Sea of Jelly

Photo from the BBC website

Bompas and Parr have achieved something truly remarkable, last week saw the food architects 'floating' Brunel's ss Great Britain on a sea of jelly! As part of a cultural festival the ship which is moored in Bristol is one of ten sites being 'matched' with contemporary artists for the 'Museums at Night' season. Bompas and Parr's 'sea' creation involved making and 'pushing' 55,000 litres of neon green jelly around the ship, which is lit from below once the sun has gone down. Read more here.

ES Food Monthly

Emma Rios recently illustrated the cover of the debut edition of ES Food Magazine. Bompas & Parr were the art directors of the piece, which is inspired by old medical illustrations, with London representing the internal organs.

Bompas and Parr on Selfridges' Roof

Our very creative jelly team Bompas and Parr are making news, news from the roof of Selfridges at that.  The team have completed an installation on Selfridges’ roof  which will see it turned into a boating lake. Here an extract from Design Week by Tom Banks:

"In a link up with the Oxford Street retailer and sweetener brand Truvia - which harvests its product from the South American Stevia plant - a ‘Voyage of Discovery’ has been forged with help from Studio Too Good.

Visitors can expect a vertiginous boating lake which leads to a bar serving tea, coffee and alcohol, all laced with this mysterious Truvia substance.

Also expect waterfalls, ship-wrecks and a field of thousands of Stevia plants. It’s a wonderfully conceived conceit and we’re all for it but the proof, like all Bompas and Parr designs, will be in the pudding.

For anyone not familiar with Bompas and Parr’s work, much of it to date has involved jelly architecture using rapid prototyping for clients including Lord Foster and Heston Blumenthal.

The slightly mind-bending rooftop journey references ‘the whole supply chain from field to table,’ says Bompas, who explains research by Sheffield University found ‘design environments enhance flavour experience.’

According to Bompas the piece will have a ‘historical resonance’ with the space ‘as they used to have a crazy golf course and rifle range up there.’

Voyage of Discovery will be installed from 21 - 24 July at Selfridges, 400 Oxford Street, W1A"

Emma's Ouija Board Tea Towel for Bompas & Parr

Emma Rios spent last week designing and hand printing 100 limited edition Ouija Board tea towels for the latest Bompas & Parr show. The exhibition entitled Heavens to Murgatroyd in on now. Below is the press release:

Heavens to Murgatroyd!

Multidisciplinary mysticism

12 May – 1 July 2011.

Arts Gallery, University of the Arts London, 272 High Holborn, WC1V 7EY

Monday – Friday 11am – 6pm. Nearest tube Holborn

As England counts down to the ancient pagan celebration of the summer solstice, the Arts Gallery presents Heavens to Murgatroyd!, an exhibition that delves into shamanism cosmology, mysticism and the occult in an endeavour to investigate the unknown. Mike Ballard, Lindsey Bull, Bompas & Parr, Jess Littlewood and Joey Ryken invite you to explore an alternative interpretation of the universe through collage, painting, performance, video, sound and sculpture.

The allure of the mystical has long held sway over artists. From ancient civilisations’ depictions of mythical beasts and gods of the natural world, to talismans crafted throughout the centuries to ward off harm, and the Victorian Gothics’ fascination with all things supernatural, art has been used to explore, represent and embody alternative belief systems and their phenomena. The contemporary artists in Heavens to Murgatroyd! work across disciplines to interrogate the full spectrum of post-modern perspectives, from cynicism and intrigue, to sincere belief in a mystical experience of the world.

Spectacular culinary architects Bompas & Parr have had a life-long enthrallment with all things occult; for this exhibition they aim to revive the ultimate 19th century parlour game, the Ouija board. The duo have designed a limited edition Ouija board tea towel which will be for sale exclusively at the Arts Gallery; the tea towel will unite the domesticity of the humble tea towel with the supernatural functionality of a spirit key board, making the ability to communicate with the undead available to every home.

