Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Camilla Marcus - Founder, west-bourne
0 Playsin 10 hours
Camilla Marcus, founder of west-bourne is my guest today and as someone who embodies the intersection of sustainability and community, her various collections feel right at home. She’s a chef, entrepreneur, activist, and environmental trailblazer, redefining how we think about food, gathering, and planetary care - which is probably why she’s been named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business.
As the founder of west~bourne, New York City’s first zero-waste certified restaurant turned regenerative provisions brand, Camilla is deeply committed to making a lasting impact.
Beyond her work in hospitality, she co-founded ROAR and the Independent Restaurant Coalition, collaborated with visionaries like Oishii, Ron Finley and MAD Agriculture, and written a cookbook, My Regenerative Kitchen, that empowers us all to eat well while doing good. And yet, as ambitious as her career is, Camilla also finds inspiration and grounding in the art of collecting.
Today, we’ll dive into the stories behind her incredible collections—vinyl records that set the tone for gatherings, signed menus that archive her love for what she calls a restaurant's first piece of art, and ceramics that embody her ethos of mindful craftsmanship. We’ll hear how her collections reflect her values, influence her creative process, and offer a quiet, yet natural place to turn in the midst of her ever-expanding world.
So without further adieu, this is Camilla Marcus, for Collectors Gene Radio.
Westbourne - https://westbourne.com/
Westbourne Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/westbourne/?hl=en
Camilla Marcus Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camilla.marcus/?hl=en
CollectorsGene.com - https://collectorsgene.com/
Cameron Steiner - https://www.instagram.com/cameronrosssteiner/?hl=en
Recommended
Transcript
Designing Spaces for Interaction
00:00:00
Speaker
Our space is 700 square feet. It's intentionally confusing so that you will have to talk to a human being. I don't want an automated experience and in fact this beautiful friction and imperfection is what makes us human and actually is what's going to make you enjoy being here and I really believe that.
Introduction to Collector's Gene Radio
00:00:19
Speaker
What's going on everybody and welcome to Collectors Gene Radio.
00:00:23
Speaker
This is all about diving into the nuances of collecting and ultimately finding out whether or not our guests have what we like to call a bunch for listening and please enjoy today's guest on collector's gene radio.
Camila Marcus and Sustainability
00:00:43
Speaker
Camila Marcus, founder of Westbourne, is my guest today, and as someone who embodies the intersection of sustainability and community, her various collections feel right at home. She's a chef, entrepreneur, activist, and environmental trailblazer, redefining how we think about food, gathering, and planetary care, which is probably why she's been named one of Fast Company's most creative people in business. As the founder of Westbourne, New York City's first zero waste certified restaurant term regenerative provisions brand,
00:01:11
Speaker
Camila is deeply committed to making a lasting impact. Beyond her work in hospitality, she co-founded Brewer and the Independent Restaurant Coalition, collaborated with visionaries like Oishi, Ron Finley, and Bad Agriculture, and written a cookbook by Regenerative Kitchen that empowers us all to eat well while doing good.
00:01:29
Speaker
And yet, as ambitious as her career is, Camila also finds inspiration and grounding in the art of collecting. Today we'll dive into the stories behind her incredible collections, vinyl records that set the tone for gatherings, sign menus that archive her love for what she calls a restaurant's first piece of art, and ceramics that embody her ethos of mindful craftsmanship.
00:01:50
Speaker
will hear how her collections reflect her values, influence her creative process, and offer a quiet yet natural place to turn in the midst of her ever-expanding world. So without further ado, this is Camila Marcus for Collectors Gene Radio.
Environmental Activism and Innovative Practices
00:02:07
Speaker
Camila Marcus, so great to have you on Collectors Gene Radio this morning. Thank you for having me. I'm a big fan from afar. I appreciate that. So you're the founder of Westbourne, once celebrated as New York City's first zero waste certified and most beloved vegetarian restaurant. And now you've transformed it into this amazing online consumer goods brand creating regenerative and sustainable and organic products. I would love to know, was being so environmentally friendly a big part of your life growing up?
00:02:38
Speaker
You know, it was. It's interesting. You know, I write a little bit about it, which was sort of fun to reflect on in my new cookbook, My Regenerative Kitchen. You know, I grew up in this real interesting microcosm, you know, growing up in Los Angeles and in California, you know, two thirds of the country's produce comes from my home state. And, you know, we shopped at farmers markets before it was cool and sort of ubiquitous. And we knew our farmers and who was growing our food. We composted.
00:03:08
Speaker
My next door neighbor growing up was Mrs. Gooch, who was sort of the godmother of the natural grocery movement. Whole Foods bought her stores when they moved to Los Angeles. And so I do think sort of this living in harmony with nature was very much like the air we breathe, the water we drink, it just was there. And I think when I went to college on the East Coast was when I realized, oh,
00:03:29
Speaker
You know, that was such a gift and such an unusual place to be raised in that it just we knew it was better for our health. It was better for the earth and that it could will lead to this really beautiful, you know, colorful life.
00:03:45
Speaker
So yeah, I do think it was really such a big part of me growing up and and also when I was younger I used to write letters to Congress and to the president all about animal welfare and you know environmental Sustainability and policy, you know even as like a nine-year-old and remember my parents would frame You know the stock response which I learned later on life was like a machine that you know shines on behalf of the president but I you know i i felt they were responding to me and my parents would frame them you know so that i would feel that my voice matter and even though you know to some extent it doesn't to some extent it doesn't but i think that gave me a lot of encouragement to.
