mind your manners tablewear by merav shnaps from israel

Concept.
Creating new and diverse sets of dishes and utensils that approve and validate existing eating habits.

This project constitutes a personal attempt to create unique tableware designated for our practiced eating habits, with special attention paid to functionality and usefulness.
The design relates to Western culture and introduces the conflicts that exist between our actual eating habits, the etiquette values as stated in books, and the design of existing dishes and tableware.
My goal is to raise the public's awareness to their table behavior and allow them to change their conventional approach towards tableware.
The ideas originated from relations I found between textile and tableware, amongst them the understanding of the hypothesis which suggests that
"you are what you eat".
The products that form this project derive from the relationships between user, utensil and table/eating area. Each piece concerning a gesture, form or habit regarding food or eating, with emphasis on human interface,
emotional content and aesthetic qualities.

Materials:
A combination of ceramic, textiles and silicone

"Mind your manners" consists of three groups of products:

“SHOW OFF” - The habit of using one's so called "best china" in order to impress one's guests, gave rise to a set of porcelain dishes in which slits have been formed through which the user threads the dish's outfit according to the desired look for the event.

“CONNECT” - “Dress up” the dishes in designated “clothing” that serves as a mediator between dish and user, with the purpose of creating a sense of intimacy between them, whilst approving and validating existing eating habits. A set of porcelain dishes, initially prepared for the attachment of buttons, which are sewn on to them. The clothes can then be buttoned to the dishes.
Buttons can be suited to the characteristics of the textiles used to create the clothes.

“SENSE” - We are accustomed to finding ourselves outside the food dish whilst eating. This set of dishes allows the user to penetrate the dish and become an active participant in the meal from the inside.
These dishes are made of porcelain into which a rubber implant is injected, thus creating a housing for the user's hand. The set includes a plate, bowl and mug which can be manufactured as "one size fits all" or small, medium and large
according to the size of ones hand or the desired amount of food.