It’s a face familiar to anyone with a passing knowledge of Bristol street art - the elfin features of a girl often painted on the walls of the city by Tom Bingle - better known as Inkie.
But theclassic cartoon face has now been created as you’ve never seen it before - on a dessert plate at a gastronomic castle in Switzerland.
When Inkie began painting the walls of Bristol alongside his mates Rob del Naja and Cheo back in the 1980s, it’s unlikely he’d have thought his art would ever end up being devoured by upmarket diners at the Schloss Bottmingen restaurant, near Basel.
But there, in a sweet technicolour sauce, racked up on many plates, was Inkie’s girl - almost too good to destroy by smearing dessert all over.
Inkie was in the neighbourhood having taken up a short residency at Mausa Vauban, an urban art museum just to the north, near Colmar in France.
Inkie brought the stencils and, under the guidance of patissier Alain Henri Schmidlin, was on hand to put the finishing touches to the desserts.
The restaurant took special bookings for the night, which was held as part of Art Basel Week, but diners at the castle restaurant were under strict instructions not to steal the plates.
“It’s amazing the places graffiti takes you,” said Inkie.
Inkie’s girl was most recently painted in Bristol on the side of Parsons Bakery in North Street, Bedminster, as part of Upfest.
