I made little mailer packets as my show card(s) for the year end show. They were really fun to do! I screen printed everything, so they all have that nice tactile feeling of the screen print paint-ink on the different papers. I used a nice textured paper for the mini-bread (ha! my favorite) and on the back of it, it says “copain…”, index cards for the red circles of information, and Rolodex cards for my personal info. I then wrapped the cards in newsprint and used the stickers that will be used in my show to seal the home-made envelopes.

Along with the book I just printed for the show, I am also curating an experience-design piece by a London-based designer, Alexandre Bettler. When I discovered what he was doing, I could not stop thinking about it.
“The Bread Friend Map is using bread to improve communication. It is based on the French word for friend, ‘copain’, describing someone you share your bread with. Co-’ standing for ‘with’ and ‘-pain’ for ‘bread’, a friend is someone you share your bread with, and is the level of communication explored for this project. For Gradual, each visitor is offered a slice of a single piece two meter long rye bread, everyone sharing a slice of the same bread. In return, you are asked to add a sticker with your name on yourself and one on the Bread Friend Map, and to trace (dotted line) the link to anyone you know on the map. This will show your connection to other people who you shared the bread with. If there is anyone you fancy, find his/her name on the sticker s/he is wearing and use the map to connect to her/him or any other visitor in the room, everyone being the friend of a friend. The shorter the bread goes, the bigger the map becomes and more friends there are. It reveals the process of design – the physical act of creating – through generating and experimenting rather than finishing and polishing the work.”

For months, I would go back to the Bread Friend map, mull it over, and revel at how it not only connected with what I was doing and believe in pertaining to design, experience, and food, but how it connected on so many other levels as well. First, the entire basis of the Bread Friend Map is that it is all about connections and watching them happen in real time. Second, the map speaks to processes, in particular, the process of design and it’s ebb and flow of many participants, users, and ultimately, people as designers. Third, the connection that the BF map will make between two countries/cities/communities is really neat. Everywhere the BF map is done, it will look, grow, and feel different. This is because no two places are alike, the BF map becoming a visual representation for the differences but also commonalities we share as people. And last, the amazing connection of the internet. I found Alexandre via the web and if either of us did not have a website with our work on it, we may not have ever had the chance to share experiences like this. That is one of the neatest things I think .

As I continue to formulate my ideas around what it is I do, community is one of those things that I keep coming back to. Sometimes that word, I feel, is abused. It’s like the word sustainable, or green. It’s a buzzword that we all have an idea about what it means, but actually holds different meanings for different contexts. I define community as a group of people who share something in common: it could be anything from living on the same street or in the same country, working in the same profession, your children go to the same school, sharing in the same hobbies, or going to the same place for breakfast every weekend. Even for me, community means something different each time I think about it. But what I find most interesting about community is the individuals who make up our communities, because the individuals themselves can belong to multiple communities. Something that I’ve been exploring, especially with The Favorite meal series, is the individual who makes up our communities. I will continue to do these Favorite Meals, amassing a bunch of them while looking for connections or patterns in how we belong, interact, and change the communities we reside in. Let me know if you are interested, I am looking for a few people to do one this summer. You don’t necessarily have to be local either, that could make things really interesting!

So it all comes back to connections: what they are, how we find/make them, who is involved in the connecting, and the ways to communicate in order to make those connections are all of deep interest for me. This particular series in my Eating Design process has been about connecting people with themselves and with others. It has been so fulfilling to know more about myself throughout this process but also be able to create a framework for others to do the same.

I made that sweet potato cake again the other day. Sheer comfort food! And was it ever comforting:). I am warning you though, you may not be able to stop eating it, so if you make it, have some place to take it to or have some friends over. It’s great with coffee or tea as the nutmeg compliments both drinks. I’m going to go eat some right now. Cheers!