Champagne and Oysters, please! The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the words date night and romance is in the air. For my Master thesis I had the freedom to set up my own study and combine my interest in social interactions and my passion for food.
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Food plays a large role in the forming of a connection as research has shown that eating behaviour influences and can strengthen (social) relationships. The sharing of food is perceived to create and improve bonds amongst people. My own experience within the Dutch eating culture is that eating is often seen as a necessity and not necessarily enjoyed as an activity. Quick breakfasts, fast lunches and hasty dinners are not uncommon. In this study I aimed to give that perception a twist by creating a new eating interaction that is enjoyed by a couple in a relationship for pleasure and as an instrument to connect them.
Intime is a product that facilitates an eating ritual for two people who are going on a date together at home. The Intime design, is a word play on “intimacy” and “me” and is pronounced as in-tea-me. Intimacy is what it enhances between a couple and the “me” part is where it all starts from. Intimacy is achieved through our individual commitment and love for ourselves.
Client
Master Design for Interaction by TU Delft (NL)
Roles
Interaction Designer
Product Designer
Researcher (primary & secondary)
Team
This was a solo project under the supervision of TU Delft:
Mentor: E. Jepma
Chair: Dr. ir. H. N. J. Schifferstein.
The Graduation Project at the TU Delft is the final mission that needs to be fulfilled in order to obtain the Master of Science in Design for Interaction diploma. The emphasis is placed on conducting an independent study to show my skills, competences, develop new knowledge and prove my independence as an Industrial Design Engineer.
Setting up my own research project in detail, for the second time nonetheless considering my Bachelor Thesis, was a big challenge. However, the hardest part was probably reporting back to myself and keeping on track of my schedule. When the going got tough on this solitary experience, I spent extra energy visualising my end goal à A Master of Science degree!
Although I wasn’t sure how I was going to merge the two topics of food and relationships immediately, I felt that I could do that in this 100-day long project timespan. Unfortunately, I had some unexpected challenges outside university including the COVID-19 Pandemic, that forced me to take a 365-day break. But I gratefully finished that last stretch in 2021, whilst working part time parallel to the study.
Before the start of my thesis, I found this project from Roxanne Brennen, a student at the Design Academy in Eindhoven in 2017, titled Dining Toys. This has been my main inspiration for my thesis topic. Roxanne Brennen was inspired by the Dutch meal culture, which to her was very business-like. Due to the etiquettes we have at the table, we minimise the experience of eating. So, she designed a series of vessels, plates and utensils that enhance the pleasure of eating.
This project was a strong visual example of combining food eating and pleasure, after which I formulated my research question:
‘’How can food play a role in the design of a sensuous eating experience to connect a couple in a romantic relationship?’’
For this study I wanted to use a methodology that very much suits my way of thinking and my practical approach to problem solving. The hands-on method I used, can be called research through design, which means that through practice research was conducted. I implemented the methodology termed auto-ethnography, meaning that I played the role of researcher, participant, observer and other roles in my own study. My findings were then generated through personal experiences and conveyed in self-reflective writing.
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In the preliminary field explorations, the scope was wide to help me get my bearings on the topic.I brainstormed with post-its to structure my thoughts and visualise my questions, ideas and goals. Since I was immediately going to do field explorations to look for a connection between food and intimacy, I decided to go to extreme lengths and visited adult toy shops, a paranormal fair and fetish events.
Discoveries:
After my wild explorations, I was very inspired and got the hang of my study. With a much clearer vision on my research topic, I separated the two central themes; food explorations from intimacy explorations, which intertwine again in the prototyping phase.
In my food explorations I visited a dining in the dark restaurant to eliminate the sight sense whilst eating, explored a Dutch Design week dining experience, where the topic of sexuality was translated into dishes served to a group of 30 participants. Further, I researched projects by Marije Vogelzang, who is a well-known food designer in the Netherlands, and experimented with some molecular cooking in my own kitchen. But I also created many mood boards with intriguing foods and eating experiences for some compelling visual inspiration.
Discoveries:
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In my intimacy explorations, I read some literature on what intimacy truly is and what bonding with a loved one meant. But I wanted to feel that and I took a bold step in my study in order to understand what it would be like to meet a new person in a date setting. So, I went on three Tinder dates (All participants consented to be part of my study). This would be intimacy between people, but I learned that intimacy is also experienced by oneself whenI followed a tantric introduction course.
