“We can always do something positive for our world and society”
Tainá Guedes, founder of Entretempo Kitchen Gallery and Food Art Week, is a food activist and book author who was born in Brazil and is now based in Berlin. She works on different projects on how we conceive food in a cultural and social context. For Tainá, art becomes an extension of the kitchen, and food a common base for expressing and sharing thoughts and ideas. With her work, she explores the political and social impact of food as a manifestation of history, sociology, geography, science, philosophy and communication.
Why do you work with food and design?
I work in projects involving food and art. I use design to communicate my ideas and projects, in order to connect food, art and sustainability, to promote positive change in our world. My ambition is to create a global community interested in making those necessary changes to preserve our planet.
My Banana Republic Roots by Tainá Guedes
Photo by Lara Guedes
What went terribly wrong but taught you a lot and what did you learn from it?
Oh, many things went terribly wrong! From small things like an experimental recipe, to the big problems behind the scenes at the Food Art Weeks. I experimented a lot, always took a lot of risks and made a lot of mistakes. At the last FAW in Paris, for an instance, someone came to me offering help, because he loved the project and was looking for something meaningful to do. I accepted his help, sent a volunteering agreement, but the person never signed it. Months after that, I got an invoice over 1.5K for his help, and the person tried to steal sponsored wines, blackmail me, and more. The lesson I learnt: never work without a contract or agreement. Never accept help from unknown people, before checking first if the person is honest and really good.
Do you think designers working with food need to address political and social issues?
I think whatever we do, we can always do something positive for our world and society. We are living in an era of crises – climate change, environmental degradation, hunger, just to mention some – a change is urgent need. All individuals including designers can help changing realities.
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Read more about Tainá on her:
Instagram: @tataisgram
Website: entretempo-kitchen-gallery.com
