The Avocado Legacy

2023 / Tutor: Fernando Laposse / Designer: Katherine Lopez, Kareem Goshan and Benedikt Trojer / Material: PLA, Avocado, Cotton

The Avocado Legacy explores the potential of design as a tool to spark novel social and environmental debates within the historical collections of the Kunstgewerbemuseum Dresden, Germany.

Taking the current global obsession for avocados as the starting point for their investigations, a group of international creatives art directed by Mexican designer Fernando Laposse developed a collection of artefacts that transform avocado waste (peels, seeds) into new biomaterials and natural dyes. While highlighting the manifold creative applications that the plant enables, the project wishes also to encourage the public to reflect further on the ecological and social repercussions that Western world’s consumption-driven lifestyles produce. Engaging with topics such as mass production, capitalist trade, colonialism, violence, health and trends, The Avocado Legacy reminds us that in a world that is highly connected, our choices as consumers have always an impact.

The Mexican context is here treated as a relevant case study: over a short period
of time, in fact, avocados produced in the country have evolved from being the main ingredients of the humble guacamole to becoming a global hit when it comes to healthy and vegan lifestyles. Unfortunately, however, this had many negative consequences as the cultivation of the plant is one of the biggest driving forces behind deforestation, biodiversity loss and violence towards vulnerable communities in Mexico. While acting as the carrier of this contemporary stories, The Avocado Legacy also tries to draw parallels with events that happened in the past. The practice of bringing precious and exotic materials from around the world to Europe as a display of power, for instance, was one of the pillars of object-making during colonial times. It was the importation of materials but not their cultural uses that led to the creation of new aesthetics, but also that of myths and esoteric beliefs surrounding these new objects made with materials from far exotic lands. The creation of Fabergé eggs, Nautilus Cups, but also the construction of greenhouses and orangeries, as health sanctums are all great examples of myth-making in the past. While referencing the aesthetics of these XVII century objects, The Avocado Legacy collection provides a tongue-in-cheek criticism of today’s millennial obsession with the healthy green gold.