A kitchen is not a room
—(2022)
Embroidered Tablecloth
Graphic Poetry Book
As part of my final year degree work in NCAD 2022.︎
Commended in the Irish Graduate Design Award 2022.︎
Commended in the Irish Graduate Design Award 2022.︎
How are we connected through the domestic kitchen space?
And how can communication design play a role?
The kitchen can act as a unique space to nurture both human and inanimate connections. Exploring how one's personal experience of food and the kitchen can be visualised, this project delves into this theme through the lens of the physical, the emotional, and the sensory. In doing so, it aims to establish how the kitchen can be used to convey one's history, identity, and preserve a legacy.
And how can communication design play a role?
The kitchen can act as a unique space to nurture both human and inanimate connections. Exploring how one's personal experience of food and the kitchen can be visualised, this project delves into this theme through the lens of the physical, the emotional, and the sensory. In doing so, it aims to establish how the kitchen can be used to convey one's history, identity, and preserve a legacy.
A Kitchen is Not a Room is a poetry book that unfurls into a magnificent 152 × 275 cm tablecloth. Exploring the expressive artistry of cooking and the interplay of physical surroundings, this creation draws inspiration from the culinary rituals of my own mother in our kitchen as she makes her legendary biryani.
..it is not at all about the best recipe, the
most innovative presentation, the most
creative marriage of ingredients, flavors
and texture...the real business of preparing
the food you eat–is more about consistency,
about mindless, unvarying repetition, the
same series of tasks performed over and
over and over again in exactly the same way.
Antony Bourdain,
Kitchen Confidential
over and over again in exactly the same way.
Antony Bourdain,
Kitchen Confidential
The meticulously choreographed movements inherent in the preparation of this cherished dish are translated into the hand-embroidered lines adorning the fabric. Dotted like garnish, a 'found poem' emerges, picked and woven from a tapestry of diverse texts—books, poems, articles, and prose. The words whisper the nostalgic aromas and tastes of home-cooked meals. In this expansive tableau, the tablecloth encapsulates the very essence of the kitchen space, its significance transformed into a tangible and evocative form.
This tablecloth book represents so much more than an artistic endeavour—it is a love letter to my mother, to her wonderfully "ruchi" biryani, and to the ephemeral yet profound acts of nurturing that occur in the sacred kitchen space. For a kitchen extends far beyond its four walls; it's the vital heart where life's richest connections are lovingly cultivated.
