Giraffe About Town: striking sculpture brings iconic Edinburgh skyline to Haymarket Station

Edinburgh Zoo’s unique art trail, Giraffe About Town, which sees a herd of colourful giraffe sculptures spread across the capital comes to the end of its opening week.

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The creative project is a partnership between the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and Wild in Art and aims to raise much needed funds for wildlife conservation.

Edinburgh residents can visit 42 striking sculptures, across famous Edinburgh landmarks, celebrating the city’s extraordinary heritage and cultural diversity.

A Drop of Culture focuses on Edinburgh’s iconic skyline and can be found at Haymarket Station

Launched last week, the project will run until August 29 before culminating in a farewell weekend in September at Edinburgh Zoo where the delightful giraffes will be auctioned off as part of RZSS’ fundraising efforts.

Following a five-month closure of Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park, the charity lost over £1.5 million owing to Covid-19 restrictions.

David Field, RZSS chief executive, said: “Giraffe About Town will help local people and tourists fall in love with Scotland’s capital all over again by encouraging them to get out about town and explore these beautiful sculptures, while at the same time supporting the recovery of our wildlife conservation charity.”

Mr Field added: “The trail is one way we can say thank you and bring a feel-good factor back to Edinburgh with something truly special. It has also been a really exciting opportunity for businesses, organisations, artists, schools and whole communities to get involved.”

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For the next month we will introduce you these impressive creatures, their story and where you can spot them.

Today, we feature A Drop of Culture, which can be found at Haymarket Station.

Designed by Blair McCafferty, A Drop of Culture focuses on Edinburgh’s iconic skyline to celebrate our country’s wonderful capital.

The pink sunset highlights the amazing, silhouetted forms found across the city, from the Scott Monument to Edinburgh Castle. The paint drips are a reference to the diverse and burgeoning arts and culture found within the city.

Blair McCafferty is an artist and illustrator from Dundee and loves to create art that is easily understood and enjoyed by all.

Blair, aka ‘The Creature Emporium’, is an artist and illustrator from Dundee. Best known for his vibrant and colourful artwork, he loves to create art that is easily understood and enjoyed by all. His work is heavily influenced by street art, graffiti character design and old skateboard art.

Having lived and breathed skate culture since first stepping on a skateboard in the late 80’s, he has found that it’s more than just a passion, it ripples through every aspect of his life.

This beautiful sculpture is sponsored by Burges Salmon, an independent UK law firm that provides their clients with a wide range of services, often at critical moments when astute legal advice and commercial guidance is needed.

Remember, you can download the Giraffe About Town App to help you explore the trail and also be in with a chance to win prizes.

When you find a sculpture, enter the four digit code into the app and you might unlock a reward from one of the project’s sponsors.

You can also add to the gallery of sculptures, vote for your favourite and track how far you have walked whilst doing the trail.

The app costs 89p with proceeds going to the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. It is available on the App Store and Google Play.