The Design Files

Fringe Furniture 2009 - Call for Entries!

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:00:00 +0000

Spaceleft - Squash Me chair, 2008 - from the Fringe Furniture exhibition 2008

Kristian Aus, Petal Metal lamp - from the Fringe Furniture exhibition 2008

Melbourne's Fringe Festival is calling all Australian-based designers and artists (emerging and established) to submit their entries for Fringe Furniture 2009!

This year Fringe Furniture is celebrating it's 25th year of supporting and promoting Australian design, and will exhibit selected entries at the Melbourne Museum from September 19th - October 11th 2009. The theme for 2009 is Silver, and can be interpreted as literally or metaphorically as you wish!

Fringe Furniture is recognised as a highly experimental design exhibition, and welcomes a variety of furniture, lighting, homewares, as well as wearable objects... it's a fantastic way for emerging designers to reach a wide market of both design industry professionals and the public.

Registration is open until Friday 31st July! Better get cracking!

Go here to download your Fringe Furniture registration info kit, and register online.

C10 chair by Yellow Diva, customised by grafitti artist Phibs

Moose online shop - 15% discount for Design Files readers!

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Quirky brooches made from recycled lino by Melbourne-based BettyJo Designs. These unique brooches have also been picked up by UK fashion icon Paul Smith!

Resin bangles and hot air balloon brooches by Melbourne-based label, Madz has Runaway

Moose is a Perth-based online shop showcasing unique products made by mostly Australian independent artists and crafters. Moose began in 2006 with 12 artists and 60 pieces of handmade work, and in three years has grown to more than 130 artists and 1600+ items!

Moose represents a really varied group of designers, including a few previous Design Files interviewees including Elke Kramer and Madeleine Beatty! They're passionate about introducing Australian craft and design to international markets, and have helped many local artists sell their work to customers as far as Canada, Israel, China, South Korea, Japan, Italy, the UK, the US and The North Pole (seriously!).

Moose are celebrating their 3rd birthday this week and have offered Design Files readers a 15% discount! Just use the discount code moosedesignfiles at checkout to receive your discount. This code will be valid until next Tuesday 14th July.

ps) Moose have also just started their own blog.

Bangles by Elke Kramer

And the winner is....

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:15:00 +0000

I've written about the collage artist who created this gorgeous piece here before and do you think I can remember who it is? Shocking. Please let me know if you recall!!

Thanks so much for all your comments yesterday! 32! That must be some kind of record.

I wish I had 32 passes to giveaway to each and every one of you..! I actually ended up getting 1 more pass, so there are 7 lucky winners!

Here are the names I just pulled out of the hat (actually it was a mixing bowl) -

Imogen
Melinda
Ed
Amelia
Plasmo
Luci
Pinkurocks

Can you guys email me (lucy at thedesignfiles dot net) today with your addresses and I will post your passes out to you asap!

I'm so sorry to those of you who missed out! If any more tickets come my way I will be sure to let you know! x

Caravan - house swapping for creative types!

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Caravan's featured property of the month!

You may have noticed another little ad pop up on the site yesterday (in amongst the mad dash for SoD Opening Night tickets!).

Caravan is an excellent idea from the excellent mind of Sydney's Rebecca Wolkenstein. Remember Rebecca Wolkenstein? I wrote about her wonderful photographic/design agency here. (Re-visit. The photos are beautiful.)

Anyway, Caravan is a house swap and short term sublet listing website for commercial creatives and those working in the advertising/media/fashion/art and design industries. Like a smaller, more community-based Craigslist, for creative professionals.

Rebecca says:

If you're an art director relocating internationally for a new job, you can find sublets for far less than the price of a hotel. If you're a photo assistant wanting to try New York on for size, you could post a 'house sitter available' ad and have no accommodation costs at all. A room in LA for a bedsit in New York? A harbourside Sydney apartment for a Collingwood terrace? The possibilities are endless and the costs are miniscule compared with even a modest hotel bill, not to mention the savings of being able to cook at home.

Makes sense to me. There are only a few houses listed currently... but I've no doubt this'll spread like wildfire! If you're heading away this year you'd be crazy not to consider subletting your place! It's what New Yorkers do!

The shots you see here are from Caravan's featured home this month! It's a stunning warehouse apartment in Sydney's Darlington - architect designed and owned, if you don't mind. It is available July 18th - August 8th for 1, 2 or 3 weeks. More details here.

ps) stay tuned late-morning for the results of the State of Design tickets giveaway!

Melbourne Open House - Call for Volunteers

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:43:00 +0000

Just a quick shout-out to say that this year's fantastic Melbourne Open House event is nearly here, and they need more volunteers! If you're passionate about Melbourne architecture and have some time up your sleeve next Sunday July 19th, please consider volunteering! Volunteers are needed to man info stations at buildings, talk to visitors and people in the queues. You don't need any experience or architectural knowledge at all, just a smile on your dial :) You can elect to vounteer either all day, or just half the day. Register here!

Volunteers will be provided with a MOH badge, scarf & tote saying you're a volunteer/go to person. The best bit is you'll have queue-jump access to all buildings open for the day! Did you SEE how long the queues were last time? 25,000 people turned out across the CBD! (Remember my coverage here and here?) This year's event is even bigger, offering a behind-the-scenes look at no less than 32 of Melbourne's most beautiful buildings. It's set to be a huge day!

Louvered timber shutters on the facade of Council House 2 in Melbourne's CBD

State of Design!

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:00:00 +0000

State of Design brand identity illustration by Qube Konstrukt and R-Co.

OK so I'm sure you all know that State of Design - Victoria's design festival is nearly upon us, running from July 15th - 25th. How exciting! But do you know what is even more exciting?

1) The Design Files is officially a 'media partner' of the festival - I am the official festival blogger!

2) I have 6 double-passes to give away to the Festival Opening Night Preview at the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton on Wednesday July 15th, from 7.00pm! (Thankyou State of Design marketing team!)

If you want a double pass (tickets are worth $27.50 each and are strictly limited), leave me a comment at the end of this post. If more than 6 people comment, I will put all names in a hat and let you know tomorrow who gets 'em. Very high-tech competition procedures over here at The Design Files.

Personally I have a ridiculous itinery planned for the festival which includes 21 events (plus 6 more 'maybes') in 10 days and daily updates of course! Call me crazy. I will also be posting mini-interviews with many exciting Australian and international designers who are taking part in festival events!

But in the interests of everyone's sanity, I have shortlisted my top-5 festival highlights below. These are the things I am most excited about!

Lucy's top 5 State of Design shortlist!

Design Made Trade
Incorporating Designboom Mart - all the way from Italy!!!

Design Made Trade 2008 - beautiful hand-crafted homewares from Studio Sam

Remember I blogged this one last year? An accessible, low-tech trade fair aimed at showcasing Australia's smaller manufacturers, product designers, and designer makers... free to trade visitors, $10 to the public. BUT if you get one of the double passes mentioned above, this includes a special preview of Design Made Trade on the Wednesday night, before it's open to the public!

The highlight of Design Made Trade will be Designboom Mart, showcasing design from the hottest young international designers! Background info on Designboom Mart is here.

Designboom Mart in Tokyo last year

Design Made Trade - Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton Gardens.
Open 10am - 5pm daily from 16 - 19 July.
16 - 17 July - Trade only days - register here.
18 - 19 July - Public days - $10 entry, no registration required.

This is Not a Design Market

Melbourne loves a design market, and this one is sure to draw the crowds. Staged by Melbourne's own Bigger than Ten Bears (of Joost's Greenhouse fame), and the fabulous Moth Design (of Penthouse Mouse fame), there's no doubt this'll be a winner. Not to be missed!

