Consume: Handcrafting L.A. Restaurant Design

https://www.craftinamerica.org

The Craft in America Center is pleased to present Consume: Handcrafting L.A. Restaurant Design, an exhibition that will focus on handmade objects made by over 30 local artists for Southern California restaurants. The exhibition will feature all forms of items associated with food consumption, including: serving boards, dishware, glasses, lighting, and furnishings. Various media will be represented ranging from ceramics to wood to metal and more. The intersection of design, art, and craft to enhance dining will be the crux of this show.

Food was a motivational font for craft from its earliest origins. Craft has facilitated and elevated the act of cooking and consumption throughout history, from woven baskets to clay storage jars. Well-executed serving pieces and kitchen tools transform the edible experience and encourage us to stop and think about what we eat and how things taste. As creators of American material culture, craft makers design and build the relics of our everyday, modern world, and food is focal. Craft today plays a part in how we interact with food and deepens the ideology of sustainability and terroir.

Throughout the run of the exhibition, we will be hosting Chef / Maker Talks, panel discussions in which chefs will be in dialogue with craft artists and designers about their collaborations and the role of design and visual art in their industry. The modern restaurant has become a landscape infused deeply with craft and setting for creative craft expression. The exhibition and programs will explore the interdisciplinary nature of craft in restaurants today. 

image: 

Shoshi Watanabe, Bowls, 2019, featured at Hinoki & the Bird