Direction

i have come to a turning point a bit later than others but I am confident that it is the right place to begin moving foreward from. i have consulted Sara Houstin who has given me many good pointers and helpped me develop my ideas a bit more. After speaking with her i was able to gether myslef and speak with wonhee and donald a bit more and finally i am in a good spot.


I have decided to explore the functionality of the Kitchen table and look at the way it brings people together. The kitchen is a social place and the more conducive it is to socializing the more people will interact. I have begun dissecting the kitchen table and looking at the things it used for. From food preparation to homework to household projects.

Lost and found

I have been running around with my head chopped off for a while but i feel like this is not always a bad thing...maybe. i have been exploring many directions trying to strengthen the social aspects of preparing and consuming food.

I have been exploring many routes through designs and concepts, really focusing on bringing people together.


This is a piece by Tzuwei Tai exploring the concept of slow food. This piece presents food as a sort of buffet and forces people to interact through the infinite circle. there is no beginning and no end thus people are forced to interact randomly with the object, their food and the people around them.I think this idea of forced interaction is really a direction that i want to go in. I want to attract people to a certain location and then create an environment more conducive to social engagement.

Modular Homework

The Homework Desk by Robin Grasby is an interesting look at modularity and customization. Each of the work surfaces come in two sizes and can be arranged in any way. Also the storage compartments can be rearranged to the users desire.


This modularity could be applied to the kitchen in an interesting way or even to a coffee table...

Transforming Furniture

Turning my concept into a product could take many shapes but I am feeling that the most successful solution would be through a furniture piece. These transforming tables designed by Resource Furniture could be an interesting approach to taking a casual social situation and turning it into a dining situation. Lounge Dining?

It would also be interesting into incorporating cooking apparati to make a social cooking and dining situation all wrapped into one.

Microsoft Wall of Sound

This is a really interesting idea that relates to our food project the user interactionn between sound touch and visuals is similar to our concept of sound, touch (control), and taste. It would be nice to have the resources to do something like this. Each individual panel can be touched and activated to produce a sound or rhythm which creates the wall of sound.

The Sounds of Food

Keenan and i are going to explore the concept of sound in relation to food. We have begun experimenting with synthesizers and drum machines.



Our intention is to explore a series of sounds as ingredients that could be composed and combined as a dish. When a person chooses a set of ingredients for something like a sandwich the individual sounds for the ingredients would create a song. This concept could eventually deter someone from choosing particular ingredients they wanted in exchange for a song that they like.

Building Social Relationships

I want to explore ways of building social relationships through eating. This direction is still rather broad but could has a lot of potential for a strong meaningful product. I have looked at a couple ideas about how to aproach this. i started with some problems i have come across and some thoughts about how socialization can be improved.

In restaurants tables can be restraining and keep you from the other people that may only be 5 feet away from you. although in a room with many people you are forced to focus only on the person across from you and the people in front of you. many Asian restaurants use tabletop preparation which seat many who may not necissarily be together to encourage collectivism. some may want to be in an intimate setting and so the focus can be nice, but this brings me to my next topic.


Intimacy can be nice but does not have to be stagnant. Learning about someone through forced conversation at a nice restaurant can be...nice, but one will find that a date can be so much more interesting in other locals. I found that store are a very nice place to learn about people and it is much easier to learn about who someone really is at a grocery store. this interaction can then be continued into the home where the groceries can be consumed imediatly or prepared and then consumed furthering the interaction.



The third direction i would like to explore is in the kitchen at home. the common kitchen is designed along the walls. Kitchens are designed to keep the sink the oven and the referigerator in close proximity but they still remain along the perimeter connected by countertops. Because of this perimiter set up it forces everyone working in the kitchen to face away from each other. i would like to explore the ways of turning people around and focusing on the center of the room which promotes socializing and interaction.