This is not a Design Market - The Factory, 500 Latrobe St, Melbourne
Open 10.00am - 5.00pm Sunday July 19th (one day only!)

Design Capital Conference

UK designer Nipa Doshi and Partner Jonathan Levien in their London studio

An amazing line-up of Australian and International Speakers... I'll be there on day 2 (design day, Friday July 17th). I am so excited to hear UK superstar Nipa Doshi talk! If you don't know her work you must check out the Doshi Levien website. SO excited.

Doshi Levien's My Beautiful Backside couch and Principessa daybed (inspired by the Princess and the Pea, of course!). Both for Moroso.

Unfortunately Design Capital is a little pricey, but well worth it if you look at the international line-up! The upside is you can just buy a single-session ticket, which makes it a little more affordable and accessable than, say, AGIdeas! (No disrespect, but you know, who manages to get 3 days off work for these things?)

Design Capital Conference - BMW Edge, Federation Square,
Melbourne 16th - 17th July

Convergence at Yarra Lane

Convergence at Yarra Lane is a mysterious group installation in South Yarra... not sure exactly what it will entail, but the lineup of collaborating designers is extremely impressive and includes Julia deVille, Emma van Leest, Moth Design and Nick Rennie.

Oh, and Liane Rossler (of Dinosaur Designs) just tweeted(?) about it yesterday. So it must be good.

Convergence @ Yarra Lane - Yarra Lane, 9-19 Claremont st, South Yarra
18th July - 17th August, 24 hours

Design Dinner at Comme with Tim Yu from Cool Hunting

The Grand Room at Comme, Melbourne

This one is very posh. In Comme’s stunning Grand Room, Cool Hunting’s cultural curator, Tim Yu will lead a discussion on the current patterns and future trends in art, design, culture and technology around the world.

This'll accompany a three-course dinner, served with matching wines, to complement the discussion. $85 a head. Oooh la la.

ps) stay tuned with a mini-interview with Tim Yu here next week!

Design Dinner with Tim Yu - Comme, 7 Alfred Place, Melbourne
Thursday July 16th, 6.30 for a 7.00pm start
Bookings through Comme - +61 3 9631 4000

For more State of Design info, check out the website, download a catalogue, or pick one up from any number of affiliated venues around town. Also check out the State of Design lift-out in today's Herald Sun!

Unexpected gifts!

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:26:00 +0000

pretty Japanese Masking tape!

Is there anything better than unexpected present? I don't think so. Except maybe an unexpected hug. Depending on who is offering.

ANYWAY this afternoon I just received a little present in the mail from artist/designer/crafter/blogger Lisa Tilse of The Red Thread. It has totally brightened my day! I have never even met Lisa, but she sent me these gorgeous patterned masking tapes from Tokyo! How lovely is that?

Thankyou so much Lisa!!

Hand-printed card on timber veneer made by Lisa! (ps. for the record, Lisa also has the best handwriting I have seen in a long time).

Gertrude st Projection Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Ian de Gruchy's giant polka dots grace the Gertrude Hotel (cnr Naper st and Gertrude st) for the Gertrude st Projection Festival.

Top - Crowds gather to admire the Builder's Arms Hotel in a new light! (not clear whose work this is... the website is a little confusing. Perhaps Kit Webster?). Bottom shot - clouds on the pavement!

Checked out the Gertrude st Projection Festival in Fitzroy on Friday night. SO GREAT! What's not to love about enormous coloured polka-dots brightening up a wintery night!

It was fantastic to see so many people out braving the cold to check it out... Yay for Melburnians! I especially loved the larger scale projections for sheer wow-factor, but there were also lots of great smaller works to discover in shopfront windows, projected up high from first-floor windows, and even shimmering beneath your feet here and there!

Also it was lovely to discover a few surprises off the beaten track... some so subtle you had to look twice! (I'll give you a little clue - keep an eye out for falling leaves..!)

The Gertrude st Projection Festival is free, BUT it's only on for 5 more days - closing night is this Friday July 10th. Lights go on every night from 6.00pm - midnight. More info and download-able map here.

Suggested Itinery -

7.00pm - Dinner at my favourite-est restaurant Anada (if you can get a table). Also Gigibaba, Ladro, or Wabi Sabi on Smith st would be equally fun.

8.00pm - Rug up, grab your dinner date and head for a brisk stroll - eyes wide open to uncover each glowing surprise... some where you least expect!

9.00pm - Home for hot chocolate. Yes please!

Nicholas Azidis - Leave no Trace (projected onto the Melbourne Aboriginal Youth Sports and Recreation Centre, no 184 - 186 Gertrude st). Bottom photo shows the projector positioned in the first-floor window of Title bookshop.

Pene Durston collaborated with Dell Stewart to create 'Cull' in the window of Pene's shop Cottage Industry (no. 67). Dell's animated animals are displayed on tiny screens amongst Pene's signature crocheted branches. I know I should have been concentrating on the artwork... but couldn't help getting a shot of Pene's cat looking a bit befuddled by it all!

Top image - I am really, really sorry but the festival map and website are really quite confusing and it is not clear at all who this piece is by! So sorry! If anyone knows I will amend this post asap. Anyway it was just near the corner of Fitzroy st and Gertrude st. Bottom Image - Menagerie by Jeffrey Phillips in the window of Northside Records.

Interview - Biddy Maroney of We Buy Your Kids!

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Illustration for an article on bullying in the workplace - Australian Financial Review's Boss magazine, August 2008.

Illustration for an article on stem cell research - Harvard Divinity Bulletin, April 2008.

Illustrations for Tourism Victoria - Melbourne Theatres print campaign (detail)

Illustrations for Tourism Victoria - Melbourne Theatres print campaign. OH my how much do you love this Melbourne map? Wish I could afford to commision such brilliant illustrations for my TDF shopping guides!

This one's been in the works for a while now... unfortunately New York kind of got in the way! But I am so excited to finally share an interview with an INCREDIBLE Sydney-based illustrator and designer - Biddy Maroney!

You may remember me gushing about We Buy Your Kids here earlier this year? Well, Biddy Maroney is one half of WBYK - the other half being her partner Sonny Day. I cannot get over their awesome comic-book style names. 'Biddy Maroney' sounds to me like some kind of crime-fighting bounty-hunter or film noir detective, and as for Sonny (Sunny?) Day? Come on.

But aside from that, I cannot get over their super-awesome work! Wowsers.

Sonny and Biddy's collaboration started with band posters for Popfrenzy records back in 2006... and it's quite incredible what they've achieved in only 3 years since then! These days the prolific pair churn out an amazing variety of creative work including websites, Tshirts, animation, interior design, retail display, and anything you can put an illustration on, basically. I love their eclectic style - at times deco and very graphic, other times fluid and painterly, and often cartoony, gothic and creepy kitsch. It's no surprise to learn that the pair are inspired by a synthesis of varied interests, from Italian horror flicks to 1970's science fiction books!

Other places to see the amazing work of Biddy Maroney and We Buy Your Kids -

We Buy Your Kids work website
We Buy Your Kids 'news' site (blog-style)
Jacky Winter folio page
Biddy's folio site

Big thanks to Biddy for her time and all the links! Please note all work shown here is by both Sonny and Biddy :)

I'm Not There - poster

Tell me a little about your background - what path led you to what you’re doing now?

