Terrain: A custom designed spatial and sensory eating experience invited into your home

Look back at your life in memories – honour their experience and how they take up space in your heart. Then, look back at your life in objects. Acknowledge their intention and why they have taken up space in your home. Now, think of all the meals that you shared in your space – the mood they evoke when you scan the rooms. The light bouncing off the walls. The shadows delicately moving as the clock does. The air of nature’s bounty traversing the house from freshly picked flowers. The aromas of Sunday breakfast waking your nose up gently. These are the moments that stick with us when we remember the experience of a space- how it awakened our senses.

As a highly sensitive and sensory storyteller, who often leads with emotion, I decided to take an absence from telling other people’s stories in 2017 and start creating my own. With a vivid interest in sound, space, design, food, environment, recovery and culture, I left the screen to go volunteer on a farm near Prince Albert to further my curiosity for cooking and found inspiration in living off the land. Nature threw me the lifeline I needed: putting my hands into the soil rescued me. It gave me the foundation and permission to enter my artistry. Leaving my comfort zone back in the city, I entered into a new dynamic with the foliage surrounding me – of appreciation and tunefulness. In observing nature’s cycles of memories and truths, I became more comfortable in mine.

I met more of myself everyday, in the clouds, in the sunset and the horizon. Emotionally , I wanted processed and fast. Intuitively, I wanted whole and slow. Meal time was about making me feel like a sovereign. We set the table every meal, avoided any devices and were acutely mindful of our eating, savouring each aroma and fragrance. This practise has given me the beauty I needed in my relationship with food. Using the land as my inspiration and the shapes and rituals of produce as my medium, I started creating experiences that are tactile and visceral for all the senses, to take us out of the default and into the native.

Spatial and sensory design

I believe a home is a living being, evoking sensory habits and rituals in every nook, which is why I want to lend you my mood: to reignite passion into your home. By designing something unique to share with guests – you can host a dining experience in the privacy and personality of your space.

Inspired by the sentiments of Japanese practises such as Kintsugi , which encourages old items  to find new life, as well as Wabi-Sabi – the acceptance of transient beauty that is impermanent, imperfect and incomplete, I curate the parts of ourselves that crave pleasure and beauty and design with sensory cues that guide you to engage with the space and food before you.

Eating experience
Each meal is a dish served best with harmony. Using seasonal, local, sustainable, nutrient-rich and mineral-heavy foods, each food installation is held by the art of slow food, meaning each moment takes time to prep, cook, brew, infuse and serve.

Terrain is about navigating your way to now. There is no separateness between you and here, and meal time is a great way of experiencing that. Hosting is fulfilling because you get the opportunity to create something for other people. When you invite someone into your own home, you create a deeper connection.

Comfort of your own home

Give your guests the gift of your re imagined home. It’s a great way to get to know the personality and mood a home evokes. When creating your guest list, think of it as an icebreaker for new people, getting to know your colleagues outside of the office space or an opportunity to reconnect with familiar faces in a novel way. In the experiences I design, vulnerability forms part of the ambience, where you can control the dynamics. To ensure heightened sensitivity, I request all bags to be left at the front door and phones switched off. This brings everyone down to the same level, so you can leave your outside life at the door and come in to relax, to feel like you’re at home.

To best assess your needs, I ask you to answer a few prompts surrounding mood and memory to get
a better idea on how to customise the space.
Step 1: I Invite your guests and set a date.
Step 2 : I design the experience to suit your mood.
Step 3: I curate the space and meal in your home.

Dinner bookings are open for May and June. Eating experiences can be facilitated in any space you call home, for up to 6 guests at a time at R500 per person. The experience runs for 3 hours, which includes a variety of dishes, cocktails and nibbles. Following the meal will be time dedicated to a full cleanup and each piece of furniture will be moved back to its original setting.

Contact: terrainexperiences@gmail.com 0822568000

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