Thank you for my daily bread...

If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life it would be bread

I eat it every day and can’t imagine a life without toast but even I have not taken my love of toasted bread to the level of artist Yukiko Morita who uses real bread to create lamps. This is a product made in heaven -combining two of my favourite things bread and lamps!

Yukiko first had the notion to do just that as early as 2007 when she was still a printmaking student at Kyoto City University of the Arts. By 2016, her “Pampshade” branded bread lamps were being exhibited at “Maison et Objet” in France and sold to excited customers all over the globe

Pampshade purchases unsold pastries, bread and baked goods and turns them into lamps and even artwork which she preserves with a clear resin. To stop them from tuning mouldy they are hollowed out to a shell and then preserved with an anti-bacterial and anti-fungal coating to protect them ( and any unsuspecting visitors to your home who may try to bite into one).

They take great pride in what they call ‘ Salvage to Create"‘

“Despite the earnest care that goes into baking it, unsold bread is discarded at the end of every day. In the same way, leftover dough is discarded before it can even be turned into bread. This food does not reach anyone. No one can taste it. It disappears. We’re shining a spotlight on this bread, and breathing new life into it as works of art. While we’re at it, we also want to satisfy bakeries by purchasing this bread at the highest possible price. It is out of this sense of responsibility that Yukiko Morita purchases unsold bread from affiliated bakeries and uses it to create new products. Our greatest hope is that these actions will lead to small, positive impacts for bakeries, bread-lovers across the world, and the entire breadmaking industry”

Since 2020 she has expanded her range to include all kinds of rolls and pastries and even an astonishing paper weight that “traces the memory of yeast from the cross section of bread”. Not to mention a naan bread clock.

I suspect I would have the hardest time not trying to eat that one..

Now if you will excuse me, my toaster is calling…

Queen Marie