Taste

On February 12, 2016, Design Observer hosted a symposium on the relationship between design and food. Held in the Los Angeles Theater Center in downtown LA, Taste featured speakers from across the United States and Europe: we discussed the visual evolution of artificial flavor; the historical artistry of mid-century menus; the future of permaculture, the promises of packaging, and the vicissitudes of waste. We looked at marketing tactics and distribution platforms; climate change and culinary excess; new economies of scale, old expressions of culture—and everything in between.

Program:

The Morning Session

9:35-9:45
Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand | Opening Remarks

9:45
Morning Keynote
Dr. Ricardo Salvador
Union of Concerned Scientists
How We Designed for Paradise and Lost Our Way

10:10
Frances Anderton
KCRW Host, Dna
In Conversation with
Evan Kleiman
KCRW Host, Good Food

10:35
Savinien Caracostea
Architect and Pastry Chef
Edible, Cinematic Architecture

11:00
Nadia Berenstein
History of Science PhD Candidate
University of Pennsylvania
Flavor by Design: Making Flavor Additives, 1900-1960

11:25
Nathan Sharp
Designer
In Conversation with
Scott Palmer
Kiva Confections
How Nice Guys Like Us Got Into Selling Drugs

11:50
Josh Kun
Annenberg School for Communication, USC
To Live and Dine in LA

The Afternoon Session

2:00
Afternoon Keynote
Mark Bittman
UC Berkeley

2:25
Lynda Deakin
IDEO
How can design help us create a better food future?

2:50
Alissa Walker
Gizmodo
In Conversation with
Jessica Koslow
Chef, Sqirl

3:15
Afternoon Tasting Menu
Presented by MOLD
Erika Katrina Barbosa, Elaine Cheung, Nan Tsai, + Josh Bookman, forkCHESTRA
Julie Plevin + Lucy Knops, Critter Bitters
Edward Silva + Lorena Galvan, Henlight

4:00
Jennifer Boutin Farah
Sprouts IO
Future of the Connected Kitchen
In Conversation with LinYee Yuan, MOLD

4:25
Edward Silva
Thought for Food

4:50
Ron Finley
Artist, Designer, Gangsta Gardener
Growing a garden: How I learned to fuck the system and you can too.
5:15

Mike Errico
Singer/Songwriter

Closing Remarks

News

December 2018: Edited by Jessica Helfand and Michael Bierut, Culture is Not Always Popular: Fifteen Years of Design Observer will be out in early December from MIT Press. Buy the book here. See the video here.

November 2018: The Design of Business | The Business of Design conference will be held on November 2 and 3 at Yale School of Management.

September 2018: Face Value, Cooper Hewitt’s entry into the 2018 London Design Biennale, is named one of the four medalists.

July 2018: Jessica Helfand and Allison Arieff host a Next Stage event at Google on the ethics of design.

June 2018: Jessica Helfand is one of three artists chosen to participate in Face Value, the US entry into the London Design Biennale for 2018.

May 2018: Jessica Helfand hosts The Next Stage at The Mercantile Library in Cincinnati and The American Film Institute in Los Angeles.

May 2018: Jessica Helfand debuts The Next Stage at Continuum in Boston.

March 2018: Jessica Helfand is keynote speaker for the In Pursuit of Luxury Conference, Cape Town, South Africa.