Interview by Islands Magazine

In 2007, after the success of Under the Mango Tree in the Gourmand Awards, we were approached by Islands Business for an interview about the book and the company. Because of our different locations, we all answered the questions independently from each other. The interview follows…

How and when did 3LCs come about?

Peter: It was at my Pender street Studio in 2002, Rob and I had been talking for a long time to get into business and Glenbo had been our friend for many years, I think he just walked into the studio at the right time and came up with the right name and there we were: the Three Loose Coconuts.

Rob: In 2002, Peter and Glenbo were in the process of individually moving back to Australia. The economy was still trying to recover from 2000, so Peter wasn’t really getting a lot of work. I had moved into Peter’s office the year before… it was a space in the back, which was known as the Dungeon – it wasn’t nearly as bad as it sounds! We still had our separate companies, but I was just renting space from Peter. Anyway, we were working pretty well together, and every so often, Glenbo would come over for Peter to process the shots of wherever it was he had been.
During one of these visits, and while talking about going back to Australia, one of them came up with the idea of all three of us joining up to form a company. Peter & Glenbo both love Fiji, so it was always going to be hard for them to leave. I think that’s why a company based out of Australia that handled Photography and created books for the South Pacific really appealed to the both of them.

Who/what is the inspiration behind your concept?

Peter: I think it’s with all creative people the same , when you are a chef you like your own restaurant and when you are a photographer you like your own book… and in our case we just wanted to do our own thing, have no deadlines and not been told what to do… just Loose.

Rob: We all just thought we’d make a good team, and we knew what kind of projects we wanted to work on. Glenbo was the one behind the name. The name “Three Loose Coconuts” just seemed like a pretty good description of all of us. We’re all fairly loose in the sense that we’re all pretty easy going, and we’re not that regimented in the way we work… creatively we’re probably all at our best when we’re not stressing out – which is true for most people, I guess. Coconuts are synonymous with the islands, so that was easy… The Three just pulls it together – kind of like The Three Amigo’s – but from the islands, you know?!
It’s a good name though – most people, without fail, do a double-take when we tell them – so it makes it memorable…. Then again, they’re probably thinking, “there go those crazy coconuts!”

How long have you known each other?

Peter: I met Rob in 1994 where we did some jobs together and we did more and more , I mean our clients where happy and we did some really good stuff and very soon we where a strong team , Art Director and Photograper. It was working well and we were friends before we knew it. I met Glenbo on an Aircraft from Sydney to Fiji (I think it was in 1990) after that I was processing his film and saw first hand the excellent photography he did, we talked about the things Photographers talk about, light, film, processing, studio, girls, and Clients and how they always want thing fast and cheap. I almost forgot, I never talked about girls !!!!!!

Rob: I think I met Peter in around 94/95 when I went to get some processing done… Glenbo, I met much earlier, although he doesn’t remember. I can’t remember the exact year, but it was at the Votualevu Horse races in Nadi. I was introduced to Glenbo by a mutual friend that we all have – Ian Osborn… I think I’ve got a picture lying around somewhere of the two of them taking photos on that day.

Glenbo: We had all known each other individually as friends since the early to mid 90s, and continued on happily with our solo pursuits until various projects started bringing us together on different occasions.
The lure, the potential and the strength of unity and three-some-ness eventually won us over in 2002.
Before we knew it, we were riding the threeway! Six years on, still going strong. We gotta be doing something right.

What sort of projects has 3LCs involved (before Under the Mango Tree) itself with and how does it choose what projects to take on? Pls talk more about these projects.

Peter: I think it’s best Rob or Glenbo talk about this, I’m the one who tries to sell the job after this boys thought about it. No, we ALL think about it, Glenbo and Rob refine it and most of the time those boys throw me out because we laugh too much, yes laughing is good but we get carried away and our projects deviate too much even before they are started!

