As part of our Sexcentenary celebrations, the Cutlers Company teamed up with the Institute of Making to run a competition to design and make a new implement, tool or device for eating. The judges of the competition were Ms. Zoe Laughlin, Director of the Institute of Making, the Master, and Mr. Alastair Fisher, of Taylors Eyewitness, who produce the cutlery that the Company distributes to hospices, with huge assistance from Ms. Olivia Clemence, also of the Institute of Making.
The winner was Bugbug designed by Wataru Kobayashi. It has been predicted that in 2050 there will be a large-scale food crisis in the world and this is a picnic cutlery set for eating insects and acts as a tool for promoting insects as a meal.
The runners up were Cerys Alonso who created a spoon whose bowl holds the quantity of honey that a bee produces in its lifetime – one twelfth of a teaspoon, and Julie Mellor who produced a set of implements intended to get the Last Morsel out of that oh-so-nearly empty jar or tin.
On 16 September we held an exhibition in the Cutlers Livery Hall to showcase some of the fascinating, extraordinary, thought-provoking and beautiful things that were submitted.