The Iranian London-based designer tackling food innovation, sustainability, consumer activism and atomic habits with a smile
Photography courtesy of Arina Shokouhi and as featured in Soil
Words by Harriet Thorpe
Although we know it’s happening, global warming and climate change still feel a little detached from our daily lives in the UK. We aren’t on the front line of deforestation, melting ice caps or deadly droughts. Yet we do live in a globalised world, so most of the decisions that we make on a daily basis – the things we buy, the food we eat, what we throw away – have a global impact.
Essentially, we all hold the power to make a difference. But where do we begin? That was the daunting starting point for multidisciplinary designer Arina Shokouhi when she joined the Material Futures MA at Central Saint Martins, a course that combines a focus on science, materials, innovation and sustainability.
‘Being innovative is not an easy thing,’ she says. ‘As designers, we can’t solve any problems, because we don’t have the knowledge, and too many things need to change.’
Photography courtesy of Arina Shokouhi
Instead of overthinking it, she followed her intuition and played to her strengths: her playful grasp on aesthetics developed experimenting with pattern and colour studying BA Textile Design at Chelsea College of Arts; knowledge of food innovation learned from her mother, who has a vegan milk and cheese business in Iran where she grew up; and her own love of seasonal eating, cooking at home and experimenting with zero-waste living.
Just like her mother, who makes alternatives to dairy, she decided to start in her kitchen making an alternative – this time to avocado, the tasty superfood prone to wastage and victim of an unethical export industry driven by rabid international year-around consumption.
Known as ‘green gold’ for its value, the avocado attracts deadly corruption, deforestation and even compromises access to drinking water. In the face of these serious issues, Shokouhi’s chosen weapon was her playfulness. From developing a recipe, to a zero-waste packaging and a creative campaign – she combined her skills to create the Ecovado.
Photography courtesy of Arina Shokouhi
Working with food scientist Jack Wallman at University of Nottingham’s Food Innovation Centre, she created an avocado texture and taste from broad beans, hazelnut, apple and rapeseed oil, making sure ingredients were local, natural and low-impact. The skin is made of biodegradable and compostable wax, and inside a whole nut completes the ‘faux’ avo experience.
It’s colourful, clever and it really got people thinking: at her graduate exhibition in 2022, the Ecovado captured people’s hearts and minds and caused a media storm. Conversations were struck up; avocado-lovers were inspired, vegans were enlightened, recipes were shared, corrupt food economies discussed – everyone had something to say because everyone connects with food.
The whole process made Shokouhi better understand her role as a designer: ‘Catch the eye, grab attention – make it easy, make it playful. You might not be able to solve a problem, but you can start talking about it.’
Photography by Tom Mannion featuring Arina Shokouhi
In an earlier project Shokouhi created Supper for Soil, a cookbook for soil health. After reading dry and overly academic articles about our degraded soil and its negative impact on agriculture, she decided to bring the problem to life and into people’s kitchens and gardens by crafting ‘recipes’ to regenerate the soil. Her clever art direction, styling and photography inspires people to tackle food waste through home composting and consider the symbiotic nature of human and environmental health.
‘The first thing I learned was to use our own human vocabulary when we talk about change,’ she says. ‘There are so many scientific terms, but to connect we have to simplify the problem into familiar interactions.’
Instead of adopting extreme lifestyles, in an age of atomic habits, imagine the impact we could have by adopting a series of small conscious sustainable decisions into our daily routines – such as buying or making your own Ecovado instead of consuming an avocado (watch this space, says Shokouhi).
Photography courtesy of Arina Shokouhi
Though Shokouhi has challenged herself to experiment with a vegan and even a zero-waste lifestyle for periods of time, she says that there is something to be learned from critically experiencing the discipline and limitations.
She shares this advice to anyone who is curious: ‘Start from your own house – when you experiment with a different way of life, it opens up doors and conversations. It’s not easy to do, but when you embrace it, you’ll be surprised to see what happens.’
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