Anna Piasek’s issue with eating takeaway Asian food was that unlike burgers and pizzas, Asian (particularly Japanese) cuisine was always about different components that came together to make a whole. Different types of sushi, soy sauce, wasabi, the meats, the rice, the noodles, everything needed to be parceled together, but separately. In one simple order, you’d end up with 5 different plastic boxes filled with small portions that came together to form one meal. Her solution to this problem is two-fold. Firstly, unite all these small boxes into one singular solution that could be made modular, and secondly, get rid of all that plastic.

Meet the ‘One Size’, a template for parceling Asian food in a way that accommodates for tiny portions, solids and liquids, and is above all biodegradable. Made from a molded cellulose material that can easily be composted (so you don’t need to separate the food and packaging while throwing it out), the One Size features a small single-person tray, a torus-shaped family-meal tray, and a glass and lid for soups, curries, and gravies. The trays can be used to store individual food items, or portions of food using small cellulose walls as dividers, so you’ve got a bento-box-styled takeaway container that’s singular in nature. The single-person box can be slotted to create up to four separate compartments, while the family-meal box can be divided into eight segments, creating smaller containers within the larger container, without the carbon footprint. The boxes come with a glass and lid too. The glass holds any liquid-based dish, while the lid itself doubles up as a miniature dish for wasabi or soy-sauce. Piasek’s design is made from molded cellulose, which primarily comprises recycled paper or natural fibers (think of your egg-carton), pressed into the shape of the packaging. Each container is further coated with 100% plant-based layer that keeps the containers waterproof and food-safe. When all is said and done, the packaging can easily degrade into the environment in a matter of days or weeks, without causing any negative impact on the ecosystem.

Designer: Anna Piasek