Mobile Cheese Cave x
E5 Bakehouse
Product design
Spatial design
Brief
While working as a cheese affineur at university, I became absorbed in the craft of maturing cheese; turning, brushing, washing, and managing environments to guide microbial life and develop flavour. I started documenting it on Instagram, and the unexpected interest it gathered led me to a question that became my biggest design project yet: could this be a communally accessible practice?
Solution
Taking communal bread ovens and urban allotments as precedents, I built a communal cheese cave: a mobile maturation unit designed for E5 Bakehouse in Hackney, adaptable for schools, shops, and events.
Built from a modified wine fridge found on eBay, with soakable terracotta tiles to maintain humidity, and supporting information design, the cave enabled community-aged cheese. By opening up access to tools, knowledge, and usually hidden environments, it rethought our relationship with microbial life, encouraged shared food stewardship, and aimed to make artisan cheese and the industry behind it more inclusive.
Contribution
This was an independent university project.
I pitched the idea to E5 Bakehouse and conducted research there, which informed the design; however, due to food safety, the cave could not be deployed commercially at the bakery and was instead deployed at my university and degree show.
Skills: Woodworking, 3D printing, Rhino and Blender
CAD, photography.
The project was one of five Goldsmiths graduate works selected across all courses to be featured in a 2025 showcase film.
