Anna Rhodes: Gerry The Giraffe

GRAFIK MAGAZINE FEATURE

2007-11-16T03:07:00.001-08:00

Buy October issue of Grafik to see a feature of Gerry x

Show Off: YCN at RSA Exhibition & Eat Sleep Work Play

2007-11-16T02:41:00.000-08:00

A collaboration with EATSLEEPWORKPLAY exhibited at the YCN Show OFF exhibition

Featured on YCN and CREATIVE REVIEW websites.

Giraffe featured on design website...

2007-06-14T01:47:00.001-07:00

woop woop,

gerry is being featured as the cover image for a story on the graduate degree shows, hurrah... check it out. www.designersarewankers.com

Shoot2 complete...

2007-05-31T02:53:00.000-07:00

I like the colours and crispness in Laura's photobest, but I'm finding it difficult to recreate them in the other. Does anyone have any advise?

Lee Fasciani (Senior Designer, Fold 7)

Suzie Hydon (Designer, Fold 7)

Robert Urquhart (Editor, Designers Are Wankers)

Angharad Lewis (Deputy Editor, Grafik Magazine)

Laura Clayton (Staff Writer, Grafik Magazine)

Henry Holland (Creator / Designer, House Of Holland & Fashion Editor, Bliss Magazine)

A little kid who couldn't resist

Zezi (Editor, Super Super), Kesh (Fashion Editor, Super Super), & Chromeo (Canadian pop sensations)

Reccy

2007-05-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

I went on a reccy today to find locations for the shoot on Wednesday when I'll be taking the giraffe round London to photograph people in the industry.

Here's Fold 7 near Old Street:

And here's the pub I found nearby that has a beer garden. The manager Chris said that I could use it in the morning:

Then I went to the Grafik offices:

And funnily enough I found another pub very nearby that is very suitable as it has a very wide and semi-private ally way beside it that I can park Gerry:

I know the orginal idea was to photograph the industry people outside their offices, but it was proving to be impossib;e. I wasn;t allowed to photograph outside the Channel 4 building, Some peoples offices are in Soho and the streets are v small and busy, some people wanted to come over to their friends offices and do it together at the same time. And it's probably going to rain again knowing my luck, to make proceedings even more difficult!
So, anyway here are the people definately getting on the Giraffe:

Lee Fasciani

Angharad Lewis (Grafik)

Laura Clayton (Grafik)

Henry Holland (House of Holland / Bliss)

Jo Dillon & co. (Channel 4 / E4)

Nigel Bents

And probably:

Zezi (Super Super)

Designers are Wankers

And maybe:

Anthony Burrill

Bryony Birbeck

If anyone else has any contacts who might be interested then get them to get in touch. It should be fun x

One Shoot Down...

2007-05-27T03:51:00.001-07:00

So yesterday I had such a hectic day...

I bought two swimsuits from american apparel:

Spent £10 on bubble wrap... got 20m worth of extension leads. Double checked location and asked a nearby house if I could use their electric, collected the camera, and went to Ed Thomasson's house for a spot of lunch and as a meeting point to meet Tom Giddings, David Bradley, who kindly helped out, and Elarica, the beautiful model from Models 1:

She's amazing, with long limbs and neck and lovely afro, she's perfect as the model on the giraffe. Thanks to Tom for getting her involved.

It was raining, which turned out as a plus actually because we wanted to go for quite a sinister, dark look, but with all the glamour and gloss of a guy bourdin picture:

After the shoot, soaking through, Bambi picked me up in the van and took me to Rob's house to drop off the giraffe (which we bubble wrapped to high heaven), and the Mishel's house to store the base till Wednesday.

Basically it all turned out really well. Tom is busy retouching the photo's as wel speak. He's spent a week working at Vogue seeing how they do them, so he should be amazing at it! The pictures are to follow in a late post.

Thanks to Ed Thomasson, Tom Giddings, David Bradley, Elarica, Bambi, Mishel and Robin for all their help! I couldn't have done it with out them...

havin' a giraffe

2007-05-23T12:47:00.001-07:00

Phone Call

2007-05-20T05:22:00.000-07:00

Unknown number.
'Erm hello is this Anna Rhodes who's just had a paint job on a giraffe?"
"Yes"
"WEll, I'm afraid we've had a fire in the factory and it seems to have melted."
"WHAT? Oh MY GoD, WHAT?"

At this point i get palpitations, tears start to come, and my life is over.

"haha, only joking it's me, rob"

This is my boyfriends idea of a joke... dog house.

IT'S BEEN PAINTED..!

