TANGS launched its highly-anticipated yearly Christmas campaign with a spectacular light up of the building’s façade and decorations, while at the same time unveiling the most precious elephant of Elephant Parade Singapore 2011, “Pretty & Pink” by jewellery designer Sabine Roemer on the evening of Friday, 11 Nov 2011.
The evening began outside the main entrance of TANGS Orchard, where 10 life-sized painted baby elephants were installed the night before as part of the launch of the Elephant Parade Singapore 2011.
To officiate light up, emcees of the event, MediaCorp DJs Glenn Ong and the Flying Dutchman, invited Guest-of-Honour and designer of Elephant Parade Singapore 2011’s most precious elephant, Ms Sabine Roemer, CEO of TANGS, Mr Foo Tiang Sooi, and co-founder of Elephant Parade, Mr Mike Spits, to do the honours. Each of them placed a crystal vase of tulips, symbolic of TANGS’ enchanted forest Christmas theme, on individual light boxes to initiate the store’s Christmas light up sequence to Johnny Mathis’ “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas”.
The 300-strong crowd of invited guests from TANGS and Elephant Parade, including business partners, artists and media, were enchanted by the magical display featuring the lighting up of the Tang Plaza façade, the 25-ft Christmas tree atop the Elephant Parade Gallery Store.
Before its official launch on 11 November 2011, Elephant Parade Singapore had a mini-stampede at the Asian Civilisations Museum where invited guests were given an exclusive and private preview of six elephant statues before they headed out to the streets of Singapore.
Guests were spotted admiring the six elephants on display that night which were Leona Lewis’ ‘Free Spirit’, Ay Tjoe Christine’s ‘Space for the Three Alphabets’, Yeesookyung’s ‘Translated Vase Baby Elephant’, Ben Cabrera’s ‘Santan’ ,Arturo Sanchez Jr.’s ‘Bula’ and
Sabine Roemer’s ‘Pretty & Pink
” My inspiration came from a long lasting partnership between the egret bird and the elephant, where each animal helps each other. As the Elephant Parade is heading to Singapore for the first time this year, my vision was to fuse the national bird of Singapore, the “sunbird crimson”, with this beautiful, kind, endangered Asian elephant. ”
Sabine’s work creating the most highly-valued elephant for the elephant parade, which was featured in London’s Selfridges in 2010 has led her to win further accolades: in September 2011 she showcased her Throne Elephant during Milan Fashion Week- the first elephant, where you can sit in. A coorperation with Foglizzo, an Italian bespoke leather company they decided to create a throne in white leather and set with Swarovski crystals. This elephant was showcased during the parade at the Milan Malpensa airport.
The “Duomo” of Milano, the largest cathedral in Italy, which is dedicated to Santa Maria Nascente, inspired me to create this beautiful bespoke “Throne Elephant”. I wanted to recreate the stunning roof, which has a forest of openwork pinnacles and spires, set upon delicate flying buttresses.
Emeralds for Elephants, the auction organised in aid of the World Land Trust’s Indian Elephant Corridor project, caused quite a storm in a very steamy Selfridges Wonder Room on the 23rd of June. Hosted by Mark Shand, Andrea Dellal and supported by the indian cricket player Yuvraj Singh Sotheby’s auctioned off the first elephant that have been seen all around London druing the parade. The Emerald Queen, a life-size elephant designed by Sabine Roemer using Gemfields Zambian emeralds, was sold to an anonymous bidder for a whopping £150,000!
The World Land Trust, Gemfields and bespoke jeweller, Sabine Roemer have collaborated to create an extraordinary life size, Emerald Elephant set to be the most valuable design in this summers hotly anticipated Elephant Parade and has been aptly named, ‘Emerald Queen’. Sabine has designed and decorated this fibreglass elephant with emerald dust and a staggering 678carat oval emerald that is the outstanding centrepiece of the elephants’ jewellery headpiece.
This Gemfields emerald has followed an ethical and traceable route from the Gemfields mine in Zambia, to Jaipur where the gem was cut by hand and then shipped to London to be set by Sabine. Gemfields strict ethical and environmental policies combined with the conservation achievements of the World Land Trust will make this emerald design the greenest in every sense of the word!
The World Land Trust / Sabine Roemer/ Gemfields , Emerald Queen is part of the Elephant Family’s, Elephant Parade, where 260 elephants will take to the streets of London from May to July 2010. Billed as the capitals largest public art exhibition, the Elephant Parade will embrace all that is excellent about London when Sotheby’s auction each of the elephants to raise crucial funds for the critically endangered Asian elephant. Proceeds raised by the Green Queen will go to the Elephant Family and World Land Trust and with Sabine Roemer’s track record this is expected to be a significant amount. Sabine Roemer designs are becoming highly sought after and her last jewelled sculpture was bought at the Mandela Day auction in New York by Morgan Freeman.
The Elephant Family is the largest elephant charity in the world and founded by Mike and Marc Spits. The parade was brought to London by Mark Schand and has amazing support by their Trustees and Patrons like Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, Goldie Hawn, Sir George Martin CBE, Sarah, Duchess of York, Tanaz Dizadj, Priya and Cyrus Vandrevala, Caroline Casey, Lorin Gresser, Ashwan Khanna, Patrick Mark.
The elephant parade launched on Trafalgar Square in London, May 4, 2010.
The life-size model herd was led by Mark Shand, trustee of Elephant Family, a charity that helps safeguard Asian elephants and enables a more harmonious environment between man and creature.
The charity commissioned an impressive array of talent to produce 260 hand-painted elephant artworks that have now taken up residence all over London. Among the creators were artists Mark Quinn, Sabine Roemer, Jack Vettriano, and Sacha Jafri; designers Julien MacDonald, Diane von Furstenberg, John Rocha, Alice Temperley, Lulu Guinness, Nina Campbell, and Nicky Haslam; and iconic photographer Peter Beard.
Selfridges has given this Emerald Elephant by Sabine Roemer royal treatment in the Wonder Room, where it will reside from 5th May to July 2010.
