TRISHA TOH
FOOD/PROP STYLIST
Food styling is ... combining two of my biggest passions: food and photography. Three years ago, I started teaching myself to style food to get the perfect composition and aesthetic, to better tell the story behind a plate. It’s no secret that ... the trick to what I do is loving what I do. I am obsessed with the works of Donna Hay. I religiously buy every issue of her magazine and marvel at the styling. Locally, I visit stores like Snackfood, Kedai Bikin, and Ilaika for a little pick-me-up. The owners are creatives themselves so it’s nice to watch them at work or have a quick chat to bounce off random ideas that I can take away with me for my next project. Styling inspirations ... come from my travels and eating habits from other cultures. In the food field, I get asked to style food from different regions. When I visit another country, the first thing I do is visit their markets and eat like a local. It’s the best way to get assimilated with their local tastes and culture. One step ahead ... I’m currently studying the influence of food in art, and still-life masters in their projection of food in paintings. Light plays an important element in Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin’s work, while in Frans Snyders’s portrayal of a woman working in the kitchen, every element such as the red lobster on a brass pot and a lifeless hare lying atop a mountain of poultry mess, contributes to the composition of the image. There are so many aspects in their paintings that impact the way we capture food today. @trishates