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Do you remember the painter who famously painted food arranged to resemble faces and human beings?  Noses were made from courgettes, cheeks were round ripe tomatoes, and hair was straw and savoy cabbage.  Not only are artists of our time following in Arcimboldo’s footsteps, but they’re also doing it with a splash, in a tasteful and refined way.

That’s precisely what culinary design is all about; breaking the rules, turning food into a purely artistic object totally stripped of its functions of taste, flavour and nutrition.  The stage at the Vendome Luxury Show in Paris was set, an event to bring together the best of today’s new trend-setters in fashion, art and design, during Fashion Week.  

Held in October 2009, the twelfth edition of Vendôme Luxury Live was born – dubbed “fooding”.  16 fridges from the 50’s Retro style line were used to store the original, imaginative creations by several international culinary designers.  Of course, Smeg was delighted to have been chosen as the backdrop for such an inspiring artistic movement including the creators of works such as “Chocolate Floors” and “Bread Handbags”. 

We’d also just like to give a small round of applause the person who holds the original copyright or trademark behind culinary design - who first decided to stick a carrot into a snowman’s head to imitate a nose – what a genius!

© 2010 by XXB

We hereby declare that the era of supermodels and exorbitant modelling fees has come to a close. The period of those pale and yet so attractive young faces has definitely faded. Our proposal is of curvy forms, sensuous shapes filled with enormous quantities of food. Of course, here we are really thinking of another fabulous Fab design, aren't we?

Who would deny that this refrigerator is endowed with the 'physique du role'? We've all cottoned on to that: from Betsy Johnson who placed it in a prominent position in her showrooms during the Fashion Week in New York, in 2009,  to Macy’s, where it was also presented on a couple of occasions, in 2007 and 2010, in its corner outlet between 34th Street and Broadway.

And then, there was the 55DSL store in 2008, the Rugby window and the Paul Smith one and even the one in Beijing where it was displayed next to brands such as Versace, Armani, Prada, Gucci and Loro Piana.

So, why all that? Simple. This is a rather 'eclectic' and versatile and – shall we say – trendy design. It goes well with so many different styles and so everyone wants it. It would appear that it does so much even for the image of other brands. Unlike supermodels, though, we've yet to find a photographer who's managed to catch it out in scandalous or embarrassing situations.