For the 2014 edition of A Design Film Festival in Singapore, curated by multidisciplinary design studio Anonymous, the Tokyo based T-shirt label North East approached us to design a t-shirt on the theme of 'food design'.
When asked to define 'food design', Gionatan Lassandro (President of Fooda and co-founder of the Foodam museum) said: "Food Design is the pre-ordination of everything having to do with food. To clarify: food design is tied both to industrial production and classic design (packaging, shape, colour of the food), as well as to a cultural and visual element." For us, the aim of food design is to trigger the audience to eat with their eyes.
As a child growing up in Sweden, one of the first products that you associate with food is the eye-catching Mazetti cocoa package. Used for everything from making chocolate milk to cocoa balls and cookies, it quickly establishes itself as a symbol of that much desired treat at the end of a meal. It is also one of the first provisions that you actively interact with, whether it be stirring the powder down in a glass of milk or baking chocolate chip cookies with your parents. Much in the same vein; the Mazetti Eyes, designed by legendary Swedish designer Olle Eksell (1918-2007) in 1956 (in what is claimed to be Sweden's first design program), has long represented a the highest level of excellence in Swedish graphic design - up to which we today still measure the quality of our work. For us, Eksell's legacy continues to inspire.
With this paraphrase on the classic Mazetti Eyes, we wish to pay our dues to one of the leading graphic designers in Swedish design history and give a fond nod to our childhood years. Olé Olle!
