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.

Door drape

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


Process

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.
The documentation for each recipe.
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.