designboom talks experimental gastronomy, love, and the art of dinner

steinbeisser is known for bringing beautifully complex dinners to life. they combine experimental cutlery (scissor-forks, feather-spoons, etc.) with experimental plant-based ingredients. their chefs are collaborative. the cuisine is contemporary. their guests are perplexed. steinbeisser pushes the boundaries of the rarely practiced art form of dinner-parties. designboom spoke with steinbeisser’s co-founder martin kullik — we thank him, again, for answering our curious questions with such lyricism. 

all images courtesy of steinbeisser

designboom (DB): in the new yorker documentary, you ask ‘how far can you go?’ — if you and I were to conduct this interview, while eating a steinbeisser dinner with no limitations, in what country/city/planet would our table be set?

martin kullik (ML): it would be set in a forest close to the beach. 

DB: what would our location sound like? what would we hear?

MK: you would hear trees, plants and animals talking, and breaking waves.

DB: one other guest is seated at the table. it is the person you admire the most (alive or deceased). who is it? does there being here change the way you would behave?

MK: my partner, because I love him.

DB: is there an idea steinbeisser ever had, that time or money prevented from being possible, that you would like to implement here, at this imaginary dinner?

MK: to curate the complete scenario, including the furniture, the clothing of the staff, tablecloths, etc.

DB: on a range of 1-100, 1 being scared for my life, 100 being completely comfortable, what numbers would you hope for us to experience during the dinner?

MK: a perfect 50, comfortable but not too comfortable. the dinner should be challenging.

DB: would a particular chef be creating the food for us? if so, who? 

MK: alexandre gauthier and david kinch.

DB: is there a particular artist you would want creating our cutlery? if so, who?

MK: terunobu fujimori.

DB: if you had to give a toast to me and to your other guest, but you could only use 6 words or less, what would you say? 

MK: respect and be kind!

DB: how would you excuse yourself from the table? 

MK: no need to excuse yourself.