Project title:
Food Design -
Food, Making and Theatre
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Project name:
Carpenter
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Project leader:
Patrick Chia
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Team members:
Koh Jing Ting
Soo Woei Perng
Phan Mai
Brief:
“The most precise definition that it seems possible to give is that a food designer is someone who designs food, or someone who designs with, around or about food,”
from the article “A New Frontier” by Oii Stratford.
By the above definition, food design is very broad and covers everything about and around food. There are many exciting avenues to explore food design, however depending on the chosen direction, some pursuit might be too complex, or simply require a certain prerequisite knowledge and skills which we might not process. Therefore, we have scoped the project to be around food, the experience of the food, the process of making of food and the tools, machineries or contraptions which produce them.
Have you as a child anxiously waited as the uncle place a stick into the spinning cyclone of white lines and witness the cotton candy slowly but magically takes form? Have you also notice the excitement it illicit from other children as you walk around eating you cotton candy?
Witnessing the process of food making can be mesmerizing and is as important as the food itself.
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Project description:
In this project, we explored new ways to create a memorable food experience by analysing market trends, investigating famous unique experiences, and researching interesting food making processes.
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At the end, it's about building a unique easy to-go food experience and brand image attractive enough to entice customers into the paying for the food.
The journey:
We started by looking at food experience designs by famous chefs around the world and exploring market trends.
We continuously researched and tested with various strange food production methods. Eventually, a trend noticeably stood out amongst youths was increasing customisability of sweet treats, e.g. ice cream, bubble tea, frozen yogurt
The concept:
Glutinous rice ball is a traditional sweet treat popular around Asia with numerous iterations.
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Muah chee is a Singaporean variation, often coated with crushed peanuts or black sesame seeds mixed with sugar.
The recipe has remained unchanged for decades and is commonly sold in old hawker centres, and is therefore, often forgotten by the younger generations.
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This is an opportunity to reintroduce tradition into the modern era and adapt it to the new lifestyle and younger audience.
The concept:
Retaining the spirit of the traditional muah chee, and adapting it to the youthful and active modern era.
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Ensuring high quality from precision and consistency by employing modern technology.
