Food Design altMA 2026/27
Learn to design eating experiences beyond the plate, use food to question systems, and turn your ideas into a sustainable practice. Created by Fondo Supper Club and Dr Francesca Zampollo.
Three ways to join
Everyone follows the same live programme. Choose how much hands-on guidance you want on top of it, and whether you want to travel.
For inspiration and a solid grounding in food design, with a light weekly commitment.
For people who want to apply what they learn to a project of their own, with a tutor alongside.
Everything in the Explorer, plus three in-person residencies, ending with your final project presented live in Madrid.
Pay in full, or in instalments with Klarna or PayPal at checkout.
Scholarships for 2027/28 open with the March call. See the FAQs below.
Learn from 18 studios, artists and researchers who work in food design every day.
Each speaker shows how their work is made, from first idea to finished project. Five tutors then guide your own project, one to one.
Academic director
Dr Francesca Zampollo
Founder of the Food Design Thinking methodology, the International Journal of Food Design and the International Food Design Society. She designs the academic programme, gives two lectures each term and leads the workshops.
Co-curator and host
Fondo Supper Club
A Madrid food design studio translating concepts into edible situations, using food as a medium for storytelling, research and immersive experiences rooted in art and contemporary culture.
Programme coordinator
Mariana Martins de Oliveira
A multidisciplinary artist and researcher working where food, ecology, education and participatory art meet, through performative meals, installations, workshops and editorial projects. She coordinates the programme day to day, from the live sessions and recordings to the residencies.
Guest speakers
Hover over a speaker to read their bio. Each lecture ends with a 30 to 40 minute Q&A.
A visionary designer, speaker and author. A graduate of Design Academy Eindhoven, she ran two experimental restaurants between 2004 and 2011 and leads the Food Design Playground. Her work has been exhibited at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian.
Food Design Playground. A pioneer of food design since 1999.
Tap to read bio
Projects such as Alcoholic Architecture and Symphony in Blue for Johnnie Walker reached billions of people. Sam has given keynotes for Google, Unilever, Diageo and Coca-Cola and at the Met, the Royal Academy of Arts and the V&A, on experiences, creativity, the future of food and drink and multi-sensory design.
Sam Bompas, co-founder and creative director
Tap to read bio
Marjorie trained in industrial design and designed with groups like LVMH before leading Pinch. Bob has 40 years in catering, from Glorious Food in the 1980s, cooking for Andy Warhol and David Bowie, to founding Creative Edge and then Pinch Food Design.
Marjorie, creative director, and Bob, founder and executive chef
Tap to read bio
A Paris studio crafting edible scenographies, conceptual catering and art-driven food installations for Alexander McQueen, Gucci, Prada, Nike and Veja, among others. Featured in Vogue, the Financial Times and The New York Times.
Zélikha Dinga. Edible scenography for fashion houses.
Tap to read bio
Since 2009 Steinbeisser has brought together chefs, artists and designers: plant-based, seasonal ingredients meet experimental tableware in dinners that challenge conventional eating rituals.
Jouw Wijnsma and Martin Kullik. Experimental gastronomy.
Tap to read bio
Architects turned food designers working on social and ecological sustainability through publications, installations, exhibitions and performance. They directed the film “food design” and curated the exhibition of the same name at the MuseumsQuartier Wien.
Sonja Stummerer and Martin Hablesreiter
Tap to read bio
A cross-border artist from Tijuana exploring food through nostalgia, playfulness and rebellion. With Elena Petrossian she runs Ananas Ananas, creating immersive edible installations that question food systems and waste.
Verónica L. González. Immersive edible installations.
Tap to read bio
Caique cooks dinners and presents food installations in museums, galleries and art events, using food to express the relationship between human culture and nature. He has worked in Germany, Spain, France, Tunisia, the USA, Abu Dhabi, Mexico and Hong Kong.
Artist and chef cooking in museums worldwide
Tap to read bio
A duo treating eating as a discursive, multi-sensory design practice, through performances, exhibitions and workshops. Commissioned by M+ Museum and Hong Kong Arts Centre, and shown at London Design Festival and Dutch Design Week.
Cindy Chan and Heinrik Ng. Performance and exhibition.
Tap to read bio
The experimental food art practice of Shanghai-born Gong Hua, exploring surrealism and the emotional side of consumption through installations, sensory experiences and conceptual displays.
