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Victorian entrant Thomas Telford won Babybel’s inaugural Australian Wax Challenge with Three Cheeky Mice, a miniature sculpture of three mice nibbling on a Babybel. Sydney sculptor Marc Barold and his team later recreated the design at large scale using wax equivalent to 20,000 Babybel units. Their recreation was displayed at Westfield Bondi Junction from 30 September to 6 October 2024; that event has ended.
Who won the Australian Babybel Wax Challenge?
Thomas Telford, an entrant from Victoria, won the first Australian edition of the competition with Three Cheeky Mice. His miniature depicts three mice nibbling on a Babybel cheese. PerthNow reported that Telford received the A$1,500 first prize; the event announcement also confirms him as the winner but does not state the prize amount. PerthNow reported that the challenge had previously appeared in France and South Korea in 2023, while describing Australia’s contest as inaugural.
What was the giant recreation made from?
Marc Barold, a Sydney-based sculptor, and his team made a large recreation of Telford’s winning design. The sculpture used wax equivalent to 20,000 Babybel units—not 20,000 complete cheeses—and the team spent more than two and a half weeks making it from scratch. Babybel’s edible mini cheeses supplied the red wax coverings that inspired the challenge.
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Where and when was the sculpture displayed?
The announced public display was on Level 3 outside Lovisa at Westfield Bondi Junction in Sydney, from Monday 30 September to Sunday 6 October 2024. The one-week showing is over. The event announcement does not establish where the sculpture went afterwards, so its current location is not known from the available reporting. The event announcement republished by Eastern Suburbs Mums gave the location and dates.
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How did the winner become a large-scale sculpture?
The competition invited consumers and amateur artists in Australia to make small sculptures from the red wax coverings on Babybel cheese. Telford’s entry was the winning miniature; Barold and his team then produced the much larger recreation. These were separate works by different makers, with the professional team’s version translating the winning idea to a public display.
A Babybel spokesperson said the judging panel found the entries highly creative and that “Three Cheeky Mice” “ticked all the boxes,” according to PerthNow. The spokesperson was not named.
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