09/04/2018
Please join us for
Unapologetic Dinnerware: a brief history of dinnerware design
A special exhibition presented by the International Museum of Dinnerware Design
August 28 – October 12, 2018
Reception and gallery talk by Dr. Margaret Carney,
Friday September 7, 7-9 p.m. at Kreft Gallery, Concordia University, 4090 Geddes Road, Ann Arbor, MI
Unapologetic Dinnerware: a brief history of disposal dinnerware is a timely exhibition whose temporary six-week viewing availability rivals the short lifespan of the best of the single-use dinnerware featured in the exhibition. The exhibition is impermanent as are the objects being displayed. The exhibition opens Tuesday August 28th and remains on view through October 12th at Kreft Gallery at Concordia University located at 4090 Geddes Road in Ann Arbor. Curated by the International Museum of Dinnerware Design in Ann Arbor, the exhibition causes the viewer to question how single use dinnerware impacts our lives and our environment. The exhibition reflects the focus of IMoDD, on good design as it relates to dinnerware and dining. The public is invited to an opening reception Friday, September 7, 7-9 p.m. at the Kreft Gallery. A gallery tour will be presented by curator Margaret Carney.
The exhibition Unapologetic Dinnerware provides an exploration into early possibly disposable dishes and exposes a significant gap between 4th millennium B.C. Mesopotamia and the early to mid-20th century when disposable cups and straws became ubiquitous. Disposables were first a lifesaving improvement in sanitation and later a convenience. Current innovations are focused on providing earth friendly and even edible alternatives to “disposables” created from plastic and Styrofoam.
The United States has not been alone in exploring innovations in single-use dinnerware. Included in this exhibition are proto-type designs and designs for single use consumables from India, Jordan, Portugal, ancient Mesopotamia, Germany, Australia, Puerto Rico, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Japan, and Malaysia.
The diverse materials used in creating disposable dinnerware (dishes, cups, straws, and utensils) are presented in terms of natural leaves, wheat pulp, sugar cane fibre, bamboo, recycled paper, corn and talc, plant-based materials, edible, plastic, and Styrofoam, From the consumer standpoint, attention is paid as to whether these objects used in dining are consumable/edible, compostable, biodegradable, sustainable, earth friendly, and good for the planet.
Along this single-use journey the paths, depending on ones perspective are either laced with or strewn with the sometimes beautiful, sometimes fragile dining implements that one chooses from when the occasion arises. Should it be edible? Compostable? Biodegradable? Tree-free? Plant-based? Made of fallen leaves? This timely exhibition simultaneously explores the history of Medieval trenchers, Chinese takeout boxes, TV dinners, and Dixie cups. Prototype inventions are exhibited, some of which won design awards but have never gone into production. Comparisons are made between single-use materials and ceramic dinnerware. Which is better for the environment when ones considers the carbon foot print of manufacturing?
Sure to be favorites in the exhibition are all of the edible single-use dinnerware items, ranging from edible cutlery, tumblers, coffee cups, straws, shot glasses, to sake bottles. Related because they are edible by marine life, are the beer six pack rings included in the exhibition.
And finally, while not edible, there are the environmentally friendly cups made from gourds grown in 3-D printed molds. For more details visit the exhibition which is open Tuesday-Friday 12-4 p.m. and weekends 1-5 p.m. or visit the website www.dinnerwaremuseum.org
The need for innovations in disposable dinnerware is obvious. The oft-repeated statistics are staggering – landfills, and oceans, and the environment are strewn with plastics, Styrofoam and other hazardous materials that do not easily decompose. It’s unbelievable that more than 500 millions straws are used daily in the United States alone or that in India 120 billion pieces of disposable cutlery are thrown away annually or that 7 million disposable cups end up in landfills in England in one day. Even if these statistics are exaggerated, the need for safer alternatives is pressing. Disposable dinnerware is here to stay, whether in use in the food service industry or in our homes. Safer alternatives are being designed to meet these needs. This exhibition explores the history and the possibilities.
Contact: Dr. Margaret Carney, Director, The International Museum of Dinnerware Design (IMoDD), Ann Arbor, MI 607-382-1415
www.dinnerwaremuseum.org
