New category: Food Design
Food design describes a broad field that deals with cooking itself, the development of new food recipes, the depiction of food (for advertising and communication) and the presentation of food in a spatial as well as social context (innovative gastronomy concepts).
On the one hand, it is about enjoyment and aesthetics, but on the other hand, it is about the political and social attitude with our eating behaviour. The range of projects to be awarded in the Food Design category is correspondingly large. It ranges from high-quality cookbooks and food packaging to campaigns, innovative food products and new gastronomy concepts. With the launch of the Food Design category, we want to highlight the importance for the Swiss design industry and honour the design and economic qualities of local projects.
The food designers we would like to honour explore new production techniques and impress with their chef’s skills — but they also possess an aesthetic and artistic sensibility. They know how to deal with temperatures, colours, textures and shapes in the kitchen and, based on social trends and customer needs, they develop new approaches, venues, services and products around the theme of culinary arts and food. A topic, by the way, that is also taught at international design colleges: In Milan and in St. Pölten there are Master’s programmes on food design and in Eindhoven various interdisciplinary projects on food design. At the Zurich University of the Arts or also at Écal in Lausanne, more and more bachelor’s and master’s theses deal with the topic of food & design.
