Studio H

What if a bean could hold history? On 12 June, Studio H and Juwan Beyers Food Design bring *Bean Archives: The Exchange* to Dordrecht for Beans & Bloom. A lunch experience where South African beans become currency, storytelling becomes ritual and the table becomes an archive of migration, memories and food culture. What you eat determines what you share. What you share determines what you receive. Part of the Beans & Bloom microfestival @fooddesignplayground in Dordrecht, The Netherlands. 12 June 11:00–15:00 Language: English Tickets via link in @studio_h_ bio. @fooddesignplayground @marije_vogelzang . @joeriveul @sylvia_avontuur @elisabethweerman @hummusacademy @merijntol @studio_h_ @juwan.beyers.food.design @studio_ineslauber_ @hannerievisser @dewildeboerin @terrrisalminen @fururu_design.food.label @nadia.zerouali @vreekenszaden

FOOD = DESIGN is officially out in the world. For three days, we’re reframing how we think about food. Not just as something on a plate, but as a design discipline — shaped through culture, systems, aesthetics and experience. On the programme: workshops, conversations, a one-night-only dinner and an exhibition of work that’s usually tucked away in client projects and studio archives. It’s our first edition, so we’re keeping it small on purpose. If you’d like to join us, send us a mail: [email protected] 29–31 August Lemkus Exchange, Cape Town Workshop day pass: R1,900 Dinner: R1,750 Everything ticket: R3,200

Food design. We use food as a medium, in the same way architects use space, light, texture and form to create spaces that communicate. Because food is never neutral. It carries culture. It carries history. It carries power.
It can make people feel at home, or instantly curious. It can reveal, or it can distract. It can celebrate, provoke, comfort, seduce, confront.
We all eat. Food is universal – it isn’t intimidating. It’s something we all do, every day. That’s exactly why we love it. Food design is using food with intention to communicate something specific. Sometimes that looks like storytelling:
turning heritage, identity, memory and place into something you can taste. Sometimes it looks like activism:
using food to draw attention to systems – climate, labour, waste, access – and asking better questions about what we consume and why. And sometimes it looks like pure feeling:
designing joy, awe, intimacy, nostalgia. Designing the kind of moment people remember long after the last bite. Food design isn’t just about what’s on the plate.
It’s about what it means.
And how it’s felt. Food is not just food. Photos @danielazondagh @parisbphoto @aftersune @ankeloots @garyvanwykphotograph / @littlegigfestiv @raphael_blues / @cafesofi_sa @widewingshoots @alixrosephoto @inge_prins

Counting down the days until we land in Dordrecht for the Bean Festival at Food Design Playground. Get tickets for our lunch via @fooddesignplayground . Netherlands — see you on 12 June. Soon, soon, soon. 🫘

Join us at FOOD = DESIGN — where chefs, designers, artists and thinkers come together to explore how food can shape culture, spark ideas and redesign the way we live. 29 – 31 August 2026
Lemkus Exchange, Cape Town Tickets: [email protected] Monday 31 August: Workshop day pass = R1,900 + VAT
Saturday 29 August: Dinner = R1,750 + VAT
Everything ticket (dinner + workshops) = R3,200 + VAT

A few months ago we made our first festival about beans. Which, on paper, sounds like an absolutely terrible business decision. And yet people travelled across the country for it.
To sit together eating legumes.
Listening to stories about chickpeas.
Dancing near bean installations.
Talking about soil, politics, fermentation, grandmothers, climate change and hummus. Someone whispered very seriously:
“I think beans are having a cultural comeback.” The thing is: this was never really about beans.
Beans are just an excellent excuse to talk about being human. About care.
About land.
About migration.
About future food.
About why we became so disconnected from the things that literally keep us alive. Also: beans make people weirdly optimistic.
Maybe because they fix the soil while asking for almost nothing in return.
A trait many humans could learn from. Anyway.
The second edition is coming: BEANS & BLOOM
12–14 June
at Food Design Playground in Dordrecht. Expect edible flowers, strange conversations, artistic legumes, beautiful people, workshops, installations, lunches and other things your algorithm would probably never recommend to you. This edition we are very proud to host @studio_h_ @juwan.beyers.food.design @mixblik @stichtingsymbio @fururu_design.food.label @studio_ineslauber_ @joeriveul @dewildeboerin @vreekenszaden @mignonnus @sylvia_avontuur @hummusacademy and with our ambassadors @merijntol @terrisalminen @nadia.zerouali____ @valeriekuster @creativechefnl @merlinialyssa @elisabethweerman @amaizinorganic

Only a few Everything tickets for FOOD = DESIGN are still available. Join us from 29–31 August at @lemkusexchange for a weekend of workshops, exhibitions, conversations and a shared dinner — all exploring food as a design practice. Apply: [email protected] Photos x @jennalemmer x @juwan.beyers.food.design x @studio_h_

FOOD = DESIGN A weekend of ideas you can eat. Workshops, conversations, exhibitions and a shared dinner — all exploring food as a design discipline. 29–31 August
Lemkus Exchange, Cape Town Email for tickets: [email protected]

Only the best for the best. Bespoke chocolates in collaboration with @lechocolat_by_gc , designed for Jean Paul Gaultier’s sensory activation. Captured by @caitlin_cloete Thank you @nadiaabrahams

FOOD = DESIGN Over three days, we’ll explore food through hands-on workshops, a curated exhibition, a city-wide food map and a once-off dinner experience. Expect:
– A series of practical workshops on Monday
– A one-night-only dinner on Saturday
– An exhibition of food design work rarely seen by the public This is a small, considered gathering, designed for people curious about food beyond the plate. If you’d like to join us, apply for tickets:
[email protected] 29–31 August
Lemkus Exchange, Cape Town Workshop day pass: R1,900
Dinner: R1,750
Everything ticket: R3,200

FOOD = DESIGN is our first edition and we’re keeping it intentionally small. There are very few tickets available. If you’d like to join us, you’ll need to apply: [email protected] We’re building a room of people genuinely curious about food as a design discipline – through workshops, exhibitions, conversations and a shared dinner. Expect a thoughtful, hands-on programme. If your application is successful, we’ll send you a link to purchase tickets. If not, we’ll add you to the waitlist and keep you in mind for future editions. 29–31 August
Lemkus Exchange, Cape Town Workshop day pass: R1,900
Dinner: R1,750
Everything ticket: R3,200

Tickets are now live for FOOD = DESIGN From 29–31 August, Lemkus Exchange becomes home to a three-day food design festival in Cape Town, bringing together exhibitions, installations, and experiences that explore food as a design discipline. On the programme: – A full day of inspirational workshops and talks
– Selected works by @marije_vogelzang and other international food designers on display – An exhibition of work by @studio_h_ and @juwan.beyers.food.design 
– A photographic exhibition by 10 women food photographers, art directors and stylists
– FOOD = DESIGN MAP: A city-wide programme of one-off food interventions – OOI: A one-night-only one-ingredient-only dinner. A South African iteration of a work originally created by us for Marije Vogelzang’s Bean Festival in The Netherlands. FOOD = DESIGN invites you to experience food beyond the plate. 📍 @lemkusexchange , Cape Town
📅 29–31 August
🎟 Apply for tickets: [email protected]
Saturday 29 August: Dinner = R1,750 Monday 31 August: Workshop day pass = R1,900
Everything ticket (dinner + workshops) = R3,200 Photo x @jennalemmer x @juwan.beyers.food.design x @studio_h_