Creatively Speaking – Interview with Marcello and Bruce “Little Owl”

Friday is here again and it is time to put on the kettle and make yourself a nice cup of tea for another interview with a creative partnership of Marcello and Bruce that is “Little Owl”.

Work by Julian Schnabel

We thought of reversing the process, and putting the paintings on the plates, not broken of course. The idea took some time to evolve, and even now two years on we continue to discover new ways of combining the two mediums together.

Little Owl’s personal collection

You have just launched a range of wallpaper, how did this collaboration come about?  Bruce is the newcomer to The Netherlands, and started a photo album of just Dutch sky, and this in turn led to Marcello adding to the album with his own photos. At the same time we were working on an idea of how to use the 18th C prints we collected, and in particular the detail of the sky in them which we found so lovely. Marcello reworked the photos, and combined the two ideas…

1. 300g/10½oz plain chocolate broken into pieces

2. 225g/8oz caster sugar

3. 175ml/6fl oz boiling water

4. 225g/8oz salted butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing

5. 6 free-range eggs, separated

6. 1 tsp instant coffee powder

7. 2 tsp vanilla extract For the topping

8. 200ml/7fl oz crème fraîche

9. 255g/9oz summer berries

10. 1 tbsp plain chocolate, grated

11. Icing sugar, to dustPreparation method

12. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

13. For the cake, grease and line the base of a 23cm/9in springform tin with baking parchment.

14. Blend the chocolate and sugar in a food processor until a fine powder forms. Add the boiling water, butter, egg yolks, coffee powder and vanilla extract and blend until well combined.

15. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed, then, using a metal spoon, gently fold into the chocolate mixture.

16. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

17. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the tin, then transfer to the fridge for 2-3 hours.

18. To serve, remove the cake from the tin and place on a serving plate or cake stand, spread the crème fraîche on top, then scatter over the berries. To decorate, grate some chocolate over the top, or dust with icing sugar.

I hope you enjoyed this little insight into Little Owl….  I am off to make that cake!!!! On with the colourful journey.

Other Posts on Little Owl

Dutch Sky – Little Owl Design

Dishing Up Canvas – Little Owl

#art #design #littleowl #recipe #Interview #Wallpaper #Travel #TheNetherlands #InteriorDesign