David Thorne - Creative Director

David is a Los Angeles-based cook and artist. He worked 4 years as a line cook at Canelé, and most recently as a prep cook at Ammo with Chef Daniel Mattern. He has also cooked at a slew of private events for clients including Redcat Gallery, Art Matters, Rhode Island School of Design, New Los Angeles Charter School, and Clockshop. During the early 1980s David dropped out of college to work at Cate Farm (http://www.catefarm.com), growing radicchio before foodies existed let alone even knew what radicchio was. He also worked as a cow-milking, hay-baling, shit-shoveling farmhand at 4 dairy farms in northeast Vermont. Mid-decade, David spent several years as an itinerant voluntarily-underpaid self-righteous hippie liberal lefty art-worker with the renowned Bread and Puppet Theater. In 1992 he moved to New York and was a participant in the Whitney Museum’s Independent Studio Program. From 1993 to 1998 he was a successful designer of books for the cultural theory industry, producing heavyweight tracts by Luce Irigaray, Judith Butler, Etienne Balibar, and Michael Taussig, among many others. David completed his MFA in Interdisciplinary Studio at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2004. He is a 2004 recipient of a Rockefeller Media Arts Fellowship, a 2007 recipient of an Art Matters grant and a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial award, and a 2009 recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship. David’s work in collaboration with Julia Meltzer (http://www.meltzerthorne.com) has been exhibited internationally.

 Kayla Ton - Events Director

Kayla is a wedding and event planner with 6 years of extensive experience in creative and corporate planning. With over hundreds of events successfully produced, she has a knack for creating captivating events that fit all sizes and budgets. After years in the finance and corporate world, she decided to quit and pursue her passion for events, food, and creativity. Outsisde of elysian, Kayla owns a boutique wedding and event planning company. A food aficionado, she also co-founded Scoopd, a mobile app that focuses on improving restaurant customer service. In her free time, Kayla volunteers for the Be The Match foundation and loves cooking with friends.