How much do we know about every little thing we encounter daily?
What goes into the making of the beef, offal and derivatives that we see every day on the menu? Beyond food, what else do cows contribute to our daily lives?
Have you ever wondered about the unique characteristics of ceramic products made from Hong Kong soil? Over 10,000 tonnes of construction waste are dumped daily in Hong Kong. What if these wastes were turned into beautiful, one-of-a-kind ceramics?
Through her work ‘Bring Romie 18 to the East’, food designer Adelaide Lala Tam exposes the audience to the production process of many common and easily-accessible foodstuffs and daily essentials. Meanwhile, product designer Niko Leung discusses the possibilities of various resources in her creations, including reusing waste materials.
Host Michael Lui will join the two designers in tracing the origins of design and food, and share experiences and stories encountered in their journeys back to the source. At the same time, they will discuss the impact of the sustainable use of Earth’s resources on the development of design in the future.
Moderator –
Michael Lui, Publisher of Word by word collective
Speakers –
1. Adelaide Lala Tam, Creator of “Bring Romie 18 to the East”
2. Niko Leung, Founder of Future is Transparency, Co-Founder of Hong Kong Soil
Publisher of Word by word collective
Lui Ka-Chun is a writer, publisher of Word By Word Collective and owner of a food culture-themed bookshop. The former Managing Editor Eat and Travel Weekly magazine has also written and edited various books on food-related subjects. He is still an avid food writer, documenting local as well as global cultures by analysing their food and drink through historical, philosophical, economical and political perspectives.
Based in Rotterdam, Adelaide Lala Tam graduated Cum Laude from the Food Non-Food department of the Design Academy Eindhoven in The Netherlands in 2018.
Adelaide seeks to explore complexities within the food production system to uncover untold stories behind the process. Curious about the role of a designer as a mediator between food and design, her work begins with thorough field research at the sources where food are grown, raised and produced. Taking into account the social context at the initial stages of a design project, she then applies her design acumen to reconnect people to the origin of their food.
Adelaide hails from Hong Kong and her creative journey in food has been recognised and included in 50 NEXT, an initiative from the platform behind The World’s 50 Best Restaurants and Bars that celebrates young people aged 35 and under across the gastronomy sector. In 2021, she was also nominated as Women 100 by BBC.
Founder of Future is Transparency , Co-Founder of Hong Kong Soil
Niko Leung, a Hong Kong based product designer working in the realm of object, material research, installation and spatial design. Niko holds a bachelor’s degree in design (Cum Laude) from Design Academy Eindhoven, the Netherlands, she has also taught visual art, spatial design and design and applied technology at Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity in Hong Kong.
Niko enjoyed traveling, had been a resident artist in Jingdezhen (CN), Fiskars (FI), Den Bosch (NL) and Arita (JP). She was awarded DFA Young Design Talent Award in 2017 to undertake a work placement at Studiomake Architects in Thailand.
Niko had practiced as craftsperson at Royal Tichelaar Makkum, NL, she enjoys experiments and the search for charming moments in the making process. Niko founded Future is Transparency in 2020, co-founded Hong Kong Soil with Loky Leung in 2021, as an initiative to research and advocate purposeful reuse of discarded soil from construction sites.
