DESIGN_ Are we sure we are storing our food properly? How many times have we thrown rotting vegetables away? Nowadays we are obsessed with storing everything in the fridge, but what few people know is that this is not always the best way to keep food fresh. Fruit and vegetables require a set of conditions which, according to their proportion, help to keep these products fresher for longer.
Shown below two projects by young and talented italian-born designers who try to solve the conservation mode of vegetables and fruits through an innovative and sustainable design.
OLTU is like an organism that takes advantage of the heat produced from the back of a fridge, which in today’s fridges is wasted energy, and uses it to help to cool the “totem” of vegetables via cooling by evaporation. The heat rises and affects the double wall of the clay containers, which, with the help of the water contained between their walls, is able to lower the temperature thanks to the heat extracted from their interior, recreating the ideal atmosphere for the needs of each group of vegetables. This is also a sustainable product because, as part of its functioning does not depend on energy, costs are minimal and, most importantly, each
item is kept fresher.
The total fusion of containers and refrigerator, creates a new and more sustainable refrigeration system. With this type of storage, the different vegetables needs are satisfied. The fridge produces heat, which is distributed at the top through openings in the cap, affecting the three containers which are the heart of the piece. These are always wet, thanks to the water tank, which is connected to them with pipes, according to the principle of capillarity. Thus, the cold produced is always constant and the user only has to worry about filling the tank from time to time.
Over terracotta containers, there are four trays, where the vegetables that require room temperature will be placed. These vegetables get hydrated with the humidity produced by the evaporation of the lowercontainer. The three containers are positioned so, that the heat affects them differently, to provide a certain inside temperature. The two cold containers are placed at the back, while the fresh one is placed at the front. Cold-dry container interior is made of metal, so the vegetables are cooled, but not affected by humidity. All the containers have external openings to allow breathing, and it is completely accessible for the user thanks to the revolving plane situated at the top.
OLTU from Fabio Molinas on Vimeo.
Food Storage by Friday Project
Time ago we use to give food a proper space. Then with the modern kitchen, we started to place everything together, organizing pasta and bread in the middle of plates and pots, and stacking the rest in the refrigerator. This furniture gives again a proper space to the food and organize it with an educational purpose.
It is based on the principles of the food guide pyramid: it gives more space to what we should eat more, and less to other products.
It's a way to bring in the house an educational system for our diet. It's an instrument to show the food we have at home, and to push people to combine it in an healthy way. There are appropriate spaces for cereals, pasta and bread, a drawer for the vegetables that need to be in the dark and a terracotta box to conserve products out of the refrigerator. And then space for eggs, for spices, for herbs to dry, for legumes...all organize with a specific order and logic.
So...enjoy your meal!
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