Dark Rye opens in a new tab is an online magazine from Whole Foods Market that explores the realms of food, health, sustainability, design, technology and social enterprise. Get fresh insight from our mixtape of stories, recipes, creative projects and people—pioneers of unconventional who explore the edges of a creative life.
Art! Beauty wins over purpose. We celebrate form, shape, reaction and curious thought. So how about when art is more than a painting, a sculpture, or a song?
This week’s Dark Rye episode on pivot delivers art in the form of a gypsy feast, wedding rings spun from vintage baseball bats and play forts hidden in the woods. See it Wednesday February 12, on pivot network at 9:30pm ET/ 6:30pm PT. Find out if you get pivot at getpivot.tv. opens in a new tab
Tune in tonight for three champions of artful play:
Eat | Love: Food designer Marije Vogelzang contemplates the etiquette, history, and culture of food. From her home base in Dordrecht, Netherlands, Vogelzang stages workshops and interactive experiences that would make Willy Wonka proud. Chocolate walls you can lick. Marshmallow clouds that rain. As people move through her creations she watches from the sidelines: “Food goes to the stomach, but it rouses strong memories and emotions…”
The Ring Master: In a little reverse tree-hugging action, Gustav Reyes crafts rings from salvaged wood like felled trees, baseball bats and church pews. If a thing mattered to you (and it came from a tree), he can make a ring from it. Get as sentimental or badass as you want. Our favorite: New Zealand’s Ancient Kauri wood, trapped during the Ice Age, inlaid with a fossilized piece of T-Rex skull. Wrapped around your finger.
The Hemloft: Whistler, BC-based guerilla carpenter Joel Allen is not one for playing it safe. A lifelong outdoor enthusiast, he dreamed of creating a secret loft in the trees. After months of fruitless searching, he finally stumbled upon the perfect spot: a hike-to-it grove of public forest. Joel spent three years building in secret and at the mercy of the weather — with no electricity, no money, and no real carpentry experience. And now? Magic.
“Our whole world is driven by practicality,” says Joel. And that’s no fun. So let’s rethink what surrounds us. What if we approached a hike, a meal, or a token of love as an artistic experience? Ahh, art’s glorious question marks! The more, the better. Catch it on pivot.
