Harry! Welcome to Lazy Susan. To begin, what’s your knock off drink of choice this week?

Much to everyone’s surprise (not least mine) I’m on the wagon at the moment. So it’s a glass of sparkling water. In normal times, it’s always a G&T – our Bone Dry with Strangelove No 8 and a lemon wedge. 50ml gin, 100ml tonic. 

Could you give us the elevator pitch of your career and what you do at Archie Rose?

I spent almost 20 years mucking around in bars. I couldn’t imagine a more fun way to spend your ’20s. You meet everyone from all walks of life, and you have a great time doing it. But as you proceed through your ’30s your knees and back start to wear. I worked on the F&B offering at the Westpac OpenAir Cinema for a few years, returning to bars in the down months, and that’s when I was introduced to Will [Edwards] who was just starting Archie Rose. I liked him immensely when we first met, and that has only grown over the past 10 years. It’s rare to work for someone as smart as Will, and even rarer to work for someone as good as Will. In the hardest times in the history of the company he has always been the greatest source of wisdom and I have complete faith that he’ll make the right decision when push comes to shove. Having someone you look up to at the helm is essential in any enterprise. 

I started at Archie running the venue – it’s a different beast from any other bar. We have 42 of our own spirits we have to showcase on the back bar (as well as a selection of some of the world’s best in their categories). Our bartenders are partly brand ambassadors. They are incredibly knowledgeable in the science and art of distillation, and they run tours, and blending sessions alongside making cocktails. We started to need some content for our social, and as we started to embark on our range of limited spirits we needed press releases supported with imagery. I started shooting with Nikki To (famous for being co-founder of Buffet and more recently, baby Max). We shot our first limited – Virgin Cane, and first extension to the core range – Distiller’s Strength. In that first year I think we shot four or five times. We now shoot every two weeks. I’ve been joined by Bek Murray who works solely on content. That means we have the luxury of planning shoots and creating mood boards. 

But the content work is a very small part of my role. I also look after venues, events and partnerships. I work with the other heads of departments on new product development, growth planning and strategic planning to ensure we hit our targets. While that stuff is not as fun as creating a beautiful image, it’s rewarding to strengthen those skills and see your planning come to fruition. But shoots and written content is still the most enjoyable part of my role.

Archie is celebrating its 10th birthday this year. Many happy returns! How have you seen the local bar and spirits game evolve in that time?

Gosh, it’s really flown by! Ten years of making good spirits, in good spirits. We’re currently in a hospitality recession, it’s tough out there for everyone (and certainly for anyone with a mortgage). As a result you’ll see a lot of happy hours as people compete for that after-work drinks crowd. But the seismic shift that has occurred in the last 10 years is the surge of food delivery apps and streaming services. People are just out far less. I don’t know if this is a change for good. But I have seen recessions before. The economy is cyclical – it’ll bounce back. But I can’t tell you how many casualties there will be from this one.  The events industry is also weathering an onslaught – from bushfires to COVID, floods to asbestos it just never seems to ease up. Festivals are canceling due to low ticket sales. It’s an unusual landscape and one that is hard to see the end of.

Onto Mardi Gras. What does this time of year mean for Archie Rose, and for you personally?

When we first approached Mardi Gras to try to land the sponsorship we were too small, we couldn’t afford them. But often landing partnerships are about time and patience. It took three years to get us across the line, and we’ve been a proud partner for the past four years – with WorldPride as an incredible highlight last year. It’s truly been amazing.

We’ve been creating THE hero floral image together for four years now, and it all began as an unplanned light-bulb moment during one of our regular shoots. Please spill the story for those following at home: 

We got the email from Mardi Gras during a shoot, less than an hour to go. We were shooting something for Archie’s Journal with Distiller’s Strength – can’t remember what – and I said to Nikki – can you keep shooting that and I’m going to do a little flat lay for Mardi Gras over here? Nikki is very used to me saying things like “we have three more minutes let’s get one more scene in”. So she rolled her eyes and kept shooting. I ran to Drink Hive next door that has a small selection of flowers. They had five of the six colours. They didn’t have purple. If you look closely you’ll notice that purple is cabbage. It was close to wrap time – maybe two minutes before, and I stuffed the last few petals in and Nikki went to work. She went over the finish time to get the shot – but only by minutes. 

How many flowers go into making it? And how long does it take to assemble and style the set?

The first shot cost about $75, and took 45 mins. Last year for WorldPride we did a domination site (a giant billboard) at Central station – 18m x 4m. To have the bottle the right size, the whole floral arrangement was about 4m long. That cost $1500, and a very early start at the flower market. If I’d gone to a florist it would have been a hell of a lot more.

What was the intention behind this year’s shoot?

This year was about simplicity. And bringing the trans flag front and centre. I am watching the hatred towards trans people grow and I’m equal parts furious and terrified. People are becoming emboldened in their hate. And when that happens, hate crime balloons. So this year our bottle has a flirtatious trans halo. We’ve recently been shooting with Tom Whoolohan from Buffet. Tom is a brilliant product photographer, his intuition in how to light a bottle is just brilliant. And this year the whole frame is built around a lightbox, with a flash behind the bottle, and several shots comped together to get each aspect just right. The label, the liquid, the flowers.

How have these images evolved over the years? And what kind of feedback have you received from friends and the wider community?

The vast majority of people seem to love it. Sometimes we have some negative feedback from the community – but literally a handful in four years. Last year we released a lube. And I think five people complained – three were members of the community who thought we debased Mardi Gras (which would have been a significant achievement, but I think is probably overegging it) and two from straight people who would never buy our perverted product again. I think those numbers are tolerable compared to the very large number of people who loved it. Shooting the lube was the most fun shoot I think I’ve been on. We had some rules – no bananas, and no lube dribbling onto hands. But somehow we approved the lube on the papaya – and Tori, our head of marketing said “Harriet this photo is making me blush”. The image is graphic, in both senses of the word. Sometimes being a brand guardian is about knowing how close you can go to the line. I still wonder if we might have slipped over it that day. But lube is slippery, what are you going to do?

We’ve been creating THE hero floral image together for four years now, and it all began as an unplanned light-bulb moment during one of our regular shoots. Please spill the story for those following at home: 

We got the email from Mardi Gras during a shoot, with less than an hour to go. We were shooting something for Archie’s Journal with Distiller’s Strength – can’t remember what – and I said to Nikki – can you keep shooting that and I’m going to do a little flat lay for Mardi Gras over here? Nikki is very used to me saying things like “we have three more minutes let’s get one more scene in”. So she rolled her eyes and kept shooting. I ran to Drink Hive next door which has a small selection of flowers. They had five of the six colours. They didn’t have purple. If you look closely you’ll notice that purple is cabbage. It was close to wrap time – maybe two minutes before, and I stuffed the last few petals in and Nikki went to work. She went over the finish time to get the shot – but only by minutes. 

How many flowers go into making it? And how long does it take to assemble and style the set?

The first shot cost about $75, and took 45 mins. Last year for WorldPride we did a domination site (a giant billboard) at Central station – 18m x 4m. To have the bottle the right size, the whole floral arrangement was about 4m long. That cost $1500, and a very early start at the flower market. If I’d gone to a florist it would have been a hell of a lot more.