionery shop, named after the mathematician Luigi Lagrange.

via dezeen
[+ website]

BOB PARTINGTON :: BLOOD PEN

2008-01-13T23:24:00.000+01:00

Apart from alternating between feelings of nausea and delight, there's no doubt that Bob Partington's accomplished that "wow" factor with his mechanical wonder otherwise knows as the Blood Pen.

via core77
[+ more]

MAGNETIC FIELD CHANGES COLOR OF WATER

2008-01-07T12:01:00.001+01:00

University of California, Riverside nanotechnologists have succeeded in controlling the color of very small particles of iron oxide suspended in water simply by applying an external magnetic field to the solution. The discovery has potential to greatly improve the quality and size of electronic display screens and to enable the manufacture of products such as erasable and rewritable electronic paper and ink that can change color electromagnetically.

When the strength of the magnetic field is changed, it alters the arrangement of the spherical iron oxide particles in solution, thereby modifying how light falling on the particles passes through or is deflected by the solution.In their experiments, the researchers found that by changing the strength of the magnetic field they were able to change the color of the iron oxide solution â similar to adjusting the color of a television screen image. They have used the superparamagnetic property of iron oxide particles to tune the spacing between nanoparticles, and therefore the wavelength of the light reflection â or the color of the colloidal crystals â by changing the strength of the external magnetic field.

[+ link]
via moreinspiration

MOUSETRAPS :: ROGER ARQUER

2008-01-07T11:44:00.001+01:00

Designer Roger Arquer has created a series of conceptual mousetraps that are intended “only to catch mice, not to kill them”. The four different traps are each made of everyday household items. These traps have been developed only to catch mice, not to kill them. It leaves up to the catcher the future of the mouse. The materials and the mechanics used are not aggressive, which makes it a friendly mousetrap. Clear glass, metal springs, paper clips, metal nut.

The concept was developed for a very simple, elegant and efficient way to catch mice. They are almost not being seen as traps, but as altered objects to be used for another reason. Once the mice problem is solved, the objects can be used again for its original function. These are generic clear glass objects that we have at home: a pint glass, a light bulb, a bottle and a planting pot.

[+ website]
via boing boing

PAPER VASE :: STUDIO LIBERTINY

2007-12-22T19:52:00.000+01:00

Each sheet of paper is printed with an identical image of a tree, creating an ghostly tree pattern on the surface of the vases.The project explores how paper - a product made from trees - can be returned to its original state and carved as if it were wood. Libertiny also designed the Honeycomb Vases, which are made by bees inside a hive.

via dezeen
[+ website]

COGNAC GLASSES :: RIKKE HAGEN

2007-12-20T13:32:00.000+01:00

The Cognac glass is a beautiful combination of function and pure pleasure. It's a glass conceived to considerate bouquet, temperature and volume. It provokes pleasure and increases the experience of intimacy, when drinking cognac.

The concern to quality of cognac resulted in the shape of the glass, which increases the pleasure of deep colour and movement of the liquid. Intimacy, collection of thoughts, absorption and pleasure is completed.

[+ link]

THERMOCHROMATIC WALLPAPER :: SHIYAUN

2007-12-20T08:59:00.000+01:00

The flowers of the pattern will be blooming when the radiator is on, just like the real flowers.

[+ link]

CHEMSENSING :: INK NOSE

2007-12-11T11:06:00.000+01:00

A sensor that detects odors better than the human nose may be able to smell dangerous air pollutants, soil contaminants, insecticides, food pathogens, biological warfare neurotoxins, and body odors associated with illness and disease. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, chemistry professor Kenneth S. Suslick and graduate student Neal A. Rakow have spent four years developing a sensor that sniffs out odors by "seeing" them. Called "smell-seeing" by its inventors, the method relies on color changes that occur in an array of vapor-sensitive dyes in response to exposure. This newest version of an artificial nose is simple, fast, and inexpensive.
The ink on this paper changes color when exposed to odor. In the future it could be used on a milk container to detect spoilage.

[+ website]

WASTE WARE :: MARTIJN VOGELS

2007-12-04T19:44:00.000+01:00

Man and Humanity masters graduate, the design academy Eindhoven, Matthijs Vogels has developed a beautiful but extreme way to eliminate food waste by turning it into plates and bowls. Vogels exhibited a concept restaurant in which all food waste would be recycled into sensual tableware as well as gas fuel for the cooking. Vegetable, fruit, tea, coffee and packaging waste is churned up, moulded under pressure and formed into any shape.

In the conceptual restaurant “Sprout” vegetables are grown and consumed in a greenhouse. The vegetable parts that are not suitable for consumption which are normally thrown away in the kitchen, are used now as resource for products like plates and bowls. This is achieved by shredding, drying and moulding the vegetable fibres with a hand press. In order to make the products hygienic and moisture resistant a transparant sheet of biodegradable plastic (PLA) is laminated in the inside. The outside is left uncovered, in order to reveal the material by smell, touch and sight. Since the menu is based on seasonally grown crops, the material of the products changes accordingly, and are therefore intended to be used only once. After use, the dirty plates and bowls are fed together with foodleftovers to a biodigester to create biogas for cooking. The residue from this process is a nutrient rich fertilizer to grow new crops from in the greenhouse.

via culiblog
[+ website]

PAPPILAN - PAOLO ULIAN

2007-11-28T13:56:00.000+01:00

Pappilan is a project from 2004 encompassing innovation and tradition based on inviting international designers to create a new biscuit that will have an innovative taste and appearance without losing the old tradition of the Christmas biscuit made in the region. Both concepts above are from Paolo Ulian.

[+ Pappilan]

LAUNCH NEW WEBSITE FOODPAIRING.BE

2007-11-23T13:48:00.001+01:00

With proude we present you the of launch our free accessible foodpairing website which contains now 80 food products and their pairs.

- FOODPAIRING -

“Food combines with each other when they have major flavour components in common.”

A list will be made of 250 food products each with their major flavour components. By comparing the flavour of each food product eg strawberry with the rest of the food and their flavours, new combinations like strawberry with peas can be made. The way to use is, is just to select a food product like strawberries. You will get a plot where you have strawberry in the middle surrounded by other food products. Take one of those other food products and try to make a new recipe by combining those two. The more flavours food products have in common the shorter the distance between the food products.

- FOOD IS INTERCHANGEABLE -

A food product has a specific flavour because of a combination of different flavours. Like basil taste like basil because of the combination of linalool, estragol, …. So if I want to reconstruct the basil flavour without using any basil, you have to search for a combination of other food products where one contains linalool (like coriander), one contains estragol (like tarragon),... So I can reconstruct basil by combining coriander, tarragon, cloves, laurel. The way to use it is to take from each branch of the plot one product and make a combination of those food products.

- REMARK -

This is just a tool to inspire you. You still need as a chef the craftsmanship, the experience,…to translate this inspiration into a good recipe. It is not only mixing two components together. The balance between the two is important.

Good luck!

[+ website]

Send us your foodpairing recipe:
[recipe@foodpairing.be]

HANNES BROECKER - DRINK AWAY THE ART

2007-11-22T15:29:00.000+01:00

Forget about wandering through an art gallery and wondering if you’re the only one who has no idea what anything means. Hannes Broecker has brilliantly invited the cultural elite to grab a glass at an exhibition in Dresden, Germany, and drink away the art.

Regardless of what we do or do not understand about art, we can all agree, it stimulates our senses. Broecker has aroused our sense of taste (not to mention eliminated the need of elbowing our way to the bar) by hanging flat, glass containers with a variety of cocktails in the exhibition space. As the night progressed, the levels of the multi-coloured infusions diminished. By the end of the event, the art, itself, ran dry, and empty drinking glasses were returned to where they were originally placed.

via coolhunter

WELL DONE :: BAKE YOUR BOOK

2007-11-14T17:37:00.000+01:00

Croatian creative agency Bruketa & Zinić have designed an annual report for food company Podravka that has to be baked in an oven before it can be read. The report features blank pages printed with thermo-reactive ink that, after being wrapped in foil and being baked at 100°C for 25 minutes, reveal text and images.