Rob: On the commercial side, one of the first projects we worked on was for the FVB – a niche brochure series. And then we were lucky enough to be selected to do a Kids Kit for Air Pacific. That was a fantastic project, because we had a lot of fun doing it – the deadlines were tight, but coming up with jokes, and puzzles, etc for kids just can’t be put into the “work” basket – which is why we enjoyed it. When you’re having fun, and you’ve got the passion for your work, it always comes through in the end result. That kit was so different from what had been done before, and it was well received – it won the Chairman’s award in the Annual Tabua Awards for the Tourism industry here. It was a really classy package – hard cover, spiral bound with built in pencil case! All the kids who got it on the plane, loved it… and so did a lot of parents!
Based on the success of the Air Pacific one, we got approached by the Sheraton in Denarau to produce a Kids Kit for them too… and that was around about the time that we were talking with Nadi Bay Resort to create the Resort cookbook (Under the Mango Tree) for them. After that, Glenbo pretty much decided he only wanted to work on Kid’s books and cookbooks, because he enjoyed doing them so much! And of course, we were really happy when it won the same award that the Air Pacific Kids Kit had won the year before… so that was two years running that one of our project’s had taken out the top award.
All up, we’ve done more than 10 books together, including 3 that are self-funded that we distribute ourselves. But watch this space, because many more, are coming soon!

Glenbo: We often pride ourselves in the creation of projects that do not already exist. By seeing potential in areas that haven’t been addressed, by observing existing budgets for products and trying to come up with something of even greater value and product-specific content. By extending the set boundaries of peoples expectations. It’s so much more fun, and more productive, to sometimes work OUTSIDE of the specified borders.
We are continually conceiving, collecting and creating new project ideas: by observing, by experimenting. The Pacific (and the World) are an enormous playground of potential. Our challenge comes from converting this potential into a reality, by getting the ideas into the right hands, by cementing the looseness into a tangible product.

You each come into the partnership from a specialised background. How is this partnership contributing to personal satisfaction? Talk a bit about the advantages of group effort and why it’s important that the right synergy is there. Also, about some interesting things about this partnership?

Peter: Our backgrounds are the winning formula and because we have this experience in design, photography and business we don’t really need outside help to do our jobs, we don’t need to pay top dollars to hire people for things we can do, and this keeps cost way down.

Some partnerships start off well and soon run into trouble because the expectations are too high especially when there only two of you, one is working more than the other and therefore could have more ‘trouble’…
With having 3 people involved one needs the majority to get your projects through, and if you come up with a great idea like I always do, one needs one extra vote no matter how good, if not the idea gets the marching orders into a big box for some other time. None of our ideas are thrown away. Every idea is good, but the time may not be right for it.
When there is only two of you the argument can get hold of you. Plus we are loose and don’t take things too serious and most important we are not greedy, in other words “Loose”

Glenbo: The concept of 3LC recognises our uniqueness as individuals, plus the counter-balancing dynamics and spark created by the various dual link-ups, and the over-riding unity and protection of the power of a threesome (but not in the Biblical sense) … Three Loose Coconuts represents an umbrella that we have manufactured to be broad enough to cover and nurture all of these aspects.
Our individual skills, styles, personal schedules and situations can often dictate that any one of us as an individual will take control of a particular project and run with it. We will draw strongly on the other two for input, assistance and varying degrees of contribution.
More often, it will be a dual team-up of two of us that sees a particular project through to completion, with the dual team-up generally utilising the different angles will look at the same opportunity…while all the while, the remaining partner will happily drop in and out of the equation.
At the times when all three come together, the imagery of a tripod comes to mind: sturdy, secure, solid, with each element relying surely upon the others. We all wobble if one falls away.

If any one of us comes across an idea, we put it to the team, and if it fits into our collective approval, then the project can go ahead. The beauty is, that if one of us feels that the idea is not so good, or may not work, or does not understand it, the other two still have the opportunity to softly persuade the third to run with the idea, or we may elect to simply test the product out a little bit in the marketplace, and rely on some form of feedback from the industry… If we do not really come to a consensus, then no probs, we simply put the idea into a concept we call “The Later Box” – which means we have the opportunity to review the concept at a date further down the track.

Something interesting…When we have Daylight Saving over here in Oz, and because Peter and I live on the 2 sides of the Queensland / NSW border and Robbie in Fiji … we have the scenario that when it is 8am for Glenbo, it’s 9am for Peter, and its 10am for Robbie. Try running a tight ship on that one!

Rob: It’s been pretty good so far – our partnership has meant I’ve worked on things that I may not have had the chance to before…and I think that’s true for all of us. Most of the time, we are able to work on only those projects that appeal to us, and that does go a long way in keeping the passion to do it, alive.
The power of group effort can’t be underestimated. We each bring individual strengths to the group which overcomes any weaknesses that we may have, and as a result, we’re a much stronger company for it.

It’s interesting that the Three Loose Coconuts are very, very rarely all together at one time! Since I’m still in Fiji, and the other two are in Australia, we usually only see each other in the same room or coffee table about 4 times a year!

