Where possible we work with our suppliers on providing sustainable sourcing of local food and produce.

An example of how we try to make our events sustainable in all areas is the Green Gown Awards Ceremony. Here we worked on the menu, table decorations and trophies.

Green Gown Awards 2009 - Sustainable Event

Sustainable Menu

Here we worked with the venue, Imperial College London, to incorpoate local produce, where possible, and sourcing free-range products.

Our menu can be downloaded to view below.

Sustainable Trophies

Adele Billinghay, the trophy creator for the Green Gown Awards 2009, explains why she has incorporated recycled glass into her art:

"Glass has a special quality as it transmits, transforms and holds light through colour and texture. Old glass has a particular magic of its own.

I use recycled window glass within my work, both for environmental and aesthetic reasons with some pieces inspired by the origins of the glass. Glass has been given to me found in overgrown back gardens, near dismantled churches or even, on one occasion, from a cruise ship! Although bottles and jars are now regularly recycled, plate glass is still difficult and expensive to process and therefore dumped into landfill sites. However, despite it being time consuming to re-use and temperamental to work with, I still feel it is worth putting in the effort as it brings the original and surprising results I enjoy.

The glass is taken out of the frames, cleaned, cut and kiln fused (basically melted together) with various inclusions such as silk fibres, fine wires and precious metal leaf and layered with rich, vivid colours. The pieces are then 'slumped' over or into moulds for texture and form. Due to the nature of working with recycled materials the final result is generally unpredictable. Despite having worked with glass for a long time now I never know quite how the piece will be affected by the inclusions, or how it will react to the extreme heat, which adds an element of excitement and anticipation each time the kiln is opened.

Whether creating an award, bowl, sculpture or wall art, the nature of hand crafting recycled materials ensures each item is as unique as its origins and as special as the person receiving it."

To contact Adele, please email here her info@abglassart.co.uk.

To view her work, click here to visit her website.

Sustainable Table Decorations

For the Green Gown Awards 2009 table decorations, we used 100% natural latex balloons, raffia ribbon and carboard weight boxes which were dismantled at the end of the evening and put into a compost bin. This will biodegrade at approximately the same rate as an oak leaf. The raffia is created from palm leaves that are dried and stripped.  Tables were also decorated with glass candle holders that will be used for future events and the marquee decorations included flowers that were being reused from an earlier event.