[+ more]
via dezeen

LAUNCH BOOK L'AIR DU TEMPS :: COOKING CASTING

2007-11-12T21:53:00.000+01:00

This is really an amazing book! Not only you have the toprecipes of chef Sang Hoon Degeimbre like his famous Kiwître, you have also an overview of his suppliers. As food for design is also one of his suppliers, we also have the honour to be mentioned. For only 85 euro you get a book where the whole concept, pictures, recipes,... are of very high quality. Congratulations to Jean Pierre Gabriel and Sang Hoon Degeimbre!

[+ website with presentation book]

THEATER OF SENSES :: LIEVEN LOOTENS

2007-11-07T18:47:00.000+01:00

'Kasteel van Poucke', Aalter (Belgium) will be the scene of an experience which will surprise all senses. During the week of the taste in Belgium (22 to 25 November), chef Lieven Lootens will provide an unique, innovative concept on senses in cooperation with companies like Belcolade, Fogscreen, The chocolateline,... If you're in Belgium at that time, certainly worth passing by.

[+ website]

COLORFULL BEAUTY IN NATURE :: BUTTERFLIES

2007-11-02T16:54:00.001+01:00

One particular place to find amazing colors in nature is the Butterfly and lucky for us there are 17,500 species of butterflies in the world.

They use their bright colors to ward of predators by tricking them into thinking they are poisonous (some actually are) or by camouflaging themselves into plants or bigger insects. But maybe they can also inspire us, chefs and designers, to dress up our plates and products.

[+ more]
via galorebot

STABLE EMULSIONS : : WITHOUT ADDITIVES

2007-11-02T16:37:00.001+01:00

Oil–water mixtures are ubiquitous in nature and are particularly important in biology and industry. Usually additives are used to prevent the liquid droplets from coalescing. Here, we show that stabilization can also be obtained from electrostatics, because of the well known remarkable properties of water. Preferential ion uptake leads to a tunable droplet charge and surprisingly stable, additive-free, water-in-oil emulsions that can crystallize. For particle-stabilized ("Pickering") emulsions we find that even extremely hydrophobic, nonwetting particles can be strongly bound to (like-charged) oil–water interfaces because of image charge effects. These basic insights are important for emulsion production, encapsulation, and (self-)assembly, as we demonstrate by fabricating a diversity of structures in bulk, on surfaces, and in confined geometries.

[+ Article]

MADE IN TRANSIT :: AGATA JAWORSKA

2007-10-25T12:01:00.000+02:00

Made in Transit is a supply chain concept working towards the development of packaging that operates on the paradigm of enabling growth rather than preserving freshness, a shift from ‘best before’ to ‘ready by’ for fresh perishable goods. The aim is to enable growth throughout the entire supply chain so that the consumer harvests the product when he’s ready to consume it, resulting in a higher quality fresh good.

The concept is applied to a new system of mushroom cultivation imbedded within the distribution network, shifting the role of distribution from slowing down the process of post-harvest deterioration to enabling growth and involving the consumer for harvest at the point of consumption.

via dezeen

"BIG BROTHER" RESTAURANT WAGENINGEN

2007-10-19T10:06:00.000+02:00

In partnership with Sodexho, the Dutch University of Wageningen's opened a new €3 million research center-slash-restaurant, the "restaurant of the future," that is focused on the study of its patrons' eating habits by way of dozens of unobtrusive (but still totally creepy) cameras and close monitoring. Ultimately, these studies will "help the Center for Innovative Consumer Studies 'find out what influences people: colors, taste, personnel. We try to focus on one stimulus, like light,'said Rene Koster, head of the center, as overhead bulbs switched through green, red, orange and blue."

From a hidden control room, researchers maneuver the hidden cameras to zoom in and spy on diners and what and how they munch--everything from how someone walks with a tray of food, what food they choose to jam on, where they sit, and what they waste.

[+ more]
via core77

IX GASTRONOMIC CONGRESS AT SAN SEBASTIAN

2007-10-10T00:05:00.000+02:00

Food for design will be one of the lecturers at the 9th gastronomic congress in San Sebastian together with the belgian top chef Sang Hoon Degeimbre of L'air du temps. This congress hosts some of the top chefs in the world like Ferran Adria, Grant Achatz, Quique Dacoste, Martin Berasategui, Wylie Dufresne, Joan Roca, Sergio Herman, Peter Goossens,...
At the congress we will launch our free accessible foodpairing website which contains now 80 food products and their pairs. We are also preparing the lauch of 2 innovative products. So if you want to be part of these revelations, subscribe for this congress. We will give our seminar on Thursday the 22th of November at 16:30.

Many thanks to Jean Paul Perez for the support!

[+ Congress program]

AMORPHOUS STARLING FLOCKS

2007-10-04T17:00:00.000+02:00

During spring in Denmark, at approximately one half an hour before sunset, flocks of more than a million European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) gather from all corners to join in the incredible formations shown above. This phenomenon is called Black Sun (in Denmark), and can be witnessed in early spring throughout the marshlands of western Denmark, from March through to the middle of April. The starlings migrate from the south and spend the day in the meadows gathering food, sleeping in the reeds during the night.

via boing boing

BUBBLE GUM BIN :: ANNA BULLUS

2007-09-24T10:59:00.000+02:00

A new material made of used chewinggum!

Through intensive material research designer Anna Bullus has invented a new material called Gumnetic. It is a biodegradable composite made from recycled chewed chewing gum and bio resin. Varying ratios of the mixture result in different textures. Making it a versatile material. For instance for the”Gumnetic”; a street side refuse designed for the disposal of gum and is made from recycled chewing gum. The product offers a unique and practical solution to a widespread problem housed within an innovative sustainable process; the bin itself collects raw material in the form of discarded chewing gum from which to produce new bins. Anna has gone on to make other products that explore both the application of this unique material and the sustainability education opportunities it provokes.

[+website]
via materia

FACE MORPHING :: WD-2

2007-09-19T14:02:00.000+02:00

WD-2 can make facial expressions that, if possible, are more human-like than some humans can make. WD-2 is short for "Waseda-Docomo face robot 2," and is the most recent version of the face robot developed by researchers from Waseda University in Tokyo led by mechanical engineer Atsuo Takanishi.

According to a recent article at Robot World News, WD-2 may provide insight into the creation of personal robots. In the future, personal robots may serve a multitude of purposes in work and entertainment with humans, and therefore must be able to communicate in a human-like manner.

WD-2 not only makes facial expressions, but changes its facial expressions with nearly the minute detail of a human face. According to the article, "While other robots make expressions that mean ‘happy,' ‘sad,' ‘excited,' or ‘angry,' WD-2 can make tiny movements to reveal a wide spectrum of meanings."

WD-2 changes its facial features by changing 17 specific facial points on a mask, with each point possessing three degrees of freedom, for a total of 56 degrees of freedom. To make certain points of the face move, a shaft is driven behind the mask at the desired facial point, driven by a DC motor with a simple pulley and a slide screw.

According to the article, the researchers say that the mask can be modified to "copy" a human face, even displaying a person's hair style and skin color when a photo of their face is projected onto the 3D mask.

via scifitech

EVERY DESKTOP IS A COMPUTER :: INTERACTIVE SURFACES

2007-09-13T10:01:00.000+02:00

The newest line of computers does not require a mouse or a keyboard, just your fingers.

"And when I put my fingers on it, there's a camera that recognizes where I'm touching. In fact, I can touch it different places, from any side of the table. And so it's actually a windows personal computer, but with this new surface capability.

The table-top computers are not only touch-sensitive, they can also recognize devices equipped with wireless or Bluetooth capabilities. Product Director Jeffrey Gattis from microsoft says it also reads credit cards.

"I'm in a Sheraton Hotel, I can take my room key or my Sheraton-preferred card, just throw it down on the surface. It instantly knows who I am. It sees that I have 5,500 points in my account."

It also lets consumers buy music. Place a portable music player on the surface and you can use your fingers to upload music. It is all done without wires.

And digital photos are literally a snap. Gates says the computer recognizes Wi-Fi-equipped cameras and downloads the pictures instantly.

"Any photo I've taken and I want to add to this collection, it can actually see that there's a camera there and it'll use the wireless connection to actually get the photos and bring those down onto the surface."

Software companies have been investing heavily in developing natural interfaces that can be used for practical applications, such as ordering food or drinks. Microsoft Surface Computing General Manager Pete Thompson believes the new technology will make computing easy for anyone, including technophobes.

