The story of Sofia

If you have visited our website recently, you may have noticed a little red-haired fairy scattering around flowers.

That is Sofia.

Sofia is not simply a pretty illustration we chose for our website. She has been part of the Harvest Table story since 2012.

Sofia was originally drawn for us by my dear cousin, well-known children’s book illustrator Piet Grobler.

From the beginning, she seemed to capture something of this place: flowers, nature’s abundance, lightness, curiosity and that little bit of magic that sometimes makes a place feel like more than just a building.

There is one detail about Sofia that is particularly special to me.
Her red hair was drawn with my late mother, Lisbeth, in mind.
She was a redhead, so a tiny piece of her found its way into Sofia without much fuss or ceremony.

Perhaps that is why I have always been rather fond of Sofia.
She isn’t realistic. She doesn’t really belong in the world we inhabit every day. And yet, somehow, she feels as though she belongs here.
Perhaps that is what I like about characters like Sofia.

They don’t have to explain everything. Sometimes they simply carry a feeling.

The Sofia you see flying across our website today has also been given a new lease on life. The original sketch is the Sofia Piet created for us all those years ago. Today she has returned in animated form, and like any character that evolves over time, she doesn’t look exactly the same as she did in that first drawing.

But the important things remain: her red hair, her flowers and that little touch of magic.

For us, Sofia is a reminder of family, imagination, the natural world around us and the fact that a place like Harvest Table is allowed to have a little personality of its own.

And now Sofia has a new job.

She flutters across our website as though she has been living here all these years and was simply waiting for someone to notice her again.

Welcome back, Sofia!