Above image: Sam Masters, GULP
From eating without cutlery to experimental glassware travelling internationally, Kaye Winwood is putting Birmingham on the map for food art and sensory design.
What if your hand became your plate? What if the glass you drink from changed how you experienced your drink? And what if a meal could be as much an artwork as an exhibition?
These are the kinds of questions being explored at GULP, an independent creative studio tucked away in a Grade II listed building in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. Founded by artist Kaye Winwood in 2021, GULP is one of the UK’s few dedicated studios for food art and sensory experimentation, bringing together visual art, gastronomy, design and performance to challenge how we experience eating and drinking.
Having celebrated its fifth anniversary, GULP continues to develop a distinctive programme of bespoke dining experiences that invite audiences to explore food in unexpected ways.
Now, with Winwood’s experimental glassware travelling from exhibitions in Brussels and Antwerp to a 25th-anniversary celebration at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft in the USA, her work is attracting international attention – all originating from an independent creative studio in the heart of Birmingham.
Food is more than what’s on the plate
With more than 25 years’ experience across visual art, food, moving image and performance, Winwood has spent much of her career exploring food as an artistic material. In 2016, she coined the term Expanded Dining to describe her approach: taking the experience of eating beyond the plate and into a wider sensory world of touch, smell, sound, memory and place.
At GULP, this might mean a meal inspired by the hidden histories of the Jewellery Quarter, a gathering where food and literature meet, or an experimental dining experience that invites guests to reconsider familiar habits.
“I’m interested in what happens when we stop taking the experience of eating for granted,” says Winwood. “Food is such a rich material. It connects us to memories, places and other people, but we rarely stop to think about all the ways we experience it. What happens when we change the rules a little?”
Hands On Sensuality: no cutlery required
On Wednesday 28 October, Winwood presents Hands On Sensuality, an experimental dining experience that places touch at the centre of eating.
Originally developed before the COVID-19 pandemic, the project explores the intimate relationship between hands, food and the body. Each course is designed to be served on a different part of the hand or wrist, transforming the hand itself into a vessel for eating.
With no knives, forks or spoons, diners are invited to notice the warmth of their skin, the texture and temperature of each morsel, and the journey from hand to mouth.
“Eating with our hands is one of the most immediate ways of experiencing food,” says Winwood. “There’s no cold metal between you and what you’re eating. You feel the food before you taste it. I want people to slow down, get curious and discover just how sensual and mindful an everyday act can be.”
Hands On Sensuality takes place at GULP on 28 October 2026, from 7–9pm. Tickets are £45 per person, including all food, with drinks available separately.
From the Jewellery Quarter to Houston
Winwood’s interest in the relationship between objects and the body also extends to Expanded Intimacy, a series of experimental drinking vessels developed with artist Nuala Clooney.
Originally commissioned by the University of Birmingham for its Arts & Science Festival, the collaborative project explores how the objects we use to eat and drink can transform our sensory experience. The distinctive Finger Glasses invite users to experience drinking through touch, taste and smell.
Recently exhibited in Brussels and Antwerp as part of Edible Confluence, the glasses were also used in Tender Acts, a workshop exploring the intimate relationship between material, body and consumption.
They have since travelled to Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, where they were featured in the institution’s Silver Anniversary Dinner, celebrating its 25th anniversary in partnership with experimental dining organisation Steinbeisser.
For Winwood, these collaborations demonstrate how an idea developed through artistic research in Birmingham can travel internationally, bringing together artists, craftspeople, chefs and audiences around a shared curiosity about food and material.
The Finger Glasses are also available to purchase through the GULP online store, bringing a piece of this experimental practice into everyday life.
A different kind of creative space for Birmingham
GULP is neither a conventional restaurant nor an art gallery. Alongside Winwood’s independent artistic practice, it offers an intimate dining room and creative studio for experimental events, workshops, private gatherings and collaborations.
Based in Birmingham’s historic Jewellery Quarter, the space reflects a wider ambition to bring art, design, food and sensory research into closer conversation, creating opportunities for people to experience creativity in unexpected ways.
As Birmingham continues to celebrate its independent creative businesses and makers, GULP offers a reminder that innovation does not always happen in large institutions or purpose-built spaces. Sometimes it starts with a hand, a mouthful of food and a question about how things could be different.
GULP’s Founding Patron Circle
To mark GULP’s fifth anniversary, Winwood has launched the Founding Patron Circle. The scheme comes at a challenging time for independent creative and hospitality businesses, as rising costs, changing consumer habits and ongoing financial pressures make it increasingly difficult for independent venues, cafés, restaurants and cultural spaces to survive.
“As an independent, self-funded organisation, GULP has grown through gritted teeth, determination, creativity and the incredible support of our community,” says founder Kaye Winwood. “But sustaining spaces like this is becoming increasingly challenging. The Founding Patron Circle is an opportunity for people who believe in what we do to play an active role in helping GULP continue.”
Limited to 10 individual patrons and two organisational patrons, the Founding Patron Circle has been designed as a small community of supporters who believe in the value of independent, artist-led spaces.
Patron contributions will directly support GULP’s future programme of events, artistic research and creative projects. Benefits for patrons include:
- 10% off selected GULP events
- Behind-the-scenes previews and tasters
- Early access to tickets before public release
- Invitations to an exclusive annual Patrons’ Dinner
“GULP has always been about creating meaningful experiences where food becomes a starting point for ideas, conversations and connections,” continues Winwood. “This support will help us continue creating a place where art, food and people come together around the table.”
To find out more about becoming a Founding Patron, visit:
https://www.kayewinwood.com/patrons-scheme
About Kaye Winwood and GULP
Kaye Winwood is a Birmingham-based artist, creative producer and curator with more than 25 years’ experience spanning visual art, food, moving image and performance. Her work explores sensory design, gastronomy and participation, using food as a medium for artistic research and experience.
She founded GULP in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter in 2021 as a dedicated space for food art, sensory exploration and innovation in dining. Her work has been presented and commissioned by organisations including the Barbican, Ikon Gallery, Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), New Art Gallery Walsall, Flatpack Festival and Supersonic Festival.
Upcoming event: Hands On Sensuality
Wednesday 28 October 2026, 7–9pm
GULP, Unit 9, 58 Spencer Street, Birmingham, B18 6DS
Tickets: £45 per person, including all food
Booking and further information: https://www.kayewinwood.com/events-gulp
Finger Glasses: Available from the GULP store:
https://www.kayewinwood.com/tickets/p/finger-glassware
Website: https://www.kayewinwood.com