December 14th, 2012
one of the perks of my job is i’m never quite sure what i will be asked to do next. so when justine clarke and her team asked me to design a 3mt high inflatable dinosaur, some giant letters and some giant books to be stage props for her current “pop-up” tour - i was only a little bit surprised. it did take a minute to get my head around – i’m more used to designing in the A3-size realm. but it was great to stretch out onto large scale. i commissioned my dad to build the books. he used to make props for the melbourne theatre company so he whipped them up in no time. and everything else fell into place from there. here are some pics of the making and on set:
i also designed the ginormous bookcase backdrop and all the visuals too. as per usual justine was an absolute champ to work with. fun times all round. justine’s ”pop-up” tour finishes this weekend in melbourne and perth. some tickets are still available (from here).
and now for a giveaway: justine’s tour was book-themed as she has just released her own book through penguin! it’s titled “the gobbledegook is eating a book”, and is written by justine and arthur baysting and illustrated by tom jellet.
i have 5 copies of ‘the gobblydegook‘ to giveaway. if you would like to be in the running, please leave a comment before 5pm (EST) tomorrow (saturday 15th). winners will be notifyed on sunday.
oh and if you are yet to see my urban outfitter’s colab stuff you can see some of it here or here! M E G A giveaway involving many of those items (!!!!) coming up early next week.
Tags: books, colabs, family, new work
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December 6th, 2012
i seem to be closing the year with a few big massive events – this weekend we will be having a stall at the big design market in melbourne. perprations have caused pure chaos in the studio – much desiging, cutting, pasting, stringing, packaging (and not much sleeping) has been taken place. but it was all worth it as (with the help of a few others) i have made some brand new things! here are some photos of the WIP chaos:
on offer we will have some collars, travel pouches, gift tags, prints, wooden mushrooms (just a few!) and a whole bunch of new diagonal cushions (colours are so good in this lot – i even printed some fabric for them). plus i will be selling copies of my book ‘find and keep’, as well as some old favourites beci orpin items too.
please come and visit us at stall 25! but be quick as all my things are in limited quantities.
The Big Design Market : the royal exhibition buildings, friday 10am-9pm, saturday 10am-5pm, sunday 10am-5pm. for more details please see their website
Tags: beci orpin line, find and keep, market stalls, melbourne, new work
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November 27th, 2012
this year i am lucky enough to be included once again in the design files open house. as with last year, lucy from the design files has taken over a whole house for 4 days and filled it with an outstanding selection of art and objects, including pieces from kirra jamison, jardan, dawn vachon and daniel emma - just to name a few (for a full list of contributors see here). everything in the house is for sale – possibly the best christmas shopping experience ever! here are some (very average) pics of the 3 new original pieces i will have on display (and for sale!) at the house:
they are respectively titled “up“, “down” and “around“, and have been framed by the lovely folk at neo frames too. for more details on the design files open house, check out the website. (ps awesome design files flyer by georgina perry)
Tags: artwork, melbourne, new work
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November 19th, 2012
so WHO KNEW that launching a book could take up so much time and be so emotionally exhausting? not me. but it was. exhausting and overwhelmingly fun too. thanks to all those who came to the sydney launch – it was perfect. i even got the pleasure of meeting (among many others) maricor maricar, ