Translator: Queenie Lee Reviewer: Tanya Cushman
I guess it's about time for me
to talk about where to eat for dinner, right?
(Laughter)
After all the hype and the music and the performance
and the great talks that we've had along the way.
It was quite interesting when at first Jason came to me
and said, "André, we'd like you to talk about collision."
So what is collision?
The act of colliding, a clash, conflicts,
the meeting of particles in which each exerts a force upon the other,
causing the exchange of energy or momentum.
So, I guess I'm kind of a calm and mild person.
That doesn't really fit the idea of collision.
So why? Why André's talk about collision?
I guess because my parents are Taiwanese;
I was born in Taiwan, and I spent half of my education here,
then I went traveling through Japan and, obviously, most of my time in France.
Then I traveled back to Asia: to Bangkok, Tokyo, Shanghai,
and then I ended up in South Africa,
then back to Singapore, and now to Taipei.
So it took all that impact on André
to become André today.
So, when people talk about André,
they always ask me,
"So, André, where do all those ideas, what does all that creativity come from?"
And they're always curious about it.
And before, I thought that it was just an idea;
it's just an experience or an instinct or a gift from God.
But after, I realized that there are some systems in there.
Where does good creativity come from?
We all here, we're all creative people.
We all want to know where the creativity comes from.
So here today, I just want to share with you
when all the ideas collide and where good creativity comes from.
So, how the good creativity comes
is from when there's a challenge, there are problems,
and we try to find a solution;
that's where good creativity comes from.
So, since I guess it's time for dinner later,
I want to talk about something dealing with food, of course.
So cheese, charcoal grill and sandwich.
Okay.
For me,
a good creativity, it must have three components.
First, it's the core, connectability and relevance.
So, why are these three components so important?
We're going to see a short video of the how of the creative process.
How we create a dish from the dish
and then we start to pull it out, little by little.
I want you to start to have a look at it.
(Video starts)
[I believe food is emotional and something that should be shared.
Not just the food itself,
but the intention of every creation is meant to be shared.]
You know, I spend most of my time in the South of France, Mediterranean.
I want to create that really, very classic -
or you can say Mediterranean or Spanish dish.
You have a charcoal-grilled squid with piquillos, the smoked pepper,
and olive oil.
A very simple dish.
When I was thinking of the dish, about what makes you remember,
is that the squid itself?
Or is it the combination of the squid and the piquillos, or what is it?
It's that smokiness;
it's that burning edge
that makes the whole dish come to life.
Nothing can replace
that burning flavor from the charcoal.
So what about if I want to have an ultimate dish -
that I just eat the charcoal?
That's where I start to really work on it.
And we make a fried charcoal dough.
So we serve burning charcoal with a fried charcoal dough.
And then we serve a piquillos dip with the charcoal squid.
In fact, the squid or the piquillos in a dish,
they were just accessory, in a way.
We designed that in the middle of the menu.
So, you know, sometimes when you see a normal menu,
you start it small,
and then the portion gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger?
For a long menu, sometimes halfway through it,
it's getting heavy, you know; you're getting tired.
If halfway, we can have a break, or we can have something fun -
that kind of lightening up, you know, freshen up a little bit -
and we will start again.
[Charcoal]
Every night, we have guests finish very late.
Most of the time, they finish at 11:00, 11:30, 12:00,
or even later, sometimes.
I just feel that I want to serve something like breakfast,
and then say, "Hey guys, you've got to go."
You know, it's breakfast time.
[Kaya Toast]
Kaya toast is the breakfast in Singapore.
It's white toast, grilled white toast,
and then you have kaya, which is coconut and pandan.
Then you have one slice of cold, salted butter inside.
That's it, and that's kaya toast.
Well, you know,
at the end of the meal, you serve coffee, of course.
So if coffee is served with the kaya toast,
that's kind of an ending or a beginning.
But yet I don't want to just serve kaya toast like anywhere else.
I still want to keep my French background.
I start to make white toast look like macaroons.
We do it exactly the same way:
we grill it,
make our own kaya,
and then you must have one icy-cold, salted butter inside.
If you eat it with your eye open, it's kind of macaroon.
But if you eat it with your eye closed, it's exactly the same kaya toast.
[Kaya Toast]
[The Creating Process]
(Video ends)
So,
I guess putting me at this slot is for a purpose, right?
So, what I want to talk about is where every dish comes from
and the process of creating a dish.
For me, that's the perfect triangle,
when every time there is good creativity,
whether it's furniture, or whether it's a car or a design graphic,
you always refer back to the core, the relevance and the connectability.
What is that about?
What is the core, the relevance and connectability?
It is, what is the main idea?
Or if it's the main idea, what's the purpose?
What are you trying to say?
And the relevance - is that subject important to your audience?
Or is it relevant to where we are today, in 2015?
Connectability.
Connectability is whether it's something
that I can refer to in my own story
or why some love songs always work:
because that connects me to my memories.
So I want to quickly start with the first, the core.
The core is the ability to gather information.
What does that mean?
Obviously, we all need to know what, why and how.
I want to give an example.
It started a few years ago.
I made my first of desserts called "the camembert."
Some of you might know it, some of you might not.
So the idea of doing the camembert dessert is what?
When I came back to Asia,
I realized that not everybody appreciates
the cheese course after the main course,
especially in Asia.
So a lot of Asian guests that come to the restaurant,
they kind of force themselves to enjoy the cheese course,
but some, they just don't.
And also, I realized that's probably the only course in the whole menu
that isn't produced in-house.
So why are we serving it?
Ya?