"One of the things that I'm personally very excited about with surface computers is the fact that it unlocks the power for people that have been intimidated before with computing products. Now this is just "drop-dead" simple. You don't have to know computing to be able to use this product and that is extremely exciting."

But at a cost of between five to ten-thousand dollars per unit, it will be available only to commercial outlets, at least for the time being.

Mr Gates said:
"We used to say a computer on every desktop and now I would say that every desktop will be a computer."

[+jeff han]
[+ibar]
[+microsoft surface]

COFFEE A LA MODE : : CYMATIC LATTE ART

2007-09-11T15:33:00.000+02:00

Similar visually to the mandala images, these are cups of coffee vibrating at (top) and near (bottom) a normal mode frequency - coffee a la mode.

The resonance phenomenon shown in these coffee cup images is similar to Cymatics and Chladni patterns on a circular plate. Although the lines in Chaladni figures are nodes, the bright areas in the coffee images are anti-nodes. (The coffee cups are vibrating at approximately 20Hz).
Is it time for the first cymatics latte art? We think so, let us experiment!

[+ wiki]
via sciencecreativequarterly

DISINTEGRATING POLYSTYRENE

2007-09-07T15:00:00.000+02:00

Foam polystyrene is a major environmental concern. It is used as a protective packaging for all sorts of products, but it is not biodegradable. Various manufacturers have experimented in making it more environmentally friendly, for example by incorporating cellulose and starch which microbes can break down, or by adding light-sensitive polymers that degrade in sunlight.

But Shanpu Ya and colleagues at the Polymer Science & Engineering College of Quingdao University of Science & Technology in China say these methods all have serious disadvantages. In particular, it takes too long time for polymers to break down in these ways, they claim.

Instead, they have developed a new approach that involves embedding water-absorbing resin particles about 5 micrometres in diameter throughout a chemical like styrene before it is polymerised to form a polystyrene-like material.

When the resulting solid comes into contact with water, the resin particles expand, reducing the polymer structure to a powder that should then biodegrade. The team says the rate of disintegration can even be controlled by altering the ratio of ingredients.

But a crucial factor, says the team, is that the resulting foamed polystyrene is cheaper than conventional materials and should therefore be readily adopted by cost-conscious companies that also want to be environmentally responsible.

[+ more]
[+ flickr]
via newscientist

SUGAR BIO BATTERY :: SONY

2007-09-06T12:16:00.000+02:00

Sony today announced the development of a bio battery1 that generates electricity from carbohydrates (sugar) utilizing enzymes as its catalyst, through the application of power generation principles found in living organisms.

Test cells of this bio battery have achieved power output of 50 mW, currently the world's highest level2 for passive-type3 bio batteries. The output of these test cells is sufficient to power music play back on a memory-type Walkman.

n order to realize the world's highest power output, Sony developed a system of breaking down sugar to generate electricity that involves efficiently immobilizing enzymes and the mediator (electronic conduction materials) while retaining the activity of the enzymes at the anode. Sony also developed a new cathode structure which efficiently supplies oxygen to the electrode while ensuring that the appropriate water content is maintained. Optimizing the electrolyte for these two technologies has enabled these power output levels to be reached.

Sugar is a naturally occurring energy source produced by plants through photosynthesis. It is therefore regenerative, and can be found in most areas of the earth, underlining the potential for sugar-based bio batteries as an ecologically-friendly energy device of the future.

Sony will continue its development of immobilization systems, electrode composition and other technologies in order to further enhance power output and durability, with the aim of realizing practical applications for these bio batteries in the future.

[+ more]

PLANT GENES SWITCHED ON BY SOUND WAVES

2007-09-06T10:09:00.001+02:00

CAN plants hear? They all respond to light, which affects how they optimise growth and survival. Plants also have a sense of touch, allowing them to stiffen in response to wind, and a "taste" for nutrients. But whether they respond to sound is a mystery.

Now Mi-Jeong Jeong of the National Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology in Suwon, South Korea, and colleagues claim to have identified two genes in rice that respond to sound waves. They also say that the promoter of one of the sound-sensitive genes could be attached to other genes to make them respond to sound too.

The findings follow a host of similar, but unsubstantiated, claims that plants respond to sound. If the researchers are correct, they say their discovery could enable farmers to switch specific crop genes on and off, such as ones for flowering, by blasting sound into the fields.

Though these results "have been greeted with profound scepticism" by other researchers, if the tests can be repeated they'd indicate "that sound could be an alternative to light as a gene regulator."
It's not photosynthesis, then, but audiosynthesis. Geneto-acoustic biology.

[+ more]
via bldgblog

STIRLING ENGINE :: TEMPERATURE RANGE ENGINE

2007-08-31T10:15:00.000+02:00

The Stirling engine is a heat engine that is vastly different from the internal-combustion engine in your car. Invented by Robert Stirling in 1816, the Stirling engine has the potential to be much more efficient than a gasoline or diesel engine. But today, Stirling engines are used only in some very specialized applications, like in submarines or auxiliary power generators for yachts, where quiet operation is important. Although there hasn't been a successful mass-market application for the Stirling engine, some very high-power inventors are working on it.

A Stirling engine uses the Stirling cycle, which is unlike the cycles used in internal-combustion engines.

:: The gasses used inside a Stirling engine never leave the engine. There are no exhaust valves that vent high-pressure gasses, as in a gasoline or diesel engine, and there are no explosions taking place. Because of this, Stirling engines are very quiet.

:: The Stirling cycle uses an external heat source, which could be anything from gasoline to solar energy to the heat produced by decaying plants. No combustion takes place inside the cylinders of the engine.

The movies above show some examples of stirling engines running on just hand heat and a cup of warm water.

[+ wiki]

THE SWAMP COLLECTION - VISUAL REFERENCE STUDIO

2007-08-29T10:41:00.000+02:00

Erin Hayne and Nuno Gonçalves Ferreira of the Visual Reference Studio have completed work on their first collection of thermochromatic furniture, stools and benches that change colour when touched. Colour-changing crystals are activated in response to heat, so sitting or touching the pieces will leave an imprint of various body parts, but just until the piece cools down. Black furniture turns blue and red turns violet, but the variety of temperature fluctuations will bring about a range of shades. The Swamp Collection is inspired by the flora and fauna of the Mississippi cypress swamp, where the studio is located.

[+ website]
via mocoloco

ROOTS :: ROMAN KIRSHNER

2007-08-28T13:33:00.001+02:00

Roots is a dreamlike screen that follows an old persian image: a bush growing heads. – In a green and brownish fluid iron crystals grow steadily...Bubbles ascend like jellyfish. Branches break off and sink to the dark ground. They start to dissolve and become thick clouds hovering over the scene.

Sound and Electricity
Electricity is pulsed through the whole Sculpture. It is the key to the constant transformation. Growth changes the flow of the current. The modified flow changes the growth. Software and Hardware leave the next step to the material. The voltages at each wire are put through a resonance filter and thus transformed into sound. The 4/4 pulse results in a sublime rhythm.

Utopian Screen
The installation is based on the model of a chemical computer by Gordon Pask in the early 1950s.
It was open to the environment and it managed to grow to a configuration which was able to distinguish between different frequencies.
Roots refers to a time when the big synthesis and simulation of image, sound, thinking and memory was soon to be started.

[+ website]

RESTAURANT VISIT :: OUD SLUIS

2007-08-20T12:56:00.000+02:00

Last week we had a very nice,tastefull diner at Oud Sluis, one of the top 50 restaurants in the world. We very enjoyed the taste palet of the dishes. The chef, Sergio Herman is an inspiring person not only by his food, but also how he looks at everything around the eating experience. If you want to know more what we ate, click on the link to our flickr photos.

[+ Oud Sluis]
[+ flickr]

NANO KRISPIES - CLAYTRONIC FOOD CONCEPT

2007-08-09T20:32:00.001+02:00

No one's even sure what to call it. "Claytronics," "synthetic reality" and "programmable matter" have been proposed. "Dynamic physical rendering" is the label Intel uses. Its an emerging field of engineering concerning reconfigurable nanoscale robots ('claytronic atoms', or catoms) designed to form much larger scale machines or mechanisms. Also known as "programmable matter", the catoms are said to eventually have the ability to morph into nearly any object, even replicas of human beings for virtual meetings.

Cameras would capture the movement of an object or person and then this data would be fed to the atoms, which would then assemble themselves to make up an exact likeness of the object.

