Fashion and accessory designer of label Not Today, Gemma Patford, confesses she is drawn to the ridiculous when asked where the idea for throw cushions in the shape of a hamburger came about, “I am drawn to ridiculous big and bright things. I think when the hamburger cushions idea came, I couldn’t believe no one else had thought of it!”
What Patford has created is a foodie lounge room accessory in a hamburger; the scatter cushions are designed to be used individually, there’s tomatoes to rest on and the lettuce makes a great floor mat but when it comes time to clean up, the cushions stack neatly into a large 1.5 meter high hamburger.
Not Today came about in 2008 when Patford would make jewellery from what ever she could find: split pins, felt, chain, leather and create little hot dogs and hamburger pendants for friends. “People started buying them, and I started stocking some items in Hunter Gatherer on Brunswick Street, so I popped a few on Etsy under the user ID Not Today,” she explains.
Hamburgers aren’t her only cushions of choice, “I love making other large foods too. I made a huge strawberry cake for a shop window display, along with a huge salami sandwich. I also had a lady contact me from New York to make her a bacon body pillow. Her only specifications were ‘large enough to cuddle in bed’. So I shipped off a huge human size rasher of bacon to the States.”
Patford uses mostly bright cottons with some embellishments made from felt and they were originally hand-made by her but demand has meant she has a casual employee to help her at times. To get an idea of what she creates there’s a huge strawberry cake on display in Dagmar Rousset on Gertrude Street.
Prices range from $60.00 for a slice of salami to $250.00 for a full set of hamburger scatter cushions, sold through the website. Clothes and other bits and pieces by Not Today are for sale at I Dream a Highway in Northcote, Kids in Berlin in North Melbourne and other nice stores across town.
