A chance visit to a Salvos store turned into a vintage teaspoon collecting obsession for two local women – an obsession that is about to take them to London.
Newrybar-based Tory Bauer and her business partner Claire Snel began acquiring the teaspoons from op shops and nursing homes and, thanks to Claire’s background and training in fine arts, converting them into jewellery. This was a mere six  months ago; in return for a teaspoon, the donor would receive a piece of jewellery handcrafted by Claire.

Chance struck again when, at a recent wedding, Tory ran into friends from the UK who told her about the Elephant Family project, a collaborative international art event aiming to raise awareness of the plight of the endangered Asian elephant. The Elephant Parade, as it is called, involves artists decorating more than 200 life-sized fibreglass baby elephants which will then be exhibited at key London locations such as Buckingham Palace, Tate Modern and Oxford Circus for three months over May, June and July. It is estimated that over 25 million people will see the elephants.

Tory and Claire decided to participate with their vintage teaspoons, using them to create a mosaic over  the fibreglass elephant. ‘We have more than 3,000 teaspoons, which will be fine’,  Tory told The Echo. ‘We’d love 5,000 if we could!’
The women have been experimenting with surfboards to test for issues like weather-proofing, using a resinous glue to stick on the teaspoons.
Fittingly, it is the Elephant and Castle tube station where Elephant Family has a workshop, and this is where the women will mosaic their elephant. At the completion of the exhibition, the adorned elephants will be sold at Sotheby’s. 

Elephant Family is a small but hugely ambitious charity which works to save the Asian elephant from abuse and extinction. Threatened by poaching for the ivory of its tusks, by destruction due to deforestation of its habitats and by human conflict, its population is a tenth the size it was 100 years ago. Tory and Claire would love donations of spoons or finances,  and for the latter their bank details are: National Australia Bank Savings, Tory Bauer and Claire Snel, BSB 082-001, Account Number: 16 -820-0620.
For further information visit the website www.­thespooningsociety.com.