SD3246

Graphic
Driven
Product
Report
I want to remind people to
have more respect for food,
by simplistic design and the
attention to the spiritual
richness, on pieces of
wooden tableware.
Whats the graphic?
The wood texture is the graphic.
Thank you
Objectives
My dream is that people learn to respect food again, in
the past food are very important they are like the gift
of the gods, especially in the agricultural period, when
having the harvest is the happiest thing in the farmers
lives. Although I am not a farmer and I do not have the
rights to say anything about that feeling of getting the
harvest, I do respect food. Seeing almost everyday in the
canteen that people can leave the plates with almost a
full bowl of rice and other dishes left. What happened
to make people see food as objects that they could just
decide what to do with them because they paid for it,
the buffet, the , the , though fulfills our
appetite to eat many different things at once, but maybe
these all lowers foods value in my mind.
Another thing I feel very unhappy about is the unreal
amount of takeaway boxes and disposable plastic
tableware I see my classmates use everyday. It seems
people got used to the very short term relationship with
their tableware, disposable tableware is hygienic and
convenient but it seems so cold. One dont use a pen
once and throw it away, one dont play a different guitar
every single time, then why is tableware a different
thing?
With these two objectives in mind, I progressed with
my project. I particularly look to the Japanese tableware
culture, as they are arguably the nation that pays
the most attention to the aesthetics of eating and
tableware, and I am very touched and impressed by that.
Portable binding methods Main focus
Spiritual richness
This objective is very much inspired by the tutors and
also the Japanese disposable brand WASARA. It is a major
issue I would like to reflect on through this project, and
try to reflect in my tableware design.
Simplistic design
In relation to the concept of emptiness and Zen, I
would explain more in my theoratical reference and
contemporary reference.
Historical reference
Plate
A shallow plate to avoid containing too
much food that they couldnt finish. A
touch of roughness enhance the texture
and touch.
Chopsticks
When we talk about wood and bamboo tableware, its
essential to talk about the tableware of our culture
chopsticks. When compared to the westerners that uses
forks and knifes, chopsticks are just a simple two sticks,
but it has so many possibilities in terms of its usage.
Chopsticks are commonly made of bamboo. In fact, the
radical of the Chinese character chopsticks means
bamboo. There is one quote about chopsticks that
man with one stick eats nothing, man with chopsticks
eats for a lifetime. It indicated the versatile nature of
chopsticks, whether you use it to pick up something, to
cut something like tofu, to brush something to a side,
you name it.
Our ancestor had been using chopsticks for at least 3
thousands of years, every single day, there are billions of
people using chopsticks. As it has become very usual as
a part of Eastern culture, there is actually relatively few
studies about it. However a few significant advantages
of bamboo and wooden chopsticks is the durability, the
avoidance of heat hurting the hand, every single detail of
this seemingly simple design is full of wisdom, thats the
reason why it could be reduced into this precise form.
In the Chinese culture, the form of the chopsticks has a
norm, normally the tip is round and the back is square
in shape, while it has a function of preventing the
chopsticks from rolling, it also has some interpretation
of it referring to the concept of and further
refer to the deep rooted Chinese thinking of
Japanese eating culture
Japan is a eastern country, yet its spirit is
quite similar to the western culture, with Sauce Plate
the similar tableware, they developed a set
The tip is also designed for the pouring
of regulations of using their tableware. For
of sauce.
example, in festive situations such as the
new year, their chopsticks must be made
of willow wood. When they are using the
chopsticks they have some rules to follow,
suchas when eating Sashimi, they would
clip a bit of wasabi onto the sushi, when
drinking the soup they use the chopstick to
mix the soup well and then use both hands
to hold the bowl to drink it all in.
Japanese eating culture has a sense of
ritual, just like their temples, it is elegant
and careful. Perhaps this is how the
sensitivity of Japanese is developed, such
as in the tea ceremony of Japanese, the
slow and complicated process could help
to slow down the speed of life, and to open
the senses to the things we are interacting,
therefore developing the sensitivity.
The Japanese eating culture involves a lot
of not so hot food such as sashimi, sushi
and dried noodles, therefore there are more
plates involved and their tableware could
be shallower and it could avoid putting
too much food onto a plate. The Japanese
also emphasize a lot on the avoidance of
waste. Such as pouring too much soy sauce
and wasting it is a behavior seen as rude
and the Japanese will pour how much they
would use into the sauce plate.

