“Meals are extremely significant moments in forming a family’s values.”
The aesthetic approach, as we understand it in visual arts, should open up to other practices. Aesthetics is closely intertwined with anthropology. In my opinion, the key notion is that of form. The individuals of today are quite bewildered by their often confusing lifestyles. They are pressured by time, worn out and stressed out but amidst the turmoil of modern-day living they are still searching for the meaning of their own existence. Design must contribute to this deeply human effort. When someone buys a lamp of a certain shape, he or she is seeking to add a certain color or light to his or her living room. What drives a person to choose this light? Choosing a specific type of lighting is a way of communicating your inner self, a certain mood and the way you interact with those around you. In this way, when you start exploring this topic, you soon discover many symbolic and humanistic dimensions, which go deeper than mere aesthetic considerations.
[1] Umberto Eco, Il segno, Milano: Isedi, 1988. (No English translation available)
[2] Jean-Jacques Boutaud, Le sens gourmand : De la commensalité-du goût-des aliments. Paris : Jean-Paul Rocher, 2005.
More about Morgane Bily’s project “1001 saveurs”
Morgane says her job consists of composing objects, stories and relationships.
That is a good way to put it, as a designer’s job can indeed be defined as a process of composition, in the sense that “giving shape” to objects can be seen as creating a story. To take part in that story, design has always considered two main notions: usage and meaning.
What’s the story here? “How can tableware and the art of dining be adjusted to changing trends in the way guests are received, what they eat and how they eat it? The main goal is to innovate and help the French tableware industry cope with the current Asian invasion.”
Morgane has not overlooked the fact that tableware primarily serves to evoke flavors, cultural references and modes of eating. Therefore, before carrying out research into particular forms, her work involved interviewing sociologists, philosophers, marketing experts and anthropologists, and studying “festive” eating habits, including more “exotic” habits, multicultural habits, in a context of globalization and therefore global culture…
Morgane has truly understood what a meal is really is about (1), as well as the “meal time” ritual which is a general, physical, psychological and social moment of well-being requiring a well-defined, staged setting (2). She also perfectly understood the essential need for congeniality, in a contradictory social context of both individualism and the break down of the notion of habitat.
Once all this field knowledge was established, she could quite easily decide on which angle of approach she should take. She decided to focus on the 25 to 34 generation and move on from “dishes like beef stew to nibbles”, in other words from a carefully set table to the less rigid and ritualized context of “snacking” in the living-room.
Her work has resulted in a smart, elegant and modern concept, offering easily understood codes and making it possible to arrange each table according to each occasion, bringing together ceramics and bamboo, two traditional yet easily processed materials.
As Claude Fischler stated: “Deep inside, human beings have always been aware that eating was not a neutral activity but that there was something magic to it. “(3) Without actually using magical powers, designers are in a position to bring magic back into social interactions… especially when it comes to tableware and the art of dining, the oldest industry in the history of mankind …
J.P. Péché – Coordinator of the “New Eating Habits” Master’s programme, designer & lecturer in design management
Morgane Bily - +33(0)677567824 -
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