Macaroni Event, an exercise series that focuses on the creative process using pasta dough as a design material, invites participants to focus on the process without concern for the outcome. We talked to Özge Adanır, founder of Macaroni Event, about their work and the event they organized with Isola Design at Milano Design Week.
Who is Özge Adanır? Can you briefly tell us about yourself?
I'm a designer. After graduating from Industrial Design, I started working in ceramics. Then, for two years, I edited the spotlight+podcast series focusing on the process of creatives in the industry. Since 2022, I've been working on Macaroni Event.
We would like to hear the story of Macaroni Event, your startup that treats pasta dough as a design material.
I was thinking about the relationship between the creative process and the result, and I realized how much the relationship we have with the result actually affects the process. In design schools, they say “it's hard to draw the first line.” What this means is that the mind gets anxious and starts planning. During this time, the beginning is postponed. But once you start drawing the line, it continues. Because now you are in the moment. The mind is silent and the action has begun. Macaroni Event is actually based on these thoughts.
Image are courtesy of Isola, Photos by Gaia Spanò
“The reason we use pasta dough as a material is because it is a material that will run out at the end of the day. So there is no result. There is only the process and I think this is a
space of freedom for trial and error.”
In the first stage of the event, we spend time with the dough prepared by our chefs and Macaroni Tools products. After about an hour of production, our chef team cooks and serves the designed shapes. Since each production is different from each other in this process, our chefs actually create a new story on each plate. In the second stage, we gather around the table and taste the pasta we have designed.
I would like to talk a little bit about your uniquely designed “Macaroni Tools” products used during the event. How did you come up with these products, each of which looks like a work of art?
First of all, I designed a set of tools called Macaroni Tools to shape the dough. The first material my hand goes to is usually ceramics. So I went to a workshop close to my home and started experimenting. Then, for about 3 months, I tested these tools and cooked with a few friends every week. With the feedback I received during the process, I went to craftsman Günay Oktay's marble workshop in Afyon to produce the final product. We produced Macaroni Tools by sticking to the functions of forming, texturing and cutting. Then I started to design the strainers and plates we used at the event. Some of the plates are forms I shaped with a ceramic lathe and some by subtracting from the mass. I imagined using different heights and widths on the table.
Image are courtesy of Isola, Photos by Gaia Spanò
What kind of environment did you aim to create for the participants to focus on the creative process and build new relationships? Can you tell us a bit about the participants' experience?
Actually, I just designed the process and the products, and the participants produce by focusing on their own process. At the beginning of the event, I explain all the tools and the process. I usually advise them to make manti at the beginning, if they don't have anything in mind. In the first five minutes, it is actually a method to make that manti form that we are all used to. To take action and slow down the thought. Then the inspiration comes anyway. In the first stage of the event, participants meet while producing. We can think of it as an interactive table. We meet both our own process and another.
Image are courtesy of Isola, Photos by Gaia Spanò
Can you tell us a little bit about the event you organized with Isola Design during Milan Design Week?
Within the scope of Milan Design Week, we came together with Masquespacio under the roof of Isola Design and took part in the Around The Table exhibition. In addition to the exhibition, which continued during the day for a week, we organized meals for 3 nights as Macaroni Event. We worked with our guest chef Francesco Falanga during this time and organized an event series for 60 people. We hope that Around The Table exhibition, which we contributed with interactive eating experience and Macaroni Tools products, will continue in different locations.
