Marije Vogelzang

She is an eating designer from Holland. She graduated in 2000 from the Design Academy Eindhoven. Since then, she worked as a consultant and in food-related jobs. Her inspiration is the mouth because is the only entrance to the body. For her it’s very intriguing. She felt most comfortable in her kitchen. The ingredients are her materials. When you think about the food as the material, you have many new possibilities and unique experiences.

Designers who work with the subject of food are often called ‘food designers’. Marije calls herself an “eating designer” because she thinks that food is already perfectly designed by nature. So instead, she focuses in the verb of eating (sewing, harvesting, cooking, preparing, tasting).

In 2004, she opened a restaurant/design studio in Rotterdam named Proef which means tasting & testing. They served homemade, organic, and specialized food. The kitchen is open, so the clients can see and talk to the chef. In 2006, she expanded Proef in Amsterdam, where she decided to emphasize more in food design, installations, and food events. They serve food only to groups and when she’s not there.

PROJECTS

“White Funeral Meal” is white food project for a funeral (they relate white with death) where she bought and prepare all kinds of white food.

In Tokyo, she made a project “Christmas Dinner” with 40 people that didn’t know each other. There was a vertical cloth with holes covering the table. People sat and had to enter their heads and hands into the cloth to see the table and eat.

“Connection Dinner” consisted in a long table with bowls with soup and stew covered a tablecloth made of dough which was left cooking by the heat of many lamps all night long. To get to the food, guests first had to eat the dough.

One project in Beirut consisted on sharing experiences from the war and their memories. First, she asked the guests what was your favorite food when you where little and what is a food memory from the war. Based on the answers, she designs the food which was served in a long table with green bowls. This bowls where made from the same dough in the morning, but each one was unique. This represented that we are all different and unique. The green line, formed by the bowls, represented the Berlin Wall which divided Beirut during many years.

She made an installation called “A Rose of Fire”. They made a big human sculpture and covered it with Spanish ham that had rose forms.

She made a gun-shaped sugar lollypops, represent what sugars does to your body.

Food gives you energy, pleasure, and happiness. She designs based on psychology and sociology. Marije is aware of the meaning of the colors, the food arrangement, its presentation, and music to create a unique experience.