The art of eating
Katja Gruijters
Food is the ‘material’ which Katja uses for visual communication. As a designer she helps people see food as part of a bigger picture: country of origin, customs, tastes. That’s how she tries to make a positive contribution to our food culture. At the same time she aims to increase awareness ...
Languages:
Employability:
Consultancy,Keynote Speaker,Motivational Speaker,Panel,Presentations,Workshop
Employability:
Consultancy,Keynote Speaker,Motivational Speaker,Panel,Presentations,Workshop,
About Katja Gruijters
Food is the ‘material’ which Katja uses for visual communication. As a designer she helps people see food as part of a bigger picture: country of origin, customs, tastes. That’s how she tries to make a positive contribution to our food culture. At the same time she aims to increase awareness of today’s social issues such as biodiversity and sustainability.
Methods
Katja’s methods can be described as both intuitive and organic. She uses experiments to study her ideas and then tests these as much as possible in practice. She explores the connections between food, science, technology, culture, nature and design. In carrying out her ideas, she collaborates with specialists in a wide range of disciplines: from top chefs and scientists to filmmakers and people from the business community.
Katja Gruijters CV
In 1998 Katja graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven. During her time there, she had already started to specialize in designing food and drink. People often asked her what a designer’s job in the food industry involved. She soon decided to call herself a food designer, explaining at the same time that she worked on concepts for both food and drink.
After working for several companies in the food industry, she set up Studio Katja Gruijters in 2001. She now spends her time thinking up and implementing concepts for clients. She also develops her own products and ideas.
As the first food designer in the Netherlands, she was asked by the Dutch trade journal Foodmagazine to work as a columnist. Katja also helped develop a new course called Food Design at the HAS Den Bosch University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. She taught food design herself at the HAS for five years.
In recent years she has regularly exhibited her work in the Netherlands and other countries. Katja also gives workshops and works as a visiting lecturer, both at home and abroad. O.a in het Stedelijk museum and Nemo in Amsterdam, museum Boymans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, and Museum of arts and design in New York (MAD).
Specialist Subjects
Neil Courtis
I collaborated with René Smits for 6 years when he chaired and co-produced a seminar for legal experts from central banks (one of a range of a dozen annual seminars I helped to produce at Central Banking Publications). René's chairmanship was consistently rated as outstanding in feedback (average satisfaction scores of 9/10 or greater). When we did a multi-year analysis he was the overall second highest-rated speaker or chairmen over a five-year period out of more than 100 internationally-eminent chairmen and presenters. On a more statistically robust analysis I think he would have been the top rated.. He chairs meetings with energy and diplomacy (as well of course as deep expertise in the subject area) and went far beyond the call of duty to ensure delegates had a good experience. He is particularly skilled at bringing together disparate groups. I recommend him without hesitation as a meeting chairman.
References
Matthea Westerduin
"Over ten years ago, Katja Gruijters put 'food designer' on her business card. Gruijters was the first to use this word and food design has become an industry. "