In 2014 Ida Skiveness (@idafrosk) was ranked by Fast Company magazine as one of "the most creative 100, simple" but 2 years before she had reached that status, she was an employee of the government of Norway without any creative agenda on her plate. Ida grew up on a farm in the idyllic landscape of fjords and mountains of Western Norway. Today, she lives in Berlin; her Instagram account featuring food art has 284 thousand followers, and she published a book "Eat Your Art Out: Playful Breakfasts by Idafrosk" translated into seven languages. How did it all happen so fast?
It all started with a simple idea of using everyday ingredients creatively and re-imagining the meal. Ida became vegetarian in 20111 and to make the eating process more fun, she started experimenting with colors, placement of fruit, vegetables, etc. The Instagram account created in 2012 featured cell phone taken photos of breakfast plates which make you feel like you want to be a child again and Ida would be your ideal breakfast fairy, so you would never really hate broccoli or brussels sprouts as an adult. She describes herself as not artistically talented at all and says that her talent turned out to be the ability to play with food in an inspiring way. Ida has 3 ethical principles: no meat, no sweets, 100% edible ingredients and no matter how perfect her arrangements look, she always ends up eating them afterward.
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| Via Ida Frosk |
Ida managed to create her own unique niche starting with simple ideas and progressing into a re-creation of book covers, monuments and artworks on her breakfast plates. The goal was not to copy but to reinterpret. The Instagram boosted her popularity, and various journalists were asking if they can come over for breakfasts.
The transformation from anonymous food "magician" to an internet star happened almost overnight, and after a year she decided to quit super safe governmental job in Norway and focus on a creative, kitchen-based freelancing business without any strategy. She and her boyfriend moved to the city she always wanted to live in, Berlin, as she was able to work from anywhere in the world. Fashion, food, and travel companies were literally willing to pay her to play with food and create ads, articles and magazine covers. The assignments included ad campaign for Summer Olympics in Brazil, Lufthansa, Vogue or Stella McCartney for Kids.
Coming back to my initial question, how did she overcome the "F" word and why does her stuff work?
In her talk for Creative Mornings, Berlin, she said it was timing, good luck, super specialized niche, but most importantly, very visual and easily understood content that is communicated across cultural, age or any other differences. For her, what she does is a creative exercise.
As we are approaching multiple winter holidays during which meals are the core ingredient of happiness and spirit of togetherness, Ida's approach to food may change our perceptions of the merry and jolly occasions. Instead of wasting food or preparing too much of it, we can exercise creativity and have fun with it. Our parents were telling us when we were kids that we were not allowed to play with food. Forget that advice this holiday season, play with your food and be creative. When we play and have fun, we forget about fear and if in the process there is a chance for us to become creative freelancers, cheers to that!
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