2007-05-16T14:23:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it... I'm so happy with it! This is one of those times for the overuse of exclaimation marks...

Gareth from Kiddy Rides has been an absolute star doing this for me. And only for £80! He's been so kind and helpful. Without him and Steve Cole, I never would have been able to do this project. HUGE thanks to both of them... Now it's just all about the base xxx (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Orange Gerry

2007-05-16T06:31:00.000-07:00

Shoot2

2007-05-08T07:58:00.000-07:00

I have just secured two people for the editorial shoot featuring influential people from the design, fashion and magazine world.

Henry Holland

That's him on the right on the cover of Japanese Dazed...

he designs these House of Holland T's and is also fashion editor of Bliss magazine

And also Zezi, who's editor of Super Super magazine

She's on the right, on the left is the fashion editor Kesh, and together they form DJ extravaganze The Coconut Twins. I'm thinking of getting them to do it together

xx

I went to HERTFORDSHIRE (again)

2007-05-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

Just got back from Steve Coles studios in Baldock. Giraffe is fully cast in fibreglass now, has been rubbed down, sanded, filled and primed. I can't believe it - it looks great! Pictures to Follow.

This is now basically what I have to do:

FRIDAY 11TH MAY: Go to Coventry - collect the wooden box mould for the base - drive it to Steve's studio in Herts so that he can fibreglass it - pick up the giraffe - drive to Leeds - give giraffe to Gareth to paint over the weekend - (Gareth is the amazing guy who gave me the mechanism for 50 quid and he's agreed to paint the giraffe for 100 [that was his job for 7 years!]) - drive back to Coventry to drop of the van....

HAVE A RELAXING WEEKEND AT HOME WITH MY PARENTS IN STRATFORD-UPON-AVON (in reality stress out all weekend organising photoshoots)

MONDAY 14TH MAY: Drive to Leeds to pick up painted giraffe - drop it off in Coventry - return to London

SOMETIME THAT WEEK: Go to Herts to paint fibreglassed base - drive it to Coventry.

Now... then my project manager will kindly put all the elements together, and i'll have a fully working giraffe which will be delivered sometime in the week of the 21st in london, ready for the Tom & Thomasson shoot on Friday of that week, and the Robin Mellor shoot the monday after.

PHEW!

The red spots are where it has been filled, and the bottom picture is underneath the giraffe when it had just been fibreglasses - before it was rubbed down, filled and primed.

Invoice

2007-05-04T03:29:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, the first of many...

Backdrop For Shoot. Plus...

2007-05-02T09:01:00.000-07:00

everything you ever wanted to know about giraffes:
http://www.nature-wildlife.com/girtxt.htm

On another note, i'm trying to source a large photography backdrop for one of the shoots i'm doing. I want one of those really cheesy sky ones that everyone has in their old school photos. I think it would look great against the giraffe.

Evil Herbivore

2007-04-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

On the Rob...

2007-04-28T04:15:00.000-07:00

I was burgled last night! The blighters took my laptop and camera............... ROAR! I can't bloody believe it!

An idea of the scale....

2007-04-21T06:08:00.000-07:00

That's my hand by the way

Mechanics

2007-04-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

The difference between this mechanism and the original Gerry Giraffe mechanism is that there are two mounting shafts here instead of one. This doesn't really change anything or pose any problems in terms of manufacture or the end experience, whih is great, it just means it'll be stronger.

Another Trip...

2007-04-20T10:34:00.000-07:00

I went to Articole Studios today in Hertfordshire to check that the giraffe was OK before they started to fibreglass it. I was worried about the legs being too short and the giraffe being too small in general because the photos steve cole sent me didn't really show the scale very well, but it turns out it looks great! I'm very happy with it. Here's me and Steve Cole riding the polystyrene giraffe:

I've arranged for Steve to paint the giraffe and I'll be going back to the studios to help sand down the fibreglass once it's been cast.

Shoots...

2007-04-20T04:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I confirmed the photographers for the two shoots I'm planning for the giraffe. The fashion shoot will be a collaboration with the delectable photography duo Tom & Thomasson... here's an example of their work:

We want to shoot on location, find a garden somewhere and drape a load of beautiful, tall, long necked, long limbed, long haired girls over the giraffe. We want to play on the kitsch idea, keeping it quite lachapelle/jeurgen teller.

