As a primary physiological function, eating is a simple but important necessity. However, the implications of the social importance of eating and sharing food are overwhelmingly fundamental to how we create positive daily rituals; for ourselves and those around us. The company, the setting, the conversation, and occasionally even the cleaning up: is integral to our sociality.

I propose to explore the shared meal through looking at the current and expanding slow food movement. To take the ideals of localization and community sharing and put it into practice when it comes time to serve dinner, emphasizing the encouragement of taking pleasure in our food, and time for our food. In order to facilitate this mindful experience when eating, I will use this research to envisage a form of ceramic tableware that encourages engagement in taking pleasure in their food.

I want to use the principles of ‘good, clean and fair’ in regards to the quality, production and ethical creation of our dinner wares, focusing on craftsmanship and paying careful attention to studio practice production.

Ceramic vessels have been used throughout history to serve meals in; the ancientness of the material parallels the evolution of the shared meal. As a material for design and use within this project it can be used to reflect the ideals of the slow food movement’s ideology and ideal social cohesion created through food, through various methods of production and finishing.