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Australian houses, from architectural masterpieces to suburban family homes, Victorian terraces, mid-century marvels, coastal shacks, city apartments, and everything in between.
Award-winning Australian architecture, inspiring homes, and interviews with Australia’s top architects.
Award-winning Australian interior design, inspiring homes, and interviews with Australia’s top designers.
In depth features on Australia’s most beautiful gardens and landscape design.
Studio visits with Australia’s most talented creatives, from artists to architects, ceramicists to stylists, furniture makers to lighting designers.
Studio visits with Australia’s top artists, and unmissable art exhibitions in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and beyond.
Weekly recipes and meal ideas from our favourite cooks, authors and foodies.
Unique travel destinations, design-led accomodation and day trip ideas in Australia and New Zealand.
Australian houses, from architectural masterpieces to suburban family homes, Victorian terraces, mid-century marvels, coastal shacks, city apartments, and everything in between.
Award-winning Australian architecture, inspiring homes, and interviews with Australia’s top architects.
Award-winning Australian interior design, inspiring homes, and interviews with Australia’s top designers.
In depth features on Australia’s most beautiful gardens and landscape design.
Studio visits with Australia’s most talented creatives, from artists to architects, ceramicists to stylists, furniture makers to lighting designers.
Studio visits with Australia’s top artists, and unmissable art exhibitions in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and beyond.
Weekly recipes and meal ideas from our favourite cooks, authors and foodies.
Unique travel destinations, design-led accomodation and day trip ideas in Australia and New Zealand.
I tell ya what. You really have to give credit where credit's due to people doing things properly.
I received an email from Melbourne illustrator and designer Eamon Donnelly this week, whose work I have admired for a long time. Eamon (sometimes he's called Eamo, I don't know what the rules are here... I'm sticking with Eamon?!) has a thing for Australiana - his hyper-detailed, technicolour illustrations depict a cast of uniquely Australian characters and nostalgic cultural observations, from surf culture, to sport, to snags on the barbie. His seriously impressive client list includes American Airlines, GQ, Men's Health, Monument, Mountain Dew, Poketo, Playboy, Redbull, RipCurl, Rolling Stone and many MANY more.
Aside from being one of Melbourne's busiest commercial illustrators, Eamon has also been plugging away for the past year on a project very close to his heart. And this is where I get to the part about doing things properly. The Island Continent officially launched this week after 12 months in development - it is quite AMAZING.
Part design studio, part online image archive, and part online shop, The Island Continent combines Eamon's passion for Australian iconography, and nostalgia for his childhood years - the 80's. Eamon has spent the last decade stockpiling an incredible archive of the Australian image - books, commercials, TV documentaries (in their original VHS and Beta formats) design, photography, packaging and memorabilia. The Island Content presents a digital archive of these treasures, a dense resource which will continue to grow over time, with the simple goal of sharing and celebrating our unique, and at times cringeworthy cultural quirks!
The Island Continent also features stories and interviews with the great Australian creatives who have influenced Eamon's own work growing up - one particularly touching article is Eamon's feature on photographer Angus O'Callaghan, now in his 90's, who created an incredible archive of photographs of Melbourne in the 1960's. Another highlight of the website are Eamon's own photo essays documenting some of Australia's most timewarped holiday spots - Victoria's Great Ocean Road, The Sheraton Mirage in Port Douglas , and of course all those oversized fruit dotted along the road between here and Far North Queensland!
The Island Continent is WELL worth a visit if you grew up in Australia in the 70's, 80's or 90's. I guarantee Eamon will have you reminiscing in no time about your sun kissed childhood holidays spent slurping on icy poles in backyard swimming pools, attempting aerobics Oz Style in your TV room, or, in my case, drinking lemon cordial from aluminium tumblers with my Nanna and Poppa at West Beach Caravan Park :)
There's also an excellent online shop attached where you can pick up a range of Eamon's stunning fine art prints, or check out his new 100 page self published book documenting another great Australian tradition - the corner Milk Bar!
TOP WORK Mr Donnelly.
The Design Files acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we work, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.
First Nations artists, designers, makers, and creative business owners are encouraged to submit their projects for coverage on The Design Files. Please email bea@thedesignfiles.net
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