matt brown: future of food
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matt brown: future of food
‘egg printer’ grows and cooks eggs with yolks in any pattern or shape imaginable
matt brown is an american designer who developed a series of futuristic food preparation devices for
his interaction design thesis project at the umea institute of design. his project, ‘food and the future of it’
imagined new ways of eating, preparing and dealing with food. the series of appliances that brown
created were inspired by existing devices, traditional eating methods and the latest technology in food
and other fields. the devices in the collection all either printed or grew food, something brown imagined
to be more than feasible in the year 2040. some of the devices included a ‘cheese extruder’, an ‘egg
printer’ and even a ‘pasta printer’. each of the products performed a very futuristic function but brown
designed them to have very simply and familiar forms that wouldn’t look out of place even on today’s
kitchen counters.
http://www.skrov.com
‘egg printer’ grows and cooks eggs with yolks in any pattern or shape imaginable
‘egg printer’ grows and cooks eggs with yolks in any pattern or shape imaginable
‘cheese extruder’ duplicates proteins and creates cheese like substance which would flow out from the sides.
‘cheese extruder’ duplicates proteins and creates cheese like substance which would flow out from the sides.
‘ape food’ a snack maker inspired by apes poking sticks into ant holes. the device grows food on a stick.
‘ape food’ a snack maker inspired by apes poking sticks into ant holes. the device grows food on a stick.
‘ape food’ a snack maker inspired by apes poking sticks into ant holes. the device grows food on a stick.
‘pasta printer’ liquifies pasta material and prints out unique pasta shapes
‘pasta printer’ liquifies pasta material and prints out unique pasta shapes
how to make things complicated...
dear matt brown:
1. as the issue of saving energy will probably have reached new heights by 2040, how will these food printers etc. fit into the world???
2. how friggin' useless is it to have the possibility of having a picture of, let's say: your auntie, in an egg???
3. you must be a huge fan of things like cheese out of a spraying can and other hopelessly overprocessed food. if that "extruded cheese" tastes as disgusting as the idea of it sounds, then i'd rather stick to proper cheese (did I mention I'm swiss?)
and finally: 4. you would have better spent your time thinking about minimising the number of useless, superfluous and hilariously pointless devices/gadgets than designing more of them!
sorry, matt, but THIS is NOT our future...
dear matt brown:
1. as the issue of saving energy will probably have reached new heights by 2040, how will these food printers etc. fit into the world???
2. how friggin' useless is it to have the possibility of having a picture of, let's say: your auntie, in an egg???
3. you must be a huge fan of things like cheese out of a spraying can and other hopelessly overprocessed food. if that "extruded cheese" tastes as disgusting as the idea of it sounds, then i'd rather stick to proper cheese (did I mention I'm swiss?)
and finally: 4. you would have better spent your time thinking about minimising the number of useless, superfluous and hilariously pointless devices/gadgets than designing more of them!
sorry, matt, but THIS is NOT our future...
Phil 02.03.10
What a great project! I love how much fun you had with it, regardless of whether it is or isn't the future. Good design ideas and details.
sara i 02.04.10
Phil,
I was a classmate of Matt's in Sweden- I'll try to answer your questions for him.
It was a design fiction project- a commentary on what we do now, human nature and what people and corporations could do with food "printing" technology if it happened.
It is pointless to have your auntie in an egg. Most things are pointless- humans do them anyway though.
I think that when you say that he must be "a huge fan of cheese spraying out of a can and hopelessly processed food" you're not giving him any credit for stepping out of his own set of vaules (he loves aged pecorino and is obsessed with the slow food movement) and designing things that he thought other people might design.
Finally, again it was a commentary on those hilariously pointless devices. I think that as a human you need to have at least some sort of sense of humor to understand the project.
I was a classmate of Matt's in Sweden- I'll try to answer your questions for him.
It was a design fiction project- a commentary on what we do now, human nature and what people and corporations could do with food "printing" technology if it happened.
It is pointless to have your auntie in an egg. Most things are pointless- humans do them anyway though.
I think that when you say that he must be "a huge fan of cheese spraying out of a can and hopelessly processed food" you're not giving him any credit for stepping out of his own set of vaules (he loves aged pecorino and is obsessed with the slow food movement) and designing things that he thought other people might design.
Finally, again it was a commentary on those hilariously pointless devices. I think that as a human you need to have at least some sort of sense of humor to understand the project.
umea 02.04.10
In the future people will understand that useless is also good. Great job Matt!
BigFun 02.04.10
actually i can see that alot people would enjoy many of these objects, if they were possible. I guess some people have never seen ice cube spheres, square and star shaped watermelons, cucumbers, etc. etc. etc. Even though u find it useless, Phil, some people have imaginations/creativity/ and senses of humor - try to think outside of your small friggin box.
gimme 02.04.10
This is obviously a light-hearted humorous take on design and Phil is obviously quite serious and justified about the future direction of design. Pity some of the bloggers in particular "old fashioned dudes HATER! can't see this and have been indirectly offended by it. Phill like all of us has a right to an opinion!
