Can I offer you a slaughter cake and rhubarb caramel?
Designers 'and farmers' dates.
Students and teachers in product design at the Iceland Academy of the Arts have worked in collaboration with Matís ohf and the national team chefs Gunnar Karl Grétarsson and Örvar Birgisson on the development of new products for Icelandic farmers.
The aim of the project is to increase the value of the products and promote innovation in Icelandic agriculture.
The project began as a five-week course for second-year students in product design at the Iceland Academy of the Arts. Students visited the farmer and got to know his production, facilities and knowledge. Subsequently, proposals were made for a new product for the farmer. At this stage, there was cooperation with four farmers. The great satisfaction and interest of the public led to the decision to continue with the project and choose two products each year to develop and bring to market. The project is funded by the Technology Development Fund and the Agricultural Productivity Fund.
The first harvest of the project came to light this autumn, the slaughter cake that will be available next summer at the restaurant Fjalladýrð in Möðrudalur á Fjöllum, and the rhubarb caramel that will be available in specialty stores and directly from the town of Löngumýri in Skeiðar.
Today, the target group that makes demands on products based on good design, quality and traceability is growing. By bringing together one of the oldest professions in the country, farmers and one of the youngest professions in the country, designers, exciting possibilities and new opportunities are created. What comes to mind when a young designer comes up with a chopped liver? How do farmers take the designers 'ideas and what are the food experts' posts?
The project's collaborators in 2008 are Elísabet Kristjánsdóttir and Vilhjálmur Vernharðsson in Möðrudalur in the mountains and Dorothee Lubecki and Kjartan Ágústsson in Löngumýri in Skeiðar.
The participants in the chat are:
Sigríður Sigurjónsdóttir, Professor of Product Design at the Iceland Academy of the Arts
Brynhildur Pálsdóttir, product designer
Guðmundur H. Gunnarsson, department manager at Matís
Irek Klonowski, agricultural engineer at Matís