Discoveries:
Time to test my creative ideas! I set up experiments to test how to have a sensuous eating experience whilst connecting with another person. So, I organised three Dinner Dates inviting one friend each time to create a series of different interactions with food as the main tool. For the sensuous experience I paid close attention to the environment, the sensorial experience, the ways of eating, and the bodily positions.
Discoveries:
After a one-year break, I picked up the project with a fresh pair of eyes and summarised the design direction in one simple sentence to guide me into the next phase, namely the concept development.
‘’A ritual possibly accompanied by a product or range of products, that will allow couples to connect and experience a pleasurable by means of sharing food together’’
To reduce the scope into a bite-size interaction, I held co-design sessions to develop a tangible solution. In these sessions I played around with more eating interactions, supported by other products to facilitate the ritual. The findings from these sessions and the previous research led to the final list of design requirements, to act as parameters in the concept development phase.
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Intime consists of four elements:
The blanket facilitates the date for the couple like a picnic in the park, but then at home in your own comfort zone. This phase required many trips to the market selecting fabrics and sewing mock-ups as well as large scale prototypes. I paid attention to the colour, texture and material of the fabric, keeping in mind the soft and playful nature of this concept. But also, the functionality, the size for two people to sit on and the shape.
Skills: sewing
Chocolate as a base for my bite size snacks created room for experimenting with a flavour explosion. I decided that 5 ‘bonbons’ would be the right amount for the sensuous eating experience. Not too much and an uneven number, probing the couple to share. Those 5 ‘bonbons’ needed to all be quite different in taste, so I let my creativity loose in my kitchen.
In order to understand how chocolate is manipulated, I did follow an online chocolate tempering course on Domestika and made several inspiration boards for visual stimulation and a creativity boost.
Skills: Culinary arts, food casting
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For the design I aimed to make my own shaped bonbons, so I explored with different shapes and sizes using clay. I wanted all bonbons to be the same size, but different textures. From a smooth ball all the way to a heavy textured one, resembling the rocky road of my thesis process.
For the mould making, I first attempted a low-fi prototype with silicone caulk, corn starch and a liquid food dye to understand the process. Then, I followed some more casting tutorials to eventually cast the clay balls using food grade silicone. The silicone mould is reusable, and can withstand extreme temperatures so that freezing and baking food snacks are possible. This adds to the diversity of further tasting experiences.
Skills: Silicone casting, mould making, drawing
In my study I found that all the senses play a role in connecting with a partner, so I created a guide for the user to set up the date before his or her partner joins in. People are unique in how they experience intimacy; therefore, these tips are broad but do nonetheless help set the mood right for each couple in their own environment.
Skills: Adobe Illustrator
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The Intime product experience scenario goes as follows:
‘’One person in a romantic relationship is looking for a new experience to enhance intimacy in their relationship. Intime is purchased, and a moment is selected for this date to occur. With the help of the Date Card, the mood is set and the blanket is placed on the ground somewhere comfortable in their home.
When the partner is ready to receive his or her date, the atmosphere of the place will foster the winddown process necessary after perhaps a busy day, and evoke the build-up of anticipation for both partners. They take a seat on the blanket in a specific tantric position, which physical proximity allows for raised feelings of connectedness.
The chocolate tasting experience can start. It is up to them who opens the mould and how they share the uneven number of chocolates.The chocolates are consumed by hand, either one’s own, or the partner’s hand. Eating from someone’s hand is an incredibly intimate action and considered sensuous in my experiments. The silicone mould is reusable and allows the couple to create their own treats for personalised future explorations.”
In this study, I strongly focused on the context of intimate relationships, the relation between food and design and between people and food, with the intent of delivering a product design that increases intimacy between a couple whilst experiencing a sensuous eating moment shared together. Intime is the product that was born through the explorative study and is built with a solid foundation of knowledge generated throughout the project.
This final Master project was the ultimate test of my skills to prove my sufficiency as an independent and self motivated interaction designer. It did not only challenge me professionally but also on a personal level, as the process challenged me to step outside my comfort zone and taught me to endure and overcome obstacles.
Project management, research through design, interviewing, Adobe InDesign, translating research findings into concepts, silicone casting, chocolate tempering
If I were to re-do this project, I would try to find a group of fellow (graduate) students to create informal brainstorming and co-design sessions. I find external and objective very important and in past projects, this has often proven beneficial to my design output, motivation to progress and general feeling of enjoyment. Unfortunately due to the pandemic restrictions, it was challenging to set-up such events.
