Almost every American the slow food movement seems to be very inconvenient and unrealistic now. I can remember sitting down to dinner when I was younger having a home cooked meal and helping my mom set the table. Everyone talked about the day and the TV was off limits. Now I amlucky to have dinner with my family once a month in this fast pace world we have become. When times changed and Americans spend more time at a drive through window then a dinner table, a problem was established.
I think about how busy my life is as an art student, along with my parents who work and my sister who goes to school and has soccer and horseback riding. We live in a world where too much is never enough. To fast is not fast enough and to slow down to enjoy a meal seems like something from the 1950’s. When family dynamics changed and my mom went from being a housewife and mother of four kids to working a 9 to 5 job along with my dad’s career our family pace picked up as well. The slow food movement is something I completely agree with. I love a lot of the aspects of technology and fast food is conveniently good every once and a while but I miss having sit down meals and good conversation.
For this project the overall objective is to create a well designed, thoughtful and useful tea infuser inspired by the ideas of the slow food movement. With the slow food movement the tea infuser needs to convey things such as a sense of tradition, relaxation, family, hospitality, and sophistication. Objects can make someone slow down by creating a visually appealing design, something useful, and making something that can be enjoyed to use. As an artist things such as design can control the viewers eyes. Keeping in mind both positive space and negative space and telling a story with the piece is important. If you can control your thought process and visually express it then you will have accomplished a successful piece.
For my piece I am going to do a Moroccan inspired tea strainer. During 2006, Morocco imported more than $56 million dollars worth of tea from China, and that was only the first half of the year.
Tea is considered an art form in itself in Morroco, and is a drink experienced throughout the entire day and known as the “drink of hospitality.” Tea is such an important aspect in their culture that if you do not accept an offer to have tea, it is very impolite and disrespectful to the hosts. The actual tea varies throughout the region and seems to be sweeter in the north than in the south. They add mint leaves and pine nuts to add different flavors but when the mint is scarce, wormwood leaves is used which gives a distinct bitter flavor that is supposed to compliment the mint.
Morocco has a saying about the tea that “The first glass is as bitter as life. The second glass is as strong as love. The third glass is as gentle as death.” The glasses that they use are different from a mug or thermos we would use in America, which I feel, slows down their time and makes them go back for multiple glasses. The glasses are about three and a half inches tall and about 2 inches in diameter. In America we think just to supersize when were on the go and rushing but Moroccans have smaller portions and go back for seconds or thirds.
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