Gather For Good; Making Memories in Wendy’s Secret Garden.

Magpies warble from the branches above us, as parachutes of tablecloths and backdrops billow and catch the morning light.

Today is our photoshoot for our Gather Round collection - our range of heirloom-quality gifts created with Australian artists, growers, chefs and artisans, designed to bring us together around the table.

To celebrate its launch, we wanted to say thank you to all the Makers who had created such beautiful products for our Christmas gifting range; and what better way to show gratitude than with food and community.

We’re in Wendy Whiteley’s Secret Garden, one of the most famous and celebrated guerrilla gardens in Australia, nestled in North Sydney’s stunning Lavender Bay. Amidst cyclists and joggers and wandering school groups, we set up a long table in the shade, and a makeshift studio against the garden.

Zoe Young, the artist behind our Gather Round Card Set, is the first Maker to arrive; having travelled from the Southern Highlands, she wants to soak up the garden for as long as she can. Zoe finds a leafy alcove and sets up her easel, carefully capturing the scene before her, as her son explores the maze of wandering paths.

The rest of the Makers begin arriving, and they settle with a crisp glass of NON in hand whilst waiting to take portraits with their creations.

Wendy Whiteley herself joins us, emerging from the lush greenery and slowly winding down the cascading steps; an exotic bird moving through her home with reverence.

To think of how she brought this garden to life — to stand amidst such an important part of her — transforms today’s gathering from a concept to an embodied experience.

Wendy’s garden is a testament to what is possible when we tend to a forgotten part of the world. Proof that a neglected being can thrive, with the right care and intention. It was not her responsibility; but she saw an opportunity for healing through the work — in both the world around her, and within her.

What a perfect setting to gather for good, and to thank the artisans, producers and creators that offered their crafts for a cause.

As portraits come to a close, we start to take our seats for lunch; and what a group it is. From guerrilla gardeners and artisans, to activists and community do-gooders, everyone around this table is working toward leaving the world better than they found it.

Wendy takes a seat between Elisa Bartels, a ceramicist that smoke fires her handcrafted tumblers and serving bowls with found organics, and Zoe, the artist that spent the morning painting the quiet beauty of a community exploring her secret garden.

A shared table and a shared love of nature work together to set the scene for curiosity and stories and connection.

David begins carving the centrepiece — a stunning ham from Feather and Bone, glazed with our Festive Ham Glaze — and we become a well-oiled machine of hands passing plates and salads and dressings.

The table becomes an organic showcase of our Gather Round collection; Messina Inside Scoop Crackers amidst glasses and flowers, Vianney’s Hunter Candle bringing the ambience.

Our Australian Maker’s Table Set comes to life, with Elisa’s serving bowl working alongside the Tassie Devil Paw salad servers from Tasmanian woodworkers, and a bowl of saltbush macadamias being passed around by the grower herself, delivered by hand from her farm on the mid-north coast of NSW.

Amanda Hyde Page of Brother Mountain Macadamias came to lunch bearing warm smiles, bowls of macas to share and flowers gathered from her own garden, as though the giddiness of generosity had become contagious.

As plates fill and glasses are topped up, conversation turns to the stories behind each creation. Zoe tells us how food is a growing focus for her still life painting; how she sees that art imitates food and vice versa.

Across the table, Dicky Arifin, Executive Pastry Chef at Sonoma, tells us how making Sonoma’s Classic Panettone is a three-day process built on a traditional primo impasto with butter, eggs, Heilala Tonga vanilla paste, burnt orange, Agrimontana candied orange and Muscatel grapes, finished with a toasted macaronade, sliced almond and pearl sugar.

Dean and Michelle Morgan of Zokoko lean in to tell us how their bean-to-bar journey begins with the farmers themselves; trading notes on each harvest so the cacao keeps its natural character. How they coax out new layers of flavour with slow, low roasts and up to three roast profiles in a single batch…the very care that sparked our Citrus & Dark Chocolate collaboration.

Heads nod around the table in quiet recognition; it seems each of us carries a memory shaped by food, and by the people we've shared it with.

Lunch plates are cleared and salad platters are shuffled to make way for dessert; hearty chunks of Zokoko’s Citrus & Dark Chocolate, slices of Sonoma’s Classic Panettone and Gingersnap Bikkies, and a bountiful Honey Cake baked with love by the Two Good Cafe at Yirranma Place.

Scentsmith extraordinaire Vianney, of Hunter Candles, is tasked with slicing and serving the seemingly thousand-layered cake; which, despite her protests of competency, results in sweet success and cheering by all. Plates of cake are ferried down the long table as she sits back down to enjoy her slice, fingers sticky with icing.

The scent Vianney created for our Pistachio Biscotti Candle this year was born of childhood memories, playing with cousins out in the backyard and only ever coming inside to nibble at the biscotti left on the lunch table; we can’t help but wonder what scent she would create in memory of this gathering, and if it would smell like honey.

Soon, we are almost done; the bread has been broken, the last of the NON poured, the dessert plates a palette of cake icing and crumbs.

Small dishes of fanned grapefruit and candied walnuts and easy conversation keep us lingering around the table. The soft afternoon sunlight drips through the leaves above us, and everything feels aglow.

Slowly, the day’s schedule creeps back in - it’s a Monday, and people need to return to workshops and kitchens and studios.

As we say our slow goodbyes with full bellies, Wendy is gifted the very last fresh Classic Panettone by the head baker of Sonoma, to give to her Sicilian gardener, who craves the taste of home.

A final act of love through food, and we almost cannot bear it…today was more than we could have hoped for.