What can Irish Design do for Tourism?

In the latest of her series on the Year of Irish Design and its importance for tourism, Aileesh Carew explores the developing role of design in food.

This month my focus turns to design in food and the fast changing landscape. Cutting-edge chefs, kitchen brands, restaurateurs and supermarkets are increasingly turning to designers to give their offerings added cultural relevance and commercial appeal.

Irish Design 2015 has just returned from a very successful exhibition in Milan, where for the first time over 20 designers exhibited their work in the capital of design. From a food perspective, one very interesting inclusion was the collaboration between Designgoat and Katie Sanderson.

They have developed a collection of objects that was used to serve a collaborative dinner inspired by Irish food, the sea and raw ingredients. The aim is to create an experience that will be developed throughout 2015, growing with each show. The tableware for each dish is influenced by the process of preparing the food, the ingredients used and how the designers and the chef would like people to experience it.

Food is no longer merely about the simple act of eating and the pure experience of smell and taste. New trends and materials have led to unique opportunities for food businesses to work with the designers of today to enhance and elevate the culinary experience by speaking to our minds as well as our stomachs. Engaging all our senses in a holistic culinary experience is becoming more commonplace.

In recent years we have seen a new set of values emerging that prizes the local and the hand-crafted over the homogenous and the manufactured. The notion of provenance – where something comes from – has become highly important in restaurants, with people expecting transparency about the origin of goods and ingredients.

The next step in this journey will be provenance in the design of the experience. It is no surprise that Ross Lewis is leading the way. Last year he gave Designgoat the task of designing a new plate for his petit fours. He wanted this piece to reflect the modernity of his restaurant but still retain a sense of being natural and Irish.

They did this by creating an organic form that was CNC'd from solid walnut. Serving the stunning looking petit fours on this plate is a piece of theatre designed to serve as a memorable last act in the dining experience.

With all this in mind, I am really looking forward to Irish Design 2015’s next exhibition – Appetite for Design – in the National Craft Gallery in Kilkenny, running from May 9th to June 30th.

Curated by Designgoat, the exhibition explores the very best in food design and builds on the increasing global recognition of outstanding Irish produce from coast to coast, and seabed to soil.

The work of leading Irish and international designers, cooks and restaurateurs will be featured, documenting, discussing and speculating about the design of food and our experience of it. Examples of the aesthetics, promotion, communication and representation of food will be showcased, along with the equipment and tools used to prepare and consume it.

Featured work will include Bompas & Parr, Marije Vogelzang, Omer Polek, The Decorators, Chapter One and Loam.

To enrich the experience of the exhibition, a series of culinary evenings and performances will be hosted by Godless Domestic, Dublin Pop-up, Culinary Counter and Tom Spruce. For similar events, check out Litfest at Ballymaloe in May, where the theme of design in food will also be explored.

http://www.irishdesign2015.ie/liminal/
http://www.irishdesign2015.ie/programme/single/appetite-for-design
http://wearedesigngoat.com/

* ID2015 is delighted that the inaugural Irish Tourism Industry Awards have included a special award to highlight good design in Tourism. For more information http://www.irishtourismindustryawards.ie/categories/

* Irish Design 2015 partners include Founding Partner - MCO Projects; Accommodation Partner - The Doyle Collection; Venue Partner - OPW; Exhibition Partners – DAA. Technology Partner - IBM

An overview of the core programme of events can be found at www.irishdesign2015.ie

Aileesh Carew is the Tourism Advisor for Irish Design 2015. Her role is to provide advice and management of the tourism programme for the year of Irish design 2015, to communicate and animate interest in the Year of Design – nationally & internationally - and engage with tourism industry partners to raise awareness for Irish Design 2015. She has spent most of her career managing hotels, most recently opening Ballyfin Demesne in Co Laois, putting it on the international map as one of the best small hotels in Europe. A graduate of Shannon College of Hotel Management, with an MBA from Copenhagen Business School and Business Management Coaching from Scandinavian Leadership, she loves to travel, read cookery books, occasionally cooking from them, eat out and spend time with her family.

www.facebook.com/Irishdesign2015

@irishhdesign2015

instagram.com/irishdesign2015