The food and drinks served at a party are as important as the party itself. For opening parties, say to launch an exhibition, even more so. It’s integral. But few event producers think in this integrated way. The food and drinks on offer should be a reflection of the essence of the exhibition. What guests put in their mouth is an equally valid creative expression of art – only temporary!

So to celebrate the recent lighting of the Parco Christmas tree and corresponding Motion + Design + Magic exhibition by renowned visual artist Masaru Ozaki, everything was themed to a T (well, a cube actually!).

To celebrate its 40th anniversary Parco, a Japanese department store, commissioned Ozaki to create a magical graphic wonderland. The high-tech display uses advanced technology to project 3D images onto 3 metre tall tree installations in the entrance court of Shibuya Parco Part 1. These giant cubes stacked into a Christmas tree shape with projections beamed on every surface create a wonderful visual feast.

For Food Creation, the company who created the food art for the event, not only is the appearance and taste of food crucial, so is the situation in which it’s eaten. What’s important is making the food come alive – delivering the concept to the stomach.

To express the conceptual catering, the Bread, Espresso & bakery invented three new cubed food products for the launch: chocolate bread with black pepper, tomato bread with squid ink and pink bread with curry. These creations were about ‘expecting the unexpected’ and for guests to be surprised and astounded by bread, a much maligned, taken for granted, daily staple of life.

The shoeless waiters dressed head to toe in black leotards with bow ties – their faces covered in masks – moved around the floor in slow, highly choreographed steps. As the lid was pulled off the serving tray, vapours evaporated around the cubed bread, which was delicately placed around lighted cubes. The waiters were as much motion, design and magic as Oazki’s visual creations.

Oazki’s most famous works involve projecting real-time visuals onto buildings, furniture and objects using the original quarter Cube visioning system. The technology involves the precise scanning of 3D objects and projecting these visuals onto 3D surfaces using optical illusions to give various effects. The artist has projected his work onto the Olympic stadium in Harajuku, temples in Kyoto and opening launches of international retail brand flagships. His use of projection technology truly amazes and stimulates.

To experience the Motion + Design + Magic exhibition yourself, visit Parco Factory, Shibuya Parco Part 1, 6F before 23 November 2009.

This is a new post by David Report contributor Kristina Dryza.

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A café environment that stirs up curiosity with its wonderfully clashing mix of design, food and products

With many cafés today becoming too uniform and predictable, The Royal Café in Copenhagen is one of the few that has a noticeable soul. As Rud Christiansen, the owner and creator of the café says, “our interior is almost indefinable. It is a mix of all styles: baroque . . . funkiness . . . feministic . . . humourous . . . a true clash of all styles. It’s like taking a big box with all of these elements and mixing them thoroughly - and as if by magic - throwing them into a vacant room.”

With the mixing of various historical eras leading to a design confusion that is both humorous and chic, Christiansen (and his business partner Lo Østergaard) have created a special atmosphere where some of the Danish minimalism has been broken in a positive way. “There are no borders anymore,” he explains, “and what used to be is not a guideline anymore. Though we really feel we’ve been very faithful to our colourful Danish roots.”

Not only visually stunning, the café is also a sophisticated example of product placement. Famous Danish manufacturers like Royal Copenhagen, Georg Jensen, Fritz Hansen, Bang & Olufsen, Kvadrat and Holmegaard are presented with a café focus that is so appealing in society today. (Royal Copenhagen adapted several serving items to be functional in a café environment, and Holmegaard Glass produced chandeliers according to Christiansen’s design.)

But while the design, environment and history all beautifully play off each other, the food and drink menu is equally attractive. The café is known for its signature double roasted coffee and its focus on traditional Danish foods that have been around for more than 300 years - like the smørrebrød (Danish open-faced sandwiches) - as well as traditional cakes, cookies and historical desserts. All though are created in an artful way with a culinary twist that opens the menu up to a worldwide audience. The café has also invented a new form of cuisine called ‘smushi’ (created by using the two words smørrebrød and sushi). These delicate, bite-sized, open-faced sandwiches are decorated with the best local produce and have become the café’s signature dish.

People have always wanted to meet, socialise, gossip, drink and eat in a relaxed yet buzzing atmosphere. But as the large coffee chains put more emphasis on functionality, and the logistics of executing orders, it’s refreshing to be in a café environment that exudes warmth, and stimulates both the eye and palette. “Customers keep telling us we have created a wonderful pause in their daily routine . . . that we’re constantly stirring up their curiosity with our design, food and products.”

As Christiansen continues to explain, “in cafés you don’t have to drink alcohol. You don’t have to eat a seven-course meal, and you don’t have to spend a lot to please your appetite. You often sit closer, you mingle and you can come as you are. I often think designing a café is like creating a piece of art, a painting, a house, a cake, jewellery, fashion or sculpture. Because if done in this context, the café will contain all of these elements.”

The Royal Café is all about a break in everyday conformity. Time spent in a different world. It’s a short trip to the unexpected. And I’d take this journey over Starbucks any day.

This is a post by David Report contributor Kristina Dryza.

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Andra bloggar om: design, produkter, mat, café, köpenhamn

Encanal is a new product for the kitchen from Amor de Madre in Barcelona. It’s designed by Ernest and Ester. I like it because it is relevant and based on human behaviour. At least my own… Earlier this evening when I was cooking for my family I had to put some chopped onion in a saucepan. Some of it missed and landed on the floor… With Encanal it would never happen.

The story tells us that it is important to do your home lesson concerning ethnography before starting a design process. Design is about humans. In the end, a product or a service is nothing worth if it is not put in a humanly context. We have to remember to always look through the lens of humanity when we develop new products and services.

Andra bloggar om: mat, matlagning, kök, köksutrustning

FunFam – short for Fun In The Family – is a new style Japanese tableware brand for kids that mixes Japanese aesthetics with Western lifestyle trends. Designed with bamboo, it takes a unique approach to the concept of ‘fun in the family’.

With many parents now spending less time having dinner with their children, FunFam’s tableware range promotes opportunities for the whole family to share meal times together. A decade of research by CASA (The National Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, New York) shows that the more often kids eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs.

Inspired by mixed cultural influences, the tableware combines Western culinary culture with Japanese craftsmanship. The all hand made product lets kids discover the Western world of food by feeling the craftsmanship handed down in Japan over 1000 years. The Japanese way of life is integrally tied to the use of bamboo as one of the country’s main materials. For example, Japan’s oldest tale is titled ‘Kaguya Hime – Princess from Bamboo Trees’.

The key piece in the range is the Table Manners Set that invites children to appreciate the wealth of gastronomic tastes in the world. It sets out to help anyone (the world over) who has ever struggled to distinguish between the salad fork and the dessert fork. Knowing which fork, spoon or knife to use with which part of a full course meal can be a trial for even the most willing of learners. The Table Manners Set makes this less of a trial, and more of a fun, family-centered learning experience. The set includes nine different utensils, a plate, and a board to set all the utensils on. The board makes it easy for children to figure out what goes where with the pictures sketched underneath each utensil-shaped indentation. Learning about table manners is now a piece of cake (or bamboo!).

This is a post by David Report contributor Kristina Dryza.

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Andra bloggar om: mat, kultur, middag, japan, design, barn