I did study Graphic Design at Canberra Uni a million years ago but I was a terrible student who left without a degree and with absolutely no computer skills or idea of what the real world of working design was like. While I was there I would turn every design project into an illustration project and spent my time making comics with friends, which was fun and I drew A LOT but I had no qualifications or clue. So I was super lucky a friend got me a job at a design studio where she worked and I was the office helper – I got coffee and did scans. But I ended up working there 7 years and when I left I was a Senior Designer and building websites (which is hilarious). So that’s where I learnt my technical skills I guess – on the job. Then I went to work at Mathematics for a few years and while working there I was introduced to the world of animated music videos and I taught myself to create digital illustrations reaaaalllly fast. I had always worked with ink before that – and would colour in Photoshop, but about 5 years ago I started doing more digitally. Then I started collaborating with Sonny in about 2006 and soon started working from home on those projects fulltime.

What have been some of your favourite illustration projects that we might be familiar with?

I am always happy with the album covers for Youth Group – mainly because its been a span of a few years working with them. Also because when Toby asked me to do their Skeleton Jar album he said he knew I’d never done any album art so he thought it might be fun for me to do. Since then I’ve worked on a fair bit of album art, so I like that it started with that one, which is an album I love. Also I feel quite close to all those covers and the albums and they have changed in style as my drawing style has changed, so I like that sense of a timeline.

Youth Group - Skeleton Jar poster

Youth Group - Casino Twilight Dogs poster - a Sydney show which was basically a fantasy line-up of Youth Group , Belles Will Ring and Bridezilla all together.

Other than that I like the Mecca Myer windows cos it was exciting to see my drawings turned into something so big and lit up with fancy city folks walking past in their fancy suits and hairdos.

Illustrations for Mecca Cosmetica / Myer windows - a collaboration with designer Christie Hunt / Houndstooth, and Don McQualter.

Also any of the animations that I’ve been involved with, they are my favourite jobs. The “Clementine” video we did for Washington is a favourite - the drawings are all collaborative between me and Sonny and he also did a lot on that job and I was amazed at his ability to solve some problems and his weird imagination etc.

Tell me about ‘We buy your kids’!? Awesome work! How did the collaboration with Sonny Day come about…? How much work do you do independently and how much as a duo?

Thanks! We have known each other about 7 years but we didn’t start working together until Sonny started doing posters for Popfrenzy – I kinda just invited myself in to work on those, taking his sketches and working on them on the computer. And then he screenprinted them. Since then we’ve just found a good way of working where a job passes back and forth between us. Sonny does a lot of the initial ideas and sketches. When it gets to me I might put forward a few ideas but often he has something there that works really well so we just start building it up. And it goes back and forth. He helps me a lot when I am doing my own illustration work – he often suggests compositional ideas and new ways of approaching things. We really do most stuff as a duo. Sometimes we make our own individual work for exhibitions, but when we work as Webuyyourkids the style we work in is sort of a third personality – its not exactly Sonny's drawings and its not exactly mine – it’s a hybrid monster.

What does a typical day at work involve for you?

We work from home, so it pretty much starts the moment we’re awake. We’ve had a third designer in working freelance with us the last month or so and that’s been great for many reasons but one is that it helps define the “work-day” rather than just being sat infront of a computer or a desk 20 hours a day 7 days a week. I have to say I'm really bad and get waaaay too caught up in work. I just don’t leave the house for days and days and days, but I’m working on that, so there’s a bit of the day where I just go for a walk through Sydney Uni and look at some mad buildings. Gargoyles!

We usually are working on a few different jobs every day – always involving crazy deadlines. For example our work day today was me sending off some poster files to print, skinning an artists Myspace page, then I got stuck into a movie poster we’re doing which is a lot of fun, and that is what I spent most of the day on. And then I just finished up some fixes to a illustration we just did for The Jacky Winter Group. Sonny’s been working on some Tshirt designs for an artist, some illos for a pitch for a band's album art, a comic for Faesthetic and some early ideas for a couple of group shows we are in very soon in Brisbane. Hunmi was helping us on the Tshirt designs as well as some layouts for a website. So you can see its all a bit all over the shop, and very rapid.

How would you describe your illustrative style?

I would say its very camp. And Gothic, but in a Vincent Price sort of a way, not in an Anne Rice sort of a way. Working with Sonny has made my stuff lately more graphic and less girly, and that’s a really important part of Webuyyourkids stuff.

Which designers, artists or creative people are you inspired by?

Sonny Day (those images are all about 5 years old though)
Joe Allen (his artwork and also the community he fosters)
Garry Trinh (his series work is beautiful and looking at his blog will often astound me that he sees those moments and captures them)
Zeloot
Raymond Pettibon
Shary Boyle
Steak Mountain
Shynola
Tim Burton
Siggi Ergetsson

They are all illustrators or visual artists but that is what I like! Sonny has been introducing me to the movies of Dario Argento and we are both inspired by that a lot.

I like this question – some people don’t like to get asked who their influences are but I could list you names and links all day. Actually this is my favourites page on YouTube – it’s a good long list of things that inspire me.

Where else do you find inspiration – ie books, fine art, your environment, travel, your family and friends?

Well recently its been a lot of movies. Like I said Sonny’s got me onto his whole Italian horror land at the moment and its reminded me heaps of stuff I liked a long long the ago – like Hammer Horror and I love looking at stills from Kenneth Anger films. And a lot of old stuff my Dad has always been into – TV shows like The Avengers or Night Stalker. My Dad has always collected old movie posters and been into quite kitsch old cult stuff – so I guess his tastes and collections have been my biggest inspiration cos that’s where I got my appreciation for some of my favourite stuff like Vincent Price, Aubrey Beardsley, Night On Bald Mountain, Saul Bass, Dr Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, Death on The Nile, EC Horror comics, Flash Gordon, Robert Crumb, The Monster Mash…. And animated video clips oddly enough.

What’s the best thing about your job?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp7jp5H-xWU

And the worst?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp7jp5H-xWU

What are you looking forward to?

I wanna go to Cornwall next year. Rurally seaside Cornwall. And solve crime. And go to the pub. And visit the witch museum.

Sydney Questions

What/where was the last great meal you ate in Sydney?

Apart from the amaaaaazing lamb stew Sonny just made I would say Bodega – I cant get enough of that place and their Fish Fingers! (Toasted sour dough, rubbed with garlic, topped with raw kingfish, finely sliced onion and cuttlefish cervice)

Best gallery space in Sydney to see the work of great Australian illustrators?

China Heights or Monster Children.

Where do you shop in Sydney for the tools of your trade?

We go in the King St Secondhand Bookshop (the one with the cat, near Istanbul on King) to buy old paperbacks with really amazing covers. Lately we’ve been looking for 70's science fiction wonders. That bookshop window serves as one of my favourite gallery spaces in Sydney actually – they display some amazing covers there.

Paul Dempsey - Out the Airlock single cover (inspired by 70's Science fiction book illustration)

Kids Today (Limited edition of 4 prints for the Kids Today exhibition at MTV Gallery 2008) - We don't want your corn and London Dungeon (Giclee prints 2008).

Where would we find you on a typical Saturday morning?

Still working or sleeping in. Possibly sitting up in bed watching giant murder-mysteries projected on the bedroom wall. If I was awake I'd be patting a cat.

Sydney’s best kept secret?

The Golden Cobra Coffee. It’s very very good coffee. You can get it at:
Pure Bronte Pistachio, Bronte Beach
Cordial, Newtown
Paddington Market Cafe, Paddington
Tiger Mottle, Paddington
The Falconer, Darlinghurst

Arnhem Mode Biennale 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Details of a mural along a property boundary off Klarendalseweg, the main trajectory of the newly identified Fashion Quarter of Arnhem. The mural is rather extensive, extending through the entire block [from one street to the next] and features several vignettes, all relate directly to the immediate context featuring shadows of the surrounding tree canopies and other defining characteristics.

