Food for thought: These makers are finding further purpose for produce
From meat to milk, food is getting a second life beyond the shelf thanks to a growing number of experimental craftspeople
Our Spring/Summer 2024 issue contains a special section themed around food. Become a Silver or Gold Crafts member to get the magazine posted to your door, and to read all our online articles
Crafting with food waste addresses our growing concerns about the impact of humans on the planet. While the shocking estimate that 1.3 billion tonnes of food are squandered every year highlights the need to ensure everything edible is consumed, much of what is currently produced by farms is neither fit for consumption nor used in other ways.
A new generation of craftspeople is attending to these neglected raw ingredients, transforming them into recycled, renewable, organic, durable and aesthetically sophisticated materials to replace the synthetic or specially cultivated ones we depend on daily – tackling the mountains of rubbish we generate in the process.
Follow the links below to read stories about each of these ingredients and how they're being put to creative use.
Meat
Organs, blood, and bones – nothing is off the table for makers keen to turn unwanted meat into something more desirable.
Ventri collection of leather made from cow stomachs, 2017, Billie van Katwijk
Fish
Waves of makers are going into the blue and using fish byproducts for ceramics, weaving and more.
Milk
No use crying over spilt milk – makers like Ekaterina Semenova and Tessa Silva-Dawson are using the liquid to form delightful vessels.
Ceramic tableware from Ekaterina Semenova’s Care for Milk collection
Fruit and vegetables
Corn, pineapple, coconut and other staples of global grocery stores are being transformed into sustainable fabrics under the hands of Carmen Hijosa, Kosuke Araki and other makers.
Eggshells
Over a trillion eggs are laid every year by 6.4 billion hens, and some makers see potential in the mountains of shells they generate.
Eggcups by Basse Stittgen, made from discarded eggshells
