Taste of Design

For this year’s London Design Festival, British design brand Established & Sons will showcase four additions to its existing furniture and lighting collections in an installation, Taste of Design, which will pair furniture and food design.

Inspired by 1st century AD Roman gourmand, Marcus Gavius Apicus’ concept of the “first taste is always with the eyes”, Taste of Design is a collaboration between Swedish food experience designer Vilma Luostarinen and London chef Emily Plunket. It is an experimental exhibition that reimagines four of Established & Sons’ distinct designs as a taste encounter.

For the 2019 edition of London Design Festival, Established & Sons has reinterpreted and introduced new variations of BEAM TABLE by Konstantin Grcic, CHO LIGHT by Dimitri Bähler, and HEIDI stool and FILIGRANA LIGHT both by Sebastian Wrong. “As an ambitious design brand Established & Sons is committed to creating relevant products people can live and grow with,” says Sebastian Wrong, Design Director. “To do this we keep the doors wide open for designers to revisit their work. The conversation is open so that the range can evolve and create versatile products for modern life at home and in the workplace.”

Chef Plunket selected mainly plant-based, seasonal and locally sourced ingredients to represent the new products. The interpretation of BEAM TABLE draws on its strong industrial language, while the translation of CHO LIGHT’s traditional Japanese Washi paper shade and high-tech carbon fibre base is a meeting of opposites. Venetian food culture dating back to the 16th century, when the filigrana style originated on the island of Murano, was used as the starting point to represent the FILIGRANA LIGHT’s hand-blown glass shade. In contrast, the rustic connotations of the name HEIDI suggested plant-based milks, rounded shapes and a modern simple style to chef Plunket and Luostarinen who worked together to create an organic adaptation.

Taste of Design is the latest in a series of collaborations between Established & Sons and pioneering artists, and was commissioned by its Design Director, Sebastian Wrong. “London, as a creative hub, plays a significant role in the ‘digital grazing’ of consumable aesthetics. The role of say, visual hunger in product design and in food design is explored in this exhibition as an aesthetic pairing of carefully placed textures, tones, and layering – all for maximum appeal,” says Sebastian. “Today’s aesthetic innovations come from artists and designers who work across boundaries – food experience is having a moment – that’s interesting new ground for us to interpret and work with.”