Top image : The architectural detailing of the dutch half-levels and front entries can be quite beautiful at times and the opportunistic gardening that takes place is always such a cheerful addition. Bottom image : A silhouette mural on Spijkerstraat.

Atelier Route - How it's made - No. 14. Hommelstraat 57, Arnhem Keramiek Atelier. Esther was lovely enough to give us a demonstration of how she created her beautiful ceramics, and explain the processes behind the developments of the individual pieces. I particularly loved the 'Mix and Match' schaaltjes [little bowls] which were created from the amalgamation of several glass bowl casts and require a full set of four to recreate a single entity.

Melbournian Michaela Prescott is currently living in Rotterdam whilst doing a landscape architecture and urban design internship until November. I am so jealous! Imagine being surrounded by Dutch design everywhere you go - not to mention daily trips to Marije Vogelzang's new Picknick restaurant!

Lucky for us Michaela has offered to share some of her fantastic photos of the recent Arnhem Mode event! Arnhem is home to Holland's leading fashion academy, and recently celebrated Shape: The Arnhem Mode Biennale 2009 - a month long celebration of fashion and design. Michaela braved the rain(!) to go on the Atelier Route: How It's Made studio expose - a sneak peek into the studios of the designers, photographers, and artisans of the city. What a brilliant opportunity to see inside the studio spaces of such a diverse group of creative people!

Top image : This structure is the main information pavilion of the Biennale. These flat packed timber 'fashion houses' became iconic for the festival and are the key structure for the SHAPE exhibition which features 3 key design methodologies of fashion design -- 'Moulage': design through pattern and direct contact between textile and the body, including Lanvin, Jil Sander and Calvin Klein; the 'Intangibles': truly innovative and virtuosic design, such as the Japanese couture house Comme des Garcons; and finally, design through clear intent and concept, such as Dutch design designers Viktor & Rolf. [Unfortunately I haven't managed to see the exhibition yet]. Bottom images : Signage for the biennale.

Top image : Klarendalseweg Station Signage - a beautiful monochrome piece. Bottom image : Located at the Arnhem City Hall, the beginning of the main exhibition, unfortunately my dutch was not good enough to translate this, but it appears to be a dedication. The contrast in matte and shiny steel in the inset echoes the striped black and white paving featured throughout the inner courtyard of the hall.

According to Michaela, the really special thing about Arnhem and it's design industry is that they have great support in their municipality. To encourage the blossoming designers emerging from the ‘Academie’ to stay in the city, they have created a modekwartier [fashion quarter] - A designated area of the city that is design focused. The municipality have purchased numerous buildings within this area, which they then rent to designers for accommodation, studios, and stores at a reduced rate, with the opportunity to purchase in five years once they are established.

For more information on the festival or the Arnhem Fashion Quarter project visit:
http://www.arnhemmodebiennale2009.com/
http://www.100mode.nl/ - This site is not in English unfortunately :(

Michaela Prescott is enrolled in a masters of landscape architecture at RMIT but is currently based in Rotterdam, NL, indulging in her love of design and taking advantage of the European summer. Thanks so much Michaela for her photos and also fantastic detailed captions! For more of Michaela's photos be sure to check out her Flickr account here!

Top image : This atelier wasn't part of the biennale but their signage, constructed from individually posted A4 sheets, was eyecatching. Bottom image : Atelier Route - How it's made - No. 23. Klarendalseweg 393, Studio Gijnig. A graphic/children's fashion design studio featured in the atelier route.

Top image : Atelier Route - How it's made, No. 17. Klarendalseweg 527a, Elisabeth de Meulmeester. A millinary studio that had an amazing storage area out the back that was stacked with hat bases. They also had a gorgeous silver antique tea service in the front window that had a little candle underneath to keep the tea warm while you chatted. Bottom image : Studio Gijnig interior - it was so cheerful with its red and white wallpaper and colourful flags - you couldn't help but smile on entering.

Atelier Route - How it's made - No. 13. Kv Gelderstraat 2a [Private Studio], Iris van Herpen. Iris is an inspiring young fashion designer who opened her private studio to the public for the day on the request of the organisers. Her work has been a highlight of many shows since graduation and she was also nominated for 'createurope', a European competition for young fashion designers in 2008.

The Selby in Sydney

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Jonathan Zawada's place on The Selby

As if Todd Selby wasn't already well-connected enough in NYC without coming over here and hooking up with all our super-cool people in Sydney. Jeepers. At least he hasn't found out about Melbourne yet. Yep, Melbourne is still MINE. ha ha!

But seriously. Did you know The Selby has been taking photos of cool people's houses in Sydney? I had no idea. They're all amazing as usual.

Jonathan Zawada's place on The Selby

Tina Kaliva's place on The Selby

Natalie Wood's place. Why so many Cats on The Selby?

ps) Oh and if you needed any more reason to be awestruck by Mr Selby's stellar rise to fame (well-deserved, of course!), he also took some amazing photos at the Salone Internazionale del Milan this year for the NY Times. Sigh.

THAT STORE

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:00:00 +0000

THAT STORE mainly sells super-cool denim (including cult US label Earnest Sewn, London's Superfine, and Nudie - as well as Aussie T shirt queens Bassike). I like the fit-out of the Melbourne Central store (pictured) - especially that battered leather couch! Nice touch.

Apparently THAT STORE owner Peter Degotardi designs the store fit-outs in collaboration with Chris Grinham from Humphrey and Edwards Architects. More photos here. (Sorry I cannot find an actual website anywhere for THAT STORE...? weird).

In Melbourne, stores are at Melbourne Central, Westfield Doncaster and at 334 Chapel st Prahran. In Sydney - 128 Oxford st Paddington, and at Chatswood Chase, 345 Victoria Ave, Chatswood.

Magnolia Square in Sydney

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Magnolia Square Sydney retailers - Electric Firefly (lights top left), Bride and Wolf (laser-cut wall deco), Ella Sanders (hot water bottle), States of Nature (timber brooches) Redberry Design (cylindrical lamps).

You may have noticed my newest sponsor Magnolia Square, whose ad popped up here a week or so ago! Thanks so much to Nic from Magnolia Square for her support :)

Magnolia Square is a carefully curated pop-up retail event, showcasing the work of Australian artists, designers, craftspeople, and artisan food producers. Products range from homewares, to jewellery, clothing and accessories, textiles, stationary and gourmet treats... and the 'Tiny & Small' area also showcases super-cute products for little people!

After 3 successful years staging the event in Sydney, this week Magnolia Square makes it's debut in Sydney! For a full list of Sydney retailers see here.

If you're in around do pop in to check out the work of 50 boutique retailers from both Sydney and interstate - showcasing craft couture, great local design and a little bit of cute!

The Teahouse at Royal Randwick Racecourse

Thursday July 2nd - 2pm - 9pm
Friday July 3rd - 10am - 5pm
Saturday July 4th - 10am - 4pm

ps) Magnolia square also has a cute little blog here.

Paris Match - The Australian Ballet

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Top image - Olivia Bell in Suite en Blanc (photo - Justin Smith). Bottom image - Rachel Rawlins and the cast of the Australian Ballet in Suite en Blanc (photo - Jim McFarlane)

Last week the very sweet marketing / publicity team at the Australian Ballet generously offered me a double-pass to go and see their latest show - a double-bill entitled Paris Match. Lucky me!

