Founded by Marseilled-based OROS and London/Taipei-based ii (initial initiatives), Local Ware is an experimental yet utilitarian project celebrating the diversity of natural resources and lifestyles in different parts of the world. ‘We would like to spark the audience’s imagination for an alternative way of living with a focus on vernacular materials and everyday tools that serve the essential needs of the local community.’ Laure Amoros, the founder of OROS explained.


In each edition, the project collaborates with a group of international designers of various backgrounds to develop a collection of ‘local ware’ employing materials local to the creator. This autumn, OROS and ii unveiled the first edition of Local Ware in Marseille, exploring the most primitive human behaviour - food making. Local Ware: Cooking Edition studies the history of cooking tools in different cultures and how they can be creatively applied to Mediterranean cuisine. Four designers: Chialing Chang, Guillaume Bloget, Liang-Jung Chen and Rio Kobayashi, were invited to try their hand at creating exploratory cookware pieces.

‘We kicked off the project with a series of online workshops to exchange insights into the everyday experiences of our local communities.’ explained by Amoros. ‘Several rigorous conversations took place between the curators, designers and craftspeople on what we found interesting about each other’s culture, as well as the possibilities to re-interpret the traditional tools with a contemporary touch.’ The outcome was a diverse and original collection of four cookware series.