Lolly Lab
June 28, 2005
Imagine my delight last Sunday when the very first work I see at Arnhem’s exam show is Bas Kools’ Lolly Lab. Kools is a freshly graduated designer with fine prospects for the future. He’ll attend the RCA in London next year.
What I loved most about Kools’ setup was that he put the prototypes into a playful context. He seemed to have thought of everything; the playful array of lolly sticks, sugar melting copper pans, ceramic pots and recepticals, the vessels containing the flavours and colours, palet dishes, a working lab unit with gas burners (water?), air blowers, lolly holders in metal and rubber, bottle stops, display, etc… Kools has an interest in finding ways to make ‘design’ ‘accessible’. But some of the sexier shapes of the lolly holders and the rubber slings reminded me immediately of the details hidden (and thus showcased) in a Matthew Barney work. Not bad.
And this leads me to my wee critique of the work. Kools designed a lolly laboratory, a perfect context for his range, so where are the experimental lollies? It is a pity that in this instance, Bas used standard flavours, colours and non-designed shapes for the lollies themselves. It would be worthwhile investigating working with a chef or someone with a developed and outspoken culinary aesthetic to create flavours, colours, textures and shapes as alluring and expressive as the other parts of this lab and installation. The well-designed utensils, if they are meant to be accessible, should serve and even contribute to the experimentation that is going on in the lab. There is still plenty of space for this to happen in the future. I certainly would be willing to give it a go; the Lolly Lab gave me itchy fingers.
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debra at 10:21 | Comments (4) | post to del.icio.us
I would have been satisfied with less
June 27, 2005
Café Dudok in Arnhem prepared a special menu in honour of the Arnhem Fashion Biennale. Dutch Art Institute student, MuXue and I were visiting Arnhem for other reasons entirely but we did manage to end the day with an hors d’oeuvre and dessert at said café. The starter, a smoked turkey avocado and edible flower ‘wrap’, was printed in a floral pattern with cherry red pigment. It was most unfortunate that the pigment had no additional flavour because it would’ve been great if the pattern was made out of salsa picante for example, with an overlay of patterned guacamole and maybe cutout smoked turkey in pretty tailored shapes. Bring on les ruches!
Also the California-Dutch in me always feels inclined to let folks know that ‘wraps’ (let’s just call them white flour tortillas from now on) really should be served warmed up to arouse the subtle flavours of the nutritional void that is white flour.
The dessert of this fashion menu was presented rather simply and therefore I reacted to the lack of pretension with less venom. Visually it reminded me of Allsorts licorice candy. It was a dessert of blocks and a worthwhile array of textures, had some of the flavours not come from directly out of standard bottled essences. MuXue and I felt we were served far too much food, but that’s something that seems to be inescapable these days. The service was great by the way, and this is a rarity in a café in the Netherlands.
Squares from top left and top to bottom: walnut fudge brownie, bitter almond pannacotta, raspberry bavarois, dark chocolate-raisin fudge, cake au mousse au chocolat, coconut snowball. The finger pokes in the mousse and in the raspberry bavarois are the author’s own.
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debra at 6:46 | Comments (4) | post to del.icio.us
Claiming my feed at feedster
June 19, 2005
No Need to Click Here - I’m just claiming my feed at Feedster
debra at 10:30 | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
