Taste is such an underrated measure of quality.

The Power of Taste

As a living force (and not just for luxury), taste moves through the world unseen, yet shaping everything. Each morning, before anyone wakes, a series of decisions are made…

• An executive chef whispers to a thousand baristas, “today, add one more dash of cardamom”…

(Fragrant calming notes from spicy cardamom bring more people in, making regulars slow down and enjoy)

• A lighting designer adjusts the lighting in a gallery to form a warm halo in an ignored corner…

(A passerby is deeply moved by the shape of the area and later writes about it in her blog)

• A creative director tweaks proportions of a seasonal clothing collection, declaring “the ankle is the story today”…

(Stores begin to sell cropped trousers)

• A man unexpectedly pushes his chair in for someone else during a busy lunch

(The stranger smiles and her tensions from a stressful day disappear)

Quiet, discreet revolutions are shaped with taste.

A hundred small decisions across food, fashion, conduct, and design will feel “natural” to those who make them, but they’ve all been moved, ever so slightly, by the unseen order.

…and the city carries on, unaware that the world just became more elegant, by half a degree.