Professors Todd Mowry and Seth Goldstein of Carnegie Mellon University came up with the idea based on "claytronics," the animation technique which involves slightly moving a model per frame to animate it.

"We thought that a good analogy for what we were going to do was claymation - something like the Wallace and Gromit shows," Dr Mowry told BBC World Service's Outlook programme.

"When you watch something created by claymation, it is a real object and it looks like it's moving itself. That's something like the idea we're doing... in our case, the idea is that you have computation in the 'clay', as though the clay can move itself.

"So if it was a dog, and you want the dog to move, it will actually move itself. But it is a physical object in front of you - it's not just a picture or hologram or something like that."

Ok, the nanokrispies idea is merely a sketch but maybe a small step closer towards a new world of "programmable food" concepts. So lets dream and just add "imilk" to our krispiesbowl and watch robotic characters grow out. Once they've finished assembling, get exercise and nutrition by hunting and eating them.

[+ wiki]
[+ nanokrispies]

CAPTURING LICHTNING :: LICHTENBERG FIGURES

2007-08-03T01:15:00.000+02:00

The interior of an 18" square x 1" piece of Plexiglas was charged to 2.2 million volts (MV) using a 5 MV particle accelerator. A layer of excess electrons become trapped deep inside, When discharged, the excess charge escaped with a bright flash and a loud bang. The hot, lightning-like discharge created thousands of microscopic fractures inside the acrylic, resulting in a branching "Captured Lightning" sculpture (or Lichtenberg Figure).

The branching, self-similar patterns observed in Lichtenberg figures exhibit fractal properties. Lichtenberg figures often develop during the dielectric breakdown of solids, liquids, and even gases.

Two-dimensional (2D) Lichtenberg figures can be produced by placing a sharp-pointed needle perpendicular to the surface of a non-conducting plate, such as of resin, ebonite, or glass. The point is positioned very near to, or in contact with, the plate. A source of high voltage, such as a Leyden jar (a type of capacitor) or a static electricity generator, is applied to the needle. This creates a small electrical discharge to the surface of the plate.

Another type of 2D Lichtenberg Figure can be created when an insulating surface becomes contaminated with semiconducting material. When a high voltage is applied across the surface, leakage currents may cause localized heating and progressive charring of the underlying material. Over time, branching, tree-like carbonized patterns are formed on the surface of the insulator called electrical trees. These may ultimately bridge the insulating space, leading to catastrophic failure of the insulating material.

[+ wiki]
[+ more]

RESTAURANT VISIT :: IN DE WULF

2007-07-29T22:00:00.000+02:00

We were pleased to be invited at the renovated restaurant 'In de wulf' to enjoy a fantastic diner. We have always been excited by what Kobe Desramaults is doing in his kitchen. By renovating the restaurant, the picture of the food and the ambiance is better matched. A nice open rural interior combined with top gastronomy.
If you want to see what we have eaten, click on the flickr link. The pictures added here are; first the 'foie d'or' and secondly; textures of zucchini, bouillon of bouillabaise, rouget barbet.

[+ In de wulf]
[+ flickr]

RECIPE FOR THE ECO SPEEDSTER - BEN WOOD

2007-07-29T14:59:00.000+02:00

It's one thing to design a car that runs solely on biofuels; it's another thing entirely to design one that is also made out of biomass. Yet that appears to be exactly what Dr. Kerry Kirwan, a researcher at Warwick University's Warwick Manufacturing Group, has achieved with the revolutionary Eco One sports car he and Ben Wood, his student and collaborator on the project, unveiled a few days ago.

Boasting tyres made of potatoes, brake pads made of ground cashew shells and a body built from hemp and rapeseed oil, this speedy racer — which can attain a top speed of 150 mph — runs on a special biofuel made entirely from sugar beet and fermented wheat. Besides for the car's steering-wheel, seat and electrics — which are all made from conventional materials — only the car's chassis is made from a non plant-based material: steel. As a result, Eco One is 95% biodegradable.

Kirwan and Wood built the Eco One over the period of two months at a cost of £20,000 (or roughly $40,000). "If we can build a high-performance car that can virtually be grown from seed, just imagine what's possible for the average family car," said Ben Wood, who noted that it could do 0 - 62 mph in under 4 seconds flat thanks to a Triumph Daytona motorcycle engine.

The next step will be getting this car and the underlying technologies out into the mainstream car market. Kirwan and Wood have already been approached by several officials in the motor sports industry keen on supporting their efforts.

[+ picture]
via treehugger

WATER SURFACE AS MUSIC CONTROLLER - TORITON PLUS

2007-07-27T10:44:00.000+02:00

A new electronic music interface from Sebastian Tomczak using lasers, photocells and water.The laser shines through the water in the dish, and light dependent resistors on the other side respond to the position of the laser points.

[+ more]
via teemingvoid

FOODPAIRING PART VI

2007-07-22T22:39:00.000+02:00

I was wondering, chefs who know about foodpairing, can you see that in their recipes. Let's take for example Heston Blumenthal. Some reknown recipe of him like the salmon with licorice enveloppe, is that somehow a predictable recipe if you know foodpairing.

We did the test by looking at salmon. If you take the top 3 flavours of salmon and search for what other foodproduct has the same top 3, you obtain...licorice. Also if you scan for the total group of flavours, licorice is still in the 20% best pairings with salmon.

Another combination of Heston Blumenthal is oyster and passion fruit.
We talked already a few time about Sang Hoon Degeimbre his combination of kiwi and oyster, well oyster and passion fruit is the same story. Methyl hexanoate is the flavour that pairs the two together. Also in the Book of Yann Duytsche you will find a foodpairing combination based on that flavour; pineapple and hop.

Anyway it should be clear; it stays still a craft from the chef to turn the knowledge of a foodpairing into a good recipe. So don't think is only mixing some ingredients. Quantity/ balance is most important.

Picture was taken from Flickr, by ComeUndone.

[+ Yann Duytsche]

FOODPAIRING PART V

2007-07-16T21:43:00.000+02:00

In previous posts we already talked about interchangeability of food. A new recipe from Sang Hoon Degeimbre illustrates this good. If you compare all the flavour components of tomato and search for the product most similar to those, you obtain...strawberry. So image you have orginally a recipe of lobster and tomato coulis, replace the tomato by strawberry coulis. The recipe of the first picture is called: 'Breton lobster, gaspacho of strawberries, lobster powder'
In the second picture you see the foodpairing of asparagus and violet essence.
The chef of L'air du temps has a talent for these combinations. One of the reasons why L'air du temps is one of our favourite restaurants.
Another nice foodpairing we ate at El Bulli was the combination of potato, coffee and capers. Really great combination. An italian chef started this combination and if you look on the internet you find recipes like risotto with espresso and capers.

[+ air du temps]

EL BULLI

2007-07-14T14:50:00.000+02:00

First, I want to thank Jean Pierre Gabriel, a journalist which we respect a lot, for giving us the opportunity to meet the chefs of 'El celler de can roca' and 'El Bulli'. Thank you Jean Pierre for the opportunity and the nice company!
We were very charmed by the open mentality of the chefs. So also thanks to Joan and Jordi Roca, Ferran Adria and Oriol Castro for spending some time with us.

In the morning we visited Alicia, the institute which will deal with gastronomy and science. Very nice location, an hour drive from Barcelona. During the noon we had a conversion with Joan and Jordi Roca. Very nice guys. They also showed their new restaurant which will open in autumn, a combination of a old building and new architecture.

In the afternoon we met the chefs of El Bulli. Oriol Castro, the right hand of Ferran Adria, showed us around in the restaurant. Quiet impressive. If you want to see what was served for dinner, click on the link to Flickr. Photos and descriptions are added.

[+ Alicia]
[+ flickr]
[+ El celler de can roca]
[+ El Bulli]

SUN POWERED OVENS FOR CHINA AND DARFUR

2007-07-13T13:57:00.000+02:00

Operation Blessing, a non-profit committed to “breaking the cycle of suffering” has taken the age-old technique of harnessing the sun’s heat to cook food, and turned it into a viable design for off-the-grid, minimal-resource third-world demographics. In the Gansu Province of China, and soon in Darfur camps, the sun-powered parabolic solar oven allows the suffering and hungry to cleanly cook and boil water and without firewood, using only that always-renewable energy source: the sun. The oven’s design is also a great example of using ancient technologies in modern ways to address social problems.

