My name is Gabriele Bonomi, and I’m known as the Vegan Bear Chef. Although I initially trained as an accountant, creativity has always been the driving force in my life. I began by designing stage sets and painting murals in my hometown. Between 2013 and 2015, I participated in Milan’s Fuori Salone during Design Week, presenting site-specific installations combining recycled materials, photography, and painting. My passion for food eventually led me to Copenhagen, where I made the transition from accounting to professional cooking.

I gained hands-on experience in places like the Street Food Court and MadenItaly, focusing on vegan cuisine. In 2018, I moved to Amsterdam to help introduce plant-based options into the menus of major tech companies.

In 2021, I published It’s My Kind of Vegan Story, a cookbook featuring 67 modern, 100% vegan versions of traditional Italian recipes. After founding my own company in 2020, I also developed all the visual identity and branding myself.

Since October 2022, my creative path has expanded at Treehouse NDSM, where I prepare weekly lunches for artists and residents. Inspired by their music and visual work, I began designing multisensory experiences, pairing meals with concerts, exhibitions, and performances. Organizing vegan cooking workshops, art dinners, and food-centered events is now part of my ongoing practice.

In February 2025, I presented The Many Layers of Identity for the Treehouse display, an installation built around La Gnaga, a folkloric figure from the Venetian Carnival reimagined as a queer symbol. A painted portrait was surrounded by hand-crafted masks made with ingredients from the vernissage dishes, each displayed on sculpted heads. Visitors could scan QR codes to access the recipes and explore the cultural roots behind the Gnaga.

In June 2025, I curated a visual installation in collaboration with artist and performer Guido Hoek. A looped video of his song “Since you asked” was projected alongside handwritten lyrics on reused canvases. At night, color-shifting lights brought the piece to life, transforming the space into a vibrant, immersive environment.

As part of Pride Art Route 2025, I also acted as curator for the Treehouse exhibition Out in the Open, coordinating the display and presentation of queer visual artworks, including some of my own mixed-media pieces focused on identity and transformation.

Being part of Treehouse has reignited my connection to the arts and opened up new ways to explore identity, sustainability, and community, through food, through objects, and through shared experiences.

In my studio, the Vegan Bear Lab, I explore sustainable materials and creative reuse. I make paper from recycled cartons and food scraps, and create jewelry using coffee clay, 0a material developed from coffee grounds and leftovers from my pasta workshops. I also draw Kawaii portraits on handmade paper and bring these hybrid practices into festivals like Tropikali.

In 2024, I created my first food installation, The Breath of Nature, for the Art Park II: Voice of Nature exhibition at Treehouse. This marked a return to installation art, blending food, symbolism, and sensory immersion.

Vegan bear Lab