The annual Artisan party has now become so popular, some people RSVP for it months in advance out of anticipation. However, what many people may not realise is that the Artisan party tradition is just as old as Artisan itself! We thought we’d take a moment to revisit some of the parties from years gone by and reflect on what has made them so popular.

Flash back to December 1998 and Artisan host their first party at what was then known as Soul Sister on Commercial Rd with a grand total of 30 guests. Yes, things have changed since then although one can suspect that those 30 guests woke up with as much of a sore head as most of us did last Saturday morning.

In 1999, we went a little more up market and took over The Globe on Chapel St however it wasn’t until 2001 that the Artisan party moved to it’s now more familiar position in the first weekend of February. In that year, Artisan had just moved to it’s new location of 20 Commercial Rd and the party was actually held in the court yard of the office! Strangely enough, both Tara and Lawrence, neither of whom were working at Artisan at this stage, came along!

As the years marched forward, the venues started to get bigger and bigger to fit the ever growing crowd. 2002 saw Artisan take over 147 Commercial Rd (now Heaven’s Door) and, in an ironic twist, 2003 saw the party being hosted at The Attic at 37 Cato St, now the location of the current Artisan offices. This was also the year where we saw the birth of a ‘live band’, with a jazz band doing some standards to keep the crowd entertained.

In 2004, Artisan moved away from Prahran and down to Port Melbourne, hosting the party at the Palace Hotel… although many will recall the party moved on to several venues afterwards! 2005 saw the first ‘themed’ Artisan party after someone suggested at a WIP meeting that the Max Hotel (Commercial Rd, Prahran) reminded them of an old country and western pub and before you knew it, cowboy shirts and hats were compulsory wear! However, the western style imagery created the mood and it was fun watching many people playing cards around the makeshift poker table for the evening. One guest even came dressed as... 'a donkey', although this custume did consist solely of a set of ears and a tail.

In 2006, Artisan moved down to the banks of the Yarra, taking over the Melbourne Rowing Club. Many will recall standing on the balcony only to look down and discover fire twirlers performing a few rather scary stunts for our entertainment whilst enjoying the return of the live band.

In 2007, Artisan took over the ACMI Centre where we had our first Artisan flash mob experience as several choir singers began performing through parts of the crowd before moving to the centre stage to complete their performance.

2008 and 2009 saw Artisan take on 1 Fitzroy St. With it’s picturesque beach views, these parties will probably be best remembered as the ones where the balcony was the place to be although the band whipped us into a frenzy before the night was through! 2008 was the Artisan Rockstar theme whilst 2009 was the Love Party – also the party where Tara got up and displayed her own singing skills with the band by performing 'These Boots Are Made For Walking'… who would’ve thought?

Which leads us nicely up to 2010… Artisan taking over the Railway Hotel in Windsor, celebrating summer by filling the venue with several hundred of it's summer lovin' friends. The votes are in and the Artisan team have given this years party the honourable title of 'best party ever' and a lot of that is down to the fact that this year was just one party were everyone present was up for a really good time!

If you have a ‘favourite Artisan party’ moment that you want to share, email us so that we can publish them online!