The ovens are made of concrete and resemble a television satellite dish covered with reflective mirrors. They are easily pointed at the sun and the mirrors focus the energy on a cooking platform. It only takes minutes to achieve a cooking temperature, which will ignite a piece of paper held in front after only a few seconds. These ovens are easy and inexpensive to manufacture and can be used to cook and dehydrate foods for later consumption, and also to sanitize drinking water and medical equipment. Because the ovens use solar energy, there is no cost to operate them.

The technology is certainly nothing new- dating back to the ancient Greek philosopher Diocles, who invented the parabolic mirror (200 B.C.). In 1515, inventor/artist Leonardo da Vinci improved on the concept and invented a parabolic mirror device to concentrate heat and boil water for industrial use.

But the application is certainly ground-breaking. “In Gansu, like in many other poverty-stricken regions around the world, firewood is as precious as water,” said Operation Blessing president Bill Horan. “There are virtually no trees here, and so little rain, that the only bath most people take in their whole life is on their wedding day. These solar ovens are based on ancient technology and they are eco-friendly - a totally renewable energy source.”

[+ operation blessing ]
via inhabitat

MY PRIVATE SKY BY KRAM WEISSHAAR

2007-07-12T10:21:00.000+02:00

Architecture and design outfit Kram Weisshaar has created a limited-edition series of dinner plates for porcelain brand Nymphenburg.Called My Private Sky, the plates combine computer technology and traditional craft techniques: the designers ask customers where and when they were born, and then use a specially written computer programme to generate the precise arrangement of stars and planets as they would have appeared at that particular time and place.The patterns are then hand-painted onto the plates by Nymphenburg artisans.

[+ more]
via dezeen

AIRSHIPS THAT "SWIM" THROUGH THE ATMOSPHERE

2007-07-04T12:03:00.000+02:00

This is fascinating: making an airship's surface contract and expand so as to enable it to "swim" through the atmosphere. These artificial muscles are made of polymers which deform when subjected to an electrical field.

Conventional propeller driven airships have their disadvantages. They are inefficient, and thereby wasteful of energy, and they are noisy too. Empa scientists are looking to solve both these problems by using a technology which is simultaneously very advanced and yet simple in concept – their design lets an airship “swim” through the air like a fish moving through water. That this idea could become reality thanks to the development of electroactive polymers (EAPs) is demonstrated by the first flight trials as well as computer simulations. The EAPs need further development, however, and their reliability and useful lifetime must be improved.

If the patented idea of Empa researcher Silvain Michel and his team becomes established, then the airship of the future will be a non-rigid airship (blimp) that glides through the air as silently and using the same means of propulsion as a trout swimming in a brook – by bending its body in one direction and simultaneously moving its tail in the opposite way. The technically simplified version of this trout-like motion, using three rigid, interconnected body segments, is known in scientific jargon as the “bending-rotation-stroke”, says Michel.

“This technique can be transferred directly from water to air”, he explains further. “A blimp moving through the air is, in terms of the physics involved, exactly the same as a fish moving through water. In both cases a body is moving through a fluid and is subject to the same laws of fluid dynamics.” The new propulsion technique, combine with a sleeker, trout-like shape, doubles the efficiency of the blimp design from an aerodynamic point of view.

[+ more]
via morfogen

MUSHROOM INSULATION

2007-07-04T10:57:00.000+02:00

Just when you thought mushrooms were only useful as culinary garnishes, Gavin McIntyre and Eben Bayer, two students from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found a more noble purpose for the functional fungi- building insulation made from oyster mushrooms.

Greensulate is a fire-retardant board made out of water, flour, perlite, and mushroom spores. The idea came from an assignment which asked that they produce a form of sustainable insulation. The insulation material is grown by pouring the ingredients into 7 by 7 inch molds with hydrogen peroxide. When this mixture is placed in a dark environment, the mushroom oyster cells start to grow into a 1 inch thick panel, which is then dried to prevent fungus from growing. The pair have a working prototype, which in true college fashion, was grown under their beds.

“I think it has a lot of potential, and it could make a big difference in people’s lives,” said RPI Professor Burt Swersy, whose Inventor’s Studio course inspired the product’s creation. “It’s sustainable, and enviro-friendly, it’s not based on petrochemicals and doesn’t require much energy or cost to make it.”

[+ more]
via inhabitat

UNSUSTAINABLE - GREETJE VAN HELMOND

2007-06-29T11:42:00.000+02:00

Nice to hear this sweet news from Greetje. On the RCA summer show: Design Products graduate Greetje van Helmond has created a range of jewellery using sugar crystals, which she “grows” directly onto cord suspended in sugary solution. Called Unsustainable, the project deals with issues of durability and resource consumption, deliberately using a basic material to create precious, but extremely fragile, objects.

Below is van Helmond’s statement about the project:

"In present day life we can say that we consume a lot. Durable materials are often used for the production of goods that are typically replaced or thrown away quickly.

Contrary to this I use everyday, basic materials to create products that appear valuable and sustainable. Because of the materials I use, the products won’t last long, but long enough to stay “new”.

In one project, I create jewellery out of sugar. Sugar has the quality of growing into crystals under special circumstances. By controlling the process I allow crystals to grow around strings to form accessories.

In a second project I create a set of accessories from quilted paper. With a lot of time and effort I believe one can make apparently banal and cheap materials into something beautiful."

We want more where that came form. All the best!

[+more]
via dezeen

LIVING SYSTEMS - JERSZY SEYMOUR

2007-06-21T11:11:00.000+02:00

The "Living Systems" installation is the result of a series of experiments with organic plastics developed by Seymour and is now for display at the vitra design museum. Seymour began the experiments some time ago in his home town of Berlin, and the latest products of his researches are now on display.

The plastic is produced by extracting the starch from potato, mixing it with milk and heating it to make it liquid. The material, which is biodegradable, hardens on a bed of sand and forms the material base for a range of furnishings. When dyed with food colouring the material can be turned into children's chairs or daybeds, which look as if they have been cast in brightly coloured icing.

However, what at first looks like a playful experiment is based on a very serious idea. How is it possible today for people to live an autonomous life and take care of their own needs? Seymour, who grew up in Canada, looks for answers at a design level.
After many years of experience as a designer of objects in plastic, which were partly produced with complex moulds, Seymour, who clearly attaches a great deal of importance to freedom, asked himself the question of how designers can free themselves from the restrictions imposed by production. With his do-it-yourself experiments he has released himself from production processes which are becoming ever more complex and opaque, reflecting afterwards on the design autonomy which this provides.

Food for Design as we may speak. We did some more research and bumped into the following recipe/process.

Recipe :
-1900 g Potato or potato skins
-6000 g water
-580 g milk
-1400 g (potato) starch
-140 g whey protein

The potato skins are dry chopped to 1 mm pieces in an industrial blender. The heated water/milk blend (heated to 65 DEG C) is then added to the potato skins and blended in the industrial blender. The potato starch is mixed in to the water/milk/skins solution. Finally, the whey protein concentrate is added to the mix and thoroughly blended in the blender.

[+ website]
via dezeen

BEE SENSORS - SUSANA SOARES

2007-06-20T10:47:00.000+02:00

Susana Soares studied bees and in particular the way they can be trained to use their smell and detect pretty anything including bombs and landmines.

Bees are trained using Pavlov’s reflex to target a specific odour and their range of detection includes pheromones, toxins and disease diagnosis. Not only can they roam large distances in search of what you want them to sniff out, it takes only a few minutes to train them, unlike dogs whose training can last up to one year.

Their behaviour can be conditioned by rewards such as sugar-water. They are placed in straw-like containers and made to smell a combination of, say sugar with tiny residues of TNT. That's it! The bees' keen sense of smell will then associate the odour of explosives with food.

In her BEE’S project, Susana would use the insects as biosensors, harnessing their extroadinary sense of smell to detect diseases such as lung cancer, skin cancer and tuberculosis. Besides they could spot the problem at a very early stage much better than machines. They could even detect if a woman is pregnant which i find much more appealing and elegant than the usual method that involves peeing on a piece of plastic.

The designer visited the London Beekeepers Association and used chewing gum in her tests with the bees. She then located a glass master and had glass objects blown.

