The project Taste The Now was developed for the Vienna Design Week together with five Viennese pastry chefs and five designers.
In a polycreative process, five top Viennese pastry chefs were interviewed about tradition and how they see the Viennese cake and coffee culture developing in the future. Following that, five cake collages were created, using a selection of each patisserie’s cakes and sweet treats, thereby creating a potential new cake design that plays with tradition by using the usual cakes, and simultaneously suggests new gustatory possibilities that could be endowed with new stories.
The images and interviews were sent on to a set of designers who were asked to design a new packaging concept for one of the collages and correlating interviews. These were completely open and free to the designers’ creative interpretation, following no conventional guidelines of production, cost or functionality. Ranging from a sugar cube design to a mousetrap, a broad and imaginative selection of new packagings were developed for the unique and fictional cake collages.
The aim was to reexamine local traditions around the famous Viennese cake and coffee culture. Taking a step back from day to day practicalities such as production requirements or marketable products, this project focused upon personal stories and individual experiences of the bakers and designers, thereby revealing – as well as questioning – traditional narratives in a non-commercial light.
In an additional step, the two week exhibition set up at the Vienna Design Week invited guests, in a series of cake talks, to join the exhibition table – a traditionally round table with Thonet chairs, as is custom in Viennese coffeehouses – to share their stories from personal experiences, thereby building an arch all the way from producer to consumer.
Date: 2019
Concept: Orlando Lovell
Design: studio_lovell
Cake Collages: Café Central, Crème de la Crème, Demel, Fruth, Parémi
Packaging Designs: Daniel Triendl, Gosia Rygalik, Janar Siniloo, Kollektiv Plus Zwei, 3007
Fruth & Daniel Triendl
The packaging concept for this cake collage is by Daniel Triendl, an Austrian designer and illustrator, who often works with strong contrasts and expressive colours. His illustrative style, which he often combines with animation techniques, gives his designs a lively feel and creates new visual experiences. Daniel has already created illustrations and graphic work for Coca Cola Korea, Vienna Airport, Washington Post and many more.
Upon seeing the cake collage, Daniel’s first question was “How will it taste? Is it as fruity as it looks?” These questions guided him to the idea to translate the taste experience to his packaging design. A mouth which shows the moment of consumption and gustatory pleasure, as well as using the colours of the cake collage in the packaging itself.
Daniel created the packing dummy in collaboration with bookbinder Anna Weninger.
Design & Photography
studio_lovell
Cakes by Fruth
Meringue
Himbeer Mousse
Fruth Praliné
Packaging Concept
Daniel Triendl
Demel & Kollektiv Plus Zwei
The packaging concept for this cake collage is by “Kollektiv Plus Zwei”, the Vienna-based product design duo, Stephanie Högl and Matthias Borowski. Together they explore different materials and concepts in a playful way. Their experimental approach help them create cheerful and tactile objects and furniture. Their work was already shown at the Trapholt Museum of Modern Art, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum as well as the Design Biennale Saint-Etienne.
For this packaging Kollektiv Plus Zwei used the main ingredient as their packaging: “Sugar. Sugar has been keeping the profession of “baker” alive for centuries. It is this creative material which their craft is based on and the foundation upon which the culture of the “Kaffeehaus” has been built and preserved and has been making lives sweeter ever since.
Sugar symbolically contains the entire cosmos and the meaning of the Viennese cake and coffee culture. It protects the craft of the baker under a delicate cover. Under a sweet glass dome the cake is visibly distorted. It seems unreachable. Is it a tempting illusion or is it real? Nearly unchanged the traditional recipes of old are kept and still used today. “Sugar” is meant as a conversation starter: how can traditions be translated into modern times without loosing their essence? Under a glass dome there are controlled conditions. What would happen if one would alter them and the cake would be exposed to unforeseeable circumstances?”
Design & Photography
studio_lovell
Cakes by Demel
Annatorte
Esterhazytorte
Hausgemachte Makrone
Schokoladenplättchen mit Mozart-Aufdruck
Packaging concept
Kollektiv Plus Zwei
Crème de la Crème & 3007
The packaging concept for this cake collage is designed by 3007, a Vienna-based design studio founded by Eva Dranazand Jochen Fill. Since 1998 they have been working in the fields of graphic design, visual concept and screen design. Their projects often balance between art, culture and science. With their incredible breadth of projects they have already won many different awards, such as multiple European Design Awards, 100 best Poster awards, Red Dot Design Award, etc.
For this packaging concept 3007 created their own concept: “Vienna as live trap”. “The mouse-like cake is caught in a trap. The mouse trap. The cake trap. The live trap Vienna. Traditions are holding us hostage every day. They tempt and lure, until we are stuck in the cake of cultural networks. In this cage we feel safe. We are take care of, surrounded by sugar and don’t fight it. Who is in the cage? Always the others.
The innovative has barely any space, it is locked away. The “new” is forced, until it finally becomes recognised as tradition. Everything new becomes tradition. As long as we have tradition.
The “Vienna-syndrome” tempts to stay seated and watch. In the coffee houses a who day can pass by with a “Melange”, cake and a glass of water. Remain seated. Sugar shock. The hours melt like chocolate. Vienna is sweet, sickly, but the best place in the world.”
Design & Photography
studio_lovell
Cakes by Crème de la Crème
Salzkaramell Macaron
Zitronen Macaron
Mousse au Chocolat
Tarte á la Vanille
Cheesecake mit Mango Maracuja
Packaging concept
3007
Café Central & Janar Siniloo
The packaging concept for this Cake Collage is by Janar Siniloo, a Berlin-based graphic designer with Estonian roots. He has worked as editorial designer for the online magazine uncube, as graphic designer for the interdisciplinary Agency Cee Cee and as packaging designer for sex-toy producer Amorelie. He is now embarking on a new career path as visual and user experience designer. For this project though, he once again returned to paper.
Janar’s inspiration for this packaging originated from the architecture of Café Central as well as its strong connection to Viennese tradition. The café, which was established in 1876, has a rounded ceiling with arches that culminate in pointed alcoves. For the graphic concept Janar played with old newspaper prints, transforming them into three dimensional shapes spheres before reprinting them on a flat surface again. Newspapers, and especially a newspaper stand, is an integral part of every Viennese coffee house – no café would be complete without one.
Design & Photography
studio_lovell
Cakes by Café Central
Schokozauber
Veganer Beerenmix
Lemon Kiss
Schokospirale von Exotic Breeze
Packaging concept
Janar Siniloo