Future Cravings
-
Purpose
Our goal through Future Cravings was to create a new methodology for climate action. We combine materials, facilitation, and food. An interdisciplinary group of practitioners are invited to come together around a chosen issue for a thematic conversation that engages all senses of sight, smell, and touch. This format offers a new way to ideate differently around global issues and perhaps find clues or solutions that might not have been found otherwise.
-
Context
Currently it can be difficult to find new ways to ideate and collaborate around pressing climate issues. Although there are people fighting similar causes, there is still a lack of cross collaboration among fields and expertise. We wanted to find a way to bring together people and the dinner table is the original problem solving forum.
Josephine Bourghardt, Paige Perillat, June Bascaran, Sami Piercy
MDEF (Masters in Design for Emergent Futures)
learn more on our site here.
As a collective we created two events during the MDEF program, first a dinner and the second an installation experience. Both events looked at the climate issue of sea pollution and microplastics.
Dinner x Sea Pollution
For this first dinner around sea pollution and microplastics we explored making tableware out of ingredients involving the sea. Some of these included mussel shells, calcium carbonate, and sand. We also developed food recipes that were vegan but imitated seafood. The combination of new flavors and unfamiliar textures from the food, plates, and silverware all added to immersive and creative experience.
We included recipes of each material used at the dinner and collected thoughts and responses on napkins at the dinner.
Cocktail with the Sea
Our second event was a continuation of the topic of the first dinner around sea pollution. We were able to collaborate with one of the attendees of the dinner to create a cocktail hour for the opening of their design space. We also collaborated with a local small-batch gin company, who had an aligned mission around sea pollution.
Our goal was to invoke a being underwater through the darkness, colors, and shadows casted from the installation. We aimed to facilitate a discussion with a broader audience around what sea pollution meant to them and their relationship with microplastics. Throughout the space we had a variety of elements such as mobiles made up of alternating bioplastics and melted plastic bottles. We had bioplastics with microplastics sprinkled throughout and tables created from recycled plastic lids.
Material Exploration: Food Waste
Before forming Future Cravings, we had also experimented with other colleagues around creating materials from food and plant waste.
Initially with food waste, we first created a dinner with our group Odds & Ends by coming together bringing our collected waste scraps to see what could be made from them. We ended up with a full table of beautiful recipes. From this dinner we also volunteered with a local organization that makes community dinners from food that is donated from local groceries. Lastly, we collaborated with a local restaurant to create tapas from the waste scraps of their menu.
Recipe Development
materials developed by Odds & Ends: Seher Krishna, Josephine Bourhgardt, Claudia Bertoletti, June Bascaran, Sami Piercy
Material Exploration: Floral Waste
Another exploration was with floral waste. We collected from local floral shops the trimmings and plants that would normally be discarded. From these trimmings we experimented making paper, casting them in gelatin, incense, candles, and pressing them to dye fabrics.
