ÅOOMI Home Stories — Antonella Tignanelli

We visited ​​Antonella Tignanelli, a food stylist known also under the name mary avocado, whose experimental and thoughtful creations redefined the food styling industry and led to several unforgettable dining experiences. We’re meeting Antonella at her home in Barcelona for a casual lunch she served on our ceramics and to talk about her creative journey.
Monika Mróz
8.2.2024
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Monika Mróz
8.2.2024
How did you end up working with food? Can you tell us more about your creative journey?

I started at a very young age. My grandmother and her days long cooking feasts inspired me to be a part of the industry I work on. Not only cooking per se but also hosting has been the two biggest factors that she gave me as an inheritance. In the end, nowadays I don’t only cook but host and organize many events and that’s a completely different job than being a chef, which was my initial profession.

You specialize in creating unique table sets and dining experiences. What are your favourite projects realized over the years?

My favorite projects are the more experimental ones, the ones where there’s not a client or a brand behind. I just think what I would like to do and try to bring it into life. They are also the most exhausting and the ones you don’t really make money out of, but they are immensely gratifying. I did many events like these over the years, just dinner parties where I think of a theme and sell tickets for people to attend.

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My grandmother and her days long cooking feasts inspired me to be a part of the industry I work on.
Set design and food styling has become incredibly "trendy" in the last few years. How to stay original in the times of Pinterest boards?

This subject is extremely sensitive for me, since I started working on this in 2012, I could say that back then we were around 5 persons in different cities of the world playing with this new discipline and there was a lot of freedom, a lot of experimentation and a lot of time and thought involved in every project. Nowadays the industry has grown so much and so fast that you don’t really get the time to think something through, communication and social media use made everything pretty banal and easy to copy so it is very hard to find something profound out there or a true search for something, it is more about responding to a trendy vastly growing industry that has become a part of the fashion industry already, in my opinion.

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What are your favourite rituals connected to food?

Just the simple act of cooking while on holidays with friends every night is something that I really enjoy and I am thankful for.

Tell us what you cooked and served on ÅOOMI ceramics today.

Milanesas con puré y ensalada mixta. A very Argentinian combination :)

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What would be your dream project if time and budget were limitless?

I have many and I’ve done some. But one that is still on my list is to make a sort of new type of Academy that teaches FOOD from many different perspectives and not just the act of cooking.

My favourite rituals are the simple acts of cooking while on holidays with friends. I am very thankful for those moments.
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My favourite rituals are the simple acts of cooking while on holidays with friends. I am very thankful for those moments.
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