The Can Conundrum

So what comes to mind when people think of canned food?

I've created an initial survey to help gather these insights.

http://www.surveypirate.com/Survey.aspx?surveyid=7730&hash=-ZcoRwb4qqnUUs08HZUMxw%3d%3d

And in the meantime, I came up with a sketch to illustrate a sample of opinions from friends.

Posh Nosh in a Can

During Friday's mapping exercise, I'd suddenly recalled that caviar and foie gras are usually sold in cans. Considering these carry a premium price-wise, maybe there's a perspective here that needs to be explored. 

A visit to Selfridges Foodhall yielded a whole list of items that are sold in metal cans or tins, listed in the graphic above. Not only have the packaging of these items been designed tastefully, they were mostly sold at a higher price than their cardboard or plastic counterparts. Who knew that a small can of king crab could fetch £24.99?

Man + Can = ?

What exactly do people think of canned food?

Post-mapping thoughts, the next step smells suspiciously of a survey needing to be cooked up.

Mapping for Metal Food Cans

 

Results of the mapping exercise done last Friday.

More questions than answers! 

futurefarmers

  

 

 

"A fertile approach."

In the hands of Futurefarmers, this translates to tackling anything from database development to interactive installations to packaging and anything in between. They've even nurtured their very own Artist in Residency Program which serves as a springboard for collaborating with other creative practitioners.

There's a liberal dose of the whimsical in their work which I'm attracted to, along with a certain playfulness – be it a project to use water more efficiently, creating 'lunchbox labs' so that schoolchildren can help to scrutinise algae strains or a virtual social network for kids based on the concept of a treehouse. 

It appears that they've been able to reach a happy medium in cultivating both art and commercial design projects, and yet craft solutions to meet social needs that are able to draw out a sense of warmth. Perhaps most importantly, a lot of it just looks like it's grown out of a desire to be fun!

AllofUs

       

  

From the factory that is AllofUs, comes an assembly line that sounds like a playground for creatives to crank out everything from art installations, museum exhibitions, interactive furniture, to solutions for healthcare and learning environments. Next to this list, their other work in web, retail and brand identity design sound almost humdrum.

An endless source of inspiration, what's really arresting to me is that this is a firm that's not shy about flexing its R&D muscle, with a unit solely dedicated to its pursuit. Having had a chance to commission them to work on a project, I was also thoroughly impressed with the blog that they set up for clients to monitor their progress, and more captivatingly, their research and thought process. 

It's almost as if there is a certain quality of determined, quiet engineering behind the sleek, polished end-products which make it look so achingly effortless. Or in other words, too many of darn-i-wish-i'd-thought-of-that moments.