Making Their Mark: Gulsum Genc Koc

Long before lockdown, WATG and Wimberly Interiors’ global network of designers, makers and creators have looked beyond their every day to inspire ideas and innovations. In this new series, Making Their Mark, we shine a spotlight on our team members and creative associates, and the passion projects they pursue outside of 9–5 – not only for their personal mental health, well-being and growth, but for the benefit of their clients, projects and colleagues. Fostering a spirit of creativity, innovation, individualism and imagination among our ‘ohana’ (family) has been central to our firm since its founding seventy-five years ago, and we are proud to support one another not only at work, but externally as well.

In this interview, we speak with Gulsum Genc Koc – a talented Senior Project Planner and Landscape Architect in our WATG London team. Hailing from Turkey, Gulsum’s passion project began three years ago when her mother arrived in London with a sourdough starter that had been passed down from her grandmother. Reliving the memories of freshly baked bread as a child, and determined to carry on the tradition into a third generation, Gulsum mastered the art of sourdough and, today, her artisanal goods are collecting awards all over London.

Tell us a little bit about your career and what a ‘normal’ day looks like for you.

I am a Landscape Architect. I studied in Turkey and have been working for WATG since 2008 in the London Planning and Landscape team.

After having kids, I started to work part time – four days a week. The rest of my time is mainly spent engaged with kids and home. A normal day for us starts with school drop off, then catching the tube, working in the office, then school pick up and evening preparation.

With lockdown, of course everything has changed. As with most of the people across the UK, we have stayed at home. We also started working from home, and helping the kids with homeschooling. Honestly, home and office life are now together every day and, as working parents, everything is super busy.

In isolation we’ve been forced to find new outlets for entertainment and inspiration. Talk us through your side project(s). What is it and how did it begin?

I make sourdough bread. I have been baking bread for the last three years. Before lockdown, Fridays were my baking day as I was off work. Within isolation, I bake a lot due to demand!

It all started when my mum brought me some sourdough starter from Turkey. It was passed to us from my grandmother. When I was a kid, we would visit my grandparents and were always offered sourdough bread with freshly homemade butter. When my mum handed me this aged sourdough starter, I thought I should keep it going and carry on the tradition. Of course I had no idea how to make it, though. I got some tips from my mum but my interest was to be able make a batard loaf because, in my hometown, it is proofed and baked in a tray. So, my sourdough bread journey started.

I have read lots of books and articles, and have watched tons of videos. It is absolutely not an easy process! Every Thursday night, after work, I prepared my starter and I baked on Friday. Honestly, I didn’t skip a single Friday, as this was the only day I could prepare the dough. In the beginning, it didn’t go well. I had lots of failures but I never gave up. Finally, last year, I won the bread Oscars – the World Bread Awards UK – for a loaf I call ‘Mum’s olive sourdough’ and also took out bronze for my malted grain sourdough. This is still unbelievable for me. I hope my grandmother is proud of me. I am now helping others learn sourdough bread via my Instagram page and newly launched YouTube channel.

In addition to sourdough, last December I entered the most famous marmalade competition organised by Dalemain Mansion in the UK. It is an international competition and they have lots of contestants all over the world. I created a Seville orange marmalade scented with quince, clove and citronella. I received the silver award with a note saying that I missed the gold award by only 1.5 points. Flavour- and aroma-wise, it got 10 out of 10. It was an amazing success for my first entry. I will definitely improve my recipe and will enter again at the end of this year.

Have you found this new creative process to be cathartic or challenging? Has anything about it surprised you?

It is a really complicated and very long process to bake sourdough bread. For example, it takes a minimum of two days to bake a loaf. Once you have the momentum, it becomes a passion and you never give up. You learn a lot in every step – even with your failures. So you try again and again. This journey has taught me to be more calm and patient. Personally, I want everything now but through this process I am reminded that this is not always the way.

How has being creative outside of work positively impacted your outcomes at work?

First of all, I have learned to be patient. Then I can organise my days very efficiently, because I needed to create extra time to be able to make bread. I think that, most importantly, the process helps me refresh my mind. From Monday to Thursday I work in the office and, especially when there are deadlines, it can sometimes be very stressful. From Friday to Sunday, I can focus on bread making, kids and my home. When I make bread, I forget everything… There is no stress, no rush. It is absolutely a therapy for me. Coming to office on Monday with a clear mind helps me be more creative and more focused, definitely.

Tell us a little bit about a maker or creator who has inspired you, and why.

When I started my sourdough journey, I read and searched a lot. I am most inspired by a sourdough maker called Vanessa Kimbell. She is absolutely amazing! She lives in Northampton, UK. She grew up in France in a village. She also worked in a small bakery when she was eleven, delivering bread to the local restaurant. When she was eighteen, she got a job as an apprentice. Upon moving to the UK, she turned her house into a sourdough school. I think she is the queen of sourdough in the UK. She is absolutely inspirational. You can easily see her passion, her sourdough love when handling and, of course, her knowledge. I am a real fan of her. She published a book last year. It is very informative and she generously shares her knowledge. Since last year she has been doing her PhD in sourdough and gut health.

You can follow Gulsum’s baking adventures on Instagram, or watch her tutorials on YouTube.