Slice of life: exploring modern relationships through the medium of cake

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A cake slice, set on a metal pedestal, below a disco ball.
One of five polycreative relationship senarios featured a cake stand by Phillipe Malouin, a ritual by Sarah Illenberger and a cake by Orlando Lovell. ’Plica Tint’ cushion, £89, by HAY. ’Masai’ fabric in 0952, price on request, by Raf Simons, for Kvadrat. (Image credit: Studio Likeness)

Reflecting on modern relationships and their many, many forms for her Design Academy Eindhoven graduation project, interdisciplinary designer Orlando Lovell coined the term ‘polycreative’, which, in layman’s terms, is essentially polyamory, but with less kissing and more designing.

To represent the concept, she enlisted five designers – Philippe Malouin, Matylda Krzykowski, Bertille Laguet, Koos Buster and Anne Dessing – to create cake stands. The shape and form of each then influenced the five cakes she baked. For the icing on the cake, she asked Sarah Illenberger, Alice Wong, Marisa Miller, Arvid & Marie and Giulia Soldati to create rituals for consuming each of the baked goods, resulting in a truly collaborative project with an outcome good enough to eat.

As originally featured in the November 2019 issue of Wallpaper* (W*248) – on newsstands now

INFORMATION

All five examples will be on show at this year’s Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven from 19-27 October. orlandolovell.com/polycreative