2021 (Ongoing)
8 Weeks
Solo Project
8 Weeks
Solo Project
Food wastage happens even before people can make their purchases. In 2019, Singapore alone generated 744,000 tonnes of food waste and almost half of which were fruit and vegetables. This is also a worldwide concern as, according to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, an estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted globally each year.
As it turns out, cosmetic filtering is one of the key drivers for this phenomenon. It refers to the act of throwing or disregard of perfectly edible food simply because they look visually unappealing or ugly. In doing so, all the resources that were invested to produce the discarded food, including water, land, energy and labour are wasted. How might we raise awareness on food wastage and leverage on the inherent potential of cosmetically-filtered fruit and vegetables?
Inspired by how ancient Egyptians create makeup from natural materials, Yolk is a line of organic cosmetics made from ugly food. Cosmetically-filtered fruits and vegetables, such as sweet potato, beetroot, spinach, carrot, tomato and strawberry, are first collected from local wholesalers and grocery shops. They are subsequently cleaned, dehydrated and grinded into powder, thus producing organic pigments that give the cosmetics colour, e.g. sweet potato purple.
Finally, arrowroot starch, bentonite clay powder and a natural, oil-based binder are combined with a selected pigment before the mixture is pressed and left to dry. This process creates biodegradable, powder eye shadow that can last up to a year with proper care.
With the pigment foundation, Yolk is hoping to expand beyond eye shadows into other cosmetic products such as concealers.
Yolk hopes to challenge our perception of food waste by transforming unappealing, discarded produce into beauty products of high demand within the multi-billion, cosmetic market.
The transformation highlights not just the potential and value of cosmetically-filtered fruits and vegetables but also suggests a sustainable channel to reduce the amount of produce that ends up in landfills.
The irony lies in how something deemed to be ugly is able to help us look beautiful. It goes to show that we should not judge a book by its cover and that beauty is certainly not skin deep.
