WebUrbanist Kristin Marshall | Web Urbanist

Edible Art: 32 Amazing Food Designs & Sculptures

Kristin Marshall — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:30:35 +0000

[ By Kristin Marshall in Culture & History & Travel. ]

As humans, food is any substance we consume for nutrition or even pleasure. It’s diversified across cultures through varying methods of cooking, preparation, and ingredients. But what if food was used as a medium for art? Here are 32 incredible examples of creative food design, food sculpture, and edible art.

Make Me a Sandwich.

(images via textually, Kitsa Sakurako, popluxe, like cool)

Bread has been consumed with other foods since Neolithic times, and the sandwich has evolved dramatically throughout different regions of the world. Starting at the top left is a sandwich in the shape of Wall-E, from the popular Disney Pixar movie of the same name. Remember the Rubix cube? This sandwich is constructed into the form of the famous puzzle with toast, ham, cheese, and salami cubes. Below that, little cell phone and Vespa sandwiches; not sure how well they function really, but I’d be happy to have yours. A little girl crafted the large sandwich in the middle to be a Witch, which is clever, but I’m seeing Chewbacca. Sandwiches with an attitude are all the rage, seen on the right mid and bottom, created with just a simple variation in how they’re cut! On the bottom left, this little mouse was created simply with parsley, a hot dog and edamame.

Edible Sculpture

(images via Jim Victor, Americade)

Heading farther away from the usual edible fare, we find some pretty amazing food sculptures. Up in the top left is a cheddar cheese likeness of two little boys with a cow, and to the right is a recreation, in butter, of the children’s rhyme “Hey Diddle Diddle”; they’re both very large in person. In the middle is a butter sculpture of a farm scene featured at a county fair. The three sculptures at the bottom are carved from watermelons, and are more popular in China than carving pumpkins! There are many in the collection, but depicted here are Van Gough, The Discobolus of Myron and a Sumo Wrestler.

Bento, desu!

(images via Kitsa Sakurako, slashfood, photoschizo)

Remember those brown paper-bag lunches your mom used to send to school with you? Well, Bento is Japan’s answer to that. A single-portion home-packed meal, Bento often consists of rice, fish, or meat, a side, and can be decorated in some pretty creative ways. The beautiful Bento at top left is actually made with red bell pepper and mashed potatoes mixed with food dye, creating a dreamy, oil-painted look. The kitten Bento is just too cute to leave out, it was created simply with rice and seaweed accents. Finding Nemo comes to mind when viewing the middle Bento box, created with the traditional ingredients of rice and seaweed, as well as the non- with Fruity Pebbles for the gravel. Looking at the ladybug, one would have to look twice to see that it’s really a halved tomato with cheese, on a bed of greens. The Eiffel Tower Bento is lovely, formed with sliced cheese, food dye on the rice, grape nuts for the gravel and vegetables for the bushes. Could you bring yourself to eat these?

Yes We Can

(images via The Epoch Times, mrstu, Canstruction)

At first glance these don’t look like food, but upon closer inspection you’ll see that these sculptures are made of canned food! With the creative eye of teams of architects, engineers and students, the structures take 8-12 weeks and thousands of cans to craft. Canstruction is actually a contest in which teams build these exceptional sculptures entirely out of canned food. At the close of the contest and exhibitions, all of the cans used are donated to local food banks, and are further distributed to shelters, pantries, soup kitchens, day care centers, and the elderly. This has been going on for years, and in sifting through the gallery, the Grand Piano, light bulb, Etch-A-Sketch, Orca Whale and Crayon Box evoled as my favorites. The face is reminiscent of a Pinhead Toy, and the effect is unforgettable. An original food art concept with a great cause!

Chocolat

(images via Food is Art)

Here we see that chocolate comes not only in dark, milk and white, but paintings, furniture and shoes as well! To celebrate the re-release of Smarties chocolate candies in the UK, they created an amazing gallery of Smarties art. Top left is a Warhol reproduction of Marilyn Monroe, while at bottom we have an exquisite rendition of Seurat’s “Bathers”. Marilyn Monroe seems to be a common theme; she’s painted in a chocolate portrait at mid right as well. Food artist Prudence Emma Staite created all of these masterpieces, including the life-sized shoes at top right. She even takes custom orders on her website, and can recreate any style of shoe. I wouldn’t recommend sporting them though. The piece de resistance would have to be the room of chocolate furniture. Staite also takes orders for these complete chocolate rooms, inspired by the children’s take of Hansel and Gretel, and they can feed over 500 people. How about that for form meeting function?