It was AMAZING. Truly. I have never been to the ballet before (can you believe?)... but even knowing nothing about the intricacies of the choreography and history of the pieces performed, I was totally blown away.

Paris Match links two distinctly different performances. First, a mesmerising classical 'white ballet' entitled Suite en blanc. Think beautiful, jutting white tutus, traditional romantic themes, spirited, emotive performances... and of course, gravity-defying grace and movement.

After interval, the mood changed completely - Australian choreographer Stanton Welch's Divergence (1994) was sexy, provocative, at times humourous - and filled with electric energy. In stark contrast to the earlier piece, the dancers wore striking black costumes - including tutus recast in metal mesh (material usually reserved for air-conditioning ducts!) and breastplates structured from car upholstery! (Costumes designed by Vanessa Leyonhjelm). I wondered what the more old-fashioned audience members were thinking as the dancers punctuated the performance with the odd pelvic thrust or sassy shoulder twitch! Controversial!

Robyn Hendricks in Divergence (photo - Tim Richardson). That's one of those industrial mesh tutus!

Costume sketch for Divergence by Vanessa Leyonhjelm

Divergence (photos - Jim McFarlane)

PS) Did you know that the Australian Ballet has a fantastic behind-the-scenes blog? 'Behind Ballet' is a really well edited mix of news from the inner workings of Australian Ballet. For instance, after opening night last week, one of the principle dancers, Yosvani Ramos, blogged about his performance - even sharing his pre-show nerves and fear of ending up in the Orchestra pit!

Yosvani Ramos in Divergence (photo - Jim McFarlane)

New look - and Twitter!

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 11:02:00 +0000

This shot from Justin Vierra on Flickr

Hi hi! Hope you guys like the new look... it's not perfect... but I have been known to never do anything for fear of it not being perfect... so I thought best to get on with the mast-head change and tweak it later, instead of doing nothing at all. I was so sick of that last one. The gorgeous art-deco style font reminds me of the signage on the Guggenheim Museum. Would love your thoughts!

Also... as you can see I just signed up to Twitter! I was in two minds for a long time... but I just took the plunge! It's a weird mix of terrifying and addictive, all rolled into one. I need to learn the ropes. Anyway, if you are on it... please follow me! And I will follow back :)

Husk sale windows

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:02:00 +0000

Noticed these nice windows in Husk in Carlton yesterday... it's just tissue paper! The pom-poms are as big as watermelons though.

So simple but so effective! These would make such pretty party / event decorations...

*UPDATE - Fantastic blogger and loyal TDF reader Kate (aka captainkk) has kindly hunted down instructions for making these tissue-paper pom poms! I think Martha's are the best (of course), but there's also more info here and here. Thanks so much Kate! x

*2nd UPDATE! Aimee McCallum of Tiger Peacock emailed me today to let me know that these instore displays are her work! Beautiful work Aimee! Everyone loves your pom poms!

Interview - Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge!

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Grace Bonney - photo by Anna Wolf

Oh man. I am so excited about this one. Finally today I get to share an interview with a full-time blogger who needs no introduction - Grace Bonney!

I was, of course, planning to post this whilst I was in NY, after meeting the lovely lady myself. But you know how it is when you're on holiday... so much to do, so little time, such unreliable internet access. So instead I will wrap up my travel coverage with this fantastic insight into the inner workings of the Design*Sponge mastermind!

I have to say a huge thankyou to Grace for her time... because she's one busy lady! She's shared so much fantastic detail about her background and the day to day running Design*Sponge in this very candid interview... aren't we lucky!?

Tell me a little about your background - what path led you to what you’re doing now?

Looking back, my past managed to combine in a way that makes total sense, but living through it at the time I felt pretty all over the place. I always loved art and writing, so I majored in Journalism at NYU for two years. Then I decided to transfer to a smaller school in VA and changed my major to Fine Art, with a focus in Printmaking. After a year there I could feel that my future wasn't going to be with traditional fine art. I remember the day I discovered "Trading Spaces" on television - it opened my eyes to the idea of design, furniture design, and interior design. I didn't even really think about those as fields I could go into. So I focused my printmaking on drawing interiors and spent my free time making over friends' dorm rooms and designing (and building) my own furniture for our room.

When I graduated I decided to pursue music (because I was also a radio DJ in college) and quickly learned that wasn't for me. So after a summer spent following the bass player from Phish around (I worked on his solo album in 2003) I left the label and went to work in for a tiny PR agency that dealt with mid-century design firms. I loved working with the artists but hated PR, so I started the blog for fun. I never, ever expected it to take off. When it became a profitable site, I was able to leave my job and take freelance jobs with House & Garden, Domino and Craft Magazines. All of those have since closed so now D*S is my full-time job.

Shots from a gorgeous D*S sneak peek - this time it's the Jewels of New York. Swoon.

Design*Sponge is the ultimate craft / design blog. Your site is one of the most popular in this genre, and you have a loyal fanbase to whom you are a huge inspiration (me included!). What were your initial goals for Design*Sponge? Did you ever expect the site to grow in the way that it has?

Thanks! When I started blogging in 2004 there was only a handful of us talking about design, so I thought about it purely as a place to meet people who loved the same things I did. I've focused really hard on keeping that spirit over the years and it's helped me keep a level head about the site's growth. So I tend to avoid long-term goals and just go with my gut. I rarely plan content more than a month ahead of time so I like to keep the site an accurate reflection of what I'm loving at the moment - so it's definitely changed as my interests expand to include craft projects, cooking and gardening. Overall I hope it just remains a place where people can go to find interesting design-related content. I try not to lean too heavily on the blog - I definitely see a life for myself outside of the laptop so I'm always trying to find a way to learn new things and share them with other people, in whatever form that may take.

You generate a huge amount of content daily – it must be an incredible juggling act balancing the research / writing and emailing and follow ups! How do you structure your week to ensure everything gets done efficiently? Do you allocate certain tasks to certain times / days?

Each week is different, but it's a definitely full-time job. At least 6 days a week, from 7am to 8pm. I feel strongly about giving readers content that they haven't seen everywhere else, so I place a premium on original content. So, I had to branch out to bring in a few editors who could help with regular columns. I quite simply couldn't keep things going without Anne (Sneak Peeks and Regional Roundup columns), Lauren and Derek (DIY projects), Kate (DIY projects), Kristina (Recipes), and Sarah (Weeder's Digest gardening/floral column).

I basically pre-load half of the day's content the night before, and finish the rest in the morning. Then the rest of the day is devoted to email, research, filming videos out in the city, meeting with designers, and conducting interviews. These days the biz ladies series takes a fair chunk of time too- it's tough, but worth the effort, to find experts who are willing to share their time for free. I'm so grateful that many of them to- it's really great to be able to offer some support to independent designers.

Stunning Hellebores from the D*S Weeders Digest column

Which significant tasks do you outsource to help you manage the demands of running the site?

The editors I mentioned above handle 4 major weekly columns like the home tours, diy projects, floral projects and recipes and I handle any other content that appears. I'm not a fan of advertising networks so we now have a small in-house team that handles the advertising part of the site - I like to stay as far away from that part of things as I can. So without those people I'd be a mess. I'm still a mess, but they help me find a few hours a week to do non-work activities. I think this team we work with now is ideal and I'm not looking to grow anymore - I just wish there were more hours in the day for me to chip in some more. I'm always thinking of some other project or column I want to work on, but simply don't have the time or energy for.

...from the new-ish D*S recipe column

What does a typical day at work involve for you?

