Foraging is as old as humankind; it is a uniquely primal experience to walk through a forest and collecting plants to eat. It simply means search wildly for food by collecting in the wild. Over half of Sweden is covered in forest, berries and mushrooms and other forage-able culinary delights are growing seasonally and waiting to be harvest. Foraging has been a way of surviving since forever and a kind of activity in the lately to strengthen the bond between human and nature.
Since the society has become so digitized and the availability of fresh food has become always available in our local stores, makes us forget or no longer see what’s is surrounding us. Even though the forest can’t replace an entire meal or a supermarket it still provides a variety of different crops, which can be a add on to your dinner and food you can storage for a longer time. There is a charm in harvesting seasonal crops in the wild during the growth period. First of all, its taste better and more without pesticides that usually is added on to keep the food fresh longer, you can pick as much as you want and it’s for free. “Allemansrätten” or the right to public access is a law that cover more than just foraging like to camp, hike, ride a bike and even light a fire. All these rights do come with plenty of responsibility. It means that you are a guest in nature, and you have to treat it with respect.
Early sketches
I decided to do my take on a mushroom knife and investigate the functions and aesthetics developments within different types of knives during history. I started with easy outlines sketches to exploring different shapes and impressions. My goal was to translate different features that has been used for knifes in the past which has an efficient shape for cutting crops like berries, mushrooms, and branches. I wanted to modernize the appearance and investigate in a comfortable size and proportions on the knife and get a harmonic balance between handle and blade. the shape would not be too reminiscent of a regular mushroom knife to make it more unique and different.
Braiding with grass
Using grass for braiding a basket is one of the oldest traditions of making a basket out of. I was surprising how stiff and durable the grass became with this technique, it opened great protentional and ideas I later took advantage of. I learned that by keeping the grass inside the barn during the drying period keeps the greenish colour last longer, by experimenting with the drying process makes it possible to create different varieties of shades. It’s more usually to dry the grass direct exposed to the sunlight by using a wooden construction. The sun bleaches the colour of the grass and getting a beige/yellow tone instead. Only a few hundred meter away from the yard is a meadow with dense widely grown sedge grass. This grass is widely spread basically everywhere and is an abundant resource we have to start utilize more.
