January 31, 2008 – 10:00 am 
Resin and silver bangle by Loop
Translucent resin bangles by Loop
Acrylic diamond rings by BY:AMT
Floral star amulet necklace by Kristina Brenke
Jeni from Oye Modern emailed me yesterday about her online jewellery store… After checking out her collection I jumped at the chance to profile Oye Modern here! Jeni specialises in contemporary pieces by independent designers, most of whom are Australian. My favourite pieces include the stunningly simple resin and silver bangle and translucent resin bangles by Loop, the kooky acrylic diamond rings by BY:AMT and the more girly Floral Star Amulet necklace by Kristina Brenke (all pictured above)… But there’s a lot more on offer so be sure to browse the site to check out the rest of the Oye Modern collection!
January 30, 2008 – 11:12 am 
(image from inside cover of ‘This is For You’ by Rob Ryan – details below)
I first started compiling a bit of a Valentine’s Day gift guide late last week… and I didn’t mean for it to end up this way, but I just somehow ended up with a collection containing every heart-shaped, bright red, kooky, kitsch gift item on the web….
Hmmm. Sorry I have no explanation for this. It must say something very worrying about my subconscious mind… But it does make a pretty picture :)
ps) I know everyone except me hates Valentine’s Day… even my most happily loved-up friends seem to believe it’s all a sneaky Hallmark conspiracy. BUT in defence of Valentine’s day can I just say that any excuse is a good excuse for letting someone know you love them. SO if you don’t have someone to buy for… I think you should at least consider sending your Mum a bunch of flowers, making your flatmate some ‘I Love You’ toast for breakfast, or popping a heart-shaped paperclip on your long-overdue tax return… just to give your accountant something to smile about :)
Please double-click on the image for more detail… still learning the ropes… sorry it’s not so clear…
1) Mimobot ‘One Love’ 1 gb USB drive (front and back shown), US$39.95 from Mimobot
2) Retro 50′s Valentines cards, US$8 for set of 10 from Fred Flare
3) Alessi heart-shaped spoon, $15 each from RG Madden (pictured with the best ice cream in the world – Homer Hudson Chocolate Rock)
4) ‘I Love You’ toast – toast stamps available here on ebay for cheap cheap.
5) Lomo 8 lens camera – takes 8 photos in succession using standard 35mm film. US$40 from Fred Flare.
6) Super-cute heart-shaped ‘measure your love’ measuring cups for the kitchen! I love these! Fred Flare again, US$14.
7) ‘You’re Okay’ cute letterpressed card with tick boxes by Paper + Cup, $4.50 or $14 for a set of 6.
8) heart-shaped paperclips from Kikki K, $9.95.
9) Le Creuset heart-shaped casserole pot, available from Amazon – US$139.99 (probably plus another $100000 for shipping but it was too gorgeous not to include…)
10) ‘This is For You’ by Rob Ryan. If you haven’t seen this book yet you must have been living under a rock. Rob Ryan does the most intricate papercut artwork, and this book is full of the most beautiful work… I will make a post with some scans from inside this book soon. I’ve seen it at Metropolis Bookshop in the city and Coventry Bookstore in South Melbourne, or at Amazon. (about US$15 online – plus shipping – or AUS$30.00 in Melbourne bookshops)
11) Expensive-ish purse from Mimco, which is now irritatingly not available on their website anymore (even though it was only 2 days ago when I compiled this list. blah). I think it was around $170.
12) Kikki K ‘Love Conversation Starter’ $14.95. Cute little game to play over champagne with your Valentine… take it in turns to choose cards from the box, and answer questions like ‘the first thing I noticed about you was’… or ‘One thing you’ve taught me is…’. My fella would kill me if I brought this home… but try your luck I guess!
January 29, 2008 – 8:48 am Please forgive the hurriedness(?) of this post… My laptop is in mac hospital and I have been without it for a few days now… it died last week and I may have lost lots of recent work.. and a fair bit of blog stuff :( Anyway, the motto of the story is BACK UP your hard drive! I was lucky I backed up maybe 2 months ago? So it’s bad but not awful.
Anyway I have limited access to the internet until tomorrow when hopefully my laptop will be all shiny and happy with a new hard drive… soooo that’s my excuse for a quick, short post. Sorry! All will be back to normal tomorrow (fingers crossed!)
I don’t know exactly what Proef is… But here’s what I gather – a ‘food design’ company based in Amsterdam and headed up by Marije Vogelzang.. she’s a kind of eccentric food designer who does crazy food-based events, installations, artworks, collaborations… things like printing people’s meals at a dinner party with odd statements in edible ink… making a ‘ham man’ installation(!)… making an entire feast of all blue food.. etc etc… it looks like a crazy, very experimental and super-fun place to work. That’s all I know for now! Will research more tomorrow… meantime look at the fun photos on their blog and try to decipher the Dutch (there’s some English too!)
January 28, 2008 – 9:23 pm
Spam One-Liners is an inspired illustration/typography project based on the often questionable subject lines of Spam email! There’s just something about hand-drawn typography… I love it. The illustrator is Linzie Hunter… you can view more of her fantastic illustrations, doodles and typography experiments on her Flickr account or her webpage.
I want to keep browsing… it’s such lovely stuff.
(via heavy backpack)
January 28, 2008 – 10:41 am 
The beautiful ‘Linenfold’ sideboard is the work of Adelaide-based designer Khai Liew. (He has a website but it doesn’t seem to be working for me…)
The piece is part of Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum collection… Their website has images and information about their entire collection of designed objects – including textiles, furniture, lighting, printed matter, clothing, packaging, jewellery… the list goes on! In addition to the most obscure pieces of lacework from Paraguay, and kids pyjamas, the museum houses hundreds of very famous, classic pieces – The collection includes Mark Newson’s Lockheed lounge, a variety of original Eames pieces, a collection of original pieces designer by Grant Featherston…
The Powerhouse Museum website is a fantastic resource – you can search by designer, by item, by material or even by colour. Lots of Australian designers are represented but there’s also an extensive collection of work by international designers… well worth a look.
January 24, 2008 – 10:15 am 
Right Angle Publishing are so cool. They just seem like the kind of people who know about everything first. I guess that’s their job. But man, are they good at it. The latest offering from these guys is ‘Hot Spots’ – a free pocket guide funded by the City of Melbourne, covering all the best things to do and see in the city of Melbourne. The current issue is Volume 3, the January-March edition.
It’s a fantastic little guide – it splits the city up into 6 sections, with a brief overview of each area, a map, a ‘hotlist’ of places to visit, and a really cute section where a local person shares their idea of a ‘perfect day’ in that area. City of Melbourne seem to be pushing them to promote the Docklands a bit – they’re kind of struggling for content here… but generally it’s a great round-up of what the City has to offer over summer. It’s really well written – funny and dry, but friendly too… and I guarantee you won’t have heard of half the places they recommend – even if you think you know the city like the back of your hand. Right Angle work out of Curtin House (of course!) and even if the newest cafe in town is just a coffee machine and 2 stools in a doorway somewhere down a laneway, these guys know about it.
Hot Spots is also, importantly(!), really well designed – great photos, great colours, layout and type… simple but effective. The Art Direction is by The Co-Op, who are also based in Curtin House and do a lot of City of Melbourne promotional material… it’s all great great GREAT, and their work is definitely worth a look in its own right. (ie go look at their website).
Grab a copy of Hot Spots Volume 3 now at one of those bookshops/record shops/cafes that have magazines on the floor near the door. OR download a copy here.
