Kolbi Condos

It all started with a lot of love from my family...

I come from a long line of bakers, and I’ve been fortunate that these ladies have taken great joy in sharing and teaching me the tricks they’d learned of the trade with laughter and love. Pictured above is my great-grandmother, Clara, and my grandmother, Erla. Both women, along with my mother, mastered the basics. They always made everything look effortless and graceful. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of helping my grandmother make holiday pies and decorating sugar cookies with my mother in ridiculous patterns and themes, all the while wearing colorful aprons and singing along to music in the background.

It took me awhile to achieve the same level of greatness that they had become so accustomed to, but once I became confident, I started to tamper with the ingredients -- a little chili here, a little basil there. Soon, I was creating works of my own, always with my origins in mind.

Another layer of complexity began to form, incorporating art. When I discovered that a plain cake is akin to a blank canvas, a whole new world opened up. You see, my other loves are art and music. Suddenly a cake was an opportunity to mimic Jackson Pollock, practice my watercolor skills, and test my sketching abilities as I was asked to draw more and more things on cakes. Finding ways to mix buttercream flowers, real flowers, and drawings has become the best part of my day. No I take that back, experiencing the excitement that people get when they receive a special treat is the best part, even if it is the simplest of designs, and I owe it all to my family.