Gong Hua. Surrealist food art and sensory work.
Tap to read bio
Culinary studio in Shanghai. Food with mood.
Faculty Steward and founder of the Collaborative for Food Systems Innovation at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. Founding CEO of The Republic of Tea, founding dean of the Food Business School at the Culinary Institute of America, and involved in more than 50 ventures. Oslo Business for Peace Award, 2010.
UC Berkeley Haas and Ideagarden Institute. Food systems innovation.
Tap to read bio
Founder and creative director of The Morris Project, working with Union Square Hospitality Group, Eataly, sweetgreen and Manhatta. James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant Design.
The Morris Project. Hospitality branding and design.
Tap to read bio
Ten years turning gastronomic concepts into sustainable businesses, from Madrid and Barcelona. Projects include Llama Inn Madrid, Nunuka, Golda and Zíngara.
Business consultancy for gastronomy and hospitality
Tap to read bio
A branding and marketing agency that has led more than 175 branding processes. Alex built his career at companies such as Nokia; Omar specialises in neuromarketing and sales systems. Both teach at MSMK.
Alex and Omar. Purpose-driven branding.
Tap to read bio
Co-founder and CEO of YouSustain, an Oslo consultancy making sustainability reporting accessible. A Certified Sustainability Professional and former GRI Academy trainer who has coached over 100 professionals.
Mia Holmsen. Sustainability reporting.
Tap to read bio1:1 tutors
For Explorers and Prototypers: six 30-minute tutorials on your own project
A cross-border artist from Tijuana exploring food through nostalgia, playfulness and rebellion. With Elena Petrossian she runs Ananas Ananas, creating immersive edible installations that question food systems and waste.
Mexico
Co-founder, Ananas Ananas
Talk to them about: installations, storytelling, sensory interaction
A Guatemalan-Spanish artist and food designer, founder of Random Happiness, Food Design Nation and ComoComo. Her work explores identity and ecologies, using food as an artistic language.
Guatemala / Spain
Founder, Random Happiness, Food Design Nation and ComoComo
Talk to them about: identity, ecologies, food as artistic language
A sensory food designer based in Eindhoven. She works with perception and taste, designing food experiences for brands and restaurants.
Netherlands
Sensory food designer, Eindhoven
Talk to them about: perception, taste, work for brands and restaurants
Soledad and Agustina founded Cuchara, a food design studio in Montevideo, Uruguay. They create events, products and experiences rooted in local ingredients.
Uruguay
Co-founders, Cuchara Food Design
Talk to them about: events, products, local ingredients
Zack and Cat founded the Center for Genomic Gastronomy, an artist-led think tank that examines the biotechnologies and biodiversity of human food systems, through exhibitions, research and public projects.
Netherlands / Portugal
Founders, Center for Genomic Gastronomy
Talk to them about: biodiversity, biotech, food systems
The year in three terms
Each term has 8 live sessions: 2 lectures by Francesca Zampollo that set out the term's frameworks, then 6 guest lectures. Classes are on Tuesdays at 19:00 Madrid time; the last session of each term is on a Thursday. Prototypers also travel to three residencies placed around the terms.
Design every element of an eating experience, not just the food: space, objects and narrative, aligned to one clear intention.
Use food to provoke thought: question norms, imagine alternative futures and engage with pressing issues in the food system.
Turn creative ideas into ventures that are financially viable and responsible, and develop your own proposal.
Three residencies, for Prototypers only
Seven days each, with local hosts and the rest of the Prototyper cohort. The Madrid residency closes the year: it is where Prototypers present their final projects live. Travel and accommodation are not included.
Food as experience and cultural practice, and new ways of designing with it.
Working with local culture, materials and stories, through place and collaboration.
The closing residency. Prototypers present their final projects live, to a real audience.
“An eye opener to what people can do if they do it with intention. To learn from the speakers and classmates has been everything and more.”
“Francesca's classes helped us understand all the layers of food design and design thinking, and then put that way of thinking into practice.”
“I learned the value of edibles as a medium for content, and how food can become a means of discovery and a platform for exchange.”
“The winter lectures opened up a way of exploring alternative futures by questioning not only how systems operate today, but what they are for.”
