ONE WEEK ABOUT Designers from Eindhoven
Chloé Rutzerveld: How do we want to produce our food in the future?
She is critical, curious, and passionate about questions and ideas that pop up at night. Chloé Rutzerveld (1992) has a fascination for both science and technology as well as nature and the human body – especially the process of eating. Oh yes, and for traveling and different cultures. Most of all she wants to discover new, unexpected combinations to make food more efficient, healthier and more sustainable.
Marble-licking-challenge is the installation that Chloé Rutzerveld, together with interaction designer Tim Scheffer, developed for the STRP Biennale 2017 in Eindhoven, the 10-day festival with spectacular art, experimental technology and music. Eye-to-eye with each other, two participants with their tongue need to move a kind of marble along a path. Who is the fastest? And who can taste the best? Each marble has a different texture and flavours and you score extra points by guessing the right ingredients and the specific dish.
Growing meat in vitro
Chloé Rutzerveld is a smart girl. At the bilingual highschool (with many subjects in English) she does a final exam in two profiles: Nature & Technology and Nature & Health. She then is attracted to Industrial Design at the Eindhoven University of Technology because of the Next Nature project by artist and philosopher Koert van Mensvoort. Part of this project is growing meat in vitro. ‘Food, future, design, technology, science – it all came together. I had found my calling,’ says Chloé.
Mice and muskrats
In the second year of her studies, she organizes as a trainee at the Waag Society in Amsterdam (Institute of Art, Science and Technology) a special dinner about the past, present and future of meat. Together with her, the participants prepare a number of animals from head to tail, including mice and muskrats. And they grow meat in vitro. In between artists, chefs, scientists, philosophers and hunters give presentations and do demonstrations.
3D food printing
In 2014 she graduates with honours as a bachelor with the project Edible Growth. Multiple layers of seeds, spores and yeast are produced by a 3D printer and grow into edible plants and mushrooms within five days, with an ever-increasing texture, flavor and taste. Delicious, fresh and nutritious. Chloé: ‘A concept to make people think about the future of food production. Is this what we want? Myself I am quite critical about the 3D printing of food products.’
TEDx talk in Calgary
She doesn’t continue with a master program but gets a scholarship to start her own business. ‘I’m impatient, always want something new happening. If I get an idea at night, I want to get started the next day. And you learn a lot more in practice than sitting on a school bench.’ Her project, Edible Growth, not only brings her prizes but also a lot of media attention. She even does a TEDx talk in Calgary, Canada, for an audience of 1700 people. ‘That was pretty scary, but it helps to get past the fear of presenting. I just talked the way I am and that went fine. Now I enjoy to give presentations.’
Syrup waffle made of vegetables
Meanwhile she has a studio around the corner of Strijp-S, the design heart of Eindhoven. During the Dutch Design Week 2016 she is in the news again with a surprising find: the classic Dutch syrup waffle (stroopwafel), made from carrot, beet or celery root. ‘Together with a partner, I’m talking to several parties to see if we can turn this into a commercial product. That would be very nice.’
Keep learning
In addition to autonomous work, Chloé does projects by order and consultancy. She also gives workshops, master classes and lectures. And she keeps learning. She did a two-month course at Matthew Kenney Culinary Academy in Maine, USA and a summer school on food innovation at the University of Messina, Sicily, Italy. And in India she learned all about Ayurveda, which can be translated as ‘the science or art of life’. ‘Well, if a subject touches me, I want to know all about it,’ says Chloé kindly and with a nice smile, but also with a resolute tone.
In cooperation with: Eindhoven365
Text: Walter van Hulst
Portrait photos: Rob Stork