Archive for March, 2011

lately

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

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in between all the work i have been up to lots of other things too:

- golden plains: still just as fun the second time round. highlights include best coast, architecture in helsinki, the clean, bamboo musik dj’s; causing trouble with max and sarah; sunset ferris wheel ride during joanna newsom; working a 12 hr shift in the beatbox and meeting lots of super nice folk (hi to the girl who had the princess tina bear purse! i have forgotten your name but it was nice to meet you!)

- a lovely one year old’s party in the park followed by an equally lovely wedding (congrats tris and age!)

- trip to the melbourne aquarium with tyke and ari

- packing: all my work is now finished and i leave tonight! right now i am feeling ill with anxiety and anticipation of 8 whole days child and work-free. i am considering taking along some dirty washing, a recording of whining kids and setting myself some deadlines just incase i freak out too much. sure these feelings will be replaced by excitement pretty soon (this blog full of amazing seoul photos and tips definitely helps).

full holiday report coming up next xx

new work

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

things have been c-r-a-z-y in the studio past 2 weeks and i have been in lock-down work mode again. this generally means my life revolves around 2 things – my computer and my children. other things (such as sleeping, eating, housework, tv) take second place. it’s manageable for a while, but after a few weeks i start to get a bit delirious (and hungry).

this afternoon, some relief – i sent off the final files for a big project, and 2 other things i have been working on were downgraded from very stressful to pretty cruisy. tonight i might even get to go to bed before 12. pretty excited by that prospect.

here is some things i have been working on lately:

New logo for Kido Store: although it maybe in sydney, it’s still my favourite kids store (hooray for online shopping!). they have a new surry hills location too.kido_logo

Year of the Rabbit face-washer for Isetan: i was pretty excited to be asked to work for my favourite japanese department store. another wonderful job which was arranged for me by GAS

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New print for gorman x beci tee: but i think i may have missed the ball – i was in a gorman store today and they said it has sold out! was just in one store though…

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Print  for Frankie: it’s being sold at the frankie stand at melbourne finders keepers market this weekend and all proceeds are going to disaster relief funds. its printed on nice paper and big too (A2 size!). and another reason to go to finders keeperes (as if you needed one!) – taco truck will be there too.

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Front door design for Cookie: as far as i know it hasn’t been put up yet, but look out for it soon if you are in curtin house:

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Plus one more thing: its not new work – it was a poster we gave away as part of an exhibition i had in 2004 in perth called menagerie – but some how it has ended up at the palais de tokyo in paris! it’s a crazy world (thanks to risa for sending to me)

menagerie

speaking of the crazy world, i am about to see a bit more of it –  next week i am off to visit my sister in seoul with a quick stopover  in hong kong on the way. i am doing it all solo – no kids, no husband. will be first time in 5 years i have had more than 2 nights to myself. i am sort of in denial it’s actually going to happen, and waver between nervousness (leaving kids, plane travel) and extreme excitement (shopping! sleep-ins! stationary! un-interupted adult-style dinners!). it has been 10 yrs since my last visit to HK and is my first time to seoul, and although my trip comes with my own personal guide,  if any one has tips i’d love to hear them!

more before then x

help japan

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

help_japan

like many others,  japan hold’s a special place in my soul and i have personal connections to this wonderful country, so it’s been especially hard to see the epic awfulness unfold over there. even in the face of disaster the japanese are so orderly and calm, it almost makes witnessing their devastation and loss harder.

but there are lots of people doing some lovely things to help out, here are just a few i have come across over the past few days:

1. enter the mr kitly raffle –  details here. some great prizes from my favourite local store.

2. buy a hello sandwich gift wrapping zine – all proceeds from sales now go towards red cross

3. donate directly to the australian redcross japan earthquake and pacific tsunami fund

please let me know if you know of any other local fund-raising efforts going on too.

after all the recent natural disasters, everything does feel a tad apocalyptic right now. deep down i know it’s just the world doing its thing, but it still makes me nervous. i am determined to stop the gloom and doom – happy post about other things coming soon.

taco truck!

Thursday, March 10th, 2011

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our newest member of beatbox kitchen family – taco truck – hits the streets for the very first time tonight!

as with building beatbox, it’s been a loooooong and drawn out process, but hopefully it will be worth it. also similar to when we first launched beatbox, i am having feelings of disbelief, fear that we are losing raph into a abyss of hospitality and also slight insanity (not so long ago we ran clothing labels – we now have two foodtrucks? WTF?). but also giddy and excited feelings too.

raph has obsessed-over, researched, test-tested and fine-tuned these new recipes for months (i am so sick of talking about chipotle peppers!), so they are now well and truly ready to go. similar to beatbox all the produce is the very best quality we can find, and as sustainable and local as possible (which is quite tricky when you want to use authentic mexican ingredients).

if you would like to try raph’s tacos (fish, beef and veg on offer tonight), he will be out the front of the compound interest (15-25 Keele Street Collingwood) tonight from 6pm, to coincide with the opening of matt huynh’s gigantic charcoal installation “aurora” (sure to be amazing – see previous in his charcoal series here) at lamingting drive, and also the unveiling of sister gallery within compound interest pin/up.

after tonight, our plan is for taco truck to be heading out with beatbox for neighborhood jams (we are adding more new locations too – lunch and dinner!) and festivals alike. stay posted through the taco truck twitter and facebook and also website (complete soon!).

now the taco truck has finished hi-jacking my design-life (for a bit anyway), i might just find time to tell you about other nice things i have been working on and discovering lately. plus there is the lounge room update to come soon too (thrilling right?). more in the next few days.

ps – for any of you heading to golden plains this weekend, the beatbox (and myself!) will be there to satisfy all your burger and late-night fries needs.

husmann/tschaeni

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

you know when you find something so ridiculously good, a small part of you dies inside, and you expeirence extreme joy and a touch of envy? and its so good, you find it hard to go back to your own creative job, which now looks comparatively pathetic? well, that’s what happened to me when i discovered the work of illustrators and mulit-displenary artists husmann/tschaeni.

their incredible use of colour, pattern, animals and children while still maintaining dark under-tones and a sense of wonder and mystery, is everything i could ever want in a piece of art, and then a little bit more. its the type of art i would work a life-time just to own.

husmann/tschaeni have also collaborated with one of my favourite local labels – rittenhouse. you can see the collaborative pieces here.

and it gets even better: husmann/tschaeni are having an exhibition in melbourne, titled “awaiting the night to fall” which opens tonight, at until never gallery. there will also be a separate set of work titled “oh, it’s an eerie frost” out on the city lights project space in hosier lane. plus some new rittenhouse x husmann/tschaeni pieces on display. i can hardly wait.

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“awaiting the night to fall”, march 2 – 26, until never gallery, 2nd floor, 3-5 hosier lane, melbourne. opening wednesday 2nd march 6-8pm.

husmann/tschaeni website here.

donate and win a print!

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

cosmic_blindfold

i have teamed up with frankie magazine to support the red cross appeal for the queensland floods. by simply donating any amount over $10 you can go in the running to win one of  3 “cosmic blindfold” prints from my cosmic patchwork print series. the series is a small edition of 25 and these are almost the last ones of this print left (see here and here for the whole series). you can donate online here. once you have donated, either email the receipt to giveaways@frankie.com.au or mail it to The frankie Flood Appeal, PO Box 823, Burleigh Heads, QLD 4220. prizes are drawn on april 19th. for more details see page 47 of current (mar/apr) issue of frankie.