Where Do You Buy Your Milk From?

Are you one that really appreciates the natural source of your milk, and acknowledges the tens of hours farmers put in each week, day in - day out? Or perhaps, are you quite unsure as to the work that goes on to provide you with such a basic necessity that is quite literally in thousands of foodstuffs, and of course, most likely a key part of your every morning?

Without even attempting to teach you the ways of a farmer's world, Le Verre a Traire debuted at a Milk Factory exhibition in Paris and the circuit consisted of 10 professional designers and art students that considered the Future of Milk, an educational experience far better than any teaching we could provide you with over the next 5 minutes. As was conceptualised, the entire process of milk and how we access it is so industrialised that today's generations have lost any connection to farms and to the cows themselves, from actual taste to presentation.

As Claire Fayolle of Milk Factory explains, "....getting milk directly from the cow's udder to reconnect with nature is our vision of the future for dairy products. Changing people's habits, however, requires consumers to relearn forgotten pleasures, such as rediscovering the real taste of milk, the kind that comes directly from the cow's udder: raw milk."

A project that attempts to reconnect consumers to producers, wanting to short-circuit the entire production process and reduce it to the bare minimum, 5.5 design studio have designed two objects: a milk dispenser "The Domestic Cow" and a small container "The Milking Glass". In an age when everyone is so fine-tuned to shopping in supermarkets, the design studio wants to return to basics and imagine a new scenario of milk consumption. Wanting to remind people that milk is indeed a product of a living animal, the milk jug and urn essentially re-imagines life before the commodity became industrialised. Such a scenario is hopefully realised by the milk stand they've created, educating consumers to access raw milk from The Domestic Cow udders via it's "Milking Glass". With the dispenser topped up every morning by a local producer, the design studio hopes to also create new social links and form new community bonds.

With a fresher product, the knowledge of where the milk is sourced from and most probably purchasable at a fairer price, all are incentives for the consumer to adopt the new process. The aim is also for the milk's producer to get paid immediately, and there really is a win-win scenario waiting to happen for both parties. With sustainability at the top of many people's minds, such a project also supports and promotes eco-benefits and responsible consumption.

SATORI & SCOUT doesn't have to look too far beyond 5.5 design studio's installation to question people's relationship with nature, and consequentially people's appreciation of natural produce. Can today's society ever come to appreciate the real taste of milk again?

Discover more online at 5-5designstudio.com

Photography credit : 5-5designstudio.com