Pandora

The Fabergé Big Egg Hunt in London is in full flow, and Pandora has taken up residence in Duke of York Square, a two minute walk from Sloane Square station.

My inspiration for the design was born from an interest in dinosaurs at a very young age. I grew up in central and eastern Africa, but with family ties to the UK, we would make an annual trip back during the summer. I always insisted on visiting the Natural History Museum in London, and would marvel at the incredible collection of dinosaur skeletons on display. The image of "Dippy", the famous Diplodocus in the entrance hall, has been etched on my mind ever since that first visit.

Having been involved with the London Elephant Parade and Edinburgh's Jungle City I've enjoyed watching how people, and in particular children, react and interact with the sculptures. For this campaign I wanted to produce something that would appeal to audiences of all ages, and hopefully spark and interest in people for a subject that gave me a great deal of pleasure growing up.

Pandora is up for auction, and available to bid on until 9th April 2012. Click on this link to place a bid:

http://auction.thebigegghunt.co.uk/lots/pandora-by-martin-aveling

























The campaign is raising funds for 2 charities; Elephant Family and Action For Children. 30 of the eggs were auctioned during a special event at the Royal Courts of Justice on Tuesday evening, raising a grand total of £667,000 for the two causes. The Humpty Dumpty egg, signed by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, and designed by students at the Prince's Drawing School, went for an impressive £51,000.

I would also like to thank Krishanthi Williams for giving up her time to take these pictures of Pandora: