Linking Food Waste

Feb, 2019- May, 2019

The journey of using agar as medium in art making was started with this modular textile panel. I explored the basic of mold making such as laser engraving. I experimented with the most handy natural color resources: food waste and food scraps. This piece was made from hundreds pieces of hand crafted and manually cast agar units in various shapes.

Related press

Textile Curator July 1, 2021
Healthy Materials Lab May 30, 2019
Redress November 26, 2019

Door drape

Pattern: Inspired by rubber band, modular system
Materials: Agar, food waste
Techniques: Casting, linking, braiding
Scale: 90cmx130cm / 35inx51in

The delicate pattern was created by thumb-size components which linked closely to each other, which also provide the possibility to be assembled into different patterns.

Process

  • Orange Peel
  • Avocado Pits
  • Red Rice
  • Pineapple Leaf
  • Grapefruit Peel

This work utilized food wastes (including orange peels, avocado pits, wash water of red rice, leaves, etc.) found in household kitchen as dyes for agar based plastic with the hope of making the best use of existing materials. The stunning range of color demonstrated the potential of food waste.

Colorful filaments made from agar and food waste.
With the help of laser cutting machines, different patterns of molds are created for molding various shapes of components.
The documentation for each recipe.
Different linking structures were explored.
The fun of playing with color and shapes.
The display for OPEN STUDIO event. People were invited to touch, smell, and play.
From getting to know the main material “agar” to finishing the piece took one semester. The final piece took one whole month to finish, including the yarn making and putting whole thing together.