00:04:27
Speaker
to be an activist and to be outspoken and to to see that it could be done differently, you know, again sort of in harmony with nature. So completely about how I was raised and I think and also just I think how I was born and how I see the world kind of by who I am.
00:04:44
Speaker
Amazing. And so you're a chef, an entrepreneur, an activist, environmental steward. However, I think one of my favorite titles that captures you perfectly and your innovative spirit is being named one of Fast Company's most creative people in business because you are. And of all the amazing things that you're known for, what do you think earned you that title most? Because I'm guessing it has nothing to do with all the things you collect, which we're going to get to in just a minute.
00:05:12
Speaker
Um, you know, I think what, you know, and it was one of, I mean, I will say I'm a voracious fast company consumer and reader. You know, they're one of the publications I've admired, you know, most throughout my career. And it meant a lot, a lot to get included in that incredible list.
Sustainability in Culinary Models
00:05:31
Speaker
um you know I think at the time it was a reflection on like what we were doing with Westbourne, the restaurant, well over five years ago, is now being talked about a lot and being sort of proliferated. I mean, we were composting before you municipalities were doing it citywide. you know We paid a lot more.
00:05:51
Speaker
and had to really sort of break the system to do it on a commercial scale. i mean We had no plastic you know and no anything that was not compostable did not come through our restaurant, um even with our to-go. We upcycled pretty much everything. We sourced from regenerative farms and and even our labor model. you know i think I think the the nod is to the fact that I never take things as a given. I don't accept the status quo at all and I always encourage teams that I work with. like Just because it's always been done a certain way doesn't mean it should be going forward and we have to ask why and we have to be willing to
00:06:33
Speaker
continually iterate and change how we're doing things, how we're sourcing and how we're interacting as a team. So in my team, we had no front of house, no back of house. It was completely rotational. you know I almost modeled it after um you know other businesses where you see like rotational programs really building rich skill sets a generalist mindset much better judgment and more than anything business empathy like a lot of what's hard and working in restaurants is people don't understand what other people do.
00:07:04
Speaker
And, you know, it breeds a lot of intensity in a very pressure cooker kind of environment. And so, you know, it was helpful, right? Like, you can think that when you're expediting that you have the hardest job in the restaurant at that moment, but then you take orders for eight an eight hour shift and you have to talk to people, you know, who are need a lot of things, you know, potentially complaining, working on conflict, talking 24 seven, no time to yourself. And you realize, hey, it might be different, but their job is also pretty hard. And so, you know, I think we, we built a restaurant from scratch based on values I found, you know, essential and important and sort of said, look, we're throwing out the playbook and we're going to do our own thing, how we see fit and how we feel it should be.
00:07:52
Speaker
regardless of whether anyone else you know in our industry is doing it that way. And there really wasn't a model. I mean, we weren't copying or looking at another model. We sort of, again, built it from the inside out. So it was interesting when we got we actually got our zero waste certification silver level, which is pretty hard for a restaurant.
00:08:09
Speaker
literally the day of shutdown and COVID after two years of working on the certification. But I think what was interesting is as we were going through the certification process, a lot of the questions were about changing practices and we had the opposite. you know We didn't shift practices from one way to another. We never did it a different way. So it was sort of funny in the application, we were sort of like, well, it's not a change. This is how we've been doing it.
00:08:34
Speaker
And I think when you have that mindset, you have a very inherently iterative and participatory culture, which I also think breeds sort of constant change in a good way, right? And that drives much higher impact results.
00:08:49
Speaker
Right if you have a ah culture where you know i would say to people every day someone from our team would come up with some way that we can approve our operations whether that's how i can't arrive to the restaurant or putting a new beverage on the menu with one waste you know ah something we were composting that maybe we didn't even have to compost and could go into.
00:09:09
Speaker
a beverage, you know, thinking very outside of the box and a lot of that started becoming very collective in our team mindset, not just driven, you know, by my original design. And so I don't know, I like to, I like to think that, I like to think that the nod and, you know, my, my preferred form of creativity is just, I don't live with a playbook. I love constant feedback and I'm very game to change.
00:09:36
Speaker
what I'm doing or how my company operates or how we're achieving our impact goals, I mean, essentially 24 seven. and I think, um you know, it's a what I hope I'm, I'm thought, you know, to me, that's what I consider my superpower.
00:09:52
Speaker
When I think about Westbourne at the end of the day, it's as much about being innovative and the product as it is about bringing people together.
Collections and Philosophies
00:10:00
Speaker
And a byproduct of all that are the little things that enhance that experience, which happen to be all the things that you collect, vinyls, side menus, ceramics. How do you think your collections reflect your larger philosophies of community and sustainability and this mindful living sort of way of life?
00:10:19
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's interesting. One of our sort of internal ethos at Westbourne as a restaurant and, you know, as the company continues to evolve has been nature first people always. And I i always have said to people, and again, my teams and my personal philosophy is we are all human and what makes us be human is that we are surrounded by other humans and that everything is really about people you know when you Interesting example, like when COVID hit, for example, we paid out every single one of our farmers immediately. you know And I knew that the faucet was turning off and it was about to get very real. And you know for food that we had consumed in the last month, they need a paycheck. And I wrote a personal note to every single one of our suppliers of which there were probably 30 within 24 hours.
