Inspiration through material
Lichen vase, E. Roule and A. Lindell, IDE TO SWEDEN 2024 • © IDE
In Saint-Étienne, at the Cité du design, that is undergoing a major transformation, there has been in increase in the number of schools, galleries, creative laboratories and new hospitality services, and this is the venue for a recent exhibition looking at the Ceramic & Food Route expeditions programme held on the fringes of the international biennial design event. Spotlight on this new format of nomadic and experimental design.
She wanted to “create a school without an address”, she co-founded the International Design Expeditions (IDE) platform. A teacher at the Camondo school, Mathilde Bretillot is pursuing her multidisciplinary career path navigating between design, interior architecture and scenography. Initiated in 2019, the Ceramic & Food Route was the first programme organised by the IDE. By introducing the new generation of designers to ceramic craftsmen and traditional chefs, this event is stepping into unknown territory by pushing the envelope of creation. Five years after its launch, the “Cité du design” is bringing together nearly 150 objects arising from encounters in Italy, Poland, France, Cambodia and Sweden in an immersive exhibition. Forming a cultural and sociological melting pot, these artworks explore new creative avenues at the meeting point of the arts and the living experience deeply rooted in our history.
Fire, earth and food are the three key ingredients in the co-creation process. Like immutable guardians of flavours and aromas, ceramics withstand the test of fire and time. In every village we go to, there is an oven and some bread. This bread, which we knead, shape and bake like clay, is a metaphor for transformation. In Grottaglie, a small town in Puglia, there are still ovens that go back thousands of years. And in this land that boasts so many of them, Pierangelo Caramia, an active member of the IDE who comes from the region, ran the first workshops in the traditional “Bottega”. This is how the French woman, Lily Gayman, was inspired by Daunian ceramics to design geometric decorations in contrasting polychrome. Mounted on a turned base, its carafes topped with necks modelled in zoomorphic forms bear witness to the mix of techniques and influences. Sensitive to the dolce vita, the Polish designer Marta Bakowski has, for her part, reinterpreted the palette of Italian landscapes with solar enamels that reflect the warm hues of wheat fields and olive groves.
Given the iconic nature of the food items, that are fruits of the earth associated with the culinary rituals of the regions, they occupy a central role in the designers’ approach. For the Japandi duo formed by Mio Hatakenaka and Anna Lindell, the textured gradation of a vase is reminiscent of the tasty rhubarb petiole, a perennial plant that is native to Swedish gardens. Tasting precious caviar on the back of the hand inspires the Chinese artist Zhuo Qi to create a stylish and ergonomic ceramic jewel gilded with fine gold… It is always the customs and traditions that guide the search for contemporary forms. To the point of inspiring cups developed specifically for the Food Tail. The dishes, that are for drinking and eating, are composed by Marc Bretillot, a culinary designer familiar with every type of gastronomic expedition, using a combination of potatoes, caviar and vodka. A shock to the taste buds straight out of the Polish imagination.
The elegant versatility of well-designed objects draw their inspiration from architecture and nature viewed through the lens of a dream. Starting from the observation of the environment, Pierangelo Caramia imagined an archipelago of salad bowls connected by a central island in homage to the thousands of islands and bridges of the county of Sörmland near Stockholm. In order to symbolise the lightness of Cambodian gastronomy, Alicja Patanowska, a ceramic designer, mounted a vase on sticks acting as stilts, a nod to the typical houses of Khmer architecture. And what about the pollinating insect trough in which water accumulates in small cavities, an anti-drowning device whose texture is reminiscent of the porous lava rock used to build the temples of Angkor Wat?
Whether it is the local sourcing, the passing on of know-how or the commitment to social and environmental responsibility, each experiment is engaged in promoting a more sustainable world that respects living things. When the appetite for inventive, free, sociable, ecological and less formal cuisine grows among today’s generations. “In a world where everything is moving too fast, where meaningless objects accumulate, it is important for me to borrow from different cultures and civilisations in order to create objects with emotional value, as well as cultural links and a heritage between past and present,” claims Lily Gayman. The colours, patterns, textures, shapes, flavours and other unspoken references picked up during a full cultural immersion lead to the creation of a new language. The result is always a surprise revealed during a culinary event attended by creators, designers and guests during a tasting.
Thanks to a unique scenography designed like the many palaces of the senses marked by the five destinations, the Ceramic & Food Route is an invitation to travel. Conjuring up a kaleidoscope of emotions, the journey calls on various performances and mediums dealing with the topic to highlight a certain form of resilience in the face of lost know-how and the ambient homogenisation. Objects, recipes, illustrations, photos, short films, music and sounds, and the describing of experiences in particular, are the expression of the close relationship between the regions, culture and design. The end of the big table, that is situated at the centre of the exhibition, has been deliberately left clear. It will be for the students of the Saint-Étienne School of Art and Design (Esadse) and the Renouveau Hotel School for on-site educational workshops. The thirst for discovery and sharing never runs out. •
