Dining revolution: Kosuke Araki

It’s fine dining for thoughtful, kind and sentient beings. Anima is a sequel to Food Waste Wear (2013), a project by Japanese designer Kosuke Araki in which he documented food waste produced daily and made tableware out of it. The new black vessels are also made out of food waste, the same as the previous work, but with the addition of urushi (Japanese lacquer).

‘Food is not a thing but life. We eat life for our existence. However, for lack of appreciation, we consume life at a huge industrial scale as well as a small domestic scale, disposing of it in landfills’, says Araki.

While developing this project, Kosuke kept a record of amounts of food waste produced from his house for two years. His results included non-edible parts of food, such as rind, peel, calyxes, shells and bones, and the total amount was approximately 315kg.

Why is it black? The colour us derived from their body material, charcoal of vegetable waste. Urushi craft has a close relationship with food – leftovers of a meal. For example, rice, tofu or albumen is mixed with Urushi to adjust its viscosity for making sticky glue or textures. Kosuke revisits this food-related aspect in a contemporary context. He brings an alternative perspective to its tradition, making the collection entirely from wasted food.​

Currently, this project is being long-listed for the Dezeen Awards.

The designer is also long-listed for the Emerging Designer of the Year category.

​kosuke-araki.com