second generation bunting

17th january 2009. just as the fairhead brothers sat sketching we had our first gift exchange. ‘whitechapel beautiful’ was the first gift to leave the shop.

shalini, a good friend of the gift shop, exchanged her bunting for the original gift (a representation of whitechapel made from doodled letters) in the letters line of the 5 gifts… “This is second generation bunting - the original was made (by me) for our wedding. It introduced something indian into the very british countryside wedding and it matched both our flowers and the colourful saris that my Indian aunts were wearing”. the bunting is the perfect gift to exchange for ‘whitechapel beautiful’. i love that in this very eastern bit of london we have a bit of very english country. in shalini’s words: “it represents me, an asian woman living in a multicultural english city: it’s indian but also very ‘village green’ and therefore quintessentially english.”

now. i know quite a few of you have said you have an idea for the gift exchange…. well, the first gift has gone, so it’s time to get going (especially if you have your eye on one of the original 5!)