The pool is open
Recently at Bondi Gin Co we produced our first ever limited edition gin bottle and in turn our first piece of art involving our bottle, we called it:
‘The Pool is Open’
Here’s the story of how the idea grew roots, branches and then finally sprouted leaves.
When we dispatched the first ever bottles of Bondi Gin Co to the lucky Gin Society members in Dec 2022 we received an inspiring message in our Instagram DMs. There was a video of one of our bottles that had been brought to life in the form of lots of tiny people frolicking around our ‘pool’. This was the wonderful work of tiny people artist and Instagram account Tiny Gallery Victoria (@tgvmelbourne). After thanking Jacky, the artist behind the Instagram account, for her brilliant work and the post she uploaded, the cogs began to turn in the brains at Bondi Gin Co HQ.
Scarcity is hard to produce when it comes to gin, we’re not a whisky that’s aged in a specific cask or a wine that’s flourished for a certain vintage. So how do we create scarcity with our products? The answer lies within collaborations and limited editions. And with this we get to be creative and work with wonderfully cool and talented people.
Jacky was approached with the idea to create 10 of these pieces to be our first limited editions, she was gracious and giving enough to jump at the opportunity. Our pool required a piece of wood to house the art, so we approached Volant Studios (@volant_woodstudio) to create 10 boxes that mimicked a swimming pool deck. The project was on.
Once the boxes were completed the question was what to do with the pieces. One of our key principles that we’ve set out with Bondi Gin Co is to champion Australian craft, we believe with The Pool is Open we’ve done that. Another principle is to be ‘more than a gin’. One morning I was sitting with my friend, environment champion and local cafe owner, Sondra Beram, Sondie was adamant she wanted one of the pieces. However we still weren’t sure what we were going to do with them, we knew only one or two would actually be for sale so I pondered what we could do with special edition number 1/10. Perhaps we could be ‘more than a gin’ and raise money for a local non-for-profit.
Bondi has an incredible community of local swimmers called ‘The Salties’, they swim across the bay and back every Friday. Through this group and the after-coffees at bRU (Sondie’s cafe - @brucoffeebondi) I had met the founder of Pledge for the Planet (@pledgefortheplanet), Alice Kendall. Bondi Gin Co had supported their recent event and, as it happens Alice is from just 20 miles down the road from me in Leicestershire in the UK. Sometimes things just happen organically...
The answer of what to do with the first bottle was as clear as a summer’s day swimming across Bondi Bay, let’s raise some money for Pledge for the Planet. The format was agreed, it would be a collaboration of Bondi Gin Co, bRU Coffee and Pledge for the Planet. We’d run a raffle and the money would go directly to Pledge for the Planet.
With Sondie, the unofficial North Bondi Ambassador in the mix, the prizes came flooding in from local businesses’. It’s been so awesome to see the support of the Bondi community get involved and the generosity of so many local companies has been incredibly humbling.
We asked Sondie what this fundraiser meant to her:
“I’ve been working with an amazing business coach and most recently we worked on searching for “what is my purpose” and after lots of words, phrases, thoughts and writing it turns out my purpose is: ‘Creating connections & community for powerful change’ And these words resonate with what was created for ‘The Pool is Open’. Connections, community and powerful change. All of this came out in spades. A community of people who connected and who want to be a part of powerful change through Pledge for the Planet. I bloody love it! What’s next?”
On the morning of 18/11/23 we had a coffee morning and drew the raffle. The final total for raffle tickets sold was $5230.00. Something that will help Pledge for the Planet continue their awesome work.
The CEO of Pledge for the Planet, Alice, stated:
“Over the past month local heroes, Sondie from bRU and Leon from Bondi Gin Co provided incredible support by hosting ‘The Pool Is Open’ Raffle to raise funds for Pledge for the Planet.
Leon and Sondie both generously donated awesome prizes and rallied our favourite local businesses to do the same.
We were blown away by everyone’s efforts, raising $5,230 for Pledge for the Planet. The funds will be used to continue to motivate communities to reduce their impact on the planet by providing behavioural change solutions, hosting community events and tracking our collective impact in CO2e, plastic and water reduction.
We’re so thankful for the community support, and to Leon and Sondie who share our passion for behaviour change and collective action to reduce human impact on the planet for a sustainable future.”
Words by Leon Dalloway, co-owner at Bondi Gin Co.
Full list of prizes:
1/10 ‘The Pool Is Open’ Bondi Gin Co Limited Edition Bottle (Valued at $5,000)
1 Night Stay at Nimbus Co AirBnB inc. Sauna & Ice session
1 Night Stay at Bondi Bungalows
2x Gin Journey Sydney Tickets
3x Sauna & Ice sessions at Nimbus Co
Signed 2019 Wallabies Indigenous World Cup Jersey
Teena Zerefos Artwork
Bronte Campell ‘Fit Pack’ inc. Fins, Cap & Earthletica Activewear
RARE Yoga 10-Class Pack (Worth $295)
Upbeat 10-Class Pack (Worth $275)
$250 Woolworths Gift Card
$200 Tony's Burgers Enmore Voucher
$200 The Good Farm Shop Food Pack
Private Pilates Class with Body by Berner
2x $100 North Bondi Grocer Vouchers
$100 Easy Tiger Voucher
$100 bRU Voucher
$100 Doughboy Voucher
$100 Gut Performance Voucher
Case of Bondi Beer