Sauce Plate
Being a little shallow as well, I hope
people could pour just as much as
they would use. I found the crack in
the middle particulary beautiful, and it
kind of suits the concept of Wabi Sabi.
The aesthetics is also very important in
Japanese eating culture, it is called the
food for the eye, the placing of the food
and the attention to material makes the
Japanese food so beautiful, the tableware
usage also plays a great part in the whole
aesthetic. It actually stimulates the desire
to eat a lot, therefore ideally it could reduce
the food wastage.
Theoretical reference
Spoon
Taking reference to the salad spoon,
I made it a little bit shallow to make
people eat slower and to enjoy the
taste more. The sharper edge of the
asymetrical design can facilitate the
pouring of liquid.

Chopsticks
I took reference to the form of the japanese
style chopsticks, being more thin and I try
to make it rounder with the roughness of
the wood so that although it is round it
wont roll easily.
Emotion linkage with tableware
In a study conducted by Ran Liu (2013), the emotional
aspect of the design of tableware in Chinese restaurants
was conducted. Throughout the process of coding and
organizing the survey data, a finding shows that there
is a connection between consumer sensitivity toward
the products and their emotional bonds to the assigned
product designs. The data showed that more people in
China are expending greater effort in choosing suitable
tableware designs compared to the people in the U.S. It
is found out that overall, customers are more likely to
show more positive emotions than negative emotions
when dining with designed tableware. It is shown that a
good tableware design could boost the positive emotion
of the users, whether it is a subconscious thing or
conscious thing.
Emotion affect eat desire
In a news report in the Dailymail, many people who
overeat do so because they are happy, according to a
new research back in 2013. New research shows that
people whose eating habits reflect their moods actually
take on more calories when they are cheery and upbeat
than when they are down. What we can learn from this
news is that positive emotion could boost the eating
volume, it might be seen as a bad thing as it increase
weight, but on the other hand this could be a good thing
in terms of reducing food wastage.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2323739/Forget-
comfort-eating--HAPPINESS-reason-youre-piling-pounds.
html
Wabi Sabi (Wikipedia)
Wabi-sabi represents a comprehensive Japanese
world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance
of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is
sometimes described as one of beauty that is imperfect,
impermanent, and incomplete. It is a concept derived
from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of
existence ( ), specifically impermanence ( ), the
other two being suffering ( )and emptiness or absence
of self-nature ( ).
Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include
asymmetry, asperity (roughness or irregularity),
simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and
appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects
and processes.
I think the idea of emptiness and asymmetry is
especially evident in Japanese tableware, some plates
also have the round wave texture, drawing a parallel with
the imitation of water in the zen gardens of Japan.
The Wabi Sabi approach emphasize a lot on the spiritual
level of the appreciation of life and the nature, I would
like to adopt it in my tableware design to make it a more
spiritually rich piece.
Design execution Contemporary reference
WASARA Mitani Ryuji
One of the reason I was inspired to put the element of Mitani Ryuji is one of the contemporary master of wood
spiritual richness in my objectives is the Japanese paper tableware, his works are very simplistic and embraced
biodegradable disposable tableware brand WASARA. the idea of emptiness in its aesthetics, I feel a sense of
Although I originally thought that disposable tableware warmth in his works and a sense of peacefulness. His
is not a very great idea as it is wastage of material. I works has a mixture of roughness of hand carving and
found out that in Japan the series of WASARA, a paper also the smoothness of careful polishing. I would like to
one time use disposable tableware. I find the companies learn from it.
beliefs and ideas quite amazing, they state and I quote
WASARA is tableware that blends with the natural
practice of reducing waste. It is eco-friendly tableware
complimented by spiritual richness. I was on one hand
very impressed with how they could turn the stereotype
of paper disposable ware being wasteful and non-
ecofriendly into a highly sensitive and aesthetically
brilliant set. On the other hand, I was very educated by
the way they define how their product brings spiritual
richness. The spirit of hospitality and courtesy, the
everyday essential activities like eating are the things
that power the spirit, paying attention to these details
is just the way to bring spiritual richness. It consolidates
my intention to create tableware focusing only on the
tableware, supposedly if I made a good tableware that Muji
could improve ones eating experience, it could already
lightens a persons spirit. Muji is also a Japanese brand with a very strong sense
of Zen. The concept it has been leaning towards lately is
the concept of emptiness, with the creative director of
Kenya Hara and many other talented product designers.
The simplistic product design and packaging helps the
users to create intimacy with just the materials they
so carefully chose, and also the emptiness gives room
for the users own interpretation, therefore although
millions of people own the same product, the different
personal interpretation makes the product very intimate
with the user. Creating a sense of happiness using it.