With every dish, Pamela Maudy’s hands craft more than just meals—they create stories.
We broke bread with the Byron Bay-based founder of Mira Curated to explore the inspirations behind her contemporary culinary experiences.
Using food as an artistic medium to delight the senses, here she shares the inspirations and traditions shaping her practice and daily life.
MIRA offers curated culinary experiences, including private dinners, events, artistic food installations, pop-ups, photoshoots, and more, as well as creative direction and consulting.
MIRA views food as an art medium, designed for interactivity and meant to provoke thought.
I’ve always loved cooking, even as a child. After every holiday abroad with family, I remember recreating meals I had tasted along the way.
I have always been creative, but an opportunity to experiment with food as an artistic medium, outside of a restaurant context, came with a food installation for ceramic brand Softedge Studio two years ago. I think this really opened the door for me to combine food with pure aesthetics and play.
It’s something that grows as I do, but fundamentally it is thoughtful, modernist, clean. Aesthetically I am always looking for that original element of surprise or play while maintaining space and balance. I work a lot with colour and I’ve have realised recently that it’s often the root of my ideas.
I have a love of textiles and have always treasured artisanal pieces that have detailed finishings. I think that’s something that really influences MIRA, there is such an importance for the little details that make it all come together and I don’t compromise on the time it takes to get there.
Tradition is so important to me as it shapes the way things are and tells the stories of life. In food, the fun comes when you are able to merge tradition with an outrageous or modernist idea.
I do believe there are no shortcuts in cooking, and I'm grateful for learning the traditional foundations, even if I didn’t appreciate it during culinary school. It’s like playing piano - you can’t improvise if you haven’t learnt the scales!
When I acquire a new jewellery piece, it stays on me. Over the years the collection has grown and a majority of the pieces were passed down through family.
On my right wrist, I wear two gold Morroccan engraved bangles, given to me when my grandmother passed away over fifteen years ago - I haven’t removed them since. Around my neck I wear a fishbone pendant, gifted by my mother for my 30th birthday. I remember her wearing it when I was a child.
I love layering the Aegean Disc Necklace, Mira Seal Ring and Symi Ring together from the Mira collection.
The Mati Eye Necklaces are also favourites of mine. I appreciate the symbolism and craft behind the pieces, made by artisans in Turkey.
Tradition is so important to me as it shapes the way things are and tells the stories of life. In food, the fun comes when you are able to merge tradition with an outrageous or modernist idea.
Modernist architecture, fashion… Inspirations come and go but are often quite sudden.
Inspiration can be drawn from everything. When I conceptualise an installation for a client, their brand universe is the first port of call. My challenge is to make their world meet with mine whilst introducing new and exciting elements. I'm appreciative of my husband Geoffrey's presence as he is often the one to steer my wild, conceptual ideas into a practical reality.
My mind has been busy lately and I unfortunately haven’t made a lot of room for music. Thankfully my husband doesn’t go a day without it so through him I hear some great tunes. Our taste is broad, sometimes it will be music reminiscent of our time in Mexico or Japanese psychedelia. My mind has musically stayed in the 70s and I resonate best with music from this era.
I had never cooked professionally before to moving back to France in my early 20s so this truly shaped my experience with food. It brought me discipline and structure, developed my presentation skills and exposed me to plating trends - both the fashionable and the outdated, and how to reinvigorate the latter.
My time there really taught me about quality produce, the importance of sourcing and making things from scratch, and storytelling.
