We recently had the pleasure of exhibiting at DIFFA by Design (in conjunction with ICFF) in New York and, while we were busy setting up our own installation, we couldn’t help but become entranced by a table dripping with wood. Yes, it was an installation truly dripping with wooden vessels, serving pieces, and sculptures unlike anything we’d ever seen before. It was as if Dr. Seuss had dreamed up an organic wooden city incited by a creative, utopian vision.
Enter Jasper Udink ten Cate, the renowned artist and designer from the Netherlands and founder of the multidisciplinary studio Creative Chef. His interactive dinner table consists of 160 handcrafted objects that function as part art installation and part performance art.
In the latter scenario, Jasper captivates diners with an illustrative fictional narrative of a utopian city where all of the gardens and farms work in balance and harmony to provide a high-quality flavor and nutrition experience to residents – both human and animal.
Further, the utopian menu is served up in Jasper’s prolific and provocative wooden setting, which aims to shift the way diners think and interact with their food while stimulating a different way of eating and redefining common dining typology.
We were thrilled to sit down with Jasper and learn what tools and tidbits inspired his vision. Let’s just say, we were delighted by his out-of-the-box approach to problem-solving, design, dining, and beyond.
Jasper Udink ten Cate: That would be the Question tool. When asking questions around certain crafts and projects you come up with totally new ways of doing things. So, my most important tool in my work is the question mark. But when thinking of a physical tool that would be the kitchen knife. I was trained as a chef and when I create my art I automatically see things through the eyes of a chef. When I make models in clay I always use my kitchen utensils instead of the tools you expect when using clay. You could say I ask questions and then use my kitchen tools to cook up artwork.
LB & KS: What are three tools you can’t live without?
JU: My kitchen knife, my band saw machine, and my sanding machine.
LB & KS: If you could recommend one tool to other artists/designers, what would it be?
JU: Go to a kitchen utensil shop and find out what other tools you could use for your project or do the reverse; go to a tool shop to find tools you could use for your food project. Imagine using a drill to make holes in your carrots!
LB & KS: What’s your dream tool that hasn’t been invented yet?
JU: That would be a sanding machine that makes no noise. A completely silent workshop where you can turn on the radio and talk to each other without hearing anything when you are sculpting a wooden object.
LB & KS: What tool in your toolkit gives you and your practice an edge?
JU: Again, I think that would be my kitchen knife. I design my work using a kitchen knife, I cook using a kitchen knife, and I even paint sometimes using my kitchen knife.
LB & KS: Do you have any tools that you can’t leave home (or studio) without?
JU: I always have tie ribs and duck tape in the trunk of my car, but I guess those aren’t tools. I use my phone a lot to record ideas for artwork and my music. And I always carry my drum tuning key so I can set up and tune a drumkit anywhere I want! Oh, and of course my corkscrew; sometimes you gotta’ drink a good wine!
It’s clear Jasper has a unique perspective when it comes to where his trade and kitchen intersect. They push boundaries in a way that delivers his vision and message hand-in-hand. Recontextualizing another trade’s tools might just be the change you were looking for in your project.
If that recipe doesn’t work, we highly recommend grooving out to his new album, “A Recipe for Life” by Kitchen Collective (Creative Chef Jasper Udink ten Cate and keyboard player Daan Richard among other artists and musicians). That is one tool that is sure to get the creative juices flowing!
Read more of The Toolkit here.
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