Sign-ups for 2027/28 open in March
The Explorer and Prototyper are full this year. Leave your email and we will write to you the day sign-ups for 2027/28 open, before we announce it anywhere else.
Designers, artists, chefs and creatives exploring food and design; entrepreneurs launching a food venture; food professionals who want to think beyond traditional approaches; and anyone with a food-related project who wants new perspectives, practical tools and expert feedback. No design background is needed.
The Seeker and the Explorer need no application: places are first come, first served until they are full. The Prototyper is by application. Sign-ups for 2027/28 open in March; leave your email to hear first.
Yes, as a Seeker. The Seeker pathway is open all year and you catch up on past classes through the recordings. The Explorer and Prototyper can be joined until 30 October and are full for 2026/27.
The Seeker: the weekly 90-minute live class, with optional readings and no homework.
The Explorer: the weekly class, plus six 2-hour workshops, six 30-minute tutorials and a personal project you present at the last session.
The Prototyper: everything in the Explorer, plus three 7-day residencies in Seoul, Dordrecht and Madrid, where you present your final project live.
No. The altMA is about designing eating experiences and using food as a medium, so it is conceptual and creative rather than culinary training. There are no exams or grades: you receive your certificate if you meet its requirements. Explorers and Prototypers develop a project of their own, which can stay a proposal or be carried out.
No. The altMA is sold as a full year, in one of the three pathways.
Every session is recorded and available in your student area until 31 August 2027. If you cannot come live, watch the recording: the student area records how much of each recording you have watched, and it counts towards your attendance. Please tell us in advance if you will miss a session.
Live classes are on Tuesdays at 19:00 Madrid time, and every class is recorded. Explorers and Prototypers book their tutorials at times that suit them; the workshops are at fixed times, 19:00 to 21:00 Madrid time.
The Seeker: a Certificate of Participation, if you attend at least 6 of the 8 live sessions in each term.
The Explorer: a Certificate of Completion, if you attend at least 19 of 24 live sessions and 5 of 6 workshops with your camera on, and present your project at the final session.
The Prototyper: the full altMA certificate, with the Explorer's requirements, at least 2 of the 3 residencies, and your final presentation in Madrid.
A live session counts as attended if you stay for at least 80% of it. If you cannot come live, watching at least 80% of the recording in your student area counts too. Workshops are not recorded, so they count only live.
Fondo School is not state-regulated, so these are not accredited academic qualifications.
Explorers and Prototypers have two tutorials each term: one with Francesca Zampollo and one with a guest tutor of their choice, booked in the student area, first come, first served. All the listed speakers give their lectures. The Prototyper group is limited to 25 people.
All programming, workshops, visits and lunches. Breakfast, dinner, accommodation and travel are not included. A typical day combines a workshop, visits to local practitioners and time on your own project, with presentations to the group. If you need an invitation letter for a visa, write to school@fondosupperclub.com.
No. The residencies are part of the Prototyper pathway and come with the whole year. They are not sold separately, and it is not possible to upgrade to the Prototyper during the year. Prototypers need to attend at least 2 of the 3 residencies for the full altMA certificate.
Yes. At checkout you can pay in instalments with Klarna or PayPal. Klarna is only offered in some countries, so it may not appear for you. If neither works, write to school@fondosupperclub.com and we will arrange three bank transfers.
Yes. Send your payment receipt, together with your company's legal name, fiscal address and VAT number, to admin@fondosupperclub.com. Invoices cannot be changed once issued.
There are no scholarships left for 2026/27. New scholarships for the Seeker pathway open with the call for 2027/28 in March, for BIPOC applicants, people affected by war or political turmoil, and people facing demonstrable economic hardship. Leave your email and we will tell you when the call opens.
You can withdraw within 14 days of purchase, as provided by law, by writing to school@fondosupperclub.com or using the withdrawal form. After 14 days, fees are not refundable. If we cancel the course, you choose between a full refund and a place on a future edition.
English. A conversational level is enough to follow the classes and join the discussions.
A stable internet connection, Zoom and Discord. A laptop or desktop works best.
Anything else? Write to school@fondosupperclub.com
Start today as a Seeker.
The Seeker pathway is open all year. Join now, catch up on past classes with the recordings, and be at the next live session on Tuesday at 19:00 Madrid time.
Join any time
