By Rebecca Harris
A-list celebrities and Sydney’s bartending elite gathered at Underwood Street in Sydney’s CBD last Thursday (Oct 1) to celebrate the dual-launch of a new laneway bar – Grasshopper – and an innovative seven-metre high art instillation.
A joint venture between the bar’s owners, designers Richard Goodwin, Russell Lowe and Adrian McGregor, and the Sydney of City Council’s ‘Laneways Revitalisation Strategy’ project, the art instillation is an attempt to raise awareness of climate change issues.
Inside, the bar will also be promoting environmentally-friendly practices with the cocktail list, designed by John Toubia, featuring drinks such as the Greenhouse Punch, CFC and Global Warning Tsunami, all served in 100 per cent recyclable drinking vessels, such as empty jars and take-away chip buckets.
Grasshopper co-owner Martin O’Sullivan said that he was honoured to be a part of the integrated launch.
“Clover Moore (Lord Mayor of Sydney) gave a great speech on the night, highlighting the new small bar culture as well as environmental issues the city is facing,” he said.
“To be a part of that was so exciting and the support we got was phenomenal. Everyone from Merivale’s Mike Enright through to Mixxit’s Jason Crawley were there. I reckon we had close to 400 people packed into the laneway.”
The instillation will run until January 2010, and will be open Wednesday to Friday from 5pm to 10pm.