00:11:14
Speaker
Every single person called me and said, you are the only person who reached out to us like person to person, and you are the only person who paid what was already consumed and owed over the last month, understanding that you know we were about to face as much of an economic cliff as any you know restaurant would. But more importantly, the email meant something that you saw us and that you realized that we are also a person. right like We deliver food on a truck to you, but there's a person that grew it. There's a person that packed it. There's a person that sent it. and I think that's the heart of everything I collect. There's a story and a person behind every single piece. I also collect art and in the same way. It's about the person, their story, what what means something to them and and sharing our stories and sharing and connecting our lives. And I i really believe that. I i always say, too, you know I think in startups,
00:12:08
Speaker
A lot of people can shift their mindset to be very transactional because it's fast-paced. It's changing. It's hard. It's challenging. But at the end of the day, if you look at it more through a people lens and a relational lens, you know people do things for people they like. I always remind my teeth that. like It's actually not it. And we get that question a lot from investors. What's your mode? and you know What's your competitive advantage? and Why can't anyone copy you? and How do you do this and how do you do that? And I always say it's people. like we have and Unbelievably strong network and strong piece of relationships and that supersedes What's in a contract it supersedes us being the top bidder and especially in food right this is about people who grow our food and people who tend to our land and I think the same that same ethos of
00:12:57
Speaker
my passion for and connectivity to our growers who are taking care of our soil is how I think about creators, right? It's the same way that a musician pours everything they can into a song and everything they are into a record, just like a ceramicist, right? You know, they're putting everything they are into a plate, into a vase. And one of the reasons we started collecting menus is, right, I don't think most people realize It's the first work of art that a restaurant puts out as their menu. It tells who they are, the font that they use, the paper they use, the alignment, the color, the size, the shape. you know That's their first... Yes, you walk in and you take in a vibe of the restaurant, but this is also the first way that they're talking to you. and
00:13:41
Speaker
I do think of menus as a work of art. i I always have been so fascinated by menu design. And then we have the teams, not just the head chef, not just the famous one whose name is on the masthead, but we ask for the entire team during service to sign the and menus because that's who brings it to life, right? and And I believe in that. I believe i don't know. I'm very woo woo. I'm from l LA, born and raised. And I just do believe so much that spirits pass through these objects, through their creators, if we're willing to receive them and what they're going through, what they're experiencing, what they're being inspired by and what they're struggling through all lives in those objects.
00:14:21
Speaker
Well, I mean, it's pretty evident that everything you do is with intention. With Westbourne, each product takes so much research, finding the proper compostable packaging, the right ingredients, et cetera. What's the process like for you to add something to one of these three collections? Do you go through that same rigorous checklist of of ah research before you add something, or are you simply what meets your eye comes home with you?
00:14:45
Speaker
kind of neither in the sense of, I think it's all gut. I have a very strong sense of intuition. I have a very, you know, anyone who knows me, I always say I'm a witch. I have a very deep sense of spirit and connectivity, and I just know when I know. And honestly, a lot of the decisions, even at the company level, are really based on that. I just have a very strong intuitive feeling about things. And so,
00:15:13
Speaker
Even on the menus, like it's not all restaurants, not all experiences. It's really when we have that meal, something strikes within us and it's sort of like, okay, yeah, you know this is this is an experience that we really want to cherish and remember for years to come. like This is the night. This is the night. This is the place.
00:15:32
Speaker
And same with ceramics. I don't know. I think it's more about gut of, okay, this speaks to me. It reflects this moment in time that you know we really enjoy deeply and and that's where it carries. Yeah, certainly. Are there records that you're constantly on the hunt for or is that pretty spontaneous too?
00:15:52
Speaker
More spontaneous. I mean, you do you like what like the album art looks like and less about what the music sounds like because you'll find a way to like the music? No, no. It's definitely a music musician first and then, you know, version of the album, um things like that. so Well, or gifts. So for my daughter who was just born, we did a blessing way. She's my fourth child. So, you know, the, it's funny, I would say the first kid and the last kid gets a lot of love from the villages because right you know the the middle kids tend to get a yeah know a little less love. They just get a little sprinkle of everything else.
00:16:31
Speaker
Yeah. And so, you know, it was my last child and we had a very, very hard road to conception and just a very rough year before she was born. And so we did a blessing way and we had everyone, you know, I sort of said, look, we have everything we need for a baby. And then some, we have three other kids.
00:16:48
Speaker
So we asked every one of my girlfriends to contribute a record so that our baby would eventually have her own vinyl record collection. And it was really special to see, you know, each person brought one, they wrapped it their own way, and then they wrote a note to her as to why they selected that record. And so even things like that, I love crowdsourcing, I love having more interactive ways of collecting things. So even with some of our ceramics, you know, many pieces were things gifted, you know, at certain moments and memorable milestones. And I think that also adds to the joy of the collection that it's not just mine, it's a community. Yeah, certainly. And your ceramics collection is quite vast. I mean, I'm running out of space.
Cherished Ceramics and Menus
00:17:36
Speaker
ah You've collected them from so many different sources, whether it's friends or flea markets, whatever it may be Do you feel like ceramics are an extension of everything that Westbourne is about this handmade raw organic sort of feel?
