For a snack and 5 questions with... Sebastian Graus
What is the secret of a good idea? And which dish do you simply not dare to try? The answers to these questions (and many more) are available once a month in the Stories+ Snack, the Kitchen Stories business questionnaire.
This time, answer Sebastian Graus, Head of Art and responsible for the unique visual language of Kitchen Stories.
The former art director from Stockholm worked in the advertising capital of New York, among others, and answers our questions accordingly internationally.
By the way, his favorite snack is a classic: Antipasto.
Since the middle of last year, you have been Head of Art at Kitchen Stories, before that you spent many years as an art director in creative agencies.
Which three experiences and knowledge from your agency life flow into your new role?
Being able to quickly adapt to the need of a certain project, and to quickly understand what a certain partner might want! Agency work is fast paced, so you need to be quick to adapt.
Working with really diverse products - which I am so happy to also be able to do at Kitchen Stories. We are working with everything from food, entertainment and tech brands. It's always exciting to think about ideas for such a broad range of partners.
The creative process! You need to try a lot of different things and always improve in order to achieve something great. It takes 100 ideas to get to one truly good one.
The Kitchen Stories team is extremely diverse, consists of more than 15 nationalities and many of our colleagues are strikingly creative and trend-conscious even when it comes to food when it comes to work. You are no exception — how does this diversity and curiosity affect the “Kitchen Stories product”?
I think a diverse team is incredibly important when producing content for such an international platform as kitchen stories. We have people from a lot of different backgrounds, bringing in their own experiences. I've lived myself both in Sweden, the US and Germany and worked with everything from restaurants, to creative agencies and now food media. In the end we're all individuals that bring our own ideas to the table. This reflects the variety in our content, which you need when speaking to such a big international audience.
By the way, his favorite snack is a classic: Antipasto.
Where do you get your daily inspiration for your tasks as Head of Art?
I collect inspiration from a lot of different sources. I try to look at all kinds of international digital publishers. Some of them are food related but many of them aren't. I also follow a lot of great creators on social media, where we often find ideas that inspire our own content. And cook books. There's so many exciting cookbooks being published with stunning photography and design.
In your opinion, what makes the integration of products and brands on the Kitchen Stories platform so exciting for partners — and what do you see as the key differences to other cooking apps?
I think people always enjoy reading or watching a great story. What makes the partner content at Kitchen Stories so great is that it's always built on an authentic story. It comes from a place of honesty, which tends to resonate with our users. It's also exciting that our users are engaged cooks and are always looking for new exciting products to make use of in their kitchens.
Which dish have you always wanted to prepare but have not yet dared to try?
I grew up in Sweden with a German father who sometimes made salty steamed noodles and sauerbraten. It's been at least 10 years since I've had it and I've never dared to do it myself. Now that I live in Germany for a few years it might be time!
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