WHAT IS TAKA TABLE?
Taka Table is an experimental food art studio investigating new ways to engage with food. The studio is headed by Kerry Clarkson-Valdivia, who comes from a multicultural heritage & diverse culinary background. She works with food as a way to investigate her own paradoxical cultural reality and incorporate her philosophy of minimalism as a selection process. Accordingly, Kerry prioritizes rudimentary, crude & lesser-known ingredients from uncommon crops, along with traditional made-from-scratch processing techniques. Kerry uses this framework to open dialogue around the dichotomy of values between contemporary western culture and traditional cultures that have preserved a common heritage. Kerry believes that by bringing these narratives to the table we can shape our collective experience from an international lens, allowing new ways to experiment with and explore food, culture & art.
WHO IS KERRY?
Kerry Clarkson-Valdivia is half Peruvian + half British and was brought up between Los Angeles, London & Lima. Kerry’s professional life began as an entrepreneur in fashion which gave her the opportunity to investigate heritage artisan craft in various parts of the world. Observing how mass-production has largely replaced artisan craft on a global scale, her focus has been to build a knowledge base around the handmade and the value that it represents. Kerry has extended this investigation into food, diving into rural culinary traditions in Peru, Indonesia and India. Kerry lived in the Amazon basin for over two years, and this place still holds the most enchantment for her. Through the lens of this diverse cultural background Kerry reworks food to bridge the gap between these distinct realities.
Kerry leads Taka Table with a personal approach, emphasizing the intimate and tactile nature of food from an international perspective.
You can find her artisan fashion collection TAKA STUDIO here: