Inkmaking with Food Waste
With the invitation of the sustainability team at Rajah & Tann, we conducted an ink making workshop based around the topic of food waste. Aligning with the company’s plan to do a corporate food rescue session at Little India, we went to join those rescue sessions ourselves to see what types of food were typically gathered from the storeowners there.
Over the two sessions, we carried, sorted, and helped pack the food gathered: onions, cabbages, oranges, almonds, beans, packets of wheat flour, and so many varieties of gourds. Sorting out these fruits and vegetables was a learning experience in itself, and we found ourselves asking questions to more seasoned volunteers about what we were actually sorting and how we could prepare them for food. During these food rescue sessions, most of the produce collected would be delivered by volunteer drivers to soup kitchens and other charities.
While most of the produce collected were not suitable for inkmaking, there were a few that we had some experience with. We prepared some inks from onion peels, grapes, oranges, and avocado pits from our studio to share during the session with the session, which was held at their office pantry with a gorgeous curtain view of the busiest port in Singapore.
We were glad to see that participants were all really engaged with making these inks, and created lovely “thank you” cards for the food rescue volunteers.
