Margaret Dorfman makes vessels from veggies - San Francisco Chronicle

6/30/13 11:01 AM

Home & Garden

Margaret Dorfman makes vessels from veggies

HOME & GARDEN Artist presses sliced fruits, veggies into paper=thin sheets to create jewel=tone vessels

Russell Yip, The Chronicle

Beet parchment bowl. Sophia Markoulakis

January 9, 2013

http://www.sfchronicle.com/homeandgarden/article/Margaret-Dorfman-makes-vessels-from-veggies-4176164.php

Page 1 of 6

Margaret Dorfman makes vessels from veggies - San Francisco Chronicle

6/30/13 11:01 AM

When Margaret Dorfman sees a watermelon radish, she doesn't think about how it would taste. Instead, she envisions how its contrasting vibrant pink and white flesh will capture the light once it is sliced paper thin and assembled as art. Dorfman creates unique jewel-tone decorative bowls and jewelry out of vegetable parchment. Her palette of colors is limited only to the range of produce she finds. "My art is about showing the intrinsic complexity and beauty in these everyday foods," she says. A self-taught artist who lives in Oakland, Dorfman, 58, found her creative calling one day while slicing vegetables in the kitchen. "I saw how beautiful the light was coming through a slice of zucchini, and the surprising complexity of its inner structure. I then held other vegetables to the light and each was so different but equally compelling. They looked like stained glass to me. "I began to wonder how I could create something more permanent that would preserve the colors and structures as well as the translucency." The process begins with the vegetables and fruits and how she layers them. "I look at the produce for their colors and intricate structures within each fruit or vegetable that makes each so visually appealing. When I am working, I don't think of them as food." Dorfman finds textural and textile-like references in so many of her favorite items, one can see why the line between edible and nonedible is blurred. "Red pepper takes on a texture almost like red vinyl, whereas the color of a golden beet is so pure and clear, and concentric circles that make up the beets look almost like stitching."

http://www.sfchronicle.com/homeandgarden/article/Margaret-Dorfman-makes-vessels-from-veggies-4176164.php

Page 2 of 6

Margaret Dorfman makes vessels from veggies - San Francisco Chronicle

6/30/13 11:01 AM

Dorfman spends time every day in her studio, working on several pieces simultaneously since each bowl can take up to 14 days to make. Creating these unique functional bowls begins by manually slicing and layering the produce, then a multistep curing and aging process, which is very similar to the ancient, time-consuming art of making parchment and vellum out of animal hides.

Russell Yip, The Chronicle

A purple and white potato parchment bowl in a dogwood blossom shape.

A custom-designed hydraulic press that exerts 175 tons of pressure expedites the step that creates the paper-like sheets of produce. The bowls are then shaped by hand and allowed to dry. "The final shape is always unpredictable, taking on the fluidity of formed glass," says Dorfman. Dorfman can easily go through 200 pounds of beets in a week, so she relies on a produce company to deliver items that she needs in a large quantity. For smaller quantities she frequents Berkeley Bowl.
http://www.sfchronicle.com/homeandgarden/article/Margaret-Dorfman-makes-vessels-from-veggies-4176164.php Page 3 of 6

Margaret Dorfman makes vessels from veggies - San Francisco Chronicle

6/30/13 11:01 AM

"They always have a wonderful selection, and I can see what's new at the market, like pink and purple daikon, or what is just coming into season." She also enjoys the hunt and visits neighborhoods like Oakland's Chinatown for specialty fruits and vegetables like winter melon and seaweed. Dorfman's quest to exploit the beauty of ordinary objects began when she was a child. Growing up in then-rural Walnut Creek, she foraged for natural items - fibers, feathers, leaves, and twigs and wove them into vessels such as baskets.

Russell Yip, The Chronicle

Cantaloupe parchment bowl.

"My favorite childhood book was Scott O'Dell's 'Island of the Blue Dolphins.' I was an avid reader and was drawn to novels that described the ways in which objects in the material culture were made from the environment."

http://www.sfchronicle.com/homeandgarden/article/Margaret-Dorfman-makes-vessels-from-veggies-4176164.php

Page 4 of 6

Margaret Dorfman makes vessels from veggies - San Francisco Chronicle

6/30/13 11:01 AM

Her anthropology studies at UC Davis included insights into South American cultures and their methods of creating functional items out of vegetation, which propelled her to further explore the link between nature and art. Though she has been creating her whole life, for many years she didn't acknowledge what she does as art. With nationwide placement in galleries and gift shops and a growing fan base thanks, in part, to social media sites like Pinterest, she can now confidently call herself an artist. Currently, her work includes the use of 40 varieties of fresh vegetables and fruits. "There have been frequent surprises, which is one reason why I still look forward to coming to the studio every morning. The flexibility and strength of potatoes was a happy surprise, as was the amazing indigo turquoise and teal shades of the purple variety." Besides bowls, which range in price from $20-$80, Dorfman also applies her vegetable parchment to jewelry. Many of her retailers welcomed the addition of her custom-made cuffs, necklaces and earrings. "The range of colors she uses on her cuffs, necklaces and earrings are beautiful," says Oakland's Pot-Pourri manager Max Diez. "We've been selling her bowls for four years now, and I think the thing that strikes customers first is how unique they are." Lattice bowls, lighting and new jewelry designs are in the works. But don't look for Dorfman to self-publicize these new items using any of the popular social media platforms. She doesn't use Facebook and is unfamiliar with Pinterest and Tumblr. "I think there is a real generational divide between people like me who do not use the computer as an artistic creative venue and those that do." Fortunately, her fans will take care of this for her. Resources Margaret Dorfman, www.margaretdorfman.com. Bowls and jewelry available at PotPourri, 4100 Redwood Road, Oakland. (510) 531-1503. www.pot/pourri.com.
http://www.sfchronicle.com/homeandgarden/article/Margaret-Dorfman-makes-vessels-from-veggies-4176164.php Page 5 of 6

Margaret Dorfman makes vessels from veggies - San Francisco Chronicle

6/30/13 11:01 AM

Kingdom of Herbs, Ferry Building Marketplace, One Ferry Building (Embarcadero at Market), S.F. (415) 986-0856. www.kingdomofherbs.com. Cavallo Point Lodge Mercantile, 601 Murray Circle, Fort Baker, Sausalito. (415) 339-4740. www.cavallopoint.com. Sophia Markoulakis is a freelancer in Burlingame. E-mail: home@sfchronicle.com

2013 Hearst Communications Inc.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/homeandgarden/article/Margaret-Dorfman-makes-vessels-from-veggies-4176164.php

Page 6 of 6