I’ve always loved Terry Gilliam‘s films (Monty Python & the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, Time Bandits, 12 Monkeys, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas), but the stuff that always brought a smile to my face were the animations from the Monty Python’s Flying Circus TV series. I was reminded of the genius, humor and endearing quirkiness of those animations when I saw this advert by Frank, for Grans Brewery in Norway. Amazing work, Frank!
It was only three years ago that I first stepped foot on the soil at Suzie’s Farm, and WOW have they come a long way in a short time! My hair, on the other hand, is still usually shaggy (but cut me some slack when I’m on bike).
Suzie’s Farm officially started their organic veggie program in 2004, spent a long while planting/failing/learning and had begun to pick up steam with restaurants and foodies around San Diego when the photo above was taken in ’09.
Fast forward to today and Suzie’s is now the largest urban farm in any major city in the United States – and all organic at that! Their CSA program has exploded. Restaurants across the county feature their produce. And perhaps more than any other success, Robin & Lucila are most proud of the community building that has occurred through their special events and tours on the farm.
Watching some of this transformation occur made it even more of an honor to be asked to help them more effectively tell their story online. Yep, a new website for Suzie’s was due.
We were blessed to work with an incredible team on this project – from Suzie’s motivated “in-barn” staff & visionary leaders Robin & Lucila, to the tireless programming of Joseph Niu & the whimsical hand of illustrator/designer Holly Jones. And now, we are proud to say that the new Suzie’s Farm website is now live!
Go check it out and tell us if it doesn’t make you want to eat more veggies – we dare you.
Photo by Jay Porter.
One of our good friends, the photographer and dreamer Jaime Fritsch, has started a new series of images documenting animal slaughtering on small farms. Using a 50mm lens, Fritsch hopes the images will help the viewer get one step closer to everyday food without distorting the reality of the subject.
Jaime’s vision for the series is to faithfully depict the reality of the slaughtering process happening on small farms, arguably the best-case scenario in terms of humane meat production. In Fritsch’s words,
This is not a series on brutal, cruel slaughterhouses; nor is it a series on ethical, humane practices. This is about the sheer act of death for food.
WARNING: The chicken slaughter in the second half of this post is very graphic, so don’t scroll down if you’re concerned about seeing some pretty intense imagery of blood.
The first shoot includes two pigs, eating and mulling about their pen, with eerily human eyes and cute little curly-Q tails.
More from the PORK series…
The second shoot was during a chicken slaughter, capturing some intensely graphic images of the process, including some breathtaking mid-air blood droplets unlike anything we’ve ever seen.
More from the CHICKEN series…
We’re excited to see how the series unfolds and would love to hear what you think of Fritsch’s work.
It’s always fun for us to see clients getting attention from the press, especially when it steps outside their typical audience. With that in mind, we can’t help but share this little snippet on Societe Brewing Company’s tasting room decor, featured this month in Riviera Magazine’s Design Hot List.
Words & images are the most basic tools we use at MoSpo, so we’re always on the lookout for interesting examples that could inspire our work. The latest such inspiration, The Lexicon of Sustainability, is a series of photo collage pieces that attempt to decipher slow food terms that are becoming more and more common in the media.
The project came out of the minds of Douglas Gayeton and Laura Howard-Gayeton, who traveled all over the country creating images and gathering the input of food & sustainability experts (read, Joe Salatin, Alice Waters). Lucky for San Diegans, the project founders chose Slow Food Urban San Diego as curators to exhibit the images in our community.
Here are a few samples, and check the MoSpo Facebook page for news about shows in the San Diego area.
Recent Work
