These days I am walking the streets of London with my 5 months old baby because I am visiting Goldsmiths to set up an aesthetic and somatic ‘learning-space’ at the symposium Collective Futures. Very close to Goldsmiths you find the hip café Café Crème, located at New Cross 306. Within the half an hour I was in there waiting for my organic, biodynamic and fair traded couscous I saw people come and go all looking stylish and aware. Also the waitress was so kind as to show me the chicken in the backyard that provides the eggs for the café. When my food that I had asked to bring along with me was ready after quite a long time of thoughtful preparation, it was served in respectively an old plastic container for a soy product and a café to go cup.
Furthermore, I was asked if I wanted to borrow a fork (one in steal not in plastic) and if I wanted a bag. I wanted a bag and so I got an old and quite trashy orange plastic bag to carry my quite pricy take away food from a fancy café in. However, my bag with food didn’t illustrate that it actually contained an exquisite (in terms of café food) take away lunch. I caught myself longing for a fancier looking bag that would proudly display my good choice in food; thus, I had to make a mind shift. I had to prepare my mind for considering this worn out plastic bag and the recycled soy product plastic container and café cup with organic vegetables within it to signal exquisite taste. Will this be the trend of tomorrow? Or is the challenge to create sumptuous products from trash – To transform or TRASHform as the Danish combustion, Forbrændingen, utters? Whatever way Café Crème got me thinking of the new tomorrow…
