As a studio, we love bringing people together. It’s a driver that extends beyond our client work. 

Since day one, we’d talked about how we could invite people into the studio to talk, share and learn. 

And at the end of 2022, we held our first event, called FOOD!. It’s a monthly(ish) event that’s been described as ‘more like a house party than a studio event.’ 

Let me tell you the story of how it came to be…

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love cooking for people. I get joy from putting something on the table for people to share. 

Even better when that something starts a conversation. 

I think food is quite disarming in that way. It’s one of my favourite ways to get to know people. 

So it came as no real surprise to me when I saw that some of our most intimate and meaningful chats as a studio came from the lunch table, rather than our desk. 

It got me thinking about how we could create a dedicated space for them. 

Initially, I pitched FOOD! as a thing for the studio. We’d stay after work maybe once a month, and one of us would be responsible for feeding our bellies with tasty food, while another would take charge of bringing a tasty topic to the table.

Food! 01 – Happiness

It snowballed beyond the five of us when we decided the first edition should be about happiness. 

Dave had been telling me to watch A Happy Film by Stefan Sagmeister for months. My lack of a TV was holding me up. 

Hosting a bigger chat about happiness and a film screening just seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up. 

And so we turned the studio into a make-shift cinema and invited 20 people to come and feast on both a meal and conversation with us. Here’s what it looked like, and what people on the night thought happiness is, and isn’t.