By day, Lauren Ko is an executive assistant to the chancellor at Seattle Colleges. By night, she is a rising pie baker — nay, a pie artist — who is exploding on the baking scene. Though only an amateur, Ko creates pies so beautiful that the very thought of cutting into them will make you cry.
In less than six months, the Seattle native has garnered over 111,000 followers on her Instagram @lokokitchen. She makes her pies from scratch, kneading the dough and creating the designs all on her own. She is driven by color and pattern, and her creations are mouthwatering and pleasing to the eye.
She even created a nutty rendition of Vincent Van Gogh’s masterpiece “Starry Starry Night.”
“I usually have some nebulous idea in my head for design and then improvise as I go along, depending on how well the dough or fruit cooperates with my vision,” Ko told Mashable. “My final products are generally happy accidents.”
Ko credits her innate talent to her family, telling Buzzfeed, “I come from a family of eaters and phenomenal home cooks, so it feels a bit like I’ve been cooking and baking my whole life. That said, I mostly dabbled in cakes, cookies, and muffins. I baked my first pie just over a year ago after seeing some beautiful images on Pinterest and was curious if I could do it, too.”
Despite the reach her pies have had on social media, Ko only began baking for fun less than a year ago and doesn’t sell any of her beautiful creations.
