The ingredients make the meal

Noma is famous for what arrives on the plate, but its obsession starts much earlier.

The team follows the seasons, forages, works closely with farmers and producers, and experiments with ingredients long before anything reaches the dining room.

The dish is the part we see. Most of the work happened before the cooking started.

I’ve noticed the best brand projects are similar. The first few weeks can feel like we’re barely making anything. There are conversations, customer quotes, half-finished thoughts, strange references, and observations that may or may not lead somewhere.

That’s the work.

You’re looking for the raw material that will eventually become the positioning, the story, the identity, and everything else people see.

By the time design starts, the ingredients should already be interesting. Otherwise you’re asking the creative team to make a memorable meal from whatever happened to be in the fridge.