People would breathe in the glass diagnosis tools where bees are kept for the short period of time necessary for them to detect general health and fertility cycles. To ensure that the mouth never gets in contact with the insect, there are two different spheres, the bee's smell being strong enough to sniff out what you breathe through glass. Bess would rush into the tubes that lead closer to the breath when they detect any disease they associate with food.

[+ more]
via wemakemoneynotart

ESPACE PUR - MARC HOTTINGER & LUCIEN ISELI

2007-06-14T13:39:00.000+02:00

Espace Pur is an air ionizer that uses dust as pixels and that displays patterns thanks to it, in a very slow motion way. It cleans and purifies the air in architectural spaces. It increases the level of oxygen’s negative ions contained in the ambient air. Once installed, the air’s oxygenation becomes nearly the same as in the mountains. The more there are negative ions, the more the air is purified.
As a matter of fact, excessive dust is dangerous for health. Nevertheless, no dust at all decreases our immunity. That's why the system is regulated by the saturation of dust. Once filled with dust, the display is deactivated, and dust can be cleaned on the floor.
The installation of the "anti-dust screen" can take place in flats, hospitals, offices, and everywhere where air needs to be cleaned.
The aim of the project is therefore to capture dust and organize it on wall panels in order to build pictures that will gently appear on the wall. The panels are displaying compositions of weed that are on the one hand harmful plants but on the second hand have beneficial aspect on the health.

[+ video]
via ECAL

A TOTAL EXPERIENCE AT 'KASTEEL WITHOF'

2007-06-14T13:19:00.000+02:00

Imagine; you sitting at a table in the middle of the kitchen of the chef, with candles, fine food and wine and while you're eating a dozin of chefs are preparing for you the most fabulous food. This unforgetable experience is something you can experience at Kasteel Withof. The chef in charge is Peter Coucquyt, one of the leading chefs in Belgium. So if you ever have the opportunity to eat at this place, ask for the table in the kitchen. An experience that you will never forget

[+ website]
[+ flickr]

BOXFISH - MERCEDES BIONIC CONCEPT CAR

2007-06-08T09:20:00.000+02:00

Behold BoxFish, Mercedes’ bionic concept car. Despite its boxy, cube-shaped body, this tropical fish is in fact outstandingly streamlined and therefore represents an aerodynamic ideal. With an accurately constructed model of the boxfish the engineers in Stuttgart were able to achieve a wind drag coefficient of just 0.06 in the wind tunnel.

In addition to superb aerodynamics and a lightweight construction concept derived from nature, the 103 kW/140-hp diesel engine and innovative SCR technology greatly contribute to fuel economy and a further reduction in exhaust emissions.

"AdBlue" is an aqueous urea solution which is sprayed into the exhaust system in precisely metered quantities, depending on the engine operating status. This converts the nitrogen oxides into harmless nitrogen and water. The reservoir for this service fluid is located in the spare wheel recess of the concept car, and its capacity is sufficient for a mileage corresponding to the service interval for a current Mercedes diesel model.

The boxfish is also a prime example of rigidity and light weight. Its skin consists of numerous hexagonal, bony plates which provide maximum strength with minimal weight and effectively protect the animal from injury.

[+ more]
via moreinspiration

FROM SUPERBOT TO MOLECUBE - PROGRAMMABLE FOOD CONCEPT

2007-06-06T14:59:00.000+02:00

SuperBot is a new type of robots that are modular, multifunctional, and easily reconfigurable. Its modules can be dynamically configured into different robots to fit the user's needs. For example, it can crawl, walk, roll, climb, carry, fetch, or survey. The reconfiguration and module exchanges are easy and do not require any special knowledge or training. Such robots are economic because a single robot can provide diverse behaviors and can be changed frequently. This is ideal for home campanions, search and rescue, security, surveillance, and so on.

A step further is that we produce these modules on nano scale and create nanorobots. Since nanorobots would be microscopic in size, it would probably be necessary for very large numbers of them to work together to perform macroscopic tasks.In such plans, future medical nanotechnology has been posited to employ nanorobots injected into the patient to perform treatment on a cellular level.

Far-fetched? The processed-food giant Kraft and a group of research laboratories are busy working towards 'programmable food'. One product they are working on is a colourless, tasteless drink that you, the consumer, will design after you've bought it. You'll decide what colour and flavour you'd like the drink to be, and what nutrients it will have in it, once you get home. You'll zap the product with a correctly-tuned microwave transmitter - presumably Kraft will sell you that, too.

[+ superbot]
[+ wiki]
[+ nanofood]

MIKE KUNIAVSKY - TASTE 3 CONFERENCE 2007

2007-06-05T10:05:00.000+02:00

Mike Kuniavsky is a writer, researcher and designer exploring the intersections of high technology and everyday life. People around the world use Mike’s 2003 book, 'Observing the User Experience,' to understand the relationship between people and products.

His talk was a somewhat speculative presentation tracing some of the history of appliance design and how ubiquitous computing may change that. In his talk, he presents the history of blender controls as an example of the encapsulation of knowledge into our tools. He then showed several examples of how networked kitchen devices may (or may not) present a fundamental shift in the nature of how we relate to our kitchen tools:

"Imagine that every time you used this [networked, barcode-reading microwave], it quietly told a database somewhere--say, in your iPod--how many calories you just ate. Then your iPod could query your shoes about how much you had run the previous day. The next time you went for a run, your iPod would pick songs with a different tempo to encourage you burn off that Mac and Cheese. Now that’s starting to get interesting. It is now possible for our tools to automatically encapsulate knowledge and share it with each other."

[+ presentation]
[+ orangecone]
[+ taste3]

BEN ROCHE FOR MOTO - TASTE 3 CONFERENCE 2007

2007-06-04T17:31:00.000+02:00

Moto Restaurant's 21-year-old Pastry Chef Ben Roche demonstrates the unique dining experience at Moto with his version of Carrot Cake, Nachos and Wine and Food Pairing.

Twenty-two year old, Ben Roche discovered a fascination with science after creating Alka Seltzer “bombs” as a young boy in his best friend’s kitchen in Beaufort, South Carolina. So it seems fitting that this young, aspiring pastry chef now finds himself working alongside Postmodern culinary star, Chef Homaro Cantu. At Moto where the kitchen resembles a lab with tanks of nitrogen gas, helium and liquid nitrogen being used daily in cooking techniques, Roche’s love of science and his Johnson & Wales culinary degree are in perfect harmony.

[+ moto]
[+ taste3]

POTION VESSEL - NOUMENON

2007-05-31T16:22:00.000+02:00

The vessel in which a liquid potion is able to be contained, takes on the initial form of a thin white disc of plastic. This disc comprises of memory polymer that embodies an intricate structure of cylindrically knitted SMA wire, arranged in a flat circular format. This embedded shape memory alloy wire network acts in synergy with its polymer covering, to enable a subsequent change of form an d transparency to take place on the application of heat.

The reaction occurs when a liquid, heated to 70 °C, is gracefully poured onto the flat form; intantaneously triggering a transformation. At the moment the liquid makes contact with the disc, the edges of the disc lift themselves off of the table surface, the opacity of the plastic begins to lessen, and, as the vessel becoms fully deformed, the wire structure becomes visible through the plastic material. The object has adopted an entirely new shape and appearance, that of a transparent potion vessel.

Once it reaches room temperature again, the vessel gently lies down and becomes a nondescript circular mat. Concept: Carl De Smet.

[+ website]

FLOATING ON SULPHUR HEXAFLUORIDE

2007-05-30T13:33:00.000+02:00

Quiet simple test but inspirational. The clue is that sulphur hexafluoride is much denser than air and therefore light things can float on it, which is obvious. So... lets make those floating dishes!

[+ wiki]

PEWTER STOOL - MAX LAMB

2007-05-25T13:48:00.002+02:00

Max Lamb’s chair designs suggest an aggressiveness that is characteristic of the atavistic spirit in design today. In stark contrast to recent ethereal and romanticised design, or designs that transfer directly from computer to machine manufacture without human intervention, Lamb laboriously chisels, buries, grows and smelts materials into rugged and bold forms. Combining industrial production with handcraftsmanship while fusing high and low technologies, the effect is both raw and intense. Whether carving polystyrene, casting luxurious pewter into crude sand formations on a South Cornish beach for his Pewter Stool, combining lost-wax and sophisticated electro-deposition methods for his Copper stools, or extruding biodegradable materials for his Starch stools, Lamb creates visually arresting pieces that have materials and process at their core. It represents a traditional modernist approach to design – technically rigorous with an appreciation of innovative and appropriate materials and production processes – that suggests a need for realism and honesty in the products around us. In a primitive casting technique,molten pewter is poured into a sand mould sculpted by hand on the beach.

