Alice Oehr – Bringing Food & Wine to Life

Alice Oehr is a designer and illustrator based in Collingwood, Melbourne. She’s worked on projects for Broadsheet, Go-To Skincare, Frankie Magazine, Kloke and Baker D. Chirico, among others, and has featured multiple times on The Design Files. We love her and we love what she does, so we asked her to design the very first Pinot Palooza magazine cover for us. And it’s SO GOOD! Read more about her here.

Pinot Palooza: How long have you been drawing for?

Alice Oehr: Like most kids, crayons and textas were in my hands a lot when I was growing up, so drawing has always been there for me as an antidote to boredom. But as for drawing professionally, it’s been 8 years now.

PP: When did you realise you could make a living from drawing?

AO: It took me ages to realise I could make a living from drawing – it was never something I considered in high school. When I finished there, I mucked around for a few years, studying, travelling, having a good time, and then I knuckled down and studied graphic design when I was 22. After that I did a few internships, worked a few jobs, and finally had enough experience and had met enough people to begin working fulltime on my own a few years ago.

PP: Where do you find your inspiration?

AO: I get inspired by the most everyday things; walking around looking at my environment, chatting to people. I love looking at shop signs and packaging (graphic design stuff), particularly when travelling, that excites me no end! Talking to people who are passionate about something as well always makes me want to get straight to work on something.

PP: What’s your favourite thing to draw and why? How would you describe your style?

AO: I love drawing people, but my favourite thing to draw is really food. It’s always colourful, it has natural patterns, and anyone who looks at it can connect with it. But the MAIN reason I like drawing food so much is all the experiences associated with it – celebration, family recipes, traditions, rituals, exotic ingredients, things grown from the earth… I just love it.

PP: How do you work? What’s your process?

AO: I try as much as possible to use the computer as the last part of my process; generating my ideas and sketches away from it, so I don’t get caught up in polishing concepts that aren’t quite ripe yet. Even under the pressure of a deadline (as is always the way!) I try and think about the problem I’m trying to solve with my design as much as possible, and get to the core of what it needs to be. This always takes roughly double the time you think it will, but the result is better.

PP: What’s the coolest project you’ve ever worked on (except for this one of course!)

AO: I love things surrounding food and events, so this project is perfect! I do love creating work for a party atmosphere, as it’s usually my job to make it as fun as possible. So my favourite projects have been designing a marquee for the Lavazza tent at the Spring Racing Carnival, and working on a space for the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival. I got to decorate the marquee in a full hypercolour Egyptian theme and design everything from staff uniforms to wallpaper. It was wild.

PP: How did you come up with the concept for the cover of this magazine? What does it mean?

AO: The idea of “Where do you Pinot” got me thinking about travel and stories. The fact that wine – this drink brewed from a tiny grape – has already been on such a trip to get to us, right back to when the vines were planted. Then there are the special places we go to drink it, who we drink it with. I love the celebration of drinking wine, but I also love to think about where it’s come from – it’s quite amazing. This cover is a person who is looking through the lens of a wine glass to reflect on all the places this great drink has been, and will go.

PP: We know you love food, but do you have a favourite wine?

AO: I like lots of wines and they really vary with the seasons. My guilty pleasure is not what you’d expect though: it’s that sort of Italian table wine that comes in a carafe –
Sangiovese and the like. It’s smooth and easy, and always accompanied by good food and good times.

: aliceoehr.com