Tucked away in Sant’Ambrogio, B.east Gallery has become one of Florence’s most convivial creative spaces, a hybrid home for contemporary art and international food culture. Founded by chef Anna Bowcock and art historian Yan Blusseau, the gallery grew organically out of Anna’s catering business, East, and the couple’s shared desire to build a place where art, food and people could meet freely.
How did each of your backgrounds lead to the creation of East and B.east?
Anna: My story starts in Australia, where I worked as a nurse. But my mother was building a catering business at home and, in a very Anglo-Saxon way, she threw her daughters straight into the kitchen whenever she needed hands. When I moved to Italy, I couldn’t work as a nurse because of the language barrier, so I returned to what I knew: cooking. I brought something Florence didn’t have 15 years ago: international food that’s colourful, fresh and influenced by the Australian melting pot. That’s how East Catering was born.
Yan: I’m French, from Lyon, with an Italian mother from Salerno, so I grew up bilingual. My background is literature and art history. I came to Florence for my specialization in Renaissance art and worked for years in didactic programs at Palazzo Vecchio. At the same time, I started collaborating with Clet before he was considered a street artist and, through him, I entered the world of contemporary urban art…When Anna and I were looking for a kitchen, we stumbled upon this huge former pastry shop. It was far bigger than we needed and Anna suggested, “Why don’t you create a gallery here?” It all clicked. East Catering gave birth to B.east Gallery.
Why B.east?
Yan: We were inspired by the clever names around Cibrèo, Ciblèo and C.BIO. We wanted something that felt like a natural extension of East.
The gallery has roots that precede its opening. Can you tell us about your earlier curatorial projects?
Yan: Years ago, I ran a project called Finestra con Vista, where artists intervened on boarded-up windows and doors. During the 2020 lockdown, we revived the project symbolically with works by Philippe Hérard: the bricked-up windows and doorways around Florence suddenly felt like metaphors for our own confinement. It was a way to create an external exhibition when everyone was stuck inside.
Your current exhibition, Dopo l’Angelico, plays with Renaissance heritage. How did that come about?
Yan: A friend told us over a year ago that Florence was preparing a major Angelico show. We wanted to create a dialogue with that moment, so we invited 13 contemporary artists, from abstraction to realism to street art, and asked them what Angelico evoked for them. Unsurprisingly: Madonnas, arches, light, serenity. It’s our way of participating in the city’s cultural conversation.
B.east is described as a multi-faceted space. How do all its identities fit together?
Yan: Art and a kitchen are both things that go into a home. People feel comfortable here. The kitchen is the mother of everything; it makes private dinners, cooking classes and cultural events possible. Some people even rent the space and cook for themselves.
Anna: We host a lot of international clients, but also Florentines. The yoga classes are mostly run by Americans and they end up returning for private dinners or events. In Florence, everything intersects. It’s a very beautiful fabric of people.
Tell me about Bestiario, your cultural association.
Yan: Bestiario organizes cultural nights originally created with writer and director of Todo Modo, Simone Lisi. People arrive, have a drink or try Anna’s famous curries, socialize and then enjoy a performance. Somehow, karaoke organically became part of it.
Anna: It’s a mix of everything: comedy, music, food, cocktails. More of a Florentine crowd comes to those nights and we love that.
Your artistic focus touches contemporary and urban art. Why that direction in a Renaissance city?
Yan: Because Florence needed it. For years, people asked, “Where is the contemporaneity?” My path began with Clet and urban artists, and street art had, and still has, a strong market. But I’m interested in artists who transcend labels. Many so-called street artists are, in fact, painters with strong studio practice. My exhibitions lean more toward contemporary work, with touches of street art when it fits.
How do you discover and select new artists?
Yan: I pay attention to local and emerging artists. It’s incredibly enriching to watch young painters find their direction. We meet often, visit studios and develop a conversation. I don’t give “advice”, but sometimes pointing out a strong element in their work helps them see themselves more clearly…Some discoveries happen on Instagram. Others walk into the gallery from the Accademia delle Belle Arti. Huang Zhe and Zheng Jieyu, for example, both young, incredibly talented. Leonardo Devito had his first gallery show here; now he’s collaborating with major international galleries. It’s beautiful to witness that growth.
What were the biggest challenges since opening?
Anna: COVID. We had our big opening party in October 2019 and then…lockdown. Luckily, I launched weekly delivery menus and vacuum-packed meals, cycling around Florence to drop them off. At first it was mostly expats. Italians had no real habit of food delivery then.
Yan: Without that, we might have had to close immediately.
Have you seen Florence’s food scene change since then?
Anna: Definitely. Italians now ask for Thai, Vietnamese, fusion. Things they never asked for before. Fourteen years ago, there was barely any non-Italian food here; now you have real choice.
Yan: It’s still not London or Sydney, but it’s evolving. A bit like contemporary art is starting to really grow in Florence, international food is starting to explode.
What future plans are in the pipeline for B.east?
Anna: We’ve just launched the Anna & Anna Supper Club with a great friend of mine, who is also called Anna. It’s a new dinner series with a DJ and big themed buffets. It’s about the food we’re really passionate about. No one tells us what to cook.
Yan: On the gallery side, I’m developing projects that play with Florence’s artistic heritage. One is a collaboration with French street-art crew MonkeyBird, which reinterprets the stained-glass windows of the Duomo. Another is a collaboration with Murmure, a trompe-l’oeil “POV” project: paintings that depict the interior of Florence’s museums as if you were standing inside them. The idea is to reinterpret iconic works, giving them a subtle twist. It’s my way of entering into dialogue with the city’s heritage, with a touch of irony.
How has Florence changed since you first arrived?
Anna: It’s more international, more chaotic, more metropolitan. When I arrived, you never had to book a restaurant. Now you do.
Yan: Low-cost flights and Airbnb transformed the city. Then student tourism exploded: Erasmus programmes, student hotels, universities. Sant’Ambrogio is starting to feel like the new San Frediano, which changed drastically since it was crowned “coolest neighbourhood in the world” by Lonely Planet in 2018. Prices have gone up and the city feels plugged into the global circuit.
Any closing statements?
Yan: I’d just like to express some gratitude. The international community in Florence has been extraordinary to us: kind, respectful and trusting, even when asking for specific needs. At the same time, our Florentine clients remain at the heart of our daily life here. What makes East and B.east special is how these two worlds coexist and enrich each other.