00:17:51
Speaker
Absolutely. and And look, some of the pieces came from the restaurant. I mean, all of our ceramics at the restaurant were made by hand. Some Brooklyn makers, a lot of our plates and mugs were made by my husband's cousin who's a potter or does everything by hand. And yeah know Even from the restaurant days, it would always sort of make me chuckle. I mean, we started selling the mugs because people were asking so much about them and we could not keep them in stock and they were expensive. I mean, expensive. To get now, I feel like luxury ceramics are sort of having a moment in the last year or two and and sort of on the rise. But again, when we were doing it,
00:18:30
Speaker
you know approachable. I don't want to necessarily say casual, but restaurants like ours weren't doing that. And and like I said, we couldn't even keep it and stop. So you know when we closed the restaurant, a lot of the ceramics that I keep and I use in my daily life came from the restaurant. Like I said, some have been gifted to us. Some are from travels, from flea markets. And you know, I have four kids, some get broken. And you know, that's kind of the beauty of it too is like, it's very non matching sets. And so certain things become almost dead stock. Like I have this one, I love them too. They're sort of tall tumblers, gorgeous, sort of like matte white on that white, ah or sort of matte cream.
00:19:13
Speaker
and I can't find them anywhere again and you know we're down to one and I like tell my kids and like no one touches this one tumbler it's like only I can use it so you know again there's sort of a chuckle in that too of like you know it's interesting because I am a very avid collector and I love the search and I love the surprise and this sort of cosmic quality of how these pieces come to be and find their way to our home. But I also think they're stuff. you know i I never want to also be owned by the things that we own. And so it's funny, too. I think people are sort of surprised. I do have a high attention to detail, but I'm very not type A. And I'm really not attached to physical things. Like like I said, I mean, my kids break things left, right, and center. I don't want to live in a world of plastic. As you know, I'm very anti-phile. So it's sort of like, okay, we enjoyed those mugs for a time and they had their moment and you know we'll find another set and another one will find its way to us. But I always tell my kids, this stuff is just stuff. It does bring me immense joy and they are part of the fabric of our family, but I also don't want this stuff to own us. Yeah, but for now, don't come within 10 feet of this single mug.
00:20:29
Speaker
The one lasting tumbler, it's at the back where they can't reach it. But, you know, it's it's again, it's sort of, I look at that as sort of part of it. I mean, a friend of mine always laughs. He's like, I've stolen this with my company. I used to stay at the restaurant all the time. I mean, people would come in and be like, well, where do I order? And where's the sign for this? And you should really have wayfinding for here. And I would say to them, our space is 700 square feet. It's intentionally confusing so that you will have to talk to a human being.
00:20:57
Speaker
I don't want an automated experience and in fact this beautiful friction and imperfection is what makes us human and actually is what's gonna make you enjoy being here and i really believe that even in you know even in the world of cpg right it is about again you know investors stress and the market favors.
00:21:18
Speaker
scalability and things being consistent, but that's not nature. And that's not actually the human spirit or the human experience. It's very flawed. It's very imperfect. There's a lot of friction in our everyday lives. And I very much choose to embrace that and lean into that and see that as something really beautiful and fun. And I'm expected. And I hope that becomes, you know, sort of contagious to others as like, ah you know, that's the best part.
00:21:44
Speaker
We have this feeling of wanting to control and smooth it all, but that's the difference between us and robots. Totally. Couldn't agree more. I want to talk more about your sign menu collection. It's so unique, and I think it's such a great personal archive to look back on. When did you start collecting these, and and was there a moment or a restaurant that you were at where you were like, why have I not been collecting sign menus this whole time?
00:22:11
Speaker
So my husband and I have been together 20 years. We met when we were 19 and around 2010 when we got married, very young, a very young married couple, ah we it was kind of around that first year of marriage that you know we couldn't afford any art.
00:22:32
Speaker
really. And I've always loved art. I studied art when I was younger. I was a drawer and painter when I was a kid. um I still consider, you know, to me cooking is an art form and sort of keeps that that part of my brain very much alive and kicking. But I think it really came out of that. like We really couldn't afford anything to like decorate our apartment with. And we've always loved restaurants. That was very much a bond of ours. you know For many years, we would do no gifts, and we would do one sort of baller meal a year. And that would be like, we sort of said to each other, OK, this is birthday, Valentine's Day, and you know the holidays, and like we're going to go to Masa. We were like, we'd spend it on all these like little gifts and that just doesn't mean anything to us. And so the first, I think the first frame menu actually was Alinea. One of our best friends from college lives in Chicago, born and raised. He lived in New York and then moved back around 2010 and we visited him and we sort of were like, don't tell your parents, and but we're going to, again, we were like, our year ball out is going to be Alinea. And that was the first one to be framed.
00:23:41
Speaker
Do you display them or archive them in a specific way? So each menu we frame completely uniquely and that I think is where sort of like our art and the restaurant's art come together. So we frame each one in a way that we feel reflects our feeling about the restaurant, the interior of the restaurant, the vibe, the message, the mission of the restaurant. So each one is very distinctly framed and formatted. And then, you know, in each place we've lived, we've probably lived in six or more places together. It's always lived in a different part of our space. And also obviously the collection grows over time, so it it has to evolve and move. So right now it's on this sort of like cascading wall of our little dining note that the kitchen looks on to, which feels right. And it's probably the first piece of art that you would see coming into our home.
