G30 – Taste-makers

“Vision separates us from the world whereas the other senses unite us with it.”

Juhani Pallasmaa

With this issue, we begin the Sensorium series about the non-visual senses. A feast of stories helps us appreciate the craft of taste: the objects and practices that transform the satiation of individual appetite into a meaningful shared experience.

For many, the COVID era was lived in a sanitised bubble, often without smell and touch. It’s time to “come to our senses” and reconnect with the world at hand.

Meanwhile, we face the challenge of an environmental crisis created by consumer capitalism. A world has been served up that answers to immediate needs, particularly in the visual feed provided by apps like Instagram and Tiktok. There is no time to appreciate what is happening behind the scenes in the landfill, disappearing species and carbonised atmosphere.

A goal of the Sensorium is to reconnect the senses. Many cultures have learnt how to do this through ceremonies, such as the Japanese chanoyu tea ceremony, Catholic mass, Jewish Havdalah and Hindu panchopachara.

Thanks to those who contributed to the Sensorium pathway: Arihia Latham, Bridget Nicholson, Caitlin Eyre, Carolyn Leach-Paholski, Chloe Wolifson, Duncan Meerding, Hūfanga Dr. ‘Ōkusitino Māhina, Japneet Keith, Keri-Mei Zagrobelna, Laila Al-Hamad, Lee Tran Lam, Liliana Morais, Paul Schutze and Rangimarie Sophie Jolley. We appreciate the partners specific to this issue, including the Australian Tea Culture Society and Maker & Smith.

Our guest editor, Liliana Morais, contributes voices from Japan and the Lusophone world. You can read here introduction here.

You are invited to the online launch on 9 March (register).

For the table

For the mouth

Recipes

Slow food and drink

Haberdashery

Online exhibition

✿

This issue is dedicated to the memory of Ruby Ghuznavi.



Introduction: A taste of the world - Liliana Morais introduces the Taste-Makers issue, whose stories reflect the sense of place, gustatory experience of objects and ways of coming together. 
Pine water jug: Imbibing the Taurus mountains - Songül ARAL writes about the traditional pine jug that captures the bracing air of the Taurus mountains. 
Taste-makers: A selection of tableware made by hand today - You are invited to sample tableware by today's makers from around the world.
Biohacking a fermented community - Jahan Rezakhanlou observes the lessons of fermentation and biohacking learned from the communal artwork and workshops of Maya Minder.
Towards an Indigenous Australian Iranian cuisine - Jahan Rezakhanlou deconstructs the idea of "authenticity" in Iranian cuisine by experimenting with Indigenous Australian ingredients in Melbourne-Naarm, straying away from either tokenistic fusion labels or the home-grown demands of "authentic" foreign food in the West.
Rēwena bread: A nourishing food with its own whakapapa - Keri-Mei Zagrobelna shares her love of Māori bread and its starter bug that is passed down through generations.
Estudio Trindade and Rondinelly Santos ✿ Brazilian for life - Maria Fernanda Paes de Barro writes about two Brazilian tableware makers who bring a particular creative energy to the rituals of everyday life.
Mann-o-Salwaa: Savouring the food of the heavens - Sahr Bashir evokes the rich culinary history of her Pakistani homeland, kept alive in the silversmithing that adorns it.  
Chefs who make - Lee Tran Lam finds four remarkable chefs who make their own tableware, uniquely crafted for their specialist dishes.
Taste and rongoā Māori: The art of experience - Arihia Latham describes the importance of taste as a life energy in rongoā, Māori medicine.
A kimono for food: Hikibaku chopsticks for honoured guests - Serendouce Crafts commissioned Nishijin brocade maker Kohei Murata to apply the lustrous kimono textile technique to a set of chopsticks.
James Tylor ✿ In search of mai - Prompted by the experience of foraging in Europe, Caitlin Eyre accompanies James Tylor on a quest to recover the taste of native Australian bush foods.
Ajiwau: A Japanese way of savouring life - Euan Craig shares his life at the wheel in a Japanese pottery village, where he makes tableware that helps savour the food and its moment.
Gilty: Consuming contemporary jewellery - In her audacious exhibition, Claire McArdle invites the audience to consume and destroy her precious jewellery.
Make and bring your own chopsticks - We ask Vipun Chanchlani about the challenge of making your own chopsticks and how we should bring our own to restaurants.
Foraging among the ruins of satoyama in rural Japan - Daniela Kato writes about the foraging practices that she shares with a village community under the mountain's shadow.
Blended imaginaries: In conversation with Gina Zupsich, tea art director  - Ben Lignel interviews tea-blender Gina Zupsich about the gustatory and imaginary anchor points that underpin a powerful tea experience. 
Cone Eleven ✿ Crafting a theatre for specialist dining - Ilona Topolcsanyi collaborates with two chefs, demonstrating the creative role of the ceramicist in specialist dining. 
The underlying delight of Japanese tableware - The Go for Kogei festival invited Brian Kennedy to dialogue with Kutani ceramicist Masaru Nakada in developing a playful set of tableware.
The herb that must not be named - Divya N writes about a jewellery made with herbs that protects children from harm.
Terra ferment: Three recipes - Ilka White shares three recipes that reflect the same grounded sensibility that she applies to her weaving practice.
Time travelers: Gadgets that made heirlooms - The COVID pandemic prompted Priyanka Kochar to explore the curious objects made redundant by modernity.
You Stir the Pot: Recipes for change - Victoria Manganiello tells us about a social change project that invites artists to apply their creativity to making recipes for a better world. 
A spoon a day - Ana Sincu reflects on how making spoons helps her form a deep connection to the trees she loves.
A gaiwan for my father - Mia Riley revisits her father's tea cabinet and resolved to use her ceramic skills to make him special traditional tea cups.
Erika Kobayashi ✿ A tea ceremony for Brazil - Liliana Morais interviews Brazilian performer Erika Kobayashi about how she updates the Japanese tea ceremony to suit the pulse of life in Brazil.
Jayanto Tan ✿ Delights for every palette - Pamela See interviews Jayanto Tan about the role of brightly coloured food in his installations.
Brasilidade: Samba on a plate - Nina Coimbra’s tableware captures the feeling of “Brasildade”, the poly-sensory experience of life in Brazil.
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay on “the right kind of spoon” - Aarti Kalwa introduces the lecture by Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay which advocates for the idea of world craft.
Staining lips red for centuries: The heart-shaped betel leaf - The MAP Academy share the rich ornamental culture involving the consumption of paan, stuffed betel leaf, in India.
A wooden spoon: How to make life special - Eli Bek explains why he makes tableware from wood, as a way of "making special".
Taste-makers: Tools for slow eating and drinking - For our March issue, Garland salutes our Taste-makers with an online exhibition of objects that enhance the experience and meaning of what we eat and drink.