0K Studios Take-Over
0k.studios is an exploration into using food and flowers to create immersive dining experiences that are also viewed as fine art sculptures. We aim to curate unique and immersive edible installations inspired by stories, elements, friends and a passion for food and flowers. Instagram: @0k.studios
Over the last year we have created four projects and are currently working on our next ones. The images that we are sharing with you today are from our first projects, ‘Garden of Eden’ , ‘The Cave by the Sea’ and our Collaboration with designer Crimson Rose ‘Island Dreams’.
We are very inspired by nature in our work, especially in the Cave by the Sea project, where each element of the meal was utterly inspired by the Cornish coast of where it was set. For this project we walked, photographed, foraged and researched the environment we were exploring. We began to feel as if our relationship with nature had adjusted from aesthetic appreciation to truly a combinative balanced relationship. We didn’t want to romanticise nature, but work amongst and beside it - it informed every quality of the meal, however we didn’t want to imitate it.
Recently, we had the pleasure of collaborating with designer Crimson Rose (@crimsonrose_official on instagram). The collection ‘Island Dreams’ is particularly inspired by blissful summers in the Mediterranean. Crimson Rose’s clothing combines fresh colours with bold prints. We were particularly inspired by the use of colours in Crimson Rose’s designs: luscious greens, sea blues, amorous pinks and fiery oranges. We created 3 set designs for three different meals that mixed fresh Mediterranean-style flavours with colourful florals.
Why are food and flowers your chosen medium to express your ideas?
Ollie: I use flowers as a medium because I like warping the idea of traditional floristry and exploring the idea of creating fine art sculptures with flowers, especially as you only have a limited time with them.
Kay: I like to use food as a way to create an enjoyable dining experience that is unique to a specific moment in time, and sparks interesting conversation between people. Both of our mediums are perishable which is an important aspect to us as it means that what we create can only be physically experienced once. The crossover between our work frequently involves the use of edible flowers, which brings together Ollie’s floristry and Kay’s medium of edible art.
How did you come to work together?
We came to work together through being close friends, and then at uni recognised our mediums worked well together. Kay was trying to create unique dining experiences by collaborating with other artists, which developed into an on going project with Ollie.
If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?
Our work is collaboration based and we would love to work with artists who create space installations, combining the element of food, flowers and visuals, stepping into a different world of dining experiences. If we could collaborate with absolutely anyone, it would be Barbara Hepworth and her amazing sculptures, or Tim walker, Chiara Stephenson, or Olafur Eliasson, to create work that calls a response to all senses.
Can you list a couple other creatives/friends/people you look to for inspiration?
We are so lucky to be surrounded by so many creative friends, such as photographer Tami Aftab, who documented our recent project with Flore Directory. Our close friend, painter Dan Kerrison-Stock, provides inspiration through his use of colour and expressive brushstrokes. Food artist Laila Gohar is also someone we look up to when it comes to floral and food design, we love her enthusiasm for creating food sculptures and we think this really reflects what we explore as collaborative.
