More than anything, Japan seems obsessed with creating beautiful meals. From whacky bento meals to arty sushi rolls, hours of practice are necessary to make beautiful food. For those of us who don’t have the culinary skills yet, I&S BBDO and Umino Hiroyuki found a way to create picture-perfect dishes.
The laser-cut patterns on the Design Nori come from traditional Japanese art. Made in the wake of the 2011 tragedy, each one represents a wish for the future of the disaster-struck areas of Japan: Turtle Shells for long life, Hemp for growth, Water Drops for luck and Cherry Blossoms for beauty.
The initiative was launched in 2012 by 3rd-generation seaweed seller Umino Hiroyuki and the creative agency I&S BBDO. Umino is now leading the project on his own and trying to produce Design Nori on a larger scale. You can have a look at the Facebook page of his shop (Japanese) to know when you can get your hands on the precious Nori.
Sources: The Inspiration Room, RocketNews24
April 25, 2014 at 6:10 pm
Beautiful! What a creative way to improve your average sushi.
May 10, 2014 at 4:26 pm
Art is wonderful.
The practical aspect of these laser-patterned seaweed wraps is that they can be cut & boxed by the thousands pre-made for quick usage. The problem with “Art Food” is that no matter how pretty it looks, or how fantastic it tastes, the delay from ordering to eating is crucial against the ultimate satisfaction of the meal (which all is eaten then turned to poop in the end).
The finest most expensive gourmet dinner is turned into pretty similar poop as is the cheapest Fast Food.
Profit per hour is also crucial. Faster prep times plus inexpensive quality ingredients will earn you much more cash than beautiful “Food Art” any day of the week. An inexpensive mass-producible edible food art like this is an ideal compromise between pretty or fast food. I do hope that they multiplexed (many laser burners lined up on a repositional computer-controlled arm) the lasers for speed of patterning as a single laser burning a repeated pattern would be foolish.