This is such a Sydney story.
For the 37 years spanning 1930 to 1967, a man named Arthur Stace walked the streets of Sydney ... and wrote on them; one word, always the same word, in yellow chalk in large, elegant copperplate.
That word was “Eternity.”
He worked before dawn, alone and in secret, travelling to a different neighbourhood every day. For decades this divine prank mystified the people of Sydney. The scrawls were an enigma. People grew up with them. Columnists wrote about them. Street sweepers swept around them. Artists like the late, great Martin Sharp were inspired by them.
Before his conversion to Christianity in 1930, Arthur was a derelict alcoholic on the “edge of insanity.” Then one day at a Baptist Church (now the Eternity Playhouse on Burton Street in Darlinghurst) he heard a noted give-em-Hell preacher shout to the congregation: “I wish I could shout ‘Eternity’ through the streets of Sydney.” He repeated himself and kept shouting “Eternity, Eternity.” The words rang in Arthur’s head as he left the church. He began to cry, bent down and wrote it for the first time. He knew what he had to do.
Our Eternity design celebrates Arthur Stace's Eternity by faithfully reproducing his iconic scrawl. Browse our full range of merchandise bearing that Eternity design HERE.
Like many Sydneysiders of the right age, Martin Sharp recalls his first brush with Arthur Stace’s Eternity. Indeed, Martin incorporated references to Arthur’s Eternity in a number of works over the years.
So when we approached Martin with the idea in 1990, it wasn’t hard to convince him that HE should be the one to create an Eternity design for REMO in tribute to Arthur Stace.
The huge five-metre canvas adorned our Crown Street Window during November 1990 (jogging memories, triggering smiles, stopping traffic, even causing some accidents). Customer souvenirs for the homage included: limited edition prints, T Shirts, postcards, etc. We were never ones to miss a good merchandising opportunity.
Our full Eternity at REMO range HERE.
This was such a happy marriage for all concerned. Aside from Martin’s mesmerising image, Eternity dovetailed perfectly with one of REMO’s primary philosophies: the theme of anti-disposability “Buy it once and own it forever.”, and our belief in the universal importance and value of commitment, perseverance and, most of all ... passion.
