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I've been into origami for as long as I can remember, so I was super excited when West Elm asked me to style some napkins with origami-inspired folds. It's not exactly food, but the two go hand in hand (or hand in lap?)
2,564 Likes, 71 Comments - west elm (@westelm) on Instagram: "Your coq au vin may be inedible, but at least your napkins are on-point. 💅💎 Get more tips for..."
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1,726 Likes, 75 Comments - west elm (@westelm) on Instagram: "Getting ready for the 4th by observing our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of obsessively..."
I partnered with my friends at Anomaly's Unreasonable Studios to create the suite of splashy images below. Jobs like this are some of my favorite — I get to be one part food stylist, one part rigger, and three parts kid-at-the-playground-with-water-balloons.
One of my favorite tasks as a food stylist is when I get to write with food. I've been lucky to have had lots of opportunities to work on my calligraphy skills over the years. Here are some of my favorite pieces so far.
I was asked by Stella Artois to create the food for a series of advertisements in which groups of friends were enjoying meals together. The shoot consisted of both still photos and video sequences, which was a recipe for long hours and multiple takes. The client was looking for food that felt elevated and elegant, and the talent had to interact with it in a way that felt natural. As a food stylist it is always challenging to create an environment that feels like the best version of real life, especially when the camera is constantly moving and the actors are (appearing to be) eating it... sometimes for 4 or 5 hours at a time! I'm quite pleased with how these images came out!
When it comes to making videos, stop-motion animation has long been my favorite of project to work on. I grew up in a Monty Python family, and I started making my own short films inspired by Terry Gilliam's work as soon as I had access to a video camera. With so much focus on stop motion animation in the online video world these days, it's been greatly satisfying to be able to make this hobby of mine a part of my career as a food stylist. Here's one of my favorite projects so far, a lush, detailed advertorial video for FeedFeed + Figgy Pops.
Last summer I had the great pleasure of spending some of New York City's hottest weeks in the cool (ok, downright cold) walls of Michigan's Hudsonville Ice Cream factory in the suburbs of Grand Rapids. Photographer Hadley Henry and I teamed up with local branding agency Rocket Science to shoot the images that would completely redesign the brand's look and feel by elevating it's packaging to compete with artisanal grocery store brands. The whole experience was a food stylist's dream come true — a wonderful, trusting team which afforded us the freedom to make creative decisions as needed, not to mention the unlimited ice cream and dry ice!
Inside the Hudsonville Ice Cream Deep Freezer
File it under the category of bizarre requests. Floral breakfasts for Kheil's highlighting the botanicals in their Daily Reviving Concentrate.
