50 WWW.CHARLESTONWOMENPODCAST.COM | WWW.READCW.COM | WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM/CHARLESTONWOMEN THE ART OF ELEVATING OTHERS How three Charleston women use their gifts to lift up others BY ANGIE COLYER DUPREE WELLNESS + BEAUTY I’ve always believed hospitality is an act of generosity, but over the years I’ve come to realize it rarely belongs to one person. The chef prepares the meal, but countless artists shape the experience long before the first plate reaches the table. Some create beauty, some create connection and some create confidence. Their work may look different, but each is creating for the benefit of another. The longer I spend around Charleston’s hospitality community, the more I realize I’m simply collecting jewels—people whose gifts quietly make someone else’s work more beautiful. Chef and designer Hannah Staddon understands that better than most. Rooted in the tradition of the classic chef’s coat, her designs honor generations of culinary craftsmanship while expanding what the uniform can represent. Through her company Funky Chef, Staddon creates tailored jackets that allow women to bring more of themselves into the kitchen without sacrificing professionalism. What Staddon is really designing isn’t a jacket. It’s confidence. Fashion may seem like an unexpected part of hospitality until you realize confidence is often the first ingredient a chef puts on each morning. When a chef feels seen, she stands differently. She leads differently. She creates differently. That same philosophy inspired Chef Tina McCard’s Our Table project, where women in hospitality step in front of photographer Kate Blohm’s camera wearing Staddon’s custom jackets. More than portraits, the experience celebrates women who spend their careers pouring into others, reminding them they deserve to be seen, too. Charleston ceramic artist Grace Jennings approaches her work with that same generosity. Her handmade vessels don’t compete with the chef’s creation—they elevate it. Every glaze, curve and texture quietly frame another artist’s work while collecting memories long after the meal has ended. As Jennings told me, “I want my pottery to collect memories.” That simple sentence says everything. Three women, three different crafts and one servant’s heart. Hospitality is one of the few art forms where the masterpiece is never meant to belong to the artist. Staddon’s masterpiece isn’t the chef’s coat. It’s the confidence she stitches into the woman wearing it. McCord’s masterpiece isn’t the gathering. It’s the moment a woman realizes she’s been seen. Jennings’ masterpiece isn’t the pottery. It’s the memories her vessels quietly hold long after the last course has been served. Perhaps that’s the real thread of hospitality.We don’t create our finest work to keep it. We create it so someone else can carry it home. Various headshots from the Our Table event
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjcyNTM1