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Kitchen Archives
The project Kitchen Archives is an exploration into biomaterials. My goal was to create alternatives to leather and to plastic packaging. I’ve been inspired by artists such as Suzanne Lee and Emma Sicher, whose work I explored in my dissertation, and by the recent production of alternative fabrics from seaweed, spider silk, and pineapple fibre. My overall vision is to create a collection of alternative materials for sustainable packaging.
I’ve made my biomaterials using various fruits, including apples, strawberries and blueberries. Many of these can be sourced from fruit waste. The results are a leather-like material, along with a material that can be used in place of plastics. They vary in texture and design, and in this way provide visual and sensory interest, as well as having functional value. The materials have been coloured by also using fruits and natural dyes such as grass, berries and turmeric. By adding these natural colourings helps the materials to be appealing to those who are looking for alternative materials they can use in place of those that cause harm to the planet.
I hope that my project will contribute not only to the material intelligence of the growing sustainability movement, but that it also will inspire a sense of possibility. Alternatives such as my biomaterials could help cut plastic usage as well as reducing the waste of excess fruit, and there are many other potential fabric solutions. I look forward to exploring them further in the future.