00:24:42
Speaker
We have, like I guess, a more formal entrance to the house, but like our family entrance, which is where we come in and out every day. we have a little ranch house. So there's like a proper door, which we probably never use. I don't think anyone in our house has ever used. And we have this little barn door that um when it opens, like I said, the first thing you see are are the menus. um So yeah, each one is pretty specific and and we don't always frame them right away. And sometimes we you know sit and kind of reflect on them and figure out
00:25:13
Speaker
Where we're gonna put them um but then we build it around so once we've sort of started installing it we build it out from where it is but we don't reorient them. Yeah, for sure. No, I love that idea. i think I think it's such a great idea because most of the time people take photos on their phone and it just doesn't hold a candle to what the meal actually probably was. If it was good enough for you to take a photo of, you probably have a better story to tell. And I think the menu does that. And you know like you said earlier, it is the restaurant's first piece of art and the first thing that they put in front of you that they spent a lot of time on because it is
00:25:50
Speaker
what you're about to experience. And I don't know why, like, all iPhone photos of food end up looking like the same thing. Yeah, and I think, look, I think for us, too, what it evolved in was, one, the sort of living art, but also, you know, a lot of families sort of have those gallery walls of photos of them and, you know, family photos and things like that. And I just always found that I don't know it just didn't feel sort of it didn't vibe for me for whatever reason aesthetically and so I think over time it's also been our way of documenting how we've expanded our family where we've been where we've traveled without having this like gallery wall of just sort of portraits of us around places we've been so it does have that sort of memory archive like each one
00:26:42
Speaker
like I said, is not just favorite restaurants, but really like experiences. A lot of them are moments, for example, I mean, James Jamal, James Ken, who is a very, very dear friend of ours, you know, he cooked our fifth wedding anniversary, we did a big party up on the rooftop of Nomad, and our friend actually from Chicago who was with us for the Golanian meal. um He had that menu framed for us as an anniversary gift.
00:27:11
Speaker
you know, things like that, that I think again are sort of this communal bringing together um of really special memories and moments and people. Is there an ideal menu size that you prefer? If you had your way, like would they all be the same size? No, definitely not. That's part of the fun of it. No, it's such a puzzle piece to put them together. They're vastly different. I mean, we have Everything from um Hugo Denoyer, which is like a little, looks like a notepad, like teeny tiny. It's this butcher in Paris that s serves lunch out of the butcher shop. He's sort of the Michelin supplier to the city. And that's teeny tiny compared to, you know, during COVID we ate at Atamix, which is owned by two very close friends of ours.
00:28:03
Speaker
And, you know, I don't know if you've even ever seen, but they do like a packet of cards and every season, every menu that they do for a period of time is like this real opus and Elia pours her heart and soul into the narrative. And it's just, and each one is done by a different artist. I mean, it's totally incredible. And she is a absolute creative genius. And it was powerful because it was all about covid and and she and I worked on Roar together and she was also very active in restaurant relief and supporting restaurants through the pandemic. And so that one is massive. It's 12 cards and it's this huge, huge display um that also encapsulates you know capsulates this really challenging time for our industry. And her narrative and prose on it was so powerful. So that one is,
00:28:56
Speaker
Huge and and probably one of the big opuses on the wall so no i would never want them the same total that stands against everything i believe in i love i love that each one is just so distinct tonight i think again it's a puzzle for us like.
00:29:11
Speaker
Right the twelve cards for example in atomics the narrative is so beautiful but then the back of the card is its own art piece and so how do you display you know which cards are face up which cards are face down and what order is it the order of the meal is it the order of the images and it is this sort of puzzle unto itself that that we love to play around with.
00:29:33
Speaker
Are there certain places that you know have a great menu design and maybe it's less about, I mean, it will end up being about the experience if you go there, but more just wanting to own a copy of that menu? Well, we will say, like I said, Atamix, I think is really like a collectible art piece, even though it is also a menu. I mean, it, I, oh yeah, if you're listening, you should turn it into a book.
00:29:55
Speaker
She should turn them into a book, really. They're that. I mean, it would be the most gorgeous coffee table book. They're really, it is extraordinarily special. Yeah, cause like for me, you know, uh, we went to Villa d'Este in Lake Como and their wine book is this massive leather bound book. It belongs at like the JP Morgan library. It's bigger like than my torso. It's huge and it weighs a million pounds. And I wanted to ask them if they'd sell me a copy, but it probably would have been more than the trip anyway. But I just thought it was so special and such an amazing thing instead of handing someone a binder, right? Of like the wine list.
00:30:31
Speaker
I mean, nothing's worse than the digital wine list. I'm like, oh, no. Right. play Yeah. Here's this iPad. means I think you should email them. You'd actually be amazed. i I think like whenever we ask for them, the restaurants are so overjoyed that that someone appreciates. Again, it's usually seen right. You can see it as transactional. You can see it as this is the list that enables me to order and bring food to my table.
00:30:54
Speaker
But really, it's so, so much more than that. And I think they get very excited when they realize that someone sees that and sees that effort and that that investment in that piece of collateral.
00:31:07
Speaker
Another thing I wanna talk to you about is preservation, and preservation is so important when it comes to collecting. Of course, you know keeping things stored properly, but I more so mean you know the generational aspect of things, and Westbourne is so in touch with
Preservation and Sustainability Strategies
00:31:23
Speaker
preservation as well. Do you think there's any similarities in the way you view preservation for both collecting and the future of Westbourne?
00:31:31
Speaker
I do. I mean, it's interesting. I think there is a constant push and pull of past and future, right? it For my food philosophy, preservation is about upcycling, preventing waste, and carrying on a season.
00:31:46
Speaker
But I also think the purpose of living in harmony with nature and having a regenerative lifestyle is as much about letting go, right? Knowing when it's not that season and that you shouldn't be eating carrots year-round and that, you know, the perfect apple is not meant to be preserved. So it's interesting. I think it depends on your sense of that word and doing it for the right period and the right time and the right space.