But that's kind of a French tradition -
that after the main course, you have a cheese course.
So I'm kind of imbalanced in the situation.
So, before we start to create a dish or any design,
we go back to first talk about it:
okay, what is cheese about?
Ya, what's the history?
Why are we doing it?
Second, why do people enjoy cheese?
And then, how can I create my own cheese?
I'm not saying that I'm making my own cheese
because it has to be something that is relevant.
So I created a dessert that looks like cheese.
So for those who cannot eat cheese or don't appreciate it that much,
they can have something else
while the rest of them enjoy having the cheese.
Ya. At the same time, everybody has a good time.
Second of all,
we still respect the sequence of being a French restaurant
or a French-tradition sequence.
Second, relevance.
Okay, relevance is what I said:
what you want to say,
and what people want to listen to
or whether they are interested in it.
Sometimes we make a design, and then we're looking at it,
and we're like "Oh wow, this so cool; you know, this is going to work."
But how is that relevant to the audience?
An idea doesn't come from nowhere, ya.
First thing that I hope -
these three components can apply to any creative person
or any of you in your personal life
or things that you're passionate about.
First, when we create an idea or a concept,
first it's knowing why we're creating, the meaning of doing it.
Second, presentation at the right timing.
The third is, each creation must have its own character.
What does that mean?
If you're looking at a bigger picture -
now we're not talking about one dish,
but talking about maybe 10 dishes together
in a menu -
in a menu, it's almost like two-and-a-half hours;
it's just like a movie.
So how do we place it at the beginning,
when we want people to start getting interested in it, ya,
and every seven minutes have something that excites them?
You have a scene, you have a picture,
you have a color or something that they can chew on.
That's why we created the charcoal dish in the middle of the menu.
What is that for?
Because in the halfway, you're starting to feel tired,
or you're bored or you're distracted.
So can we have something that changes the sequence?
That not every course is knife and fork and knife and fork, knife and fork;
how to pace yourself differently in the halfway.
So you change the pattern of eating.
Suddenly, we use hands.
And suddenly, we need to use our eyes, or we will use our ears.
That creates a whole interesting process throughout the two-and-a-half hours,
just like a movie.
And every character is there for a reason.
Whether it's every course, or it's a server or each ingredient,
they're there for a reason.
At the end of the meal, people walk out having a kaya toast,
and they go back home with a smile.
Or each character, just like a movie,
you have - you cannot only have good guys.
Sometimes you need to have bad guys and interesting guys.
So, presented at the right time and it must have its own character -
that's when I talk about creating a menu.
What is the message?
And why does it appear in a certain sequence?
Not just because that dish is cool, that design is cool.
Because you need to present it in the right way, in the right timing,
and with that, trigger your mind.
So, I guess from one dish or from one menu that we do,
behind it, there is a lot of thought for me,
a lot of ways to create the beautiful things.
The third thing I want to talk about is connectability.
Sharing the creativity.
What is meant by this?
There's two parts for connectability.
One is to emotionally fulfill their needs;
second, functionally setting up the scene.
It probably sounds quite abstract.
Actually, it's pretty straightforward.
When the guests walk in,
the first thing is we need to identify what's their purpose,
what do they come in here for?
The same thing as your own design,
and you're thinking about what you're creating this dish for
or creating this object for your clients.
They might not come to the restaurant for your food.
They might come to your restaurant because of the atmosphere,
or because they are dating someone or because of a birthday party,
or they just come simply for the food.
So identify their agenda and fulfill their needs emotionally.
Functionally is once we identify that, how do we set up the scene for it?
So, meaning that everyone comes in with a different agenda
and how to fill their agenda.
That's what we're trying to do.
So here we try to put perspective
even further into the whole dining experience -
or it could be a journey,
or it could be anything that you are creating.
First, what's the agenda?
What is the occasion they come in here for?
Second, why Restaurant André?
What does that mean?
That is, before you're going to a place, what is the expectation?
Oh, I heard that it's - they have very good food,
or it's a very cozy place or because of any other thing.
So the expectation and their agendas might be different.
So we have to make sure that we meet their agenda,
meet what their expectation is,
and how can I create a unique moment?
So we create,
we create each separate experience
for every single guest.
Some guests, they need a quiet corner.
Some guests, they are here to see the show.
Some guests, they are here because they're looking at each other.
I remember one time we did a dessert
because we knew that the two people were dating.
The couple was dating,
so we purposely served one dessert with one spoon,
to share.
(Laughter)
So, well, ya, they end up having to share the spoon,
and they share the dessert together.
And funny thing, you look at the other table,
and they were saying, "Why didn't we have that?"
(Laughter)
So, that's -
for me, that's very important:
to create something that, first, we know why we're doing it.
Second is to know when to serve it,
and what's the purpose of it.
And it has to be relevant; it has to be relevant.
And the third -
whether your design is connected to the people.
This is a summary of good creativity,
how the three elements collide together to become good creativity.
The core - gather the right information.
The relevance -
knowing why we create it - the meaning of doing it -
serving at the right time,
and giving each person or each object an individual character.
The connectability - whether it's functional and emotional.
So I guess ...
I'm a chef,
but I don't want to talk about just how to cook a dish,
how to cook a great chicken.
There's a lot of creativity behind it.
And this is - I think you can apply it to any creative work that you are doing.
And so, today, I hope I shared
something that you can serve for the next few years.
Lastly, I want to say
creativity is a line that reaches both the past and the future -
It's not something that comes from nowhere -
and it connects you and the others.
Thank you very much. I'm André. Thank you.
(Applause)