Archivi tag: London

Nico’s version

Galleria 11/05/2020 Donatella

Nico and I we know each other since 5 years already, and I still remember the first time we were talking on my terrace, drinking a glass of wine, the moment I thought that I needed to tell his story. He is the typical artist, the way we all imagine a creative mind: brilliant, fleeting, changing and enthusiastic about everything and every proposals!

Since then he climbed the ladder, but always being humble, passionate and curious.

Who is Nico?!

I grow up in Tuscany on a hill in the middle of nowhere. It was, and still is an oasis of freedom and inspiration. Surrounded by nature, as a child I helped often my dad to do agricultural activities such cutting grass or doing fire wood. This was my first contact with machines like the chainsaw. As I grew older, I started using it for carving sculptures. A lot of space, no neighbors, no noise restrictions, it was the perfect playground for me to learn as autodidact wood sculpture. When I was 17 years old I did my first sculpture, without model, protection and without a plan what a possible outcome could be.

This was the starting point of my career as sculptor.

When did you start to sculpt?

When I was a child I always wanted to become a midwife. I do not know how this idea went into my mind, but it was so strong that I started to look for an internship in that field as I was 16 years old. The idea of giving birth to something always inspired me. At the time (nowadays I do not know how it is) this type of profession was reserved for women. Looking back at this time I think that I always had in me the unconscious desire to create something or at least to assist to giving birth to something. In the context of making sculptures I realized that it was more important to me to create something, instead of only assisting to give birth.

I decided to move to London in 2016, as I got a place at the Royal College of Arts. I always wanted to study product design.

What’s so special in your works?

I am not so sure. I think that they are quite unique as I never do research before starting a new project. I do not know if something like that exists already; I also do not know where my work is going to take me.

In other words I often start with a material or a process without knowing what the outcome come will be.

Where does your passion come from?

I think the most important thing about my work is that I enjoy doing what I am doing. I do not think that much about it… I just start somewhere, without knowing exactly where I am going to end. This is the reason why the first and last step in producing my sculptures is the making aspect. I do not sketch that much and I prefer not to model what am doing.

Your mantra?

Start doing instead of thinking!

When you start a project, do it with love and follow your passion and choose your project topic in base of what you enjoy doing.

Soon the new website!

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Food

OLIVOCRACY

Galleria 24/04/2020 Donatella

“The big love we have for both Italy and the UK shaped our biggest dream and gave us the motivation to turn it into reality: offer our British friends the possibility to taste the real Italian excellences at home and experience Italy like a local on a holiday to remember.”

Daniele & Eleonora grew up in a small city in the centre of Italy, in an area called Umbria, well known for its peculiar medieval hamlets, its hilly landscape covered by vineyards and olive groves and its delicious food. A place away from the buzz of the big cities where you can savour the pleasures of a slow paced lifestyle and experience a deep connection to nature and tradition.
They have known each other forever but then they met again in London 10 years ago, where Daniele had moved for work and Eleonora was on holiday… “And here we are! The big love we have for both Italy and the UK shaped our biggest dream and gave us the motivation to turn it into reality: offer our British friends the possibility to taste the real Italian excellences at home and experience Italy like a local on a holiday to remember.”

When did you start the Olivocracy project?
We started Olivocracy four years ago, with a range of organic and biodynamic single estate extra virgin olive oils from Italian small producers and then we added Magna Mater, a range of biodynamic condiments: balsamic vinegars, apple cider vinegar, white condiment and Saba that is cooked grape must. Single estate in most cases or single origin. Mostly, pillars of traditional Italian cuisine.
We work with organic and biodynamic small to medium scale producers as they are more connected to the agronomic heritage and the rhythm of mother Nature. Two of our extra virgin olive oils come from a FAO GIAHS, a Globally Important Agronomic Heritage System, “outstanding landscapes of aesthetic beauty that combine agricultural biodiversity, resilient ecosystem and a valuable cultural heritage”.
For us there cannot be excellence without sustainability, for two main reasons: first, we believe that in a product that is considered excellent there should be no undesired substances. Second and not less important, one of the points that make a product excellent, together with an amazing sensory and chemical profile, is the impact it has on the environment.

We believe that farming can have a positive impact on the environment if farmers work in harmony with Nature, nurture biodiversity and prioritize revitalization of the soil.
We support short supply chain and maximum traceability, products straight from the farm to our customers, certified, tested in a lab and with no additives whatsoever.

Where does your passion come from?
A few factors came together: our love for Italy and London, our deep connection to nature and to tradition, a strong will to stand up for more environmentally friendly practices and a passion for discovering niche, outstanding products. We love networking, we love collaborating with like-minded people, we love waking up in the morning with a sense of scope and feeling that we are part of a constantly growing movement of people thinking and acting differently.

Difficulties.
Doing everything by ourselves, learning things we had never done before and not all listed in the famous 20% of the Pareto Principle :D, starting a business without external funds, a highly competitive market, make audience understand the real value of our products, the fact that we pay the producers more than fairly and how much this affects the final price.
However, every difficult step, led us here and we are learning a lot about business, our sector and about ourselves, as individuals, as professionals and as a couple working together. It just feels great and all this resonates so much with what we are and our values that even in the most challenging days, we know where we want to go and who we want to be.

