Why this

Plated Stories is a creative collaboration between a writer - Jamie Schler - and a photographer – Ilva Beretta - each passionate about food, each with a very personal vision of how to put that food on a plate and on the page. One sees in images, colors and light, textures and shape, the other in black and white, words, emotions and personal tales. Plated Stories brings both of our visions together. It allows us to explore our creativity, find inspiration, express ourselves in a way that we normally may not; an artistic symbiosis, a professional partnership that now goes beyond our individual endeavors.

Ilva and I decided to work together, partner on outside projects over a year ago. Mutual respect for each other’s individual work, kindred aspirations, similar aesthetic visions as well as a profound friendship naturally drew us together professionally. Plated Stories came together after three editorial collaborations.

Plated Stories is a playground where we are free to elaborate on a theme that isn’t dictated by the other’s work or a defined goal, without imposing our own vision or emotional and artistic reaction onto the other. We choose a weekly theme or topic together and then go our separate ways, allowing that theme to inspire each of us individually - as a writer and a photographer - in any direction. Ideas are explored, cultivated, nurtured; we weave in and out, putting our heads together every day for a chat and mutual encouragement before returning to our own thoughts. We work in parallel with complete freedom, knowing that somehow, when she brings her captured images and I my written words together each Monday there will be a story told.

The artistic fusion that is Plated Stories offers a constant source of stimulation and energy. It is an exercise in discipline, keeping each of us on a rigorous, self-imposed schedule, as much responsible for ourselves as for the other. It is a source of amusement, allowing us a space to experiment in a different way than our work usually affords. Plated Stories allows us to share with others our ongoing creative process while just having a lot of fun.

Feast your eyes, pull a chair up to our table and partake!