The Joy of Colour with Adriann Ramirez

Adriann Ramirez is a multi-disciplinary artist and the Head Pastry Chef at Finks in London, creating cakes and sweet treats with beautiful floral decorations. With a career ranging from dance and film to baking and poetry, Adriann’s boundless creativity and ability to reinvent themselves is a testament to how self-expression knows no limits. Their debut book of poetry, Hot Tears Through Velvet Rage, presents a collage of queer love, shame, anger and self-acceptance, drenched in pink light. We took a trip to Finks to learn more about the role colour plays in Adriann’s creative work, and how they use pink to express and reclaim their queer identity.

What does self-expression mean to you?

To me, self-expression is everything! It’s how I dress, it’s how I present myself, it’s how I create. Mostly, I am just trying to tell my point of view through my experiences, how I’ve lived them, how I’ve seen them, and how I learn from them. 

How has the way you express yourself evolved over the years?

I think in terms of self-expression, I’ve always done whatever my gut tells me to do. Before I was a chef, I started my career in dance - choreographing - and that really spoke to me. That’s how I was expressing myself at that time. And then it stopped serving me in many ways, so I veered into filmmaking, which fed something in me that felt really natural. And when that stopped serving me, I veered again and created my podcast, Lavender Language, which was really an exploration of the power of self-expression, of telling people's stories and learning from them. To then, writing my poetry, which came out of having nothing; no means of expressing myself in ways that I once knew how to, or once had the platform for. At that time in my life I had become very insular and thought that writing some things down could start making sense… and it really did! From that, I published my debut book of poetry, Hot Tears Through Velvet Rage, in 2021.

What advice would you give someone who is struggling to express themselves?

I think if I had anything to say about how to best express yourself, or how to best learn how to do it, is to pay attention to nobody. Only do what makes sense to you. And just keep veering. If something is no longer serving you, move on, diva! Self-expression never stops. You’ve got to keep adapting, keep growing, keep evolving. In this way, you’ll never feel stagnant. 

Only do what makes sense to you. And just keep veering. If something is no longer serving you, move on, diva! Self-expression never stops.

Adriann Ramirez

Why did you choose to call your podcast ‘Lavendar Language’?

The colour lavender is incredibly important to the queer movement and the queer community [the colour is symbolic of LGBTQ+ resistance and empowerment]. I also remember when I was younger I read an essay about the importance and the investigation of Polari - a now ‘dead’ language that was created by the queer community to signify and discover who each other were. I was really inspired by that, so when I decided to start this podcast - which is a series of conversations between myself and other queer artists about their creative process, the mediums they worked in and how they maintain a career in their creative fields - I felt the name Lavender Language would be perfect. It felt like a lovely way of describing two queers talking.

Your debut book, Hot Tears Through Velvet Rage, is drenched in pink tones. Is the colour pink particularly significant to you?

Let me tell you about pink! Pink is a significant colour in my life because as a younger child, I was always obsessed with it and always gravitated towards ‘the pink thing’, but I was always told that I was not allowed to have it. I couldn’t have pink walls, I couldn’t have pink clothes. In short, I couldn’t have anything that was remotely feminine. So I think as an adult, I’ve strongly veered to the other side, allowing and empowering myself to embrace the colour that was once so forbidden. Now, my house is pink, my clothes are pink, my bedsheets are pink, my Crocs are pink, and my book is pink! I am just obsessed with pink! In a way, embracing this colour has become a way of proudly reclaiming my queer identity.

My house is pink, my clothes are pink, my bedsheets are pink, my Crocs are pink, and my book is pink! I am just \nobsessed\n with pink.

Adriann Ramirez

Does colour play a part in the creative process of writing your book? If so, how?

Hot Tears Through Velvet Rage has colour totally woven throughout it. In my writing, colour is everything. I use colour to create a mood, an environment, and an ambience. In my poems, I try to create for the reader a very specific moment and colour is integral in achieving that. What was the colour of the wall? What was the colour of his eyes as they looked in the sunlight? What was the colour of the flower that I walked by that made me stop and smell it? 

And how does colour play into the things you bake? At what stage in your baking process do you think about colour?

Colour comes into my baking really organically. I don’t direct colour, I let colour direct me. I don’t use any artificial colourings in any of the baking that I do. Colour comes naturally from the fruit or the herb. I let whatever fruit is in season or whatever ingredient I’m using shape the dish and determine the colour scheme. Whether that be fresh strawberries that turn a buttercream a bright pink or a dark, burnt caramel which, when added to ice cream, creates a really tawny, beige colour.

Colour comes into my baking really organically. I don’t direct colour, I let colour direct me.

Adriann Ramirez

You talk about the way colour comes naturally from the fruit you use. Do you have a favourite fruit you like to work with because of the colour it creates?

In autumn and winter, I start working with quince, which is definitely my favourite fruit to work with. I love seeing this beautiful fruit come alive. When you first get it, it’s basically inedible. You have to poach it for hours, add lemon and bay leaves, and it slowly becomes this beautiful, blushed, orange terracotta colour. And terracotta is my absolute favourite colour. The colour that comes alive is just amazing, it has such warm, floral notes. And of course, the fruit also becomes edible and delicious. I really enjoy making a quince buttercream. 

What’s your favourite thing to bake?

At heart, I am an American baker and I have an American sensibility. I love a cupcake. And I love a good slice of heavily frosted cake. But one of my favourite things to make is a really simple, beautiful galette. A simple pastry and whatever fruit is in season at the time. Seasonality is really important to me. Right now I’m using apricots, raspberries and strawberries. 

At heart, I am an American baker and I have an American sensibility. I love a cupcake. And I love a good slice of heavily frosted cake. \n

Adriann Ramirez

How do you think your theatrical background informs and inspires your work now? 

I’m a drama queen, I live for the drama. I love being a performer and how that relates to my work now is I love the melodrama of fresh flowers on a cake. I’m fascinated by the temporal beauty of the flower. The stages of its life. From bud to flower, which dies and wilts which then gives way to the fruit that then becomes ripe enough to eat. I get a lot of inspiration from that. I think flowers lend themselves really well to special moments in a person’s life. Things that people remember for a long time. I think in that sense, it’s all a bit of a performance, isn't it?

If Adriann’s colourful world and love of pink has inspired you to embrace colour, then explore our range to find the colours that best express who you are. And for a daily dose of mouth-watering content, follow Adriann at @gay.nigella and take a trip to @finks.london to taste their treats for yourself!