Hello my name is Ellie Stone and I love the concept of the dinner and all that is involved with it, the sharing of food, the exploration of senses and the sparking of conversations. I aspire for my work to be joyful and engaging, bringing people together to experience the lovely occasion that is dining.
Instagram: @ellie.st0ne

My practice focuses predominately on the ideas and concepts behind my installations and objects rather than the functionality of them working. I aspire for them to be thought and discussion provoking, fun and explorative with a slight element of humour running through their impracticality.
Since learning sign language and becoming a guide runner I have become increasingly interested in the cross over, isolation and alteration of our senses and how this can inform and alter our experience, in particular with hearing. I aimed for people to explore the realm of listening within a dinner, either sparking conversations into communication and interaction or for individuals to take themselves away from the predominantly social experience and plug the ear buds in from the cushions and picnic blanket or dinner set and experiment with communication in alternative ways. For example, gestures, sounds, facial expressions, touch and body language, and with this, how the different senses inform and alter this communication.

Since the lockdown these gatherings are no longer possible therefore, I have been designing tools to allow for social distancing dining, allowing people to cook, share and eat together but from afar. I have created a dinner set that in turn enhances this communication (similar to that of “The allegory of the long spoon”) where the diners need to communicate with each other, help one another and work together so that everyone at the table receives all elements of the dinner; in turn, the dinner couldn’t take place without this interaction.