Daily Harvest-ing at Amber Waves Farm

Revise, Revise, Revise. Ouch. Revise.

Creativity is seldom a solitary pursuit but a balancing act between what you envision in your mind’s eye and what someone else expects—and then you need to consider a budget. Admittedly, the majority of my first deck was denied—yup, one thousand percent a bruise to my ego, BUT you’ve gotta move on. Just as that blurry path I talked of earlier often leads to sunny pastures, sometimes when you are pushed creatively, it can lead to an outcome far better than your initial vision.

I can recall almost 20 years ago, Victor, my husband, was working on a remix for Madonna. He had already worked on the entire Ray of Light album so they were extremely comfortable with one another—they had an amazing workflow. She had asked him to produce a track for “What It Feels Like for A Girl”, off the Music album. But rather than his usual dance mix she wanted something more ambient. This was a huge opportunity for him to spread his wings. He worked nonstop for weeks in the recording studio. (I know every word to that song backwards I heard it so much.) He was so excited and proud of the finished product. I am sure you know where this is going—she hated it! She gave him very specific notes, and you know what, he disagreed. He listened again and was absolutely certain he delivered the best possible mix. Well, you just don’t tell Madonna no, period. He begrudgingly started over. That new mix became the version she sang on the Drowned World Tour—she LOVED it. My point is this—you always need to put forth your absolute best, what you feel proud of, but it’s not always gonna be exactly right. Being pushed, just like being lost, often produces a greater outcome.

So, at first I delivered a deck for the Daily Harvest team that included textured paper with romantic calligraphy, and an illustration of something harvest-related on the menu. Nope, not the right fit for the brand. “More minimal” was the feedback. Back to the drawing board. I imagined a table with a textural runner of wheat grasses and wild flowers blowing in the wind. “Too brown and rustic, please add more negative space, white and color.” What I came around to was adding color by way of the bounty growing in the very fields we sat in. Purple and pink radishes, golden beets, zucchini flowers, and garlic scapes became sculptural art once gathered on the table. Wild flowers from the fields were also cut in coordinating hues. And the warm-tone napkins were tied in a knot, as opposed to being folded vertically, to offset the streamlined rectangular menus. I find that being malleable is a necessary part of the creative process. Often you don’t know what will present itself until you take a step in a direction. Allow your lens to change focus as you go, zoom in and out, look at a composition, assess, and adjust.

Surveying the completed table, I could not imagine the visuals looking any other way. Although I could not have predicted it at the get-go, it made crazy-perfect sense to have the event awash in colorful, plentiful, and wholly daily harvested provisions. Progress is not linear. We zig and we zag.