00:32:13
Speaker
And I do think of that in collecting. you know We've sold art pieces in our home and you know that sort of no longer serve us. We've, like I said, If my child learning to bring, you know, all my kids are very self-sufficient and very independent and that's something very important to me and sort of a ah Montessori approach, if them learning to bring something to someone, carry it to the sink, you know, and really be responsible, if that led to a slip of the hand and a broken plate, you know, yes, I loved that plate and it was important for the time that it was, but it also taught my child how to clear their plate. And so,
00:32:54
Speaker
wallet While it didn't preserve the plate in the long term, it did serve its purpose. I look at preservation, like I said, as I do think it's important about honoring the past and extending the life of seasons and upcycling waste and being very mindful of that. and Certainly, quality over everything is a very big tenet of Westbourne in my life. But I also think with that is knowing when to let go and when something should pass to another or has just served its time. Like I said, similar with seasons, right? Having having food at the right time in the right way and not expecting it to be year-round is also a very important virtue.
Collaborations and Unique Collections
00:33:36
Speaker
And collaborations are another big thing in collecting as they are with Westbourne. And you're always collaborating with different folks at Westbourne from Oishi and Ron Finley and Mad Agriculture. Has collaborating with all of these amazing people started to make you think more about the rarity of collaborations when it comes to collecting?
00:33:55
Speaker
It is interesting. I do think the reality of sort of current commerce and business is what makes a lot of those collaborations harder. and And I think people are afraid, right? Like, what if it doesn't sell or we do all this work and it's such a small run. And I don't know, to me, it's my favorite thing to do. And we did it a lot, even at the restaurant, lots of pop-ups and partnerships. And you know we sold a lot of goods. um we made one I mean, we were but Now a lot of restaurants, again, um a lot of restaurants are doing it now, but at the time, you know, we partnered with Brock Sellers and Ant Hill Farms out in California who didn't have such a big presence on the East Coast. Now they do, but we did collaboration wines with different artists doing the label. Now that's very ubiquitous, but again, at the time it really wasn't. I love doing that and I love bringing people from different industries
00:34:49
Speaker
To do a product that's sort of unexpected and interesting and I kind of to the anti preservation I love the ephemeral quality I love that it's small I love that it makes no business sense I love that it's actually just pure fun you know and that sense of surprise like I actually don't care you know it's.
00:35:08
Speaker
I don't care that it makes sense. I don't care that it makes money. In fact, more often than not, it sort of comes out of random conversations and random musings, which I actually think usually does do well when it really is just spontaneous. And so, yeah, I do think in collecting it's interesting, although I'm also very big, um vintage clothing and vintage furniture.
00:35:33
Speaker
collector and most actually are not collaborations because i I prefer I think the more obscure and I think I prefer the thing that's a little left of center and a little bit pure in that sense.
00:35:48
Speaker
I think a lot of partnerships nowadays are for, again, sort of the buzz and the the financial boost, and less so just for the heck of it. And I think we really strive to bring different industries together. And I think, you know for better or worse, I do think that's becoming a rarer thing, is this mishmash of different creators being willing to lend their force to something very outside of the real house.
00:36:18
Speaker
And another thing that I read that you collect is vintage La Yole, the French flatware brand. And I'm curious to know what it is about some of those pieces that excite you the most because we collect them to it at our place and absolutely love their stuff. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. Again, cutlery, you never seem to have a full set. It's like they disappear, um which also makes me you know, remember the restaurant days where people definitely steal stuff from restaurants. And I mean, know I'm definitely a friend sort of brag about, Oh, yeah, I took this for a restaurant. I'm like, you do realize that that's hard on them, right? I get why you want that piece. You realize you're telling the wrong person. Totally. I mean, it's interesting. I think for me, it's always been
00:37:04
Speaker
I think both necessity and intrigue, meaning I love vintage. I love the incomplete sets. I love something that was a one-off or hard to find or an interesting color. But also it's a necessity. like We never have a full set of flatware ever in this house. And it's like the running joke. you know I host obviously a lot of big dinner parties. I do a lot of brand events. We hosted 30 people for Thanksgiving. And like again, I love the very niche mosh.
00:37:32
Speaker
palette of it all, but I do also think the constant hunt for vintage flatware comes out of necessity because we just never seem to have enough, which makes me laugh. So someone comes to your home and you tell them that you collect all of these things, but they just don't get it. What would be one vinyl sign menu and piece of ceramic that you would put in front of them? So they say, okay, I get it now.
00:37:57
Speaker
Well, we have a very special David Bowie record that my daughter is named after David Bowie, who was a very important artist that my husband and I both really adore. And his uncle you know has a really deep passion for him. And I just loved how barrier-breaking you know he is as a human and how outspoken he was as a human. But obviously, his his you know work speaks for itself.
00:38:27
Speaker
Probably that. And then a girlfriend of mine who works with the Anderson Pack gave the baby a signed Anderson Pack record. And I feel like, you know, my newborn daughter doesn't even know how cool she already is. That's a pretty special, special thing. um Signed menu.
00:38:48
Speaker
That's a hard one. I mean, there's so, so many. Right now, you know, as I said, um our friend Jamal Kent passed over the summer. And I think the signed menu gifted from our college friend from our fifth wedding anniversary right now is something I look at a lot um and think about a lot. I love it. um And ceramics. Oh, gosh.
