Each morning when I walk up from Britomart through Lorne St in the darkness, I pass an optometrist called Mortimer Hirst. Month-by-month, I stop and watch when the displays in their shop window change. They have gone from rock-and-roll Barbies, to squirrels and construction-site-Ken’s, endlessly creative.
This morning, the window had changed again…
As I turned after photographing it, a man with a coffee in his hand spoke to me: “Do you like my display?”
“It is gorgeous. I was just photographing it to send to a friend in Wellington. She would appreciate your humor too.”
“Thank you” said Ton, introducing himself. “I got in here at 5:00 am to get this one installed. I’m off to work in the US so I had to get this one finished in time.”
“The one with the squirrels in glasses a few months back was so clever. Thank you for sharing these.”
“You are welcome.” he smiled as we parted. You can see more of Ton’s designs here http://tonvanderveer.com
And here are the squirrels from his window display from August, 2017:
The Rockweather Collaboration 