Future Food Stories

The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew is a world-leading scientific organisation, showcasing the largest living collection of plants and fungi. Not only they are one of the most beautiful and inspiring places in London, but it is also known for its invaluable work in research and education. 

In collaboration with them, and as part of their Food Forever summer program, we were able to learn and share some of their findings and how they can influence the future of our food systems. 

After a visit to meet with some of their best scientists and bombard them with questions, we learned about bananas, enset or lablab, among others. These first-hand conversations were invaluable for us to later come up with the project.

How the futures of food will look like? What a simple and at the same time complex question to ask. There are so many angles from which this “simple” question could be tackled. And, as many perspectives as there may be, they are all intertwined and dependent on each other. How to make such an intricate topic approachable for everyone? 

Stories! Who doesn’t like a good story? For this exhibition, we broke this big, intimidating topic into bite-sized pieces, little stories if you will, meant to be both enlightening and easy to digest. From indigenous knowledge to scientific innovations, there is something for everyone. And together they offer a wider, more diverse picture of the future of our plates.

These stories are grouped into different categories that materialize into physical sections within the exhibition. Visitors can navigate through them freely and learn about the value of diversity, science and technology in the food sector, the protein shift and the rise of plant-based diets, Indigenous and traditional knowledge, foods at risk of disappearing (plus already extinct ones) and how to prevent that from happening. 

Each section was assigned a color for visitors to navigate the space easier, while at the same time offering a more colorful and playful approach to the future. 

We truly believe that making people participate in the exhibition is one of the most powerful ways of leaving an impression on them. This way, the visitors are not passive observant anymore, but an active part of the exhibition in which they are encouraged to share their vision of the future. 

Through a series of different voting totems scattered throughout the space, we present the audience with multiple questions on the futures of food for them to reflect, chat, and ultimately, feel empowered to have a say in the future too. 

Creating Future Food Stories has been one of our biggest challenges as a studio, and we are incredibly proud of the result and the positive feedback from the visitors. From the initial research and talks with Kew to the whole concept of the graphic design for the exhibition, while coordinating with builders, model makers, Kew, and other agents involved in the process. Not only were we the graphic designers of the exhibition, but also the copywriters, exhibition designers, and coordinators. The last month of the process also included a complete hands-on journey that included the build-up and styling of over 50 food items, with the addition of other elements such as the construction of a city model, a spirulina tank and even a seed bank.

Finally, this exhibition wouldn’t have been possible without the work of our amazing team, in charge of making and building all the exhibition units, the food replicas, and more. Thank you!