The other shoot will be more of an editorial type shoot with famous (hopefully) faces from the design world riding the giraffe, which will come packaged somehow with an interviews asking what they felt about the experience etc. This will be a much simpler shoot in a studio probably (to be confirmed). The photographer I will be using for this shoot is Robin Mellor. Here is a sample of his work:

Giraffe Model

2007-04-18T15:10:00.000-07:00

So here it is... the pictures Steve Cole has sent me of the polystyrene model. I'm going up to his studio in Hertfordshire on Friday as I'm not entirely certain about the length of the old giraffe legs...

exciting though!

I made it!

2007-04-03T12:30:00.000-07:00

I have been on a whirlwind trip to my hometown of Leeds, via M1 Sheffield service station, and then to Coventry, and back home again. phew! I have successfully bought and delivered the base mechanism, the coin box and the coin slot mechanism. And the music box and timer are on order. Hurrah!

Another Meeting...

2007-04-02T14:54:00.000-07:00

I'm off to Leeds tomorrow to meet Gary from Kiddy Rides UK, collect the mechanism (and pay for it), drop it off at Hyfore in Coventry and be back in time for tea. Well, here's hoping... I happen to be a lousy driver of the most diabolic standards... Hopefully see you all next term then. hmpf

Meeting...

2007-03-29T10:21:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-28T07:27:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-14T09:32:00.001-07:00

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!

2007-03-14T09:32:00.000-07:00

Kiddy Rides Uk

2007-03-11T07:04:00.000-07:00

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

Articole Studios...

2007-03-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

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

Photos

2007-03-11T06:47:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-11T06:14:00.000-07:00

I went to Merstham to photograph the giraffe!

2007-03-11T06:08:00.000-07:00

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

Media Kit

2007-03-07T19:48:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-07T06:07:00.000-08:00

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

Thanks Sean

Updates and meeting.

2007-03-06T07:57:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-05T08:03:00.000-08:00

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...

2007-03-05T05:13:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-05T05:03:00.001-08:00

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...

2007-03-04T09:37:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-03-02T09:24:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-03-02T08:04:00.000-08:00

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!

Scale diagram

2007-02-28T16:23:00.001-08:00

2007-02-28T16:04:00.000-08:00

Begin by talking about my dissertation 'The Appropriation of 'Vintage' on Second Hand Clothes by The Fashion Industry'. Talk about the importance of Nostalgia in a post-modern world and the pros and cons of the current trend of it's use within design.

Explain that I will manifest this concept in a fully working, scaled up, adult sized children's coin operated ride. It will take the form of a giraffe, (see below) and I will talk about the reasons for this.

This project will bring together a whole manner of skills in terms of art direction, which I hope to pursue after leaving Chelsea.

On the 21st Feb I spoke to Roy Larner of Severn Lamb UK manufacturers who have agreed to make the ride for me. I will be involved with every step of the manufacturing process, making every decision, but will employ a project manager.

To accompany the ride I will keep and design a Log Book showing every step of the decision and manufacturing process.

The real giraffe

2007-02-28T15:05:00.000-08:00

A picture of how the finished ride will look - bear in mind it will be 100% bigger

A Fibreglass Giraffe...

2007-02-28T15:03:00.000-08:00

Only slightly taller than I imagine mine to be...

Anna Rhodes

2007-02-28T14:48:00.000-08:00

I have always been interested in things from the past - things I can remember and things that came before me. I recently wrote my dissertation around the current trend for vintage and second hand clothes entitled, 'The Appropriation of 'Vintage' on Second Hand Clothes by the Fashion Industry'. It was about the way in which the media took the age old idea of wearing second hand and vintage clothes - be it for quality or individuality, and bastardised and democratised the concept as a trend, thus changing the meaning and reducing the cultural capital.

Nostalgia, in our post-modern society plays a huge role. We are seduced by the idea of a mythological age that seemed less complicated, more safe and more charming.

Unfortunately, designers have come to rely on images and styles of the past to make their designs seem more warming to the client. I have seen evidence of designers who dress modern design in old clothes, a warm layer of nostalgia, as a way to make things seem comforting, whether the product/magazine/design is suited to the style or not. Obviously, good design treats nostalgic images with the respect they deserve, and uses them wisely. Some of my all time favourite design demonstrated this perfectly.

I have manifested this idea into a project which will result in an adult sized childrens coin operated ride. This scaled up, bizarre object will be fully working. Around 7ft in height it will give the rider the same experience an original ride gives small children, an experience i'm sure most people have had in their childhood. The ride will be in the shape of a giraffe. (below)

Accompanying it will be a log book documenting the decision making process, and recording every step of the way - e.g. why i made it a giraffe, why a ride etc. It will be a celebratory and obsurd object that i feel will look great as a 3D object in the show.

Graphics will be available to look at tomorrow.

Anna