Under the Mango Tree seems to be a project that hit the ground running and enjoyed immediate success at the Gourmand Awards. How did Under the Mango Tree begin?

Rob: Yeah it has turned out to be a popular book… Glenbo goes back a long way with the Fifers from Nadi Bay. He stays there whenever he’s in Fiji, so he was exposed to the talents of Chef Johnny… and where there’s great food, eventually a cookbook will come out of it! We had included a couple of recipe’s from Chef Johnny in our Coconut Cookbook, and I think Glenbo may have got him hooked on the idea that we should do a new book together. And then, it didn’t take much convincing for Errol and Antoinette to endorse the book.

Glenbo: The book began as a shared vision between 3LC, head chef Jonathan Petueli and Nadi Bay Resort to publish a uniquely styled book that was completely different from what currently existed in the tourism marketplace – a book that captured the extraordinary qualities of a destination, and reproduced it, with the additives of tropical flavour, infectious humour and heart-felt emotion. We believed that the extra initiative, the extra effort and the attention to detail put into the project would result in an exceptional end product. Not too many projects around these days that allow for this added initiative and input.

Peter: Let me tell you, I must be the number one fan for 3LC. These boys, Rob and Glenbo are unbelievable the things they come up with and if we were more driven or had a marketing agent looking after us we would be somewhere high up there. We have designs in our “later box” that would have many marketing agencies happy to be with us. Yes, we must do something right. Our projects are thought of by us, we are very careful not to take work away from the local environment. We propose it, cost it and then do it. (And by costing it, I don’t mean eating it, well- we do anyway!!!)

Was 3LCs prepared for the level of success that the cookbook achieved? What were your expectations?

Glenbo: Yep, indeed! We knew we were sitting on something special, particularly since the uniqueness of the end product truly resulted from the effort, humour and thrust that the staff, the chefs, the management of the resort, and the added input from the diversity of guests complimenting the 3LC input.
Yes, there were healthy expectations. We just weren’t quite prepared for the Gourmand level of success. That was a true bonus, and graciously and humbly accepted.

Rob: I knew it was going to be good. After all the time and effort, it had to be! We never expect awards or anything like that when we’re working on a project… we’re more concerned about doing the best we can to make it the best we can.

Peter: We try to get the best out of something that is sometimes hard to find and we will. If people just knew the effort we put into our projects, they would buy more books and the people who did purchase a book of ours will see the little things and stories and names of people we know in our books. Our expectations are more books and a lot more children books.

Has its success/exposure generated interests in your work? If so, what sort of interest and from were?

Peter: Yes it did, but I’m not telling !!!

Glenbo: I think the combined interest in ALL our work tends to feed, initiate and secure new projects…it never really centres on any one product. We pride ourselves in all aspects of our work, and sometimes it is just the little attention to details and acknowledgement of the small things in life that lead to the bigger pictures.
Life works in funny ways. A chance meeting here, a spontaneous conversation there, discussions at a coffee shop, this leads to that, energies spiral upwards … jobs get created.
It’s all about recognising, and then passionately grabbing, the moment and throwing yourself into it with unquestioned enthusiasm.

Rob: I think the tourism industry is beginning to recognise that we aren’t just creating books, but a valuable marketing tool for them as well. South Sea Cruises saw this shortly after the Nadi Bay was released, and we’ve since done a book for their Awesome Adventures sister company. This latest book – Mai Yasawa – isn’t a cookbook at all, but more a photographic journey of the Yasawa’s as a backpacker may see it. It does have one recipe in there though… I guess we couldn’t help ourselves!!
We’re working on other projects too, in and outside of Fiji, but they’re all at early stages, so there isn’t too much to tell about them.

Your feelings about comments from the Gourmand judges, like: “A little big cookbook” and “takes you to Fiji in a second, thanks to its most unusual, fresh and lively direct contact with the reader. It bursts with energy, fun, passion and sense of humour.”

Peter: Well , this is what I mentioned earlier. This cook book (like all our books) has our heart and soul in it and the love for Fiji and for its people. We get positive feedback and encouragement on our books all the time – and they must be good, because no one has come out and said, they made a mistake to purchase a book by 3LC!!

Rob: I’m happy they saw it that way, because that’s a pretty good description of what went into it. The guests featured in it had a good time doing it too.

Glenbo: Little in size and convenience; big in heart and soul. The use of humour, honesty and fun will always draw a reader closer into a product; the use of food, colour and lively energy will certainly keep them there. And that’s what it’s all about!

