Concrete Playground

Tessa Zettel and Karl Khoe, otherwise known as the design duo Makeshift, are the sorts of people you look upon and think: wow, if only I was that humble. That morally for the planet. That eco and that sans ego about it. Yet this is what they do, and they do it oh-so-quietly well.

A quick glance at their website and the image of a serious empire begins to emerge. They design. They make art. They write. They teach. They print art publications on 100% recycled paper - in Australia! - using soy-based inks. Oh, I know. But despite their moniker, which would have you seeing slap-dash and bush carpentry, Makeshift are an innovative, slick team brimming with social responsibility.

For this latest project Colony Collapse, which builds upon their previous flora installations, they have turned their hand to beekeeping. Using found objects such as a child's wheelbarrow and an old meat safe, Zettel and Khoe have built a mobile beehive for Australian native, sting-less bees. This centrepiece of the exhibition utilises PVC pipe as a kind of express subway tunnel from Gallery 1 of Firstdraft to the bustling pedestrian pathway that is Chalmers St, Surry Hills. The bees move from inside to out - unaware of opening or closing times - inhabiting their current role as artwork or educators of the urbanite.
Not known to do anything by halves, Zettel and Khoe plan to take a bigger and better beehive bus on the road later in the year, with visions of a custom-built honey cart on the streets of Sydney's Circular Quay. One small step for the self-sufficient, one giant leap for taking just a little bit of time to search out Sydney’s sweet flowers.