00:39:11
Speaker
Oh, that's so hard. I have so many. i really Well, it's probably my singular Tumblr. and i hold done your life I have a little, it again, it's like a singular, someone gifted me from an artist who did this very small run of like little, you know, honestly, its we use it for espresso, but like, I honestly don't even know if it was meant to like, use for anything. I would also say that too, we probably use things that are probably not meant to be used, but I just believe in like,
00:39:41
Speaker
kind of friends who are sort of like, I have this piece of jewelry and it's in my safe and I never take it out. I'm like, I don't know. i I'm definitely not a collector in that sense. And I know you talked about preservation. I really believe in living with them and using them and creating memories with them. And yeah, it might break, it might get messed up, but isn't that better than like not enjoying it, but possessing it? I guess maybe I'm sort of like anti-possession in that way.
00:40:05
Speaker
No, I think using the things that you have and that you love is is one of the important things of collecting. Which I think people forget. Yeah, and, you know, there's always going to be a collector out there who has to put everything in the safe because the things that they're after are just maybe on a different level and you don't want to touch them and in a certain way because it is more about preservation. But ah then why have them? Yeah, I agree. I'm not that kind of collector either. Even priceless, you know, someone who's fortunate enough to own priceless art I don't know. I would just have such a hard time. What's the point ultimately? Not displaying it, right? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I think for me, I think for me, that would be hard. Like I said, I mean, I, I have, I mean, one of the fortunate things is that I am lucky to be the same shoe size and the same
00:40:57
Speaker
clothing size as I was when I was a teen, you know the first pair of designer shoes I ever bought was with all my bat mitzvah money when I was 13 and I still wear them and I'm still the same size and they're in great condition, but I wear them and I take care of them, but I won't just let them sit. So I do find that interesting. um i guess ah Yeah, and there's very few things that I genuinely won't wear, or won't use, and like I said, probably things that I don't think were intended to be used like my beautiful artist small piece that we use for espresso.
Collecting as a Lifestyle
00:41:31
Speaker
I want to make sure that we take a second to talk about all the other amazing things you have going on. Your cookbook, My Regenerative Kitchen, your founding member of Roar, and the Independent Restaurant Coalition, the Google food lab you're a part of. You're creating a more equitable childcare system for working mothers. I'm not sure where you find an extra minute to do all of these things, but I would have to imagine collecting is a safe place for you to kind of turn off for a bit.
00:41:57
Speaker
Yeah, and look, I i always say you know balance is a joke and not real. I believe very much in integration, so everything sort of bleeds together in my life. And you know when I'm often traveling, it's usually tied to something you know work-related and the minute between meetings all you know run to a flea market or go to a vintage store that i love and then i think i'm just constantly i say to my husband i experience the world kind of like sherlock homes it's like i'm taking in all these clues and all these things and i'm very sensory oriented.
00:42:36
Speaker
um So yeah, there's always time. I mean, I don't know. Like I said, even in between, if I'm walking somewhere or running between meetings, I always pop into things and it might lead to to something that adds to the collection. So it's both a release, but it's also very much integrated just into my daily life. I've always got kind of one ear to the ground, I'd say. Amazing. Camila, let's wrap it up with the collectors. Jim, run down. You can answer these questions based on any of the things that you collect. So the first one is, what's the one that got away?
00:43:06
Speaker
We don't really have a place for it and I couldn't figure out how to get it back from Paris Flea last year, but these Max Ingram's micro scones I'm obsessed with. I keep them. I have like a little photo album on my phone of vintage pieces that I'm dying for and I want. um I will own those and put them in our house at some point, but our house is not due yet for a renovation and my husband was like, um so we're going to take the new sconces off the wall for these ones. like I want them so badly. so ah therere they're They haunt my dreams and at some point we'll have them. What's the on deck circle? So what's next for you in collecting maybe something else that you're hunting after?
00:43:50
Speaker
Oh, gosh, there's so much. i Like I said, I keep such a running list. I mean, I'm also very into vintage cars. We have a Dodge A100 named Charlie after my late dog love of my life. um At some point, another vintage car thats that's on my that's on my radar big time. I saw that I think on your website, right? And and you can rent it or or use it for events and stuff?
00:44:15
Speaker
Yes. And I am like a rally girl through and through. And I have a couple friends. I mean, every I have one friend who I'm always like, stop putting your vintage cars for sale on your Instagram. Like I can't survive. My heart cannot survive looking at these. I'd love I think one of the things my husband and I talk a lot about we want to buy Kind of a beat-up one and and restore it ourselves and sort of have that be a long-term project and sort of teach our kids how to do it So that's definitely on deck.
Future Collecting Dreams and Passions
00:44:46
Speaker
I love it. How about the unobtainable? So this is something that's just too expensive in a museum private collection It's just complete unobtainium
00:44:54
Speaker
Oh, probably jewelry pieces. I mean i have ah one of my dear friends, Randy Malofsky owns For Future Reference. She's been a vintage collector and dealer, specifically in jewelry for a long time, and she knows. She has this very special Bulgari watch that i I always tell her. I'm like, if you're robbed, you'll know it's me. like It's definitely me. Is it one of the serpenti ones that wraps?
00:45:20
Speaker
Yeah, but it's a very specific kind, a very specific edition. Probably something like that. I also, I got the privilege to work for Ottomars this summer um while very, very pregnant. It was funny. I love their pieces and I think, you know, I very much covet some of their, again, special edition vintage. They're definitely one of my favorite watchmakers.
