In the spotlight...

Ketel One has joined forces with three experts who live and breathe modern craft: Nick Palumbo of Gelato Messina, Lucy Folk of Lucy Folk Jewellery and Christian Condo of the Modern Motor Cycle Company.   

Hand picked to sit alongside 11th generation distiller of the Nolet family, Bob Nolet, they will ultimately decide who walks away with the Ketel One Legacy. 

 

The mad professor of gelato, Nick Palumbo of Gelato Messina creates culinary masterpieces on a daily basis.  

Gelato Messina has set the benchmark for gelato in Australia. Priding itself on using real ingredients, from the meticulous roasting and endless grind of pistachios, to the baking of their own apple pies and brownies, absolutely everything is crafted in-house. 

Standing proud next to the Gelato Messina flagship store is Messina’s Laboratorio and Patisserie. It is where his real creative craftsmanship comes to life as Nick and his gelatieres combine science and cuisine to produce intricate creations, from Dr Evil’s Magic Mushroom to a novel take on Bombe Alaska. 

Dedicated to pushing the boundaries at sub-zero temperatures Nick and his team are the epitome of modern craftsmen. 

Bringing his craft to life, the master of Messina has created a bespoke Ketel One Dirty Martini ‘monoporzione’ for the Modern Craft Project. This bite-sized concoction fuses Vermouth gele with a green olive sorbet and Ketel One vodka, encased within a pimento chocolate shell and finished with a light dusting of paprika. 

 

Where you see a pretzel or a pasta spiral, Lucy Folk sees something to wear. A self-confessed foodie, she explores the notion of food as adornment, terming it ‘wearable food’.

Lucy Folk has always had a creative bent, her craft boldly goes against the grain, preserving the delicacies we love to eat into precious things we love to wear by electroplating the ‘real thing’ in fine layers of copper, silver and gold. 

Now with her own boutique in Melbourne and celebrity fans including Lily Allen and Susie Bubble of Style Bubble, Lucy is on a quest to combine kitsch naiveté with subtle beauty, creating jewellery to be worn and loved in the process.  

This bespoke jeweller will show off her craft and create ten bespoke pieces containing copper and inspired by Ketel One for the shortlisted entrants.

Despite spending seven years as an automotive mechanic and five years as an industrial designer, Christian couldn’t shake the motorcycle bug. Cue his light bulb moment, and the Modern Motor Cycle Company was born.  

With a mission to recapture a sense of motorcycling that seems to have faded in recent years, the Modern Motor Cycle Company repairs, rebuilds, modifies and customises motorcycles from as far back as the 1920s.

Not satisfied by the craftsmanship of the plastic, angular, over-decorated and over-engineered motorcycles of today, the Modern Motor Cycle Company lovingly restores bikes by hand.  Blood, sweat and tears go into the mix, as each bike takes up to 3,000 hours to complete. The perfect showcase for his craft, each creation is a marvel to behold.  

Showing his support for the Modern Craft Project, Christian is bringing his craft to the bar and creating a bespoke table constructed out of vintage Daytona motorcycle handlebars. Watch out for it in a small bar near you soon.