Fukasaswa created various juice boxes, each with a covering
and structure that invokes the skin of the relevant fruit. The
banana milk package has the rubbery texture of a real banana
skin, along with faceted edges and the ubiquitous oval sticker on
the side. The strawberry juice box is square in shape, but richly
textured using real seeds. The kiwifruit juice box, as you might
expect, is brown and fuzzy to emulate the unique feeling of that
fruit’s natural shell.
In simulating the color and texture of the fruit’s skin, Fukasawa
hoped to reproduce the feeling of real skin, invoking a more
holistic sensory moment as the juice was consumed.^23 Although
designed as a concept for an exhibition, the banana packaging
was actually produced commercially for a limited time by the
TaKaRa company. The production run looked quite similar to the
exhibition version, but unfortunately without the simulated
texture.^24
How might Interaction Designers support smell and taste? This is
truly a new and underexplored territory, but there are signs of
interest and one-off experiments happening that point towards a
potential role. One of the most engaging speakers at the IxDA
Interaction 2014 conference in Amsterdam was Bernard
Lahousse, who gave a talk entitled "Food = Interaction."^25
Lahousse, who has a bio-engineering background, works at the
intersection of food and science to truly design for taste itself. He
founded the The Foodpairing Company,^26 which provides an
online tool and API for chefs, mixologists, and foodies to explore
(^23) Fukasawa, Naoto. Naoto Fukasawa. London: Phaidon, 2007. 112-113.
(^24) "Naoto Fukasawa JUICEPEEL Packaging (revisited)." Box Vox. September 16, 2014.
Accessed January 25, 2015. http://www.beachpackagingdesign.com/wp/2014/09/naoto-
fukasawa-juicepeel-revisited.html.
(^25) "Food Interaction - Thursday - Program." Interaction14. Accessed January 25, 2015.
http://interaction14.ixda.org/program/thursday/528-food-interaction.
(^26) "Homepage." Foodpairing. Accessed January 25, 2015. http://www.foodpairing.be.