Edible Tower: Make Your Own Bread Bowls
Bake a set of edible containers for meals on the go that reduce weight, conserve resources and make your picnic a little heartier. The KI-RA and the Edible Tower Kitchen Utensils by Konstantia Manthou is a set of tools for creating bread bowls to hold virtually any foods you can think of, from egg salad to vegetable sticks.
The baking container and lid serve as molds to form each piece of dough into shape, for uniform bowls that fit together just right. A dough comb enables perforations on the lid, creating breaking lines for individually sized wedges of bread.
The set also includes a tablecloth that you can wrap your stack of filled bowls in once they’re done, and spread out in your picnic location of choice when you’re ready to eat.
Says the designer, “Along with the evident ecological approach, the idea of simultaneously preparing food and container, conceals a sensibility to the process and an additional tactility to the consumption. The linear progress of food preparation for a temporary, alfresco meal becomes circular, and this very routine results to a complete nothing. What remains is the memory of the communal meal.”
“KI·RA is a collection of utensils that facilitate the production and consumption of edible containers. One of the main inspirations were the most common outdoor meals: picnics and lunch breaks. The linear progress of food preparation and consumption of a temporary, alfresco meal becomes circular. The food vessel is part of the meal and the meal is the vessel. What remains is the memory of the meal. KI·RA comments on the takeaway food culture and enhances it through revisiting customary food rituals. By emulating the act of snapping pieces of bread, it also encourages the act of sharing.”
“Kostantia Manthou is an architect. In her work, recurring themes such as temporary archives, cultural habits and artisanal techniques appear systematically. Since 2007 she has been working as an independent design professional, dealing mainly with product and space design and consulting. Since 2010 she is a visiting lecturer at Scuola Politecnica di Design in Milan. She currently collaborates with the Benaki Museum as the Creative Director of the Benaki Museum Shops. Her work has been exhibited in Milan Design Week, Nuit Blanche, Athens Biennial etc. as well as catalogued in magazines like Domus, Frame, Abitare and more.”
