Hipster Beard Warehouse Sale

Six years ago Ned Kelly clones started popping up as baristas in my suburb; humourless ones who wore leather shoes with exposed ankles and took their beans way too seriously. After 18 months of them multiplying unabated I'd had enough. And so the Hipster Beard Warehouse Sale was born.

Armed with 50 posters at 5am on the first day of the Surry Hills Festival, attracting over 20,000 people, I did a bombing run of the telegraph poles on routes with the largest foot traffic.

And then I sat in a cafe and watched the day unfold.

Pretty soon people were stopping at the poles and laughing, particularly at the sale's location, Merkinhead Point Shopping Centre.

Then they started ripping off the poster tabs. Even one or two bearded hipsters.

Later that day, the Daily Telegraph's social correspondent tweeted an image of the poster as the festival continued, and I was delighted to find that a number of my friends had also shared the image across social channels without having any idea that I was responsible.

Most importantly, I like to think the longer-term resurgence of clean-shaven men in my suburb that ensued was not entirely unrelated.

Either way, it was $12 of photocopying well spent.