Welcome Home: Christmas (2021) in July (2022)

I love that my work takes me into the holiday season during the summer. In early prep for Christmas production (that always seems to come down to the last minute anyway), I get to be a little bit tinsel-y for the last half of the year, rather than the last sixth-to-twelfth like everyone else. Last year, I got the great opportunity and immense pleasure of working with a large American company that aimed to collaborate on, create, and gift back cookbooks as Christmas presents at the end of the year. This collection of employee-submitted recipes came together into a beautiful book called “Welcome Home.”

I let the theme of “Welcome Home” extend through the design of the entire book, employing hand-drawn and hand-written elements to give the experience a more homemade, personalized feel. These recipes were provided from people’s real kitchens, real families, real lives — so instead of designing these ideas and heirlooms of recipes into something minimal and editorial (the current mode of the medium), I wanted something that felt cozy and perfectly imperfect.

I also enhanced this “cozy” motif by introducing plush textures — pulpy paper backgrounds for recipe pages with soft vignettes — reminiscent of Grandma’s old recipe box full of tea-stained index cards. Also, including emulated tufting on divider pages — reminiscent of the diamond-pattern stitching across old potholders and oven mitts.

The owners and employees of this company coming together to create something that is truly from the heart was a great inspiration for Christmas last year. When I received my copy in the mail — a gesture I didn’t expect and almost couldn’t handle without shedding a tear — I felt the warmth and inclusivity of their team from thousands of miles away. And bonus — the recipes are delicious.