Chocolate Waterfall

If you are finding yourself near Whiteley's Shopping centre this week, please go and see one spectacular installation created by Bompas and Parr, sets painted by Emma Rios:

Bompas & Parr to open Chocolate Waterfall at Whiteleys Shopping Centre

"Bompas & Parr is building a Chocolate Waterfall at Whiteleys Shopping Centre open between 22 -25 April. Visitors don a protective suit and step through a chocolate waterfall to visit a chamber flooded with five tonnes of chocolate.  They will then blend and bottle a chocolate elixir in the installation’s processing unit.

This April is the 40^th Anniversary of the original film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Bompas & Parr honours Roald Dahl’s creativity by constructing a real Chocolate Waterfall that flows at a rate of 12,000 litres an hour. The waterfall serves to keep the chocolate fully mixed.

The Chocolate Waterfall pulls together Bompas & Parr’s favourite beans from around the world (Ghana, India, Indonesia and the Caribbean) to create its first house blend. Dr Rachel Edwards-Stuart, food technologist and flavour expert helped develop the recipe. The five tonne mixture is chocolatey with hints of plum, red wine and earth.

After visiting the Chocolate Waterfall people will be given the chance to bottle and take away their own chocolate elixir – a concentrated chocolate cordial. Visitors customize the chocolate elixir by blending flavours like lavender, jasmine or pine by hand.

The temporary installation will appeal to all ages. It will excite children’s imaginations. Adults will be intrigued by the food on an architectural scale, excellent design, unusual flavours and encouraged to release their inner child.

Whiteleys Shopping Centre is a magical location with an illustrious history. It was built by William Whiteley as an imposing store for the public to provide everything from ‘a pin to an elephant’. It became known as the ‘universal provider’. At its peak it was the height of luxury with a golf-course on the roof and a theatre..."

Meet Bompas and Parr

Still a bit peckish? Meet spectacular and unique installation artists, Bompas & Parr, whose medium of choice is jelly.

This is jelly as art, jelly that functions in the space between food and architecture. Recent projects include a vast glowing jelly installation for SFMOMA and Alcoholic Architecture, a walk in cloud of breathable G&T.

Parliamentary Waffle House

Parliamentary Waffle House to open near Carnaby, London in run-up to election.

The Parliamentary Waffle House, an election based bar and eatery by Bompas & Parr opens at 65-67 Broadwick Street, London on 22^nd April 2010.

Each item on the menu will be orderable in a variation corresponding to one of the three major political parties.  Orders will feed directly into a live action swing ‘o’ meter that gages the mood of the country as people vote with their mouths.

The waffles are made using custom-built irons that employ technology commonly used in the fabrication of fighter jet engines. They were as part of a research programme run by Bompas & Parr in conjunction with Central Saint Martins MA Future Textiles.

Visitors will be asked to don special hats to demarcate their political allegiance. A soap-box and memo wall will be provided for partisans to air their view. Non-stop political coverage will be screened so drinkers and diners are up to speed. The Parliamentary Waffle House will also host the Museum of Food vs Politics. Exhibits include Tony Blair’s face on a melted cheese sandwich, a step by step guide to Thatcher’s Egg Diet and the wrapper of the notorious Gummer burger.

In the evenings the Parliamentary Waffle House will host a programme of politics and food related entertainment. Think Tank Thowdowns see top ideas men battle for supremacy, there will be screenings of political films like In the Loop and special lobbying nights where we give the public access to the parliamentary big boys. On election night itself there will be an all night vigil with celebratory booze for the victors and tea and sympathy for the losers.

In terms of design the installation unites the perpendicular gothic style of Charles Barry’s Houses of Parliament with the gothic styling and typography of waffle houses across Europe. Interestingly Barry’s system based architecture mirrors the processes involved in waffle making and the portcullis logo of the Houses of Parliament looks like a waffle. 

