Ben & Jerry's Factory Store
We have had the pleasure of collaborating with the team at Christine Burdick Designs many times over the years. Working with them to revision Vermont's #1 tourist destination - the Ben & Jerry's Factory Store was a ton of fun. The theme was summer vacation through Vermont- road trips, postcards home, and rolling pastures.
​
We created a pair of photo op sculptures for the entry vestibule, a VW bus facade that gives tour information, and a massive rolling pasture sculpture installation, complete with diary cows, red clover, and...it hangs upside down from the ceiling.
Client: Christine Burdick Designs
Year: 2018-2019
Foam Carving
We created two VW bus facades - a front and a rear. And to look right in the store, they both needed to be a little stylized and a bit over-scale. We got our big sheets of EPS foam out and started carving. Here, artist Mike Ridge blocks out the major features.
Adding Details
Almost done- the rear of the bus is getting installed and the details are bringing it to life. Our frequent collaborators at Sammel Signs provided the graphic panel for the interior of the bus.
More Details
Even though our buses are stylized to meet the look for the store, once details like the headlights go on, it adds a whole new level of authenticity and visual interest.
Cloverfield
For the gift shop area, we created over 80 red clover sculptures ranging from realistic sizes up to ones that were over a foot in diameter. Most hang upside down as part of the rolling pasture ceiling installation. The smaller clovers were 3D printed, molded then cast in tinted translucent resin so that the hanging pendant lights would highlight the translucency of the petals. The larger clovers were cut in layers on our CNC, finished by hand, then followed a similar workflows with molding and casting.
Upside Down Installation
Here is a section of the nearly complete ceiling feature. In addition to the many clovers, we fabricated the whole thing and with help from our friends at Sammel Signs it got covered in a clover field graphic. We also CNC cut and hand painted dozens of their icons dairy cows and installed them upside down, grazing in the pasture. Working overhead, at night while the store was closed, and trying to keep the creative vision for the upside down composition made for a memorable installation.