00:45:44
Speaker
I also love the new frosted mini Royal Oaks that they came out with this past year. I thought that those were amazing too. I got to cook and do the menu for their LA lunch and agreed it is, well, again, it's really their first foray into watches as jewelry, which again, very much in that bulgari, similar ethos. And I mean, its it's done very well for them. It was so beautiful. They let me try it on. I was like, can I wear it tonight? They're like not in the kitchen thing. and I was like, that's fair. That makes sense. Doesn't really fit.
00:46:17
Speaker
um But yes, I mean, I'm such I I dream of anonymous watch as well. The page one rewrite. So if you could collect anything else and money was no object, what would it be?
00:46:31
Speaker
vintage cars. I would be buying and trading and selling them and have a garage fill and ride a new one every week. I mean, it's actually really sweet. My my kids, especially my my oldest son, who's only five, like totally loves cars like I do. And it is so a born thing. Like even when he was a baby, he'd be like, I like this one, like in a random, you know, parking garage. And We're lucky. we We now live in LA where obviously there's a lot of vintage car collections because driving is so beautiful. Living on the coast is the best use of them. It would definitely be vintage cars. I have a very long list of ones that, again, I don't think I'd want to keep them museum quality. and i i wouldn't I love the buying and selling and trying and you know going through them and rehabbing them. So it would definitely be this sort of
00:47:24
Speaker
and big car collection that was ever changing. Do you have a car in mind that would be your first foray into collecting? Definitely a 60s Porsche. Yeah. And then probably third is, um you know, old it's sort of OG Land Rovers, you know, safari. Old defenders and all that. Yeah, exactly. um I have four kids. My dream is like, you know, the two seats that face each other, my buddy has. one And I'm like, never put it up for sale, because then I'll feel compelled to buy it. And it's obviously like so not safe for children, but I don't care. and My husband kindly reminds me that these things are not safe for kids. But I'm like, I just dream of you know the two facing the two, us in the front, and we're like safari riding around LA. Amazing. How about the goat? Who do you look up to in the collecting world, or who do you think is just a great collector? Oh my gosh. um
00:48:23
Speaker
It really depends on who and what I, one of my dear friends Sarah Harrelson started and runs Cultured Magazine and she has an incredible eye, you know, of course has really sort of redefined collecting in the art world. I always tell her I'm like, one day I'll collect art in a real way.
00:48:42
Speaker
yeah We have small pieces here and there, certainly you know nowhere near that caliber and and level, but I think she would be someone, um and and certainly I would say on the interiors furniture side, I mean, Kelly Wirser is like the collector of vintage. i We've never met, I'm a fan from afar, but she I've heard has sort of warehouses on warehouses of just the most epic vintage um furniture pieces, and I deeply, deeply covet that.
00:49:12
Speaker
I love it. The hunt
The Thrill of Collecting
00:49:14
Speaker
or the ownership? Which one do you enjoy more? The hunt, of course. I'm also, I mean, I will tell you when I was a teenager, like when eBay first started, as I said, I'm very fortunate. I am the same size as when I was a kid. You know, I had sort of like early growth spurt and then I sort of stayed the same roughly.
00:49:32
Speaker
I was a crazy eBay hunter. So many of my especially sort of vintage jewelry and and vintage clothes have come from many, many years of not only hunting, but I love the negotiation. My husband wraps up. He's like, you just love to do it for the fun of it. I'm like, I do. I want to negotiate off platform. I want to come up with like a deal. like I don't know. It's just the whole process.
00:49:58
Speaker
It's just so fun. It's definitely the hunt and I keep my eye on things for a long time. And like I said, I genuinely believe that like pieces find their way to you. So it's definitely the hunt. Like I said, I mean, things break, we buy and sell things, we trade things, we gift them, we give them. It's definitely not the possession. I love the experience of the hunt. You and I both.
00:50:24
Speaker
It's an obsession. It's an obsession for sure. It's a real deep addiction and obsession and you know thankfully fruitful and and not damaging, but it is a deep, deep addiction and a compulsion for sure. Most importantly, do you feel that you were born with the collector's gene?
00:50:41
Speaker
Definitely, but I think interestingly, I do think it's a collector's gene, but I think what you said was really interesting. I do think there's very different types of collectors. I think there's certainly some that it's really about the preservation. They're not necessarily enjoying it. They're not displaying it. They're not using it. They're not passing it. It's its more the covet, right? like knowing you have it and that ownership versus I think I have the other side of the collector's gene where it's this I want to meet the person I want to happen upon this sort of rare interesting thing. I want to Seek out like, you know, we have a Soriano vintage couch that you know We found in deep covid that I had been looking for in a certain way for a very very very long time and so
00:51:33
Speaker
Um, I don't know. I think I, I think I'm in the hunt and the the collector's gene that also is like a long-term player, right? It's like, I don't, I quality over everything over a long period of time and that very sort of patient sitting waiting. Um, certainly not in like the hoarding way.
00:51:55
Speaker
I love it Camila, thank you so much for coming on Collector's Dream Radio today. It's been such a joy. It's been such a pleasure to have you. There's so much more to talk about. I think we could have easily gone another three hours just talking about all the things that you love because I think I love all the same things. Cars and furniture and design and and all the stuff for the home. So I can't wait to do this again soon. Cheers and I can't wait to see everything that Westbourne does in the future. Thank you so much. Can't wait to continue listening and again such a pleasure to be on.
00:52:27
Speaker
Alright, that does it for this episode. Thank you all for listening to collector's gene radio