At the beginning of November 2020, I was asked by my friend Judy if I could make a duck for her husband. No problem, I said. What kind of duck does he want? That’s when she said come for lunch and meet him and he will explain all. So I arrived at the Chinese restaurant Duckee, located in Lee Gardens Phase 3 in Causeway Bay, and met Martin. Formalities and general chitchat over, I asked what kind of duck would he like making. That’s when he stood up and simply asked if I could make a duck the same height as him. I wasn’t expecting that! Martin explained that he wanted something big that his customers would want to take a selfie with and make into an Instagram moment. The duck needed to reflect the Chinese gastrobar and dining vibe that this huge restaurant has to offer. With gaming facilities also soon to be available at Duckee, Martin wanted the duck to be fun and have a sense of cheekiness to it. So you can see he wasn’t asking for too much, haha.
I pondered over my wonton soup, which was delicious, as was the whole lunch, and after we had eaten, Martin gave me a tour of the restaurant so I could get a sense of the ambience. On some of the tables were mini ducks that Judy had made and which customers really loved. In the trendy cocktail bar were a couple of big plush ducks which, again, customers would take selfies with. The sense of fun and relaxation was certainly apparent and I could understand what Martin wished to achieve by having a massive adult human-sized duck at the entrance to his restaurant. You couldn’t possibly miss it.
Feeling inspired and always ready to expand my crochet abilities, I accepted the challenge. Gulp…