It changes every week, but here are some predictable tasks:

1. Email (all day, every day, giving advice, helping people find affordable design objects, giving interior design tips, reading submissions, etc.)

2. Research (this takes place all week, on weekends, when I'm in bed - I always have a laptop or iPhone attached to me, looking things up or sending emails about new columns or people/places to feature.)

3. Coding/Writing (i try to pre-load content so I can clear out my inbox as often as possible. but I normally hit my gmail file size quota once a month. it's a zoo with all those big image files)

4. Interviews/videos (i usually email/phone/visit someone to interview them about a column or there work a few times a week- it's my favorite part of the job)

5. Biz Ladies (i'm running this column right now so i'm always emailing business advisers, accountants, store owners and artists to work with them on their columns. then i have to code and upload their work)

6. Biz Admin (payroll, taxes, etc. running a small business means there's always paperwork to do)

7. Real Life (i try to get in an hour or two of cheesy tv while i work- it makes me feel more normal. lately i'm trying to replace those hours with coffee and friends. it's much healthier. still no room for the gym. whoops)

D*S sneak peek - David Alhadeff of The Future Perfect. I love this one to death.

What is the best thing about your job?

Setting my own schedule. Hands down. I work all day every day, but I can start that day or end that day when I want- and at least no one's leaning over my shoulder telling me what to do. It's usually just my cats leaning over my shoulder crying for me to give them treats.

New books to covet

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:00:00 +0000

I have come back from my travels with an Amazon wishlist as long my arm... I fell in love with so many beautiful books whilst I was away - but I must say I was quite impressed with my self-discipline, more due to the size of my suitcase than the strain on my wallet! Anyway... here are a few I am desperately coveting...

I am secretly hoping some amazing design book publisher (Taschen, are you listening?) wants to send me a whole lot of new books to review. ;)

New New York interiors - Taschen (photos above)

Went to the Taschen store in Soho and was completely blown away... such stunning books, and incredible prices. How do they manage to price their books so reasonably? This New New York Interiors book very nearly came home with me. (My boy talked me out of it, quite rightly). It is full of eclectic, bohemian (yet of course somewhat extravagant) interiors... You know, that kooky/classy look that always seems to typify apartments that belong to supermodels? Swoon.

The Design Hotels Yearbook 2009 - Gestalten

We spent 6 blissful days in Bali at the very end of our trip, and were lucky enough to kind of accidentally end up in a completely incredible hotel - it's not often you arrive at your accomodation and it looks even better than it did in the pictures! ANYWAY, we also found out when we got there that it was a member of the Design Hotels group - so lucky for me there was a copy of the Design Hotels Yearbook 2009 in our room! I spent every spare moment flicking through it - and now I REALLY want a copy of my own!

The yearbook is a fabulous book which showcases 170 of the world's best designed hotels. Lots of boutique, smaller hotels are featured - and it's not just about lavish extravagance... the focus is more on unique design details and character-filled spaces. There's also some fantastic insightful profiles of some of the creative minds behind these establishments, such as designer/hotelier Marcel Wanders.

PS) Design Hotels also have a fabuous website - beautiful images of all their hotels, plus a series of short films entitled 'made by originals', which profiles some of the designers and hoteliers whose hotels are featured... beautifully shot and put together. Truly worth a visit!

crEATe - Gestalten

I am the first to roll my eyes when it comes to 'trend forecasting'... but... reknowned UK trend forecasters The Future Laboratory actually do know stuff. Their new book, entitled crEATe, is all about eating design and the current experimental trends in food design and hospitality. And of course my favourite lady Marije Vogelzang is featured... !

PS) The Future Laboratory website is also definitely worth a browse...

Brooklyn Modern - Rizzoli

I have been wanting Brooklyn Modern forever... but of course actually being in Brooklyn made me want it even more! It's a gorgeous book, filled with images of some of Brooklyn's most interesting homes.... OH and 2 more reasons to fall in love with this book - Lena Corwin's stunning brownstone home in Fort Greene is featured (the perfect-est home in the world, seriously), and also Grace Bonney contributed a passage on Brooklyn's design renaissance!

San Francisco Shopping Guide - Valencia st

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Shopping Guide Map - Valencia st, The Mission (ahhh, feel so much better now I am reunited with my textas!)

The thing with San Francisco, is that everything is quite spread out. It's not as instantly accessible as I expected... you can't just wander around aimlessly and hope to uncover the most gorgeous little coffeeshop or quaint little shopping strip. Instead you have to do a little bit of research... which we kinda learnt the hard way!

San Fran dolls houses! - top and bottom left photos by Joanna Forever on Flickr

No on told us that the best place to hang out in San Francisco is Valencia st. Sure, a few people said we should check out 'The Mission' area... but it took a good frustrating hour or more of traipsing up and down Mission st looking at cowboy boots and dodgy $1 shops to realise that Valencia is where you wanna be!

Street art in The Mission

Anyway, it was so exciting to (finally) discover some of the city’s best loved indie design shops and little creative hubs dotted along this busy main road - including The Curiosity Shoppe, Little Otsu and much more!

...But the absolute highlight of this area was visiting Dave Eggers incredible Pirate Shop at 826 Valencia. If you have no idea what I'm talking about you MUST watch this video. Pleeeaase watch it. 826 Valencia is an absolute inspiration... as is the charming Mr Eggers. It was so so so great to visit this magical little place for ourselves. Photos and other highlights below!

The Curiosity Shoppe - 855 Valencia at

The Curiosity Shoppe - images found on flickr here and here

The Curiosity Shoppe was our first Valencia st discovery... a small but gorgeous little shop filled with all those curious necessities - like stick-on moustaches and knitted apple-jackets. Genius! There's also a cute little exhibition area down the back which showcases the work of local illustrators and artists, and a small but fantastic little library of craft and design books. You can also browse a lot of their current stock on their website.

Little Otsu - 849 Valencia st

The shots above are alas not by me... Little Otsu were re-doing their window display during my visit. Instead these shots of an earlier window display are from a gorgeous set by Sweetiepiepress on Flickr. My shots below.

More gorgeous paper goodies and printed matter from Little Otsu, including the cutest recipe cards (which I couldn't resist!) by Susie Ghahremani.

My heart was all aflutter when I stumbled across Little Otsu on Valencia st... I had heard so much about this fantastic independent publishing house and their collaborations with many talented artists and designers, it was so exciting to visit their store in person! It was also great to see the work of artists and bloggers whose work I've admired for so long but have only ever seen online - stunning screenprinted posters by Claire Nereim (blogged here before), illustrated stationary by Susie Ghahremani and beautiful paper-cut illustrations by Nikki McClure.

It was also lovely to meet Yvonne Chen, founder and co-owner of Little Otsu... she was super lovely and only too happy for me to take some photos to share here! Yay for that. :)

ps) you can also shop online with Little Otsu (gorgeous, unique finds that you won't see anywhere else in Melbourne!)... and they also have a super-cute blog.

826 Valencia Pirate Shop - 826 Valencia st

Pirate Supply Store! So fun!

Pirate necessities - including Peg Leg oil (of course)

Top image - the kids writing workshop at the back of the pirate shop, bottom image - pirate noticeboard - 'have you been impressed against your will??'

Oh my. The excitement. Even my boyfriend had fun at 826 Valencia! And that's saying something. Dave Egger's incredible pirate supply store / kids writing workshop needs to be seen to be believed. You really must check out his TED video to truly understand the magic.

