Happy International Women's Day to the leading woman in our lives 💃
Meet our brilliant cousin, Ella
This International Women’s Day we’re celebrating Ella. Also known as Ell, definitely not Elliot.
Ella is our cousin. She’s also the incredible artist behind the FieldGoods packaging. Aside from the food itself, it’s without doubt what we’re most proud of.
We are so lucky to work with her, and couldn’t be more flattered she felt FieldGoods was something she’d put her name to.
This is the story of how it came about. In Ella's own words...
Early days
Although my brother, sister & I lived and went to school in London, we all grew up together with Ell & Sam, spending almost every holiday with them at their family farm in Devon. In lots of ways we’re more like siblings than cousins.
It meant that we spent a lot of time eating together, around the table and on the farm. It’s something that’s always been hugely important to all of us & our parents.
Growing up
While Ell & Sam ventured to University to study sustainability, I studied painting at the Glasgow School of Art, followed by a masters in Art & Politics. Painting & drawing have always been a huge part of my life, informing what I do in my spare time & how I move through the world.
Ell & Sam have always been huge supporters, buying my Art as I started selling & just always being great allies.
The BABEK Brothers Mural
The boys eventually came to London where they set-up their first food business - BABEK Brothers - selling awesome kebabs & cocktails.
One of their pop-ups was at Pergola Paddington, where they asked me to paint a mural. We all laugh it was fairly casual, the jungle theme was really my only brief. It had a great response and it opened the door to us realising how fun it was to work together.
FieldGoods begins
One day Ell gave me a call about FieldGoods. Unfortunately they’d had to close BABEK because of COVID & FieldGoods was their new thing.
Hearing him talk about it made us all excited. It really was born from our childhood mealtimes & love of food. They wanted their packaging to be stand-out & beautiful, and explained they really only had one option in their minds - me.
Working together
They might love messing around but I love working with Ell & Sam. We have a very loose process, in that we’ll have a visualisation session where we chat for a couple of hours & then I’ll take it away & paint.
They rarely have lots of feedback, we’re just all on the same wavelength & totally trust each other. It gives me freedom creatively & in return they get something totally unique. I love that I can do that for them.
The details
Not many people will know this, but if you look closely at each illustration there are lots of tiny details baked in from our childhood. It was really important to all of us that the reality of the brand being born from our own roots came true in every part of how it came to life.
In the Sticky Toffee Pudding (pictured above), the little boy is actually my little brother as a toddler, and the dog is based on a family pooch.
The ship in the Sustainable Fish Pie is based on wooden models that were stacked up on a stone shelf in our grandparents kitchen, and the shell in the Apple & Blackberry Crumble is based on a shell from their bathroom.
The women farming in the image I did for the website (pictured here) is a depiction of our younger Mother’s, part of a family of 4 sisters, working on the farm they lived on in Devon.
There are lots of stories already & there will definitely be more when new dishes launch. I’m excited to bring them to life.
Ella's personal work
I work on a number of different projects as an artist, but commercially one of my highlights are my bespoke lamps that I mostly make on commission. My website Bag Lady Lamps has a number of examples and indicative prices, and I’d be so happy to talk to anyone interested in designing one for themselves.
Just as Ell & Sam are passionate about building a sustainable business, all of my lamps are made out of surplus or recycled materials; old plastic bags, surplus lighting gels, up-cycled glass & hard-woods. These are salvaged from the chipper after being cut down to make way for developments in the city.
I recently worked on a collaborative commission with Leila Dear for a housing justice centre developed by the Assemble UK collective, pictured below. Photography by Red Rotkopf.
A bit of a longer one today, but a story we felt strongly about telling. We love you Ella.
Happy International Women's Day today, and everyday. 🚀
Ell & Sam.