In Japan, a food product has to comply with shipping standards, shape and size to fit into the large-scale production system. In addition, shipments are often limited to prevent a particularly large harvest from causing prices to fall. These regulations inevitably lead to large quantities of food being wasted, unsold and therefore thrown away.
In recent years we have become increasingly sensitive to issues such as food waste and in every country, in addition to regulations governing the production and distribution of food, local initiatives are being set up to produce as little waste as possible.
Here we talk about the initiative of the famous Japanese design studio Nendo, which has started to create what has been called a petit market.
The designers came up with a way to help farmers sell surplus produce that cannot be placed on the market and does not fit into the large-scale production system.
The petit market is nothing more than a stand where you can display your produce that can be placed anywhere, next to a cultivated field, at the side of the road, on the pavement.
These small shelves are available in three different sizes (S, M, L), can be purchased by anyone and can be assembled in about 10 minutes. Their structure allows them to be built literally anywhere because they have a base that can be filled with sandbags to maintain stability and adjustable feet that are suitable for any type of terrain.
Inside, the shelves can be moved according to the type of product to be displayed, and in order to sell products even in winter when there are few hours of light, the petit market is also equipped with LED lights that make the display always clearly visible.
Nendo designed the petit market with the fact that the farmer or farmer cannot always be present in mind, so the structure has a small box for inserting money and a QR code for online payment.
The petit market is not only a design object that encompasses all of Nendo’s features, from the possibility of having it in 4 neutral colours to its clean, minimalist shape, but also represents an opportunity for producers to sell their products directly to customers who can buy local specialities.
