Beyond Design: Chefs’ Plates
With each Phoenix Design Week (PHXDW), there is always a common theme identified to further unite Arizona’s design community. This year, the theme is Beyond Design. Design is all around us and permeates many aspects of our lives without us realizing it. Design itself becomes even more powerful when we explore these realms and let in influence and design our work.
PHXDW’s Beyond Design Conference is taking place this year on October 6 & 7, smack dab in the middle of other weeklong events that continue to draw crowds upwards of 500 people who are looking to meet, talk and share their design experiences with others in the field.
In addition to this growing design community, Phoenix is also becoming a burgeoning foodie scene. And oddly enough, the two schools of creation pair incredibly well together.
Cooking by Design
Chopped, Top Chef, Cutthroat Kitchen, Iron Chef America — if you’ve watched any of these shows, you know how important the plating stage is when creating a signature dish.
Food plating itself is literally described as the art of modifying, processing, arranging or decorating food to enhance its aesthetic appeal. It’s considered to be just as integral a part of the dish’s success as its flavor. Just think about it — the better the food on the plate looks, the more you’re going to want to eat it.
One of the most important rules of plating is balancing variety and contrast. It’s good to have a number of textures on the plate but how these textures are combined is just as important.
With all this in mind, it’s not hard to see how plating and design work hand-in-hand. And the goal of both is the same — not only to catch the eye, but to spark conversation and a sense of community by creating something people can enjoy together.
Phoenix’s Food Scene
In recent years, Phoenix has been working hard to reinvent its food scene, which was once regarded as flatter than a pancake. Downtown, especially around Roosevelt Row — the city’s walkable arts district that what pretty much a ghost town a decade ago — is now peppered with inviting bars and innovative restaurants.
Phoenix has even become a breeding ground for new concepts from famous chefs, such as Food Network star Scott Conant (creator of Mora Italian) and James Beard Award Winner, Chris Bianco (creator of Pizzeria Bianco, Pane Bianco, Bar Bianco, Tratto and co-creator Roland’s Cafe Market Bar). In addition to these more famous chefs, there are a number of other well-known local chefs and each and everyone know the importance of putting together a beautifully tasting, and plated, dish.
And let’s not forget about the fact that its location in the desert provides Phoenix with a vast array of food plants to incorporate in these local dishes — more than 500 to be exact! From wild oregano to mesquite pods to edible cacti, each of these ingredients have influenced some of the area’s most quintessential and eye-appealing dishes that have continued to attract old and new customers as well as serve as inspiration to the dishes and concepts yet to be created.
Design has been a large factor in encouraging Phoenix’s burgeoning food scene along. It has transformed into a place where chefs are more motivated than ever to bring something new to the table, pun intended.
Interested to see what other ways design infiltrates our everyday lives? Learn about this and more from some of the top designers in the nation at this year’s PHXDW, from October 5–12.