As a long-time contributor and user of Designboom, I guess I could be classed as an old-fashioned dude along with many of the respected influential designers that Designboom and it's users have so much to thank for.
"old fashioned dudes HATER!"s puerile behaviour, offensive use of the English language, prejudice and lack of education - Switzerland is a country and makes some fantastic cheeses, is the only offensive aspect of this post. Design has many pespectives, and in this case needn't be taken too seriously.
"old fashioned dudes HATER!" get some nads and grow up.
As a long-time contributor and user of Designboom, I guess I could be classed as an old-fashioned dude along with many of the respected influential designers that Designboom and it's users have so much to thank for.
"old fashioned dudes HATER!"s puerile behaviour, offensive use of the English language, prejudice and lack of education - Switzerland is a country and makes some fantastic cheeses, is the only offensive aspect of this post. Design has many pespectives, and in this case needn't be taken too seriously.
"old fashioned dudes HATER!" get some nads and grow up.
kg 02.05.10
Mercy. Where to start. Phil, thanks for your comments, when I presented this a lot of people shared views that were almost the same as yours. All I can say is that this, as kg said, was a light-hearted take on design and was meant to get people talking. Great cheese in Switzerland by the way. I can't believe the comments have gone this way! The things I talk about in this project disgust a lot of people and that's completely fine and sort of the point...I'm glad that this was posted here so more people could talk about the project as rational humans- or at least mostly rational humans.
matt brown 02.05.10
Hi Matt,
Good to hear your perspective on your designs and how people have reacted to them. Yes it is quite silly how heated some of these Designboom blogs have become, I guess you've experienced it, as I have, how divided peoples opinions are of design and how your work in some way becomes an indirect criticism of their values. I really think that there is a point within your work. If somebody found a way to synthesize a whole range of foods, then it would reduce the impact of intensive farming methods and international freight to and from cities/countries.
All I can say is that I'm glad I'm not a "citizen" of "old fashioned dudes HATER!"s city or else I'd have to endure the village idiot.
Good to hear your perspective on your designs and how people have reacted to them. Yes it is quite silly how heated some of these Designboom blogs have become, I guess you've experienced it, as I have, how divided peoples opinions are of design and how your work in some way becomes an indirect criticism of their values. I really think that there is a point within your work. If somebody found a way to synthesize a whole range of foods, then it would reduce the impact of intensive farming methods and international freight to and from cities/countries.
All I can say is that I'm glad I'm not a "citizen" of "old fashioned dudes HATER!"s city or else I'd have to endure the village idiot.
kg 02.05.10
Dear Matt, kg and umea,
thank you for your responses! I didn't expect such an uproar after my comment, but i'm glad this happened!
Matt, I respect your work as a vision (and maybe forecast) of the future, its possibilities and objects. When I look at it as a humorous take on design (especially when it comes to "revolutionary" kitchen utensils) then I have to say: great comment! As I consider myself as a quite humorous, even sarcastic, person I really like objects which mock trends and hypes. Saying this I probably have to apologise for my comments, because obviously I didn't quite get the point...
also for the out-of-boxishness of your ideas: they ARE creative, no way of denying this, but I prefer a direction of creativity which goes towards simple and sensible solutions.
On the other hand: I rest my case... If certain people want to call me old-fashioned, that's ok, because I strongly believe in values and principles of simplicity and honesty! and the devices matt introduced here somehow are in a conflict with these values to me.
However, good luck with your career Matt! (but secretly I hope to never encounter something like food printers and the like in a kitchenware store... :-) )
thank you for your responses! I didn't expect such an uproar after my comment, but i'm glad this happened!
Matt, I respect your work as a vision (and maybe forecast) of the future, its possibilities and objects. When I look at it as a humorous take on design (especially when it comes to "revolutionary" kitchen utensils) then I have to say: great comment! As I consider myself as a quite humorous, even sarcastic, person I really like objects which mock trends and hypes. Saying this I probably have to apologise for my comments, because obviously I didn't quite get the point...
also for the out-of-boxishness of your ideas: they ARE creative, no way of denying this, but I prefer a direction of creativity which goes towards simple and sensible solutions.
On the other hand: I rest my case... If certain people want to call me old-fashioned, that's ok, because I strongly believe in values and principles of simplicity and honesty! and the devices matt introduced here somehow are in a conflict with these values to me.
However, good luck with your career Matt! (but secretly I hope to never encounter something like food printers and the like in a kitchenware store... :-) )
Phil 02.05.10
Heh, this is incredibly interesting. Is that a picture of ecoli bacteria in the yolk pattern? hilarious!
seems to be a great project.
seems to be a great project.
thewhodio 02.07.10
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