Melbourne wunderkind Joost has been sharing the love... with The Rocks in Sydney the first stop on the world tour of The Greenhouse by Joost.
The Greenhouse uses light gauge steel, roll formed on site, to create a building shell that is very strong, naturally termite resistant and 100% recyclable.
The building is insulated with locally sourced straw (from wheat, barley, rice etc) wedged into the frame - the framework being designed specifically to the length & width of strawbales. Interestingly, Joost was telling me the other day that in Germany, a timber framed house is fire rated to burn completely within 45 minutes, where a straw bale house is rated to burn in a day and a half. Amazing. New fact for that day.
The light fittings are made from old fencing wire (and will be filled with a bespoke designed Queen B candle that we're working on at the moment). Even the flooring which was being (painstakingly) laid when I visited the other day is recycled... made from old conveyor belts!
I realise that this photograph is probably not the best photograph of the flooring but I was doing more of a "scenic" shot and when I came this arvo to find a photo of the flooring to illustrate how beautiful it was, I realised that this one showing the backside of Evo was the only one I had! Blush! Sooooooo not on purpose people! Evo's face is even more beautiful.>
Anyway, moving on...
So the other great thing about having the Greenhouse in Sydney is that we get to have Matt Stone in Sydney. Matt is the head chef at The Greenhouse restaurant in Perth and was most recently crowned Best New Talent in the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Awards and Young Chef Of The Year at the inaugural West Australian Good Food Guide awards. I was lucky enough to have dinner with Joost and his team the other night (cooked by Matt) and the food was divine. I must say though that I felt incredibly old was I just wanted to tell him that he need to pull his pants up (literally, not metaphorically!) and that he'd look so much nicer if he just got rid of that ring through his lip!! Oh dear, I am becoming my mother...
As if all those reasons weren't enough reasons to love having The Greenhouse in Sydney, I also love it because Sydney now has (temporarily) its very own 3-shipping-container-large David Bromley.
It was really heartening to chat to Matt (Stone) today and I asked him how he was going in meeting the people he needed to meet and finding the suppliers he wanted... he said that it was under control thanks to Neil Perry who had taken him under his wing, introduced Matt to all of his own suppliers and made sure he had everything he needed. I knew that Neil was a fan & friend of Joost, but from Matt said this was serious going above and beyond kind of help.
I'll sign off with an image of Joost himself sitting atop The Greenhouse (he had just bounded up the frame of the staircase in about 20 seconds, only to have to come back down again to find me gingerly trying to make my way up without falling through)!
Whilst all of this may seem very "big business" (what an extraordinary building site), actually the Greenhouse is one big risky dream being undertaken by Joost and his wife Jennie. Yes, they have supporters - we need to thank Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority for making this one happen - but, actually they have a lot of their own capital at risk with this project. Like most small businesses, they rely on fans to spread the word and support the cause. You can support Joost and the Greenhouse on Facebook and Twitter.
Better still, if you're in Sydney, why not pop by for a look, a drink and a meal (check the opening hours on their website).
The Greenhouse has its official opening this Wednesday (9th Feb) and will be open to the public from Saturday (12th Feb)... hopefully I'll see you there. xx
Queen B beeswax candles are made with 100% pure Australian beeswax a pure cotton wick and copious amounts of hand made love. We stock beautiful and stylish candle holders, personalised candles, votive candles and pillar candles that nourish the human spirit and our environment.
Queen B beeswax candles are made with 100% pure Australian beeswax a pure cotton wick and copious amounts of hand made love. We stock beautiful and stylish candle holders, personalised candles, votive candles and pillar candles that nourish the human spirit and our environment.
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