Highlights included witnessing unsuspecting customers being 'mopped' by the cheeky Pirate Store attendant... discovering all kinds of pirate paraphernalia that you never knew existed... and chuckling at all the hilarious instructional notes and signs everywhere. HILARIOUS. You must have a good long browse of the website. Promise?

Paxton Gate - 824 Valencia st

Exterior of 826 Valencia and Paxton Gate next door

One again my fella seems to have made his way into my photo...! This is Paxton Gate - showcasing taxidermied animal heads and strange prehistoric-looking plants!

Right next-door to the fabulous Pirate shop was Paxton Gate - a store which had fortuitously been recommended to me by a reader only a few days before I arrived in San Fran! (Thankyou Melinda!).

Paxton Gate is a unique shopping experience - a very eclectic mix of taxidermy and scientific ephemera such as fossils, crystals, incredible corals and deep sea crustaceans and shells... as well as kooky plant life (think venus flytraps and other almost prehistoric-looking flora). It's all beautifully displayed - you could seriously lose hours just browsing at all the unexpected little details. I don't quite understand their target market, but it seemed pretty popular when we visited!

Regalito Rosticeria - 3481 18th st (just off Valencia)

I try not to include too many random eating-spots in these design/shopping guides... but it just seems so handy to know where to stop for lunch if anyone happens to be re-tracing my steps at some point in the not-too-distant future!

We had such a truly delicious modern Mexican meal at Regalito Rosticiera, I thought it was well worth a mention. The food is surprisingly light and interesting... not your usual heavy Mexican Fare. If you eat meat, I highly recommend the 'Papas con Chorizo' (potatoes with Chorizo). So tasty!

Monument - 572 Valencia st

Monument is a 20th Century furniture store with a fantastic range... kinda pricey but these are quality collectible pieces, beautifully restored and (unfortunately) worth every penny! Well worth a browse... and you can check out their current stock online here thanks to 1st Dibs - an incredible online marketplace which brings together some of the best vintage and collectible design pieces worldwide! It is a truly fabulous website for 20th cemtury interiors especially - if you don't know it, you're missing out!

Clothes Contact - 473 Valencia st

I can't say I usually have the patience for op-shopping (or as they say in the US, thrift-store shopping)... but of the many, many vintage clothing shops along Valencia st - this bustling, colourful little store really caught my eye! The main drawcard seems to be their 'thrift by the pound' policy - ie all sales are charged by weight! They just weigh your items in bulk on scales at the checkout, and charge you accordingly. Awesome! No website I can find... but some more info and customer reviews here.

Farnsworth 20th Century Modernist Design - 393 Valencia st

Another great little 20th Century Furniture store - a little smaller, less showy perhaps than Monument... but no less interesting. Some key collectible pieces (including a wonderfully aged classic Eames leather / rosewood rocker and ottoman - divine!), but also slightly kookier finds including interesting ceramics and other small accessories.

Four Barrell Coffee - 375 Valencia st

OK so San Francisco has this weird thing going on with Coffee. There seem to be a lot of 'high concept' coffee stores around this town... most of which you have to queue up outside for AGES to get a coffee... and also most of which don't really sell many snacks or lunch stuff at all... just coffee!? I found it a bit weird, as I have no patience for the kind of hyped-up, self conscious coffee 'manifesto' thing... but perhaps that's just because we are so spoilt in Melbourne with all the good food and good coffee (which you can surprsingly usually buy in the same place - without even queueing up!!). ANYWAY, it seems San Franciscans are more than happy to wait 15 minutes for a cup of painstakingly produced coffee, so who am I to judge...!

Four Barrell Coffee in Valencia st seemed one of the popular options, and had a shorter queue than most! The space was huge and quite cool and industrial inside - thus even more frustrating when we found out they don't do lunch! :(

The Home Stretch

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:00:00 +0000

View from 'our' (shared) rooftop in the East Village

Fire escapes never looked so good.

Painted building... can't remember where sorry!

Top - Construction debris squished into tiny little roller trolleys, presumably as a result of working in building with small lifts/narrow hallways. Bottom - exterior of the incredible Comme de Garcons store in Chelsea. We went to see art - but ended up shopping. What can you do?

More stunning greenery on the streets of NYC. Top image taken in Chelsea... Bottom image is a close up of a stunning Dogwood tree (thanks for the botanical info Mum!). I am so in love with these gorgeous trees which seem to be all over New York . I am definitely going to have to find a Dogwood tree in Melbourne...

Ok so this is the last day of NYC stuff, and I am flying home today! I'll be back in Melbourne at 2pm tomorrow.

Anyway, I can only apologise (again!) for the sketchy posting these last few weeks... I have been so inspired by this trip and still have lots to share, including a San Francisco shopping guide which I have been feverishly trying to finish, and an interview with everyone's favourite design blogger - Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge! All this I promise will be up later this week, but in the meantime, I hope you don't mind today's very lazy post - essentially just a collection of random NY photos and observations...

From this Wednesday I'll be back to regular posts every morning, Monday - Friday! Promise ;)

Giant scribble? I don't know what this is about... but I like it.

NYC Museum overload - MOMA

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:27:00 +0000

The design collection at MOMA - featuring iconic pieces by Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, George Nelson and pretty much everyone who is anyone in international design. Even Stefan Sagmeister's graphic work featured in this collection.

MOMA was amazing if course. The sheer quantity of stunning (and super-famous) artworks on the walls was mind boggling. Such an incredible collection… and yet, so immense that it’s almost impossible to take it all in. It’s almost like you need a 3-day pass to fully absorb everything. After an hour or so you find yourself glazing over, even though the work you’re seeing is probably the best modern art collection in the world. Intense – but worth it.

What was, for me, a little easier to absorb was the fantastic modern design collection, showcasing the most iconic examples of furniture, lighting design and home accessories from the last hundred years or so.

I must admit I didn’t even know MOMA had a design collection until I visited... but it was such a lovely surprise! Beautifully curated, and nicely contained within 2 adjacent small-ish gallery spaces… which made it more accessible, and much less overwhelming than the rest of the collection!

Guggenheim NYC - Frank Lloyd Wright

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:00:00 +0000

The Guggenheim Museum

There are a LOT of museums in New York City. You could go for 10 days and visit a new one every day. And of course they are all amazing, so you could easily spend all day in each. Given this abundance, we had to do some careful shortlisting. We ended up visiting The New Museum on the Bowery, MOMA (of course) and The Guggenheim. All were completely brilliant.

The Guggenheim was showing an exhibition called From Within Outward, about the work of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who also of course designed the Guggenheim museum itself. It was so so great! Actually it was also a nice break to see an exhibition entirely made up of architectural sketches and models, especially after seeing so much incredible fine art elsewhere - more than you could ever absorb in just one visit.

From Within Outward celebrates Frank Lloyd Wright's incredible body of work, spanning his celebrated 72-year career. The exhibition brings together 64 projects, including privately commissioned residences, government buildings, religious and performance spaces, as well as super-futuristic unrealized urban mega-structures - designs complete with hovering helicopters and other space-age details! Included are more than 200 original Frank Lloyd Wright drawings, as well as newly commissioned models and digital animations. It is quite incredible seeing just how contemporary and relevant Frank Lloyd Wright's work still appears today, more than 50 years after his death. It was also really entertaining to get an insight into the character himself - through personal letters and correspondence. One article on show quoted the architect referring to himself not just as the best architect the world has ever known, but also as the best architect the world will ever know in years to come! ha! (More arrogant yet super-entertaining quotes from the Lloyd Wright can be found here!).

If you're heading to NY anytime soon (I feel like everyone in Melbourne is going this year!), the Guggenheim is a must-see. A word of advice - take the lift to the top and walk down rather than up. Much easier on the legs!

