The Tusk Ball

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The colours, silhouettes and tastes of the African Plain emerged in Camden in November when we designed and catered the prestigious Tusk Ball at the Roundhouse.

The glittering evening brought together over 450 of the charity’s loyal supporters including Royal Patron, HRH the Duke of Cambridge and Trustee, celebrated business woman and conservationist Deborah Meaden in an evening of incredible imagery, spectacular entertainment and of course sumptuous food.

And what of the food?

The brief for the evening was to curate a delicious seasonal menu with nods to African cuisine. Canapes included Roasted squash, Camargue rice and raisin pastille with chermoula followed by a starter of Ironbark pumpkin pannacotta with a dukkah tuile ring. The main course was Autumn on a plate; Roasted venison, colcannon bon bon, cauliflower puree, hazelnut brioche crumble, pickled blackberries and the dessert a showstopping 8-hour roasted whole baby pineapple with spiced rum and vanilla Malva pudding. 

In addition to creating the menu, we were tasked with designing the space, and working with visionary floral designer Christopher Hammond-Davis of Wood Brown, we chose a palette of earth colours including ochre, saffron, burnt sienna and the rather appropriately named “elephant” grey with which to transform the urban venue.

The stars of the show were undoubtedly the 10 feet high African animals including lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras and tigers all sculpted in bold batik fabrics and which sprung from the centre of the dining tables and seemed to glide, pounce and spring above guests heads. This carnival of exotic beasts contrasted marvellously with the Roundhouse’ industrial steel and raw brickwork.

Add a lively auction with Martin Bayfield and the gravely tones of Jack Savoretti and you truly have an evening to remember!

As Charity Trustee Deborah Meaden wrote to us post event

“The room looked completely stunning and set the tone beautifully, the food looked as amazing as it tasted and all served with grace and style….May I add my thanks – we were feeling confident and I now can completely understand why. Huge Thanks to you all… Until the next time!!” We can’t wait Deborah!

Tusk is a small but seriously dynamic charity which for the last twenty seven years has been funding and initiating conservation, community development and environmental education programmes across Africa –  we were honoured to be chosen to work with them for this hugely important cause.