Oct 17, 2023

CREATIVE COMMUNITY #6: INSIDE TESS GIGONE'S COZY HOME

For October's Creative Community feature, photographer Tess Gigone welcomes us into her world and shares the one scent that always transports her back to childhood, the magic of yeast activating, and how she’s (literally) preserving summer this fall.

What do you do for a living?

I'm a photographer. Film is my favourite medium to shoot - there's just something about capturing moments on analog that digital can't replicate.

What’s inspiring you lately?

I'm feeling inspired by change and documenting transition, finding unique objects in unexpected places, anything handmade, laundry, weeds in the garden and stunning interiors in an old home.

What’s your favourite meal to cook at the moment?

I feel the fall transition happening with the crisp mornings creeping in and have been craving soups and warm comforting meals. I've been preserving the essence of summer by canning and jarring local fruits so mid winter when I need that kiss of summer I have it at my fingertips.

Do you have a favourite scent from childhood?

The scent of ripe raspberries transports me to my grandparents backyard harvesting off their bush. Now, with a clipping of that same bush in my own garden, every time I pick those raspberries, I'm transported back to those cherished moments from my youth.

Any seasonal desserts you'll be baking this fall?

Pumpkin pie!!!! I always forget how much I love pumpkin pie until Thanksgiving is around the corner. Its fleeting presence on our tables makes so much more cherished.

Most underrated smell while cooking/baking?

The smell of bread rising! The scent of the yeast activating is definitive and yet so magical and delicious. It is the smell of patience reminding me that sometimes good things take time.