Itadakimasu

This is a textile project inspired by the Japanese lunch time staple, the bento. Bento are packed homemade meals that traditionally contain different side dishes and a serving of rice. Almost everyday, my mother made me a bento to take to school. My wooden bento box's contents would vary depending on the day: vegetables and sour plum to fight off a cold; red bean sticky rice for a celebration; last night's leftover potato croquettes... Whatever it was, this very meal summarised my mother's thoughts. I ate this five days a week for a long long time. Bento, for me, is a communication tool for my mother and I. It is a box filled with my mother's own recipes, traditional recipes, cultural and personal stories - a carrier for story-telling. Here, I have chosen five staple dishes that have often appeared in my bento:

Rice
Egg Roll
Radish Pickle
Mini Tomato
Sausage

"Itadakimasu!" is what we say in Japan before a meal, expressing reception of food with gratitude. Buddhism believes that everything has a spirit, and by saying the phrase - while bowing with palms together - we give the proper honour to these spirits. This textile project visualises these cultural and emotional depths of the ritual of eating through the following techniques: applying subtle differences in volume and texture based on sensory observations; uncomplicated colour-coding based on the simplicity of these dishes; and combining imperfect wood shapes to knits.