Frank Lloyd Wright - Original Sketch for The Guggenheim Museum

Guggenheim Museum interior

Models of Frank Lloyd Wright's work

Frank Lloyd Wright's studio / intern workshop at his private, custom-built residence / workspace - Taliesin

Frank Lloyd Wright : From Within Outward
Until August 23, 2009

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue (at 89th Street)
New York, NY

Spring in DUMBO!

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:33:00 +0000

Spring - a design store / gallery in DUMBO, Brooklyn

Ok... so clearly I am quite behind with all my NYC posting... I am not even there anymore, and am still catching up with all my photos etc! Thank so so much for all your patience! Also a huge huge thankyou for all your comments and a few emails too! I really appreciate it and am so sorry I haven't been able to reply to every single comment!

These photos are from an area in Brooklyn called DUMBO. New Yorkers love to abbreviate. DUMBO = 'Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass' (ie just at the base of the Manhattan bridge, near the river).

I wish we had been able to discover more of DUMBO... but we did visit a fantastic design store / gallery called Spring. So lovely - and the owners are also super super nice. They support a lot of emerging design talent, and have regular exhibitions showcasing the work of both local and international designers and artists. The current show is called Lost and Found, and was curated by Spring owner and co-founder Anna Cosentino.

Top image - products at Spring, including the Zip Tie Chandlier by Joe Ponciano. Bottom image - Good Eggs ottoman and Drum Stool by Inna Alesina.

Spring stock so many unique designs I had not seen elsewhere - that light fitting in the window (top image) is constructed from cableties (such versatile little things!). In the bottom shot, Inna Alesina's fantastic colourful stools are made entirely from egg cartons - tightly packed and simply held in place with tight cables. They look amazing! Beautiful pieces in their own right - aside from the brilliant eco-friendly concept.

Downtown DUMBO.

Mosaic details

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Shop entrance in Nolita, NYC

Beautiful shimmery green/silver mosaic flooring in Barneys, San Francisco

Been noticing so many intricate mosaic floors in the US - Both in NY and San Fran... wonder why there isn't more of it in Melbourne?

Original tiling at beautiful Brooklyn restaurant Dressler - highly recommended for a romantic dinner, btw!

Nolita again

more NYC favourites...

noreply@blogger.com (Lucy) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Even the 'garbage' in Soho is special.

So sorry for the irregular posting of late... been a a bit all over the place. Left NYC few days ago and spent three blissful days in South Lake Tahoe, on the border of California and Nevada. Such beautiful scenery! All snowcapped mountains, emerald pine forests and glistening water. Only downside was struggling with somewhat unreliable internet reception!

Anyway still trying to catch up on all my NYC posting... so here, in no particular order, are some more of my favourite finds in and around Soho and Nolita...

ps) Thanks so so much for all your lovely comments - and even a few emails with tips and recommendations! I'm really sorry I haven't been able to respond to all... but thankyou so much for making contact :) It is so lovely to hear from you!

Moss - 150 Greene street, Soho

The current exhibition at Moss showcases Bavaria - a range of limited-edition furniture by Dutch duo Studio Job, featuring a a rosewood finish with folk-art inspired decorative inlay. It was totally AMAZING. This range was commissioned exclusively for Moss.

Moss blurs the distinction between retail design store and gallery... no price tags, stunning one-off pieces displayed individually in glass cabinets like works of art or ancient relics. Beautiful space, incredible concept... but... how do they make any money? I guess perhaps at these prices, one sale a month is enough to pay their rent?

Anyway, Moss is absolutely a must-see if you're a design junkie (like me!). Also, here it kind of feels ok to gawk at all the high-end design without any intention of making a purchase - the staff are mildly snooty... but they're clearly more accustomed to browsers than buyers.

Moss shows pieces from the 'Smoke' range of furniture by Dutch designer Maarten Baas.

Paul Smith - Greene st, Soho

Right next door to Moss, Paul Smith is absolutely worth a visit for the interior design and layout alone. I promise! The layout is similar to a residential home - you wander from room to room. greeted by a slightly different feel and aesthetic in each new space.

One room, in particular, was absolutely covered in original artwork and paintings, hung salon-style all over the walls. The effect was amazing! Also in the entrance area, open books were artfully strung on fishing line and hung across the ceiling... I really love Paul Smith's eclectic decor - no two stores are the same, and yet they all share a distinct aesthetic unlike any other retail environment.

Kisan Concept Store - Greene st, Soho

This store is just across the road from Paul Smith and Moss... a French 'concept store' - the shots on their website really don't do it justice - this store is truly beautiful. An artfully curated mix of ultra-feminine clothes and accessories (ridiculously expensive, of course), cuper-cute designer kids stuff, and slightly quirky yet completely gorgeous home accessories. Interesting, carefully considered mix. Very pricey.

Kelley & Ping - 127 Greene st, Soho

Kelley & Ping is in Soho right near Moss, Paul Smith and Kisan... tasty, quick-as-flash Chinese food (noodles and noodle soups mainly). Cheap and cheerful, in a really lovely industrial meets Hong Kong hawker-bar inspired space. Great for a cheap, casual feed (not always easy to find in this area). Also you're unlikely to have to wait for a table, which is also somewhat of a rarity at lunchtime in NYC.

Kelley & Ping

Kate's Paperie - 72 Spring Street, Soho
(between Crosby and Lafayette Streets, also other stores across New York - see website for details)

BEAUTIFUL paper / stationary / gift wrap and gift card shop. Truly beautiful. Eat your heart out Zetta Florence.

Kate's Paperie

The MOMA store - Soho

Definitely worth a visit in Soho, because trust me, the last thing you feel like doing after 5 hours on your feet at MOMA uptown is killing another hour browsing in their store. Another great reason to visit the Soho store BEFORE you head to MOMA itself, is that you get a free pass to the museum if you spend over $50 in store (I think?). Which is pretty easy to do - especially once you head downstairs to the bookstore! It is AMAZING. I could have seriously spent all afternoon in there. Also a great little selection of designer furniture and lighting, all of which appears to be much cheaper than in it in Aus. Go figure.

John Derian Company - 6 East Second Street (Bet. 2nd Avenue and The Bowery), East Village.

John Derian is a quaint little French-inspired vintage, antique and repro furniture, homewares and kitchenware. They specialise in decoupaged things (apparently)... which seems a little strange to me, and these were certainly not my favourite things in store... but there's enough treasure to uncover here to make it worth a visit nonetheless.

John Derian Company

Maryam Nassir Zadeh, 123 Norfolk (at Rivington Street), Lower East Side

FANTASTIC new clothing /accessories / randomly fabulous things, all pulled together like museum artefacts in a stunning minimal white retail space. A truly unique and perfectly curated collection of international pieces. Don't miss it! I mean that.

A great, detailed review with more product info is here.

Maryam Nassir Zadeh - Top and bottom photos by me, other shots found here. The bottom shot is of the bar across the road from Maryam Nassir... unrelated, but so photogenic I had to include it!

Le Labo - 233 Elizabeth st, (between Prince and Housten), Nolita

Le Labo is an NY brand with a French name, and a very French sensibility. No off-the-shelf perfume here... instead you create your own fragrance from scratch, for a truly unique olfactory experience! Cute concept, very cute shop, even cuter website.

On a side note, Nolita was absolutely my favourite window-shopping / people-watching spot in all of Manhattan - quaint little cobbled streets, lovely little boutiques and gorgeous cafes on every corner (including the wonderful Cafe Gitane!).

Le Labo