Neo Fruit.

Artificially designed fruit printed in 4 dimensions.

This project can be considered as a Speculative Technological Design Project, focusing our attention to a future scenario in which we will create all our food artificially.

The production of food has been by necessity a constant need throughout human history.And there have been many changes that have affected the way humans live their every day's lives. These changes have been directly influenced by evolutionary principles that permeated throughout all aspects of human endeavour and also affected the food that we have naturally made part of our diets.

In ancient times, people lived close to nature and gathered the food that was available from their surroundings. following the agricultural revolution, human agriculture became more and more able to control the environment and conditions and adapt the conditions of growth as necessary, so that mankind became less dependent on searching for food. This, as a result of this, society attention became focused on increasing population and ensuring its prosperity. With the introduction of Industrial processes and increased capabilities of scale, food processing techniques were developed that changed the main ingredients of the food that our bodies naturally evolved to accept. Moving away from their original makeup, these new foods that were produced by these processes have in fact reduced nutritional values and have left us almost bereft of the eating experiences which we had previously. The damage that industrialized food has brought us has reached a point that the gap between the nutritional need of what our bodies require and the food that enters our digestive tract is leading to growing awareness for the need of an urgent shift in the paradigm.

I have chosen to focus on the world of fruit.which was the earliest human compatible food and the main ingredient in humanity's nutritional resource.

Fruit stand at the forefront of naturally Vitamin filled foods and Antioxidization which act as the easiest to digest food types. Fruit in addition to its physiological contribution to humanity also symbolically acts as a cultural icon that has influenced human culture for countless generations. The richness and diversity in all its forms, colours, tastes, appearances and textures left us with a taste for more. In fruit resides the power to drive passion and renew our cultural ties to nature. And more to explicitly; acts as the perfect alternative to that "snack" that draws our attention, but causes terrible harm to our health.

In my work, I will try to return to the same values that have encouraged symbiotic cooperation between nature and human development. I do not presume to follow in nature's footsteps, quite the opposite, in my work I place the artificial element in the centre. By implementing in its design the virtues and values of nature's gift; the eating experience of the combined interpersonal reactions that are closely linked with sensory empowerment.

This project offers a fresh artificial alternative to familiar fruits, conventional methods and technologies of production by putting together all of mans greatest capabilities and accomplishments to date, with natures everlasting wisdom. Together, with sparks of passion, I hoped to invoke both the creations made by man and nature for a better tomorrow.

These artificial fruits are characterized by a varied diet that is necessary for healthy living and adapted to our present lifestyle. In their design, the fruits do not only provide a necessity for also constitute a vital sensory experience as the mediator between man, our technological abilities and the human environment.

Neo_Fruits is a collection of artificially designed fruits, Suggested for future food consumption.

World population is growing rapidly, raising the demand for food consumption higher than ever before.

Modern Agriculture has been using various methods to reach this growing demand, first by expanding farmland, second by using chemical enhancers, fertilizers and genetic modification.

These methods had helped grow more food faster, but with a high price. First, air, ground and water pollution, penetrate the fruits and vegetables consumed. Second, reducing residential land by expanding farmland. And last, huge quantities of discarded fruits and vegetables, thrown away for not meeting esthetic standards created by genetic modification. Nutrition Supplements might be the solution for these problems.

Nutrition supplements, today, lack a relation between shape and content, and are produced as powders, capsules or spheres.

Neo_fruits intends to fill this gap, offering a food of the future that considers shape and content as critical for the eating experience.

Fruit provoke emotions and desires, have a perfect packaging, they interact with their consumers, using color to indicate which minerals and vitamins they contain, what their flavor is, and how ripe or rotten they are. A whole world of visual, sensual, nutritional and practical experience bundled together in each fruit. This full sensual eating experience is missing in food supplements produced today. This fact impacts humanity in the psychological and physical level.

Technology today enables the creation of endless options, with 4D printers. Neo_Fruits are produced in this technology, using Cellulose, an Organic material. This Material can be utilized for structure and for content. We printed a flat structure of a peel and filling made of cellulose. This dry structure is enriched with phytochemicals. Micro-tubes were implemented in the structure of these fruits. After printing, mineral and vitamin enriched liquids will be injected into the micro-tubes. With the injected liquid, the fruit comes to life. Its volume, color, texture, flavor and final structure will be finalized. The liquid gives the 4d print meaning, transforming the object from a printed object to a vital being...

The Water injection re-shaping the object AFTER printing, has a number of advantages:

1. print space is used efficiently, as the product is produced flat;

2. ability to create a dynamic, life-like object (example: design the liquid to indicate shelf life);

3.and an efficient packaging and transportation.

This technology, 4D printers, and this material, Cellulose, enable us to think of future foods in a colorful and creative way, very different from the dystopian more common vision of food supplements and future foods. This vision is of an advanced society, considering health and nutrition as a full experience, all while considering the environment.

My main Focus was to create an eating experience that benefits all parties, in its design and nature.

The design of Neo_Fruits does not wish to critique, but to present an aspiration, a vision, derived of curiosity and thought, a bridge between industry, nature and human.