Mmmmmmeme

(images via kickintheheadcomic)

So apparently food comes Internet-Meme style now. These tasty treats recreate the famous Awesome Smiley, and are made of rice, egg, seaweed, cheese and ham. My favorite food art by far is cooked up through the creative minds at PES. The video below is a fascinating stop motion short entitled “Game Over” (mimicking arcade games like Pac Man and Frogger) and making very good use of food like pizza, muffins, pretzels, and eggs.

Food satisfies the body and soul, it’s one of the few common threads among all the world’s cultures. As you can see from the many inventive displays here though, it seems that some of us never really learn to stop playing with our food.

[ By Kristin Marshall in Culture & History & Travel. ]

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15 Off-the-Wall Furnishings to Transform Your Living Space

Kristin Marshall — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:42:51 +0000

[ By Kristin Marshall in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

It’s hard to avoid mentioning the state of the economy these days, but why not make the best of it? Most of us have been downsizing our ways of spending in many different ways, and sometimes our living space can suffer. Here are 15 unique pieces of furniture that will help you upgrade and streamline the place you call home.

Back to Basics

(images via made in design, Stone Design)

Simplicity. The cube has been a great inspiration to space-saving living and the CUB8 is a classic example of this concept. It’s a clean, extendable coffee table with vast space. It even comes equipped with an integrated CD/DVD hanger. The SelfService furniture unit is an easy way to wine and dine in any small space. It accommodates four comfortably and the low seats slide right back into the table when the night is over.

Compact Dreamland

(images via BedUP, Lift Bed, bonbon)

Studio apartment getting you down? The BedUP bed and the LiftBed will allow you to lift your bed (either manually or electronically) to transform your space, and can save about 12 square feet. You don’t have to lower it completely, so you can keep your other furniture in place neatly underneath. Now, if only they installed the Lollipop bunk bed system in dorms! This amazing bunk bed can be hidden into the wall or you can opt to leave one unfolded to pull double duty as a couch.

Let’s Go Couchsurfing

(images via Phillipe Malouin, Nicole Lehner & Luzia Kalin, blofield)

So you have company over, but need some options for extra sleeping space? Look nofurther than these couchsurfing alternatives. The Tent Sofa creates privacy with folding panels once transformed into a bed. Stay At My Home is an all in one package that allows you to provide a simple, comfortable sleeping option for your guest with a mattress, removable drawer, pillow, bedside lamp and carpet. This all fits in and around the side table pictured. Inflatable mattresses are so passé. Get an inflatable sofa instead. The Blofield Inflatable Chesterfields Sofa is constructed from the same material used in life rafts, which says something about its durability. You can use it as a permanent fixture in your place, or simply blow it up in less than five minutes for an overnight guest… or take it floating?

No Musical Chairs Here

(images via ontwerpers, unicahome, gioia design, dedon)

The Cabinet Chair by Ontwerpers is quite crafty. Reminiscent of my school days, this chair is imbedded into the surrounding shelf. It even has a built in monitor and keyboard. A wonderful, eyecatching table set that doubles as a light, the Corral Table and Bronco Stool comes with 7 seats that fit snugly into the table’s design. Going along with that theme is the Monolith steel table that transforms into a sleek sculpture when not in use. I wonder how heavy it is? And since entertaining guests outdoors with little space can be challenging, especially in a city setting, Dedon has designed a few sets of amazing stackable outdoor furniture. They don’t stack like any other chairs, but into the form of spheres and obelisks instead.

The Holy Grail of Transforming

(images via kenchikukagu)

This is by far the holy grail of space-saving goodness. The Kenchikukagu is a set of mobile furniture that includes a fully functioning kitchen. Take a peep at the video clip below and behold the pieces in action. The set also includes a mobile guest room and work space with lighting. These are not concept designs, and are available atAmazon Japan for JPY 800,000 (about $7,346).

Indoor Sport

(images via Ferran Lajara, Tobias Fränzel)

Want more fun and adventure in your 400 square foot space? Look no further than The Hanger and Ping Pong Door. You need to hang your jackets somewhere, but you’re tired of the coat rack; hang them on a miniature indoor rock climbing gym. Upgrade your Scrabble night to Ping Pong night with the Ping Pong Table designed byTobias Fränzel. Flip the panel down to create instant fun, with equally easy cleanup when you’re done!

Small spaces are often associated with a lack of functionality and flexibility to live how you’d like. With these innovative examples of furniture and accessories for your home, you can soon turn your cozy space into a paradise, no matter what the square footage.

[ By Kristin Marshall in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

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