Harry Parr, partner of Bompas & Parr LLP comments:

“At the Parliamentary Waffle House politician’s can reach out and touch voter’s most sensitive organ: their bellies. We are looking forward to seeing lots of MPs pop down. Qualifying members of the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group can even drink for free.”

For further information and images please contact Sam Bompas, partner at Bompas & Parr

Tel: + 44 (0) 7944 405 193 Email: sam@jellymongers.co.uk  Web: www.jellymongers.co.uk

Visit www.jellymongers.co.uk for further details of the installation

Visit www.carnaby.co.uk  for details of further events in Carnaby

ENDS

Editor’s notes

·       Parliamentary Waffle House will be open between 22^nd April and 6^th May

·       The opening hours are noon til midnight

·       The Parliamentary Waffle House will be at 65-67 Broadwick Street, London, W1F 9QY

·       Further information is available from www.jellymongers.co.uk

Bompas & Parr editor’s notes

·       Bompas & Parr curates spectacular culinary events, creates fine English jellies and designs bespoke jelly moulds. Their work operates in the space between food and architecture. Projects explore how the taste of food is influenced by synaesthesia, performance and setting.

·       In the past Bompas & Parr has worked with leading architects including Lord Foster, Will Alsop and Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners to design jelly moulds. Heston Blumenthal used Bompas & Parr’s jellying expertise for his television series Feast and they created Alcoholic Architecture – a walk in cloud of breathable gin and tonic.  Bompas & Parr recently hosted the Architectural Punchbowl in which a building was flooded with over four tonnes of alcoholic punch that visitors boated across before having a drink.

·       Bompas & Parrs’ first book Jelly with Bompas & Parr will be published in June 2010 by Anova books.

See their portfolio here 

Carnaby

·     Carnaby is…… unique independent stores, unusual boutiques, global fashion brands, award winning restaurants and hip nightlife. Carnaby has it all.

·     Step under the iconic Carnaby Arch and experience the edgy and cosmopolitan vibe of London’s top shopping destination. Twelve streets make up this style village including Carnaby Street, Newburgh and Marshall Streets, food quarter Ganton Street, Kingly Street, Foubert’s Place, Beak Street, Broadwick Street, Marlborough and Lowndes Courts and the vibrant open air courtyard, Kingly Court. Carnaby is perfectly located between Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus in the centre of London’s West End.

·     Carnaby has staked a claim on fashion’s frontier since the 1960’s and continues today to be at the heart of eclectic fashion and design.

·     For further information on Carnaby contact Sarah Mole at Sister – 020 7287 9601 Sarahmole@sister-pr.com

Waffles

·       Waffles are made by cooking batter between waffle irons to give them their characteristic shape. They have an interesting history. Medieval waffle irons often depicted elaborate coats of arms, crosses and religious or magical symbols. Waffles were sold outside churches on special occasions and competition was so intense a severe waffle law had to be passed.

·       The highlight of the eighteenth century social diary was the waffle frolic. We want to bring this back.

·       The logo for parliament looks like a waffle.

All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group

·       To promote the wholesomeness and enjoyment of beer and unique role of the pub in UK society; to increase understanding of the social, cultural and historic role of brewing and pubs in the UK, and their value to tourism; to broaden recognition of the contribution of brewing and pubs to employment and to the UK’s economy; to promote understanding of the social responsibility exercised by the brewing and pub industries; to support the UK’s brewing industry worldwide and to promote a positive future for beer and the pub.

For further information and images please contact Sam Bompas, partner at Bompas & Parr

Tel: + 44 (0) 7944 405 193 Email: sam@jellymongers.co.uk  Web: www.jellymongers.co.uk

Creamy

Jelly mongers Bompas and Parr delight us all again with this cover for The Independent's Sunday Magazine food issue special.

The job was quite a challenge due to the large mould required, and was also the first time the duo had created type in negative for the cream to be poured in. Credit for the final photo goes to Sara Morris.