Your goals.
Our goal is doing something we love which makes us grow as both professionals and individuals while having a positive impact on the society. Offering people the option of shopping with an eye (or both) to the environment, to their health and to real quality. Keep on learning, evolving and expanding. Having a great work-life balance and a job that is also a passion that fulfills us and gives us energy to invest with people we love. Stay present to ourselves and in connection with nature.

Be the best version of ourselves and a source of good energy for people we meet!

Advices to someone who wants to start a business.
Find out what your mission and your core values are and live accordingly. Everything will be much easier and enjoyable. Be humble and see a teacher in everyone and every situation, but at the same time be self-confident and trust your ability to do well what you already know and to learn what you don’t. Network with genuine interest with like-minded people and welcome debate. Keep on learning, reading, watching videos, listening to people, feeding your brain and soul. Try not to let the business take over your personal life, find time for yourself, meditate, exercise, do yoga or whatever you like to take care of yourself and stay healthy. Find time for your loved ones, love and life are a great source of energy and inspiration.

Projects for the future.
At some point, we would love to be flexible between London and Italy, so to have more time to enjoy our families and the Mediterranean weather that we love so much! Widen the range of products and the circle of people we collaborate with. Create more and more synergies with other sectors of sustainable manufacture. Work on connected projects. Being able to delegate and allocate our working time to that aforementioned 20% of things that we really love doing.

Our mantra
Be the change you want to see in the world.
We don’t inherit the world from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
Keep calm… and call Batman!

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Food

VIVID VEGETARIANISM

14/08/2017 Donatella

What’s insatiable about being in the restaurant business is…

That you work with food and that you are surrounded by food. Everywhere there’s food. Chefs shower me with food. Friends spoil me with food. My Asian family forces me with food. I make a living from food. There’s no escape from food.

Such a gruesome first world problem that one must never, ever take for granted!

As food is so vastly available I have NO self control when it comes to bingeing. I have a personal record of consuming 25 KFC chicken pieces in one seating and I can scoop mayonnaise and eat it like ice cream. I am also not very discerning when it comes to anything that is deep fried, oh lord.

Hence the 4-letter “D” word does not exist in my vocab.

For health reasons and in a lame attempt to limit all that borderless gluttony – I commit to a 50% vegetarian and meatless diet plan once a month. I explored the vegetarian market in the UK as healthy eating is relatively on the global trend. My findings? Vegetarianism or being Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian if you permit yourself with the consumption of dairy products… can be fun!

Vegetables look pretty… and tasty!

Natural and raw ingredients are very colourful – imagine a rainbow of capsicums, aubergine, plant sourced sauces, beetroot, tomatoes, basil leaves – this is a food porn aesthetics dream! Here is a plate I gorged from a healthy buffet at ETHOS consisting of a glorious scotch egg (for those lacto-ovos), humus, sweet potato chips, mint cauliflower, grilled chilli egg plant and guacamole. Screw the Michelins, this is gloriously tasty and filing as HEAVEN.

Vegetables are filling… without the carbs and guilt!

Like me, if you have a metabolism of a cow – rule out rice and pasta because carbs are essentially sugar. Many forms of root based vegetables such as aubergines provide an excellent source of fibre without leaving you with indigestion and an awful dis-humanitarian guilt of slaughter. If those cold leafy salads leave you hungry – replace them with grilled broccoli or cauliflower, they can fill you up so you will not snack later in the day. Should you need one: honey roasted cashews is a hero’s source of energy and is mega addictive.

The delicious options are endless: think sweet and sour carrot tempura, cauliflower cheese bake, creamed spinach, miso eggplants, onion bhajis in chutney, avocado and garlic dips… And these bizarre flour-less cakes are available from hipster cafes. If you are still hungry at this point, you must be kidding me.

Some restaurants do them… very right

In my opinion and to non-vegans, raw foods can be awful – plant based ingredients are mostly uncooked and the end result is often a deconstructed mess. Though there are incredible exceptions – Wild Food Cafe does an excellent pizza which tastes like pizza but looks nothing like pizza. This is the kind of dish that screams WOW and one that you will never forget – because you don’t really know what you have really eaten.

To top it off – there’s very little oil and fat in the vegetarian diet. Unfortunately carbs are present – but essentially your body requires fuel to burn, so be kind. I attempted a protein-only diet once in my early 20s and I ended up with constipation, weight gain and lethargy – hence instead of feeling sexy, literally I felt like a stuffed sausage.

Having said it all, let’s be mystified by the laws of nature: Elephants are vegetarians. Cheetahs are carnivores. Who’s leaner?

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Lyn Siew

Based in Kuala Lumpur and having previously lived and worked across 8 countries, Lyn Siew is the owner of an award winning Contemporary Chinese Hybrid Restaurant, Ruyi & Lyn, and a Western eatery Monte’s by the Red Herring. She is currently incubating a local startup project for culinary students, and building an online platform for the global food community. Relationship status? Married to food and champagne.
Follow her daily eating and drinking adventures on Instagram!

Déshabillé Magazine