Sofra Collection Drop by Irthi
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Curatorial Statement
Irthi Contemporary Crafts Council (ICCC ), Mr. Lawrence studio, and Casalinghe di Tokyo set out an in-depth gastronomy research, guided by the UAE’s vast heritage and complex culture, reconnecting the food culture to sustainability whilst raising a new awareness on food preservation and table settings.
Food is like alchemy: from the research and selection of ingredients to the preparation of a recipe, right up to the transformative power it has on our bodies. These very processes of transformation and conservation are, in a way, connected to alchemic transformation.
As part of the research ICCC in collaboration with the Italian design studio, Studiopepe, took inspiration from the collection of instruments of the Institute for the History of Arabic and Islamic Sciences used by alchemists from the region in the past. Having studied these instruments for food conservation at the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization, their archetypal forms resembled tiny works of architecture, minarets, towers and silos. This collection served as a starting point to the design of the collection, made for a region characterised by high temperatures, in which the matter of food conservation and production has always been a subject of vital importance.
In the UAE, fruit and vegetables are preserved at different times of year, so is cool water, fish and meat. These preservation methods, have to a large extent been resolved by technology, but paradoxically in times of energy crisis, have become a huge concern, especially in relation to food waste.
With this collection, Studiopepe looked at returning to the Emirati original methods of food preservation and reviving ancient techniques that are still of relevance.
The collection experiments the use of black clay, shaped by hand and fired at high temperatures, wrapped with handwoven palm frond weaves by the skilled hands of craftswomen using the Al Safafah and Al Zaffanah techniques and gestures for thousands of years.
The result is a collection of contemporary tableware items, used for preserving and fermenting food. The sculptural items may be used as cooling jars, sprout towers, food driers, and food fermenters, like small domestic architectures that serve to restore ancient gestures, bringing into the contemporary world responses to needs that are the basis for human evolution.
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This collection features 5 Designers
