Towards a Fluid State is a new food and drink festival to be held at a yet to be disclosed warehouse in Dalston on Saturday the 5th of December. TAFS is the brainchild of Angella Newell and Hayley Sudbury, two Aussie co-conspirators behind London’s monthly Tasting Sessions events. Here’s an interview with Angella and Hayley explaining the concept behind this upcoming festival of fluidity.

Can you tell us a bit about the two of you, how you got involved in organizing your “Tasting Sessions” and how those events evolved into your upcoming food and drink festival?

What can we say? We’re two passionate Australians who love food, drink, meeting people and good times …

With The Tasting Sessions we wanted to create something that we would go to ourselves – something unconventional and exciting, where wine and spirits were approachable without the pretentiousness that can often go with it.

Building on our personal interests in music, art, film and fashion we knew we could create a real cultural platform and wild experiences to centre our tasting events around. We also thought The Tasting Sessions would be a great opportunity to showcase the “emerging”, from artists to musicians to up and coming mixologists.

After running the Tasting Sessions for one year and attending some fairly boring food and drink festivals we spotted an opportunity to build out the monthly sessions into a new festival concept, Towards a Fluid State – creating a journey through five drink categories in an amazing East London warehouse space.

We have also built a very talented set design team who were up for the festival challenge along with some our most experimental food and drink partners and experts.

Where did the name “Towards a Fluid State” come from?

We are both fluid in our approach to life, we believe it is a state of mind… we wanted to create a new movement around food drink which caused an uprising and liberated the standard formats of food and drink experiences and festivals.

Why should folks come to Towards a Fluid State and what should they expect?

Expect a very different approach to tasting, which pushes a number of boundaries…

It will be sensory and interactive and combine elements of music, art, film and fashion. It’s not a farmers market nor is it anything like the Taste of London. This is about delivering unusual and compelling experiences around what people eat and drink.

How will the event be different from other food and drink festivals?

We have worked with everything from pop-up contemporary art installations to a hidden speakeasy and an underground Japanese pop-culture lair. The environments we create for tastings and the experts we work with are the most exciting and interesting (we believe) in the UK.

All of these elements will be built into the festival concept for an audience which is slightly bigger than our monthly Tasting Sessions. Tickets are limited to create an intimate experience when you are in the space.

Towards a Fluid State is a two hour journey not just a market dropped into a warehouse space. Within each of the spaces festival goers can opt for fluid encounters – a stand-out flight of spirits or wine which is matched to mind blowing mouthfuls of food. Alternatively just buy the all inclusive ticket “Liberate the State” and enjoy the ride.

Will you still be hosting Tasting Sessions after the December festival and what other big plans do you have up your sleeves for 2010?

Yes we will be hosting The Tasting Sessions in 2010 and developing the food and drink concept for a larger audience whilst still keeping it unique and edgy.

We are setting up a permanent base for our team in East London in 2010, and we have plans to showcase our food and drinks friends and experts in some fairly off the wall ways. We are also planning to develop the cultural platform angle with an ever growing posse of emerging artists and performers. Keep an eye out for “Daughters of Music”.

Ultimately we plan to move the London food and drink scene towards a fluid state.

For more information about Towards a Fluid State visit www.towardsafluidstate.com. Click here to book your tix.