Rose-Tinted Tentacles

Rose-Tinted Tentacles presents 40 ways of eating 40 fish through a set of uniquely-designed utensils. Taking shape with the support of spatial practitioners Cooking Sections at the RCA, the toolset references interspecies narratives through seafood & addresses the ecological rights crises they face.

Restaurants dictate fish as portion-sized–1 fish for 1 person, easing preparation as dining becomes less communal & economy caters to unsustainable culinary cultures. In the UK alone, 40 species are fished daily but only 5 are regularly eaten. Demand for certain fish & a lack of universal politics around ocean connectedness render global overfishing rife. Overfishing 1 species causes dependent species to decline & remaining populations susceptible to detriments like climate change–designing out overfishing by strengthening consumption of local sustainably-sized species boosts diversity & empathy in regional seafood diet.
The toolset highlights species characteristics, each referencing sustainable size as a balanced approach to local wild food systems. Crafted from tactile materials, they generate tabletop discussion as we collectively interpret their use–a displaced porcelain surface for sustainable Gurnard & a 2-person 80cm birch comb fitting exactly to Halibut’s bone structure both reference catch sizes that least impact wild fish populations
To save oceans from extinction, we must question the geopolitical impacts on wild fish as individuals like we do the ethics of fish farms