Meeting...

The meeting today went very well... Steve and Gary talked and decided on a way to fix the mechanism to the fibreglass. Steve Cole has a really great studio - check out all the celebrity hand prints - he was flown over to New York last year to cast Madonna hands.

He's going to start the work on Monday and he thinks it will be finished by the end of April. Brilliant! x

UPDATES

So I haven't posted since last week due to many a birthday celebration, but that doesn't mean I haven't done any work, in fact the project has been developing quite nicely...

- I've secured a project manager - Gareth Dickenson. He's Managing Director of Hyfore Engineering. He's going to put together the giraffe i.e. once the fibreglass is ready, the mechanics, and the plastic base shroud, he will put all the components together.

- I have drawn a life size drawing of the final sculpture to get the measurements correct. It's on my living room wall (see left (scuse the mess)) It has enabled me to realise that the giraffe ride will be scaled up 145% it's original size.

- Articole Studios have agreed to knock £500 of the price they originally gave me, and Gary from Kiddy Rides UK is selling me an old ride mechanism for £50! A very very cheap price. He is also providing me with speakers, timer, coin box, music box etc all at reduced prices. This means I am very close to securing all the money I will need to finance the project.

- Gareth (prject manager) and I are trecking to Hertfordshire tomorrow to have a meeting with Steve Cole (fibreglass) and his sculptor. The measurements will be drawn up on a huge piece of foam and the sculpt will begin ready for the fibreglass moulding. This should take around 2-3 weeks.

- I have sent out the media kit to various publications - still need to do some more. And have had 1 positive response from an editor at Super Super. I am pitching the giraffe to fashion magazines and photographers to use as a prop in a shoot.

oh, and you can see some bday pics (if you're interested) here.

"Technical" Drawings

Ok, here are the drawings I did... don't laugh. They'll look much slicker once i'm done with them... I'd better open illustrator!

Kiddy Rides Uk

The kind people at Kiddy Rides UK are giving me a very good rate for the mechanics.

Articole Studios...

These are the guys who are going to do the fibreglass mould for me. Here are some shoes they made for New Look:

Photos

So I went to Merstham, Surrey on Friday to photograph and measure the giraffe in the Photo-Me warehouse - i'll scan in my 'tecnical drawings' later - they should be good for a laugh. Here's a few pictures of the giraffe - and a film of it moving is a few posts down xx

Media and Sponsors Kit

I went to Merstham to photograph the giraffe!

check out the cheeky blighter dancing to the scissor sisters...

Media Kit

Currently working on a media kit to gain sponsers and press... here's a screen grab:

What's this? What's this?! It's baby Sean Gall on a big giraffe!!



Thanks Sean

Updates and meeting.

I've been in contact with Aurelia Ditton who had to raise 20K for her degree show last year (she was the girl in the boat www.1woman1boat.com)

She's given me a lot of advice on how to go about getting an expensive project moving with no money at th start, and information on getting a sponsor.

I also had a meeting with James Mullighan Creatvie Director of Shooting People last night and we drew up a marketing strategy.

I've also had advice from Murray Bell, Marketing/Sponsorshop director of Semi-Permenant Design Conference.

People I am getting in touch with: Hamleys, Photo-Me, Chiron Werke Uk, Red Bull, Butlins, giraffemoney.co.uk, Damien Hirst, Arnish Kapoor, Tracey Emin.

Permission

Nicola from Photo-Me has just given me permission to use the old giraffe shape, photograph it, and she is looking into trying to find the old drawings.

At least...

I've found a giraffe - it's in the photo-me warehouse in surrey.


If anyone has any ideas at all about raising money for this - comment - pleeaasee!

Bad, Bad news

Dear Anna,

Thank you for your e-mail.

Roy has explained to me your objectives and passed on details of his
requirements in order to produce an adult coin operated Giraffe.

I am afraid that, although we would consider giving you a favourable rate to
help you through with the project, your budget at this stage is a little
small. Unfortunately custom one off projects, including design and
manufacture, are costly and in this case we would estimate would be in
excess of £10,000.

To give you a rough indication there would be a couple of weeks design, a
couple of weeks to produce the pattern, make the mould and cast the
fibreglass, followed by several weeks to machine, manufacture and assembly
all the components.

If you would like to discuss the above then please don't hesitate to contact
either Roy or I.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Patrick

Patrick Severn Lamb
Operations Director
Severn-Lamb UK Ltd

Phone: +44(0) 1789 400140
Fax: +44(0) 1789 400240
E-Mail: patrick.lamb@severn-lambuk.com
Web: www.severn-lambuk.com

Severn-Lamb UK Ltd.
Tything Road, Alcester, Warwickshire, B49 6ET, UK


-----Original Message-----
From: Anna Rhodes [mailto:annarhodes85@hotmail.com]
Sent: 04 March 2007 17:30
To: roy.larner@severn-lambuk.com
Subject: Re: Big giraffe ride

Hi Roy, It Anna Rhodes here,

I'm emailing you with regards to a conversation we had two weeks ago about
Severn Lamb manufacturing this big giraffe coin operated ride I need to
make.

The problem is, I'm having a lot of trouble finding an original to go and
photograph and measure. The original giraffe rides aren't made any more, and
they seem to have been replaced by newer models by the company Photo-Me.

So, I have found through extensive online searches a few more photographs of
the original. You can see my progress at annarhodes.blogspot.com, where you
will be able to see all the photos and a scale sketch. What I'd like to find
out from you is what steps would I have to take if my worst fears came true,
and I really can't find an orginal to measure up. Can you suggest anything?

Could you also confirm that it is possible for you to manufacture this for
me by the beginning of June?

I have savings of £1000 to spend on this project, do you think this would be
sufficient? If not, I would have to find the rest of the money from
somewhere as I'm certain that I would like to work along side you and your
company. The ride will be displayed mid-June at the Chelsea College of Art
and Design degree show, where 20,000 people come through and see. These
people are all designers and artists like me who, more often than not, make
3D objects. Would you consider perhaps giving me a discount if I put your
logo etc in the exhibition next to the work and in printed materials featuring it? I
feel that this object would generate a lot of interest for you as a
manufacturing company, as well as me as a designer. What do you think?

I hope you can help me with some/all of these questions. I'm starting to
become quite nervous!

Thanks you!

Anna

Wow! Watch this...

How nice is that that a stranger would just help me out like that for neither gain nor money!

They've restored my faith in the human race!

Thanks to my good samaritan Jag

x

Response!

I've had one person responding to me already...

"Hi Anna, well, what can I say - how strange.

Had a look at your blog pages. Fascinating. Would love to help fellow artist! Let me do some digging around and see if I can get more accurate fix on it."

More giraffes found!

Today I found a few more giraffe rides by searching on Flickr. Because the photo's are on Flickr I've been able to message the people who they belong to asking where they're located!

I've discovered through this that searching for images on Flickr is so much better than Google Image Search - just a hot tip from me to you!