pimp it up

After weeks of pimping, panicking and preparing, the Lazy Oaf ‘Pimp My Pump’ exhibition finally launched last Thursday, and it seems all that hard work paid off! We invited 30 of our favourite doodlers, drawers and crafters to customise a pair of canvas pumps, and WOW! What a spectacular collection of pimped pumps we received! From classic doodles to a pair of specially knitted pair of pumps, and not forgetting the eye catching feather heavy road kill plimsolls, once all on display they really were enough to make you start shaking with excitement, and want to try them all on for size! We took a quick pic of them all lined up before we packed them up for the exhib! Days before the launch night, having only had about 6 pairs of pumps returned, I began to wonder whether all these arty people had eloped with our pumps, never to be heard of again. I managed to control the frequent panic attacks by consuming my body weight in Nutrageous choccy bars and hula hoops, and by the afternoon of the launch, nearly all pumps were back (I was also 3 stone heavier). Meanwhile, Gemma was having her own personal freak outs over whether anyone would come, while cleverly controlling outbursts with cheese, onion and gherkin sandwiches. We needn’t have worried about this, as we were soon receiving on average 7 RSVPs a minute, and soon had a guest list the length of 12 pimps lying down. We probably should have worried about Gem’s excessive gherkin intake though… The day of the launch all seemed to be going as smoothly as could be expected- the gigantic felt plimsolls we had made were looking fab, along with the ginormous PUMP lettering that had been carefully created by the lovely Holly and Tom. We had managed to raid the crazy Shoreditch shoe shops for their empty shoe boxes to act as plinths, and after a small glitch where the nails wouldn’t go into the wall, it all began to look rather wonderful. Then horror of all horrors, an hour and a half before opening, I got a phone call to say Brother’s Cider could not deliver the 240 bottles we were expecting. After blinking back the tears, Papa Oaf came to the rescue with mucho beers and we were back on track. Phew! For the sensible non-drinkers Innocent had kindly donated 2 crates of delicious smoothies for the event, which was happily glugged! By 6.30 the doors were open, and the exhibition quickly filled up to the point where you couldn’t actually move. The pumps were attracting many admiring looks, and it was fab to finally meet the artists, although with mouthfuls of cupcake and yellow bellied jelly snakes, intelligent conversation proved tricky! By 10pm, people started to filter out, and pizza began to filter in for all the hard working Oafettes. So, all in all a great success, and while the exhibition stays open in Kingly Street, London until this Sunday, we look forward to seeing those pumps hot footing it around Europe and other UK destinations… Next stop Holland! If you fancy pimpin your own pumps, we have some available to buy online, check them out in the shop! Big Thanks to all of those that got involved! and mega thanks to Zoe, Katie, Sarah, Holly, Tom, Gill, Shevonne and Rebecca, you all rocked.