It will also gain additional exposure at the Gourmand stand in China. How good is this for Fiji and South Pacific tourism? And how is 3LCs preparing itself for that, in terms of getting book copies ready, etc…

Glenbo: Global exposure for Fiji and the South Pacific is always a good thing.
Images of scenic splendour, tropical colour, humour and fun, spirited people, all tied together with fine food, will certainly act positively towards a raised awareness (and hopefully increased visits) from the China marketplace.
It is hoped by all involved that the book exposure will lead to much more than just numbers and copies of books, but the increased awareness and interest in the South Pacific as a destination.
People worldwide share a common interest and passion for the exploration of new and exotic culinary treats. The fact that Under The Mango Tree has achieved the accolades in Europe provides a wonderful foundation for also marketing the people, the scenic splendour, the culture and customs of the South Pacific.

Rob: On the exposure side, it is an opportunity for an emerging market to become aware of Fiji – also, with the timing of Fiji becoming an approved destination by China, and easier entry for holiday travelers from there, is pretty good too.

Peter: There are processes in place to deal with extra copies, and with our backgrounds and experience, and contacts with people within the industry, we know we will get it done.

Will you limit your future projects to cook-books or will you explore other concepts?

Peter: We have projects in place that have to be presented to potential clients, and yes, they are not just cook books, there are children’s books and specialty books we are planning to do. We also would love for companies or organizations to come to us and ask if we could do a book for them.

Rob: Glenbo would love to do just cookbooks and kidbooks, because they’ve been the most fun. But we have done other things, and will continue to do them, as long they’re in the commercial reality basket.

Glenbo: Projects, by definition, are collaborative enterprises designed to achieve a particular aim: generally the promotion of a specific destination or product. Cookbooks are a great tool to work with, to achieve this end result. Most people share a taste for fine food and a great recipe.
So the books act as a softener to a bigger message. They grab and secure a persons attention (generally) quicker and more effectively than most other formats we have worked with. Of course we will explore all aspects of styles, formats and themes to achieve any desired result, but while we at Nut Headquarters pride oursleves in our diversity and desire for deviations, we just happen to have a real soft spot for the Culinary Cookbook Capers.

What are your views about the availability of books/publications like Under the Mango Tree, which explores, captures and emits the deep vibrance and colours of Fiji/Pacific islands life? ie: we hardly find “little big books” that tell the world so much about Fiji/Pacific in a handful of pages?

Glenbo: Books like Under The Mango Tree are a vital ingredient in sustaining and projecting a balanced perspective of life in Fiji and the Pacific. On the one hand, you have the commercial world of classical tourism imagery – postcards, brochures and products that capture the perfect moment, the dream image of paradise, the facilities, the services. All perfectly neccessary…
And then you have the emotive side, the twists, the turns, the character, the subtle, the hidden, the evocative, the passionate. The shades of grey. The edgyness. The heart-beat.
Bring it on, we say!

Generally, what is the future for 3 Loose Coconuts?

Peter: The future for us looks good, as long as we keep our heart and soul in every project we do. Having mentioned all this we will never forget the people who buy our books, and as long as we have people who do buy our books we will continue doing good books … and there is one more important factor in 3LC: we have fun doing it, because we do like and respect each other.

Rob: I’m sure its going to be great! We’ve got a list of Projects that we would like to work on that that could fill a book in itself – so, I think we’ll be able to keep ourselves busy over the next couple of years.
Although we are an Australian company, we’ve got a connection to Fiji that is important to us, and it’s a connection that we’re proud of. If we can do more for and in Fiji, we’ll find a way to do it.

Glenbo: Ahhh, the future … let’s see … as individuals and as a part of 3LC: the maintenance of looseness, the continuance of high-end quality publications that meet all schedules, budgets and expectations, the upkeep of personal, company and client synergy, and the ongoing quest for more projects that are able to embrace and digest our collective quirks, foibles and nutty nuances.
On a bigger scale, to continue to secure projects that support and endorse Fiji and her Pacific neighbours, in areas of tourism related publications. To assist, even in a small way, to maintain a constant flow of visitors to our Pacific shores, for the end benefit of all.
And continued involvement in community based, environmental and cross-cultural projects that work with the youth and the vision impaired, in the hope that what 3LC has to offer can be spread and shared across a wider section of the local communities.

Life’s looking nuttily good.