Week 4 – The Ingredient
February 4, 2008
The Ingredient
Simplicity is inherently complex, and vice versa. The fewer the distractions, the more reliant one is upon the integrity of execution. The genius of modesty.
The Crown Prince is the ingredient. Whether that be a turnip, onion or fois gras, it is held aloft and given the seat of honor. I love how, in class, the scope is narrowed and a three-ingredient custard is beautiful. Taste and texture tell the story, and in one bite the simplicity stops you dead in your tracks. We are learning how to shepherd taste.
I relate to the ingredient. For some reason, Robert’s food and teaching runs parallel to my philosophy that I’ve always had about my jewelry. I form ornament from glass. It is the same material that beer bottles are made of. It is a turnip. Though when executed with love and integrity, it becomes the Crown Prince. I don’t want my glass beads to look like anything other than glass. Color and shape tell the story, just like taste and texture.
The ingredient will never go out of style. It can’t. It is impossible. I pray that my jewelry will run the same course as Robert’s food and transcend the frivolity of fashion, and just be what it is – glass held aloft. An ingredient made beautiful.
- Blake
