Durham College grad, Chef Studio founder earns Emmy nomination
Published July 13, 2021 at 6:36 pm
It has been quite a couple of years for chef-turned filmmaker Kristin Atwood.
The Durham College Culinary Management alumni (Class of ’17) and former Whitby resident has amassed five million followers for her YouTube channel, Chef Studio, earned herself a James Beard Award nomination (2020) and now has an Emmy nomination to boot.
Atwood, who now calls Edinburgh, Scotland home, is also an Alpha Female + grant winner and a two-time Webby-nominated cinematographer.
She creates elegant and sophisticated dishes on Chef Studio, a creative food and film production studio that specializes in making better, more creative cooking content for digital platforms, and her soothing voice in describing the recipes makes it seem like anyone can pull off the creation.
For her Alpha Female+ Grant project (which is worth $5,000 in camera gear and editing support), she is creating a five-part series called ‘Flight of the Bumblebees’ where she’ll apply her visually-stunning film style – which employs animations, projection mapping and virtual LED backgrounds, among other techniques – in the creation of five dishes inspired by “the beauty of spring, summer and all that honeybees do during this time.”
“The goal of the series is simple, to entertain and create a relaxing escape for the viewer, giving the audience space to breathe, relax and unwind,” said Atwood, who said she benefits personally from the creative process as the videos help her with anxiety issues from her neurodiversity.
Videos
“As someone who’s neurodivergent,” Kristin explains in her Alpha Universe bio, “I often struggled to find moments of calm, and I found that creating has become a way for me to kind of cultivate peace and channel my thoughts into something positive. One of the most rewarding things about sharing what I do on the Chef Studio channel has been finding out that the work that I do not only helps me, but also helps others to find these moments of calm throughout their day.”
Atwood started Chef Studio in September of 2019 and began producing creative cooking videos out of her bedroom in a shared flat in Edinburgh.
Since then, Chef Studio has more than 70,000 subscribers and received millions of views across its videos, tutorials and web series.
Chef Studio was also named YouTube’s Creator on the Rise in February of last year, prior to her James Beard Foundation nomination (Best Online Video, Fixed Location and/or Instructional for Chef Studio: The Crumby Bits – Cricket Macarons) in May of 2020.
The two Webby nominations (Best Food and Drink and Best How-To, Explainer and DIY), as well as the prestigious Emmy nomination for her At Home Pasta series in the Outstanding Single Camera Editing category, happened this year.
The seven-part At Home Pasta series was inspired by the lack of kitchen staples available in grocery stores during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, when “panic buying” was the rage. Using a few simple ingredients, Atwood was able to develop unique recipes, like egg yolk and ricotta ravioli, and created short films that explain how viewers could easily replicate these meals at home.
Chef Studio is up against five other programs in this category from Netflix, Hulu, and the Food Network, with the winner set to be announced at the 48th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards Lifestyle Programming ceremony this Sunday night.
“I’ve been lucky enough to work with some incredible creatives along the way and look forward to collaborating with other chefs, artists, filmmakers, composers and creators in the future,” she said.
insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies advertising