[+ website]
via designmuseum

PATTERN LANDSCAPE FORMATION - EMERGENCE

2007-05-23T10:33:00.001+02:00

What do ice wedge networks, meandering rivers, sorted patterned ground, beach cusps, sand dunes, and humans have in common?

Emergence is the process of complex pattern formation from more basic constituent parts. Emergent structures are patterns not created by a single event or rule. Nothing commands the system to form a pattern. Instead, the interaction of each part with its immediate surroundings causes a complex chain of processes leading to some order. One might conclude that emergent structures are more than the sum of their parts because the emergent order will not arise if the various parts are simply coexisting; the interaction of these parts is central. Emergent structures can be found in many natural phenomena, from the physical to the biological domain. For example, the shape of weather phenomena such as hurricanes are emergent structures.

It is useful to distinguish three forms of emergence structures. First-order emergence structures occurs as a result of shape interactions (for example, hydrogen bonds in water molecules lead to surface tension). Second-order emergence structures involves shape interactions played out sequentially over time (for example, changing atmospheric conditions as a snowflake falls to the ground build upon and alter its form). Finally, third-order emergence structures is a consequence of shape, time, and heritable instructions. For example, an organism's genetic code sets boundary conditions on the interaction of biological systems in space and time.

[+ wiki]
[+ image 01]
[+ image 02]

CANDYFAB 4000 - 3D PRINTING WITH GRANULATED SUGAR

2007-05-16T12:16:00.001+02:00

The Evil Mad Scientist crew couldn't stop at toast--they took it up a notch and conquered the realm of 3-D (sugar) printing (it was a tad bit mysterious before) using a hot air gun and a relatively low-cost technology called selective hot air sintering and melting.

"Our design goals were (1) a low cost design leveraging recycled components (2) large printable volume emphasized over high resolution, and (3) ability to use low-cost printing media including granulated sugar. We are extremely pleased to be able to report that it has been a success: Our three dimensional fabricator is now fully operational and we have used it to print several large, low-resolution, objects out of pure sugar."

[+ more]
via boingboing

FOODPAIRING PART IV - RECIPES BY BELGIAN TOPCHEFS

2007-05-16T09:21:00.000+02:00

This is a translation of the recipes in an article by Jean Pierre Gabriel for Le vif express where Sang Hoon Degeimbre (the chef of L’air du temps) and Bernard Lahousse (food for design) had a discussion on food pairing. The combination of oyster and kiwi is a food pairing by Sang Hoon. The 2 others where inspired by Heston Blumenthal (mango/pine and pineapple/blue cheese). For more info on foodpairing look to our earlier posts on this topic.

Included some recipes by Sang Hoon Degeimbre

A. FOOD PAIRING OF MANGO AND PINE

description : Ravioli filled with mango mousse, beads of yoghurt and pine (for 4 persons)

- 1 ripe mango

- 200 g mango puree

- 3,5 g gelatine

- 2 shoots of a young pine (the very tender, fresh leaves)

- 3,5 g of methylcellulose

- Lemon juice

- Rose leaves

For the yoghurt beads:

- 200 g yoghurt

- 90 g double cream

- 30 g sugar

- 2 drops of pine extract

For the alginate bath:

- 1 liter water

- 5 g alginate

Recipe:

Cut the mango into fine (maximum 1mm) sheets.

Mix the mango puree with the shoots of the pine (cut into fine pieces).

Divide the mango puree into two parts. The first part is heated to 40°C and mixed with the gelatine. The second part is kept cool and mixed with the methylcellulose. Beat the 2 parts together into a light foam.

For the yoghurt beads; mix all the ingredients. Make an alginate bath (reverse spherification) by mixing the water with the alginate. Fill syringes with the yoghurt mixtures. Inject the mixture into the alginate bath so you get beads (2 cm diameter). Leave the beads into the bath for 2 minutes. Rinse in water and leave into the water until use.

Fold the mango sheets into 4 to form like little cornets. Fill the cornets with the mango foam.

Dress the cornets on a plate together with the yoghurt beads, some mango coulis, leaves of roses and shoots of pine

B.FOOD PAIRING OYSTER AND KIWI

description : Kiwître (for 4 persons)

- 4 oysters

- 2 kiwis

- 100 g coconut puree

- 1 spoon lemon juice

- 50 g fresh sepia ink

- 1 tea spoon wasabi powder

- 1 g tara gum

- 0,5 g methylcellulose

Recipe:

Mix the coconut with the tara gum. Sieve. Keep fresh during 1 hour.

Mix the sepia ink with the methylcellulose. Keep in the fridge

Peel the kiwi. Cut into small pieces (5mm) but discard the white parts. Mix the wasabi together with the kiwi pieces.

Open the oysters.

On a plate put a spoon of kiwi pieces. On top the kiwi. Put a drop of sepia ink and a spoon of coconut next to the oyster.

C. FOOD PAIRING; PINEAPPLE AND BLUE CHEESE

Description : Fourme d’Ambert on a jelly of pineapple, fennel, apple and sirop de Liège (for 4 persons)

- 200 g pineapple

- 40 g Fourme d’Ambert

- 20 g granny smith (cut into julienne)

- 20 g fennel (cut into julienne)

- 30 g sirop de Liège

- Powder sugar

- Lemon juice

- 1,5 g agar agar

- Oil of grilled pistachio nuts

- 3 g harissa

Recipe:

Cut 4 fine round pieces out of the pineapple. Place on a silpat, cover with powder sugar, dry into an oven of 110°C during 50 minutes. When ready and still hot roll the pineapple into cylinders.

Make juice out of the rest of the pineapple. Add lemon juice and agar agar. Heat to solve the agar agar, pour in the liquid into a rectangular shape and cool to solidify. Cut into pieces of 5 cm to 1,5 cm.

Cut the cheese in the similar size. Put on top of the pineapple.

Mix the sirop de Liège with the harissa.

Put the apple and fennel julienne on top of the cheese. Decorate with the pineapple cylinder. Add the sauce of sirop de Liège.

[+ article]

LIGHTABLE - TOO MANY DESIGNERS

2007-05-14T09:24:00.000+02:00

The Lightable by Too Many Designers (AKA Julian Appelius and Fabien Dumas) has embedded LEDs along the entire inner perimeter, sending light through the glass tabletop at a 54 degree angle. As long as the surface remains clear of objects, the light path is invisible to the eye. As soon as a placed object interrupts the path, it becomes beautifully illuminated as the light continues to pass through.

[+ website]
via core77

SUPERCOOLED LIQUOR RECIPE

2007-05-11T09:21:00.000+02:00

Japanese sake (alcoholic content: 14.3%) was heated to an appropriate temperature and filled in a glass vessel for storage while it was kept under reduced pressure. The pressure in the vessel at this time was 0.74 kg/cm². The vessel containing the "sake" was cooled in a home freezer.

The cooling curve obtained at this time is shown above

The sake contained in the vessel is present in the liquid state until the temperature reached point A in the curve. At the temperature corresponding to point A, the "sake" starts to freeze, and the primary freezing is completed at the temperature corresponding to point B in the curve. That is, the temperature at point A is defined as the starting temperature of freezing. At the temperature corresponding to point C near point A in the curve, the vessel containing the "sake" is taken out from the freezer to serve for drinking.

When the "sake" thus supercooled was poured into a glass which had been cooled in readiness, the poured "sake" was frozen in the glass, resulting in a sherbet-like "sake".

[+ wiki]

STYROFOAM CUPS - TARA DONOVAN

2007-05-10T10:21:00.000+02:00

Tara Donovan (b. 1969) is an installation artist who uses materials such as scotch tape, styrofoam cups, and drinking straws to create large scale sculptures that often have a biomorphic feel. All of her work must be assembled and disassembled, sometimes an extremely tedious process. Her work was featured in the 2000 Whitney Biennal and the All Soviet Exhibition and in a recent edition of Art News magazine. She is also the recipient of the Alexander Calder Award and a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University. Most recently her work was featured in a solo exhibition in the Pace Gallery in New York.

[+ acegallery]
[+ wiki]

FLAT SALAD CUTLERY - J.C. KARICH

2007-05-08T23:46:00.000+02:00

Chilean industrial designer J.C. Karich (currently working in France) began experimenting with curved surface shapes from plastic bottles, which ultimately resulted in his elegant fork and spoon Flat Salad set design. The design has recently been picked up by Milan-based disposable/sustainable cutlery and table accessories company Pandora Design.

[+ website]
via mocoloco

FERRO FLUID EXPERIMENT WITH ROTATING MAGNETIC FIELDS

2007-05-06T21:44:00.000+02:00

A fluorocarbon-based ferrofluid is placed within a glass Hele-Shaw cell of 1.1-mm gap. Magnetic fields are applied that have in-plane clockwise rotating and dc axial magnetic fields. The ferrofluid is surrounded by a 50/50 mixture of isopropyl alcohol and deionized water, which prevents ferrofluid wetting of the glass plates.

The first experiment uses a 50-µl drop of ferrofluid. The ferrofluid drop is circular before the magnetic field is applied. When the dc magnetic field is applied, the ferrofluid drop forms a spiking labyrinth pattern. Then the clockwise rotating field is applied, and the spikes begin to curl in on themselves, forming a smooth spiral pattern after some of the spikes are absorbed into the larger structure. The smooth spirals form from viscous shear as the clockwise rotating magnetic field causes counterclockwise flow on the outside ferrofluid surfaces, which return on the inside surfaces.

The second experiment uses a 200-µl drop of ferrofluid. First, the clockwise rotating field is applied, which causes a counterclockwise flow that holds the circular fluid drop together without spikes. Then a 100-G dc axial field is gradually applied. This results in the ferrofluid drop appearing to expand before a phaselike transition at a critical dc magnetic field strength around 100 G. Careful observations show that the pattern forms at slightly less than 100-G dc field under a thin ferrofluid coating on the top glass plate, which then abruptly peels away at slightly increased dc axial magnetic field. The magnetic field is then increased from 100 to 200 G to form an intricate internal pattern surrounded by a circle of ferrofluid with spiraled arms. The second experiment is repeated again three more times under essentially identical conditions, with common features but it appears that the fine features are different each time.

[+ wiki]
via youtube

FORMATION OF FIBONACCI SPIRAL IN NATURE

2007-05-04T09:41:00.000+02:00

While the aesthetics and symmetry of Fibonacci spiral patterns has often attracted scientists, a mathematical or physical explanation for their common occurrence in nature is yet to be discovered. Recently, scientists have successfully produced Fibonacci spiral patterns in the lab, and found that an elastically mismatched bi-layer structure may cause stress patterns that give rise to Fibonacci spirals. The discovery may explain the widespread existence of the pattern in plants.

Fibonacci number patterns and triangular patterns with intrinsic defects occur frequently on nonplanar surfaces in nature, particularly in plants. By controlling the geometry and the stress upon cooling, these patterns can be reproduced on the surface of microstructures about 10 micrometers in diameter. Spherules of the Ag core/SiOx shell structure, possessing markedly uniform size and shape, self-assembled into the Fibonacci number patterns (5 by 8 and 13 by 21) or the triangular pattern, depending on the geometry of the primary supporting surface. Under proper geometrical constraints, the patterns developed through self-assembly in order to minimize the total strain energy. This demonstrates that highly ordered microstructures can be prepared simultaneously across large areas by stress engineering.

[+ more]
via physorg

ERIC WURM RETROSPECTIVE IN HAMBURG

2007-04-29T22:23:00.000+02:00

Born in 1954 in Bruck an der Mur, Austria, Erwin Wurm has always been involved in a question and answer game about sculpture and the way it is constituted. A multifaceted oeuvre has emerged over twenty-five years, which can be regarded as a continual investigation about the definition of sculpture. For Wurm, who is one of the most successful contemporary Austrian artists, actions, written or drawn instructions or even thoughts can become sculpture. This retrospective show presents for the first time, and on such a large scale, Wurm’s comprehensive oeuvre, which includes all forms of media and systems of reference.

For Wurm, one of the most successful contemporary artists, anything can become sculpture: actions, written or drawn instructions, or even a thought. His art often treats elementary as well as banal life needs and actions, as well as their perversion, as can be expressed in physical deformations. The artist explores issues such as the thinness craze and obesity, fashion, advertising, the cult of consumerism, whose central fetishes include the private home as well the car. The exhibition shows with more than 400 drawings, videos, photographs, and sculptures, the most expansive show of the artist's work to date.

[+ erik wurm]
[+ deichtorhallen]
via we make money not art

L'AIR DU TEMPS PASSED THE TEST FOR SAN SEBASTIAN.

2007-04-27T12:57:00.000+02:00

Translation from an abstract of an article by Pieter van Doveren for Trends.

Rafael Garcia Santos, organizer of one of the world's most important culinairy congresses, was 2 days in Belgium. Together with Martin Berasategui he visited several adresses in belgium (see earlier post)including L'air du temps.

L'Air du temps is one of the most interesting places in the french part of belgium for gastronomic innovation. Rafael Garcia Santos and Martin Berasategui came over to see and taste if chef Sang-Hoon Degeimbre could be one of the chef who will do demonstrations in San Sebastian. Sang-Hoon Degeimbre made an exquisite diner where the talented sommelier Maximin De Munck added the wines.

Mise-en-bouche:

- Tofu and miso with crispy black salsify and powder of dried tuna.
- Creamy mousseline made by in ginger water cooked sweet potato with spicy chorizo and a mousse of yoghurt.
- Crispy tube of pumpkin, filled with ice, slighty beaten foie gras and foam of licorice.
- Bulgur with small grey snails and curcuma sauce.
- Egg shell filled with truffle snow.

Main dishes:

- Oyster and Kiwi with a cream of coconut and sepia ink (wine:Dr. Bürklin-Wolf, 2006 Riesling.)
- Sushi of red tuna, Belgian caviar, Japanese algues and mayonaise with Ras-el-Hanout spices (wine:Sauvignon Claudy Bay 2006.)
- On 43 °C cooked salmon of Cherbourg with foie gras and mint, capers, pickled onions and lemon grass (wine:Anjou, Les Bonnes Blanches of René Moss.)
- Thymus and langoust with a butter made with berries, sirope of hoisin and rice vinegar.
- Waret pigeon, couscous with artichoke and lime, parfume of tonka beans (wine: austrian Arachon Evolution TFXT 1999.)

Desserts:

- cuberdon meringue tremped into liquid nitrogen.
- bonbon with an emulsion and crispy caramel
- Yoghurtbead with a soupe of mango and pineapple
- Soufflé of abricots
- Soupe of chocolate with marmelade of plums, sorbet of saffran

:: REPORT ::

Felicitations from Rafael Garcia Santos and Martin Berasategui. Sang-Hoon Degeimbre passed with brio for the test and was invited to do a demonstration in San Sebastian. Belgium can be proud.

Sang Hoon was also invited to Singapore a few weeks ago where he did some demonstrations and also met the belgian chef Emmanuel Stroobandt from Saint Pierre. If you like to read more about Sang Hoon, click on the click to an article of Reuters. L’Air du Temps: Chaussée de Louvain 181, 5310 Noville-sur-Mehaigne, 081 81 30 48, ‘Grand menu’ for 75 euro (110 euro with wines).[+ L'air du temps]
[+ Reuters about Sang Hoon]
[+ trends]

THE FUTURE OF FOOD - AUDI

2007-04-26T00:18:00.000+02:00

Observer Food Monthly and the Audi A6 have teamed up to present four films with the four most revolutionary young chefs in the country using cutting-edge philosophies of food, innovative technology and techniques to re-define our concept of food and some classic British menus.

In the fourth video 'The Science of Deliciousness'Flavour scientist Jane Parker meets top chef Daniel Clifford of Midsummer House to tell us just what makes the very best food so delicious. What can science offer the industry's top chefs? Is there something about really accomplished cuisine that just can't be analysed?
Jane Parker is telling on the foodpairing of pigeon and chocolate. How both have pyrazines in common.

Thanks to Jean Marc of Kalys for making us aware of the four films.

[+ video 4 'The Science of Deliciousness']
[+ midsummer house]