Giraffe Banquet (& a Giveaway!)

You may remember my recent Reverie Room post and how I told you about the market I visited where College of Fine Arts (COFA) students were selling their beautiful creations. Well here is another lovely label I came across at the market, and I've really been looking forward to sharing this with you all. Introducing Giraffe Banquet!

The faces behind Giraffe Banquet are Andy and Jimmy. They make beautiful food inspired jewellery, feltwork and brooches (which can also be used as pin cushions). As you can see from the pictures, not only is their work gorgeous, but much of it is food inspired!

I had the opportunity to ask Andy and Jimmy about Giraffe Banquet, and here's what they had to say:

How did Giraffe Banquet get started?

Giraffe Banquet was born in the Summer of 2009-2010, in an over-heated shipping container of a studio in semi-rural Annangrove.

Jimmy and I were two lost souls, drifting slowly into the dull whirlpool of having nothing to do, that is the four month long uni break. Our thoughts drifted to summers long ago, of playing video games, eating ice cream and chocolates without a care in the world. Nostalgic memories are oft set upon a balmy summer backdrop. So it seemed appropriate that the birth of our nostalgic wearable treats came upon us in the summertime. We started sewing, we started casting. And we've kept going.

How would you describe your collection?

Whimsical with an edge. Giraffe Banquet has all the sweetness of your first taste of ice cream, but can also come in the form of gun metal silver Barbie hands and Nintendo control pad crucifixes.

How does food inspire your work?
It tastes good.


What's your favourite piece at the moment?
Oh, too many to choose! I am lucky enough to own a silver cast ice-cream necklace made by Jimmy, but I have a very sweet tooth for the Iced Donut brooch pin cushions. I've been wearing a jeweled purple one of late.

How can people find out more about Giraffe Banquet?Giraffe Banquet currently has a blog: http://giraffebanquet.blogspot.com/, email us and we can work directly with you to satisfy your banquet cravings.


So that' s a bit about Giraffe Banquet - watch this space, I say! Those brooches are just so pretty, aren't they?! I just love the strawberries and cream brooch - good enough to eat :)

As part of this post, Giraffe Banquet is offering Diary of a Ladybird readers the chance to win a gift pack containing a few special items from Giraffe Banquet's range, including the ice cream necklace!

To enter, simply leave a comment on this post. This giveaway is restricted to Australian residents only sorry. Entries close October 26, 2010 at midnight AEST.

*** Congratulations to Hannah of Wayfaring Chocolate ***

Good luck!
 
Ladybird x

Reverie Room & a Giveaway!

Last month I happened to be in Kensington while UNSW Open Day was on. I heard that there were some markets on, and that there would be many College of Fine Arts (COFA) students selling their creative wares at the event. I thought I'd check it out, and I was so glad I did. On the day, however, I did not have my camera on me, but luckily the girls were able to provide me some great shots for you to peruse in this post.

Whenever I visit markets of any sort really, I often feel amazed by the amount of creativity and talent out there. I then often reflect on the fact that such people do not often get the exposure that they perhaps deserve in light of their skills and abilities. So it is in this headspace that I decided to introduce you to this little label I discovered at the market - Reverie Room.

As you will see from some of their creations, there is quite a bit of food inspiration here. Not quite edible, but beautiful nonetheless! Cards, jewellery, felt items, and more...

Berry cakes, anyone?

 

Felt-cake ring  

I asked Jacqueline and Wendy, the creators behind Reverie Room, to tell me about more about the label.

How did Reverie Room get started?


We’ve been designing & making things to sell at our campus’ annual design market throughout our years at uni. Now that we’re almost graduating, we want to get more serious in our designing+making, thus we came up with Reverie Room. It is also a pathway to get our creations exposed to more people outside. We’ve also always been working together on our assignments, so we know that we have built up a good team. The name Reverie Room came up during our tea-time, while chatting about our dreams & ambitions in life. We’re both dreamers, that’s why the name “Reverie Room” fits us well!

How would you describe your collection?

