Solar Jam - Edible Energy

We are busy preparing a series of workshops here in London, one of them is called Solar Jam, an ongoing exploration by our design studio about energy, food and metabolism in design. 

We are using public workshops to encourage experimentation, proposing we turn our kitchens, homes and cities into community labs of researchers and non-experts experimenting with new resilient ways to live in a resource scarce society. Presented as a multidisciplinary workshop and event, participants have the opportunity to fabricate home made edible solar cells with locally sourced berries. 

We invite people from all backgrounds such as chefs, chemists and textile designers to experiment with the energy potential of berries, onions and citrus leaves to make cutting edge solar cells, edible jams as well as beautifully dyed patterned textiles.

Our aim is to blur the distinctions between kitchens and laboratories and strengthen the connections between traditional crafts and current research practices. Substances have skillfully been extracted from plants for thousands of years for medicinal, nutritional and energy needs. It could be said that the very root of science can be found in these ancient craft traditions.

The project began in 2006 when Rachel Wingfield was invited by chemist Tony Ryan and artist Helen Storey to develop design concepts around more sustainable forms of energy. Through the project Nobel Textiles we have since worked with the Chemistry Department at Imperial College London to deliver workshops at the ICA, London and at several European Academic Institutes.

Let me know if your interested in attending as I can send you a full schedule!