Design for Obesity
We invited five designers from around the world to to come up with a product that tackles a burning modern dilemma: how do you solve a problem like obesity?
Much of the West is suffering an obesity epidemic. In the UK, an NHS study published in 2013 reported that only one-third of 18-25-year-olds have a healthy body weight, while one-quarter of the population is clinically obese. The reasons for this are as plentiful as the portion sizes, and, despite various initiatives, the number of dangerously overweight people continues to rise. Here are five design solutions from some of Protein’s favourite creative minds.
Vera Wiedermann
Designer Vienna
Vera Wiedermann founded her own design studio in Vienna in 2010, having studied industrial design at the city’s University for Applied Arts. She also founded MOA Eating Products, a project that explores her culinary passions and features installations, restaurants, workshops and tableware.
Daniele Bortotto
Product designer, Italy
Italian-born Daniele Bortotto’s talent was recognised when his master’s thesis at the Lausanne School of Design was selected as one of the main themes of Camper’s Smell of Design summer workshop in 2012. Bortotto was also among 10 designers selected for the Design Parade exhibition at Villa Noailles in France last summer.
Miriam Songster
Artist, Brooklyn
Having been an artist-in-residence in Reykjavik, Berlin, Chicago and Santa Fe, Miriam Songster has been working on an exciting variety of art projects over the past two decades. One of her latest ventures, GhostFood, a truck from which foods facing extinction are served, aims to raise awareness about food scarcity.
Polly Collins
Silversmith, London
Polly Collins is a recent jewellery and silversmithing graduate of Edinburgh College of Art. She has explored the concept of slow dining with a remarkable collection of unusual tableware – tactile vessels and utensils – made of copper and Britannia silver. Collins is currently artist-in-residence at Dazzle, within the Oxo Tower Wharf’s riverside gallery in London.
Sabine Marcelis
Designer, Rotterdam
Part Dutch, part New Zealander, Sabine Marcelis is based in Rotterdam, where she has been working independently since graduating from Design Academy Eindhoven in 2011. As well as owning her own studio, product designer Marcelis joined forces with designer Miya Kondo to launch Studio Like This.
