[Report] ‘School of Food Futures’, a five-day summer school for practical learning about designing a sustainable future from a ‘food’ perspective

From August to September 2022, the KYOTO Design Lab [D-lab] hosted the “School of Food Futures“, a five-day summer course for practical learning about sustainable future design, including digital food, algorithmic design, and circular design.

This article is a report on the School of Food Futures, which consisted of offline workshops and online lectures with guest speakers active in Japan and abroad to learn about cutting-edge trends in food, product, and circular design innovations. (text: Makoto Ishii [Loftwork])

What exactly does ‘food design’ design?

At the start of the School of Food Futures, facilitators Daijiro Mizuno and Kazuhiro Ogata gave a lecture overviewing ‘food design’, in reference to their co-authored book FOOD DESIGN: design research exploring future foods.

The book includes advanced examples of food-related technologies and services, as well as research processes aimed at shaping culture. In illuminating the methods and role of food design, the book presents the ideas and practices of ‘food design for the future,’ which proposes possibilities for uncertain issues. The summer school was based on their research.

In addition, as various issues are currently emerging in our food environments, such as climate change, population growth and food export restrictions related to conflict issues, a series of technological developments known as food tech and sustainable food development, represented by entomophagy, are also attracting increased attention. In order to create new food systems, services and foodstuffs, it is now required not only to acquire traditional food knowledge and skills, but also to question the preferable food for humans and the planet, and to design a food culture without precedents.

Offline Workshops

In the offline workshops held at the KYOTO Design Lab [D-lab], student members supported each participant in both creativity and technical aspects. Teams learnt about ‘algorithmic design for creating new food textures using Rhinoceros+Grasshopper’ and ‘design in the circular economy,’ while also experimenting with ‘3D printed chocolate’ and the ‘output of various materials using a food 3D printer’.Prototyping was also carried out at every session.

▲In the offline workshop, participants studied the actual operation and properties of the food 3D printer, while in parallel they referred to a vast amount of materials related to ‘food design’ to generate ideas for their prototypes using the ‘speculative design’ method.

▲Digital modelling was generously supported by student members and D-lab staff to achieve the shape envisioned by the participants.
The 3D printer used to fabricate chocolate was a customised version of a commercially available machine.

▲While prototyping based on the “speculative design” method, various future insights were referred to, and each participant gained insight into possible futures from the perspective of “food”. They also found out what kind of food was possible for that future from their own backgrounds and everyday life narratives.

▲Food 3D printer prototyping was conducted every day in parallel with the lectures. Having learnt the perspective of ‘circular design’, many participants worked not only with commercial powdered products but also processed and blended vegetable and fruit peels as well as dry foods.

▲Two different types of food 3D printers were used in the course. After a lecture on basic usage, there was also a tutorial on the creation of jigs, cooling methods and many other knowledgeable ‘tips’ to create the desired shapes during the prototyping process.

▲With the support of the D-lab staff, participants,created ‘moulds’ in analogue/digital ways in order to achieve the desired shapes and structures.

▲The materials and equipment used were all related to food, so the lively and enthusiastic scene of prototyping was like the kitchen of a popular restaurant.

▲Unique prototyping was carried out for chocolate, which has been shrinking in size over the years. The approach was to maintain the size without changing the pleasant experience of eating chocolate through designing its ‘structure’.

▲On the final day, a tasting and presentation were held at FabCafe Kyoto, where the participants discussed the final artefacts, including their production processes, and future development and possibilities.

▲Offline lectures were also performed by guest lecturers Ryosuke Wakasugi (CEO, Byte Bites Corporation) [left photo], Daijiro Mizuno, Kazutoshi Tsuda, Tomohiro Inoue [right photo] and Kazuhiro Ogata [central photo]. The image shows the presentation at FabCafe Kyoto on the final day.

The online lectures were conducted with the aim of taking a broader view of ‘food design’, inviting guest lecturers active in Japan and abroad in addition to the guest speakers of the offline lectures, and providing further opportunities for Q&A and exchange in addition to the talks and presentations.

Taking advantage of the online platform, the lectures were a great opportunity to gain insightful perspectives from leading-edge practitioners in various fields. Once again, a wide range of fields encompassed and connected by ‘food’ and the many challenges and possibilities for the future were visualised. This report presents a small part of the guest lecturers’ sessions. (*All the following texts are a summary of the discussion points from the author’s point of view).

Both offline and online, the course provided many lecturers’ and participants’ perspectives on what lies on the vast and yet unexplored plains of the new field of ‘food design’.

In the final presentation, one of the lecturers commented: “I was already aware that circular design was not just about utilising waste foodstuffs or circulating only in urban areas, but this course made me realise once again that we should consider the fact that food originates from natural ecosystems.” It was also mentioned that the overall program served to highlight the existing connections among various ecological cycles, actor networks, and multi-species, as well as to provide diverse insights into the nature of personal fabrication.

Some participants mentioned that the characteristics of food ingredients affected the modelling of food using 3D printers, and that it was a difficult factor to manage, while the organising team also encountered challenges when prototyping because “the state of the ingredients changes during printing” and “there are more variables than expected”.

However, despite the selection of ingredients that were not limited to versatile items such as chocolate, the final artefacts presented the shape and texture that each team was aiming for.

Rather than taking a passive stance, lecturers, participants and student support members thought and discussed as a ‘team’ in response to numerous trials and errors. Thanks to their enthusiasm to “create something that has never existed before”, other than simply an experience of a new digital device, the program ended with an overall high level of satisfaction

“Food” is not a constant nor predictable variable. It changes in accordance to the evolution of human life, and exists as an issue that transforms depending on each recipient and place. In the future, we might witness how ‘the available choices’ expand in line with the expansion of the act of ‘eating’ itself.

We hope that the activities of the School of Food Futures will continue to broaden our horizons so that we can learn more about the ‘choices’ we can make and with whom we can practise them.