The brooch-frame-card is our first category of cards to fulfill our loves and ambition in creating products for people to share their happiness with their beloved. We also want to pass on our blessings and happiness to anyone who receives our card from their friend. Don’t you think that is a great way to spread the happiness?

The images on the cards are a combination of our snap shoot together with our hand-drawn illustrations. We love photography and we just snap away at beautiful things (especially FOOD), so we thought it wonderful to use some of our favourite photos on our cards.

 

Cards

 

More beautiful cards

Besides the cards, we also have a range of older works. It consists of needle-felted cakes & doughnuts; besides looking tasty, they can be used as brooches or rings. We will expand our needle-felted range – we are considering the possibilities of introducing a limited edition series of ‘blind box’ needle-felted items. Stay tuned for our latest news!

How does food inspire your work?

Both FOOD and DESIGN are two of our biggest loves in life – and they do relate to each other (for us anyway). We always come up with ideas, concepts, get inspired or struck by epiphanies during our dinner-outings, over dessert (our favourite!) or drinks.

What's your favourite piece at the moment?

Jacqueline: My favourite piece is the crane “Good Luck” brooch-frame-card because it has a dreamy feel to it – cranes hanging from the sky, above a cruise ship that would take you to a dreamy surreal land where everything is beautiful (and maybe full of yummy food too!)
As for the needle-felted cakes, my favourite is the blueberry-topped cake, as I like anything with blueberries in/on it!

Wendy: For the cards, “You Are Beautiful” is my choice, which is attached with a flower brooch and a creamy rainbow color tone; the whole combination is light-hearted. I would be touched without doubt regardless who the sender is.

For the felted cakes, as they are my favorites, I love them all! However if I can only choose one of them, I would love to have the one with blueberries topping; they look the most delicious among all!

Mmmm.. blueberries...

How can people find out more about Reverie Room?

We have a group on Facebook – just search “Reverie Room” and you’ll find us. We are also selling our cards on http://www.etsy.com/shop/reverieroomdesign and http://www.reverieroom.bigcartel.com/.


If you have any special requests, ie. custom-made cards, needle-felted items or anything design, feel free to email us at reverieroom.reverieroom@gmail.com

*** GIVEAWAY***

Thanks to Reverie Room, one lucky reader has the chance to win this lovely bundle of items from the label, including a card, needle-felt cake and necklace.

To enter, simply comment on this post! This giveaway is restricted to Australian residents only sorry. Entries close October 13, 2010 at midnight AEST.



This giveaway has now closed. Congratulations to JanJan!

Ladybird x

30 Days of Fashion: a behind the scenes exlcusive

On Wednesday, September 22nd, I had the privilege of being the one and only food blogger selected to attend World Square's exclusive Spring / Summer fashion event, hosted by Shop Til You Drop and MC Nikki Phillips. The event was officially part of 30 Days of Fashion & Beauty.

Guests enjoyed drinks and canapés courtesy of Din Tai Fung, the internationally-renowned restaurant exclusive to World Square. Din Tai Fung catered the event, putting together 6000 canapés in three hours. The restaurant was also open for normal business, leaving the chefs rather busy in the kitchen all night!

But well before all the guests arrived, I was granted access to the Din Tai Fung kitchen to check out the preparations for the night. Here are some photos of the chefs at work, busily preparing hundreds thousands of dumplings to feed the hungry masses. I was amazed to learn that preparation had only commenced 2 hours prior to the event!

After the preparations guests in the VIP area enjoyed drinks and dumplings.

Man, those dumplings went fast! There was frenzied descent on the waitresses bearing the canapes, it was quite a sight to behold! It was quite crazy, so hence the blurry pictures!

Of the one or two dumplings I managed to try, they were very nice. This green vegetable one was delicious, and I especiallly liked it along with the soy sauce with ginger.

There was also live entertainment for the public at World Square from DJ Danny Clayton, followed by two fashion parades featuring both men’s and women’s fashion.

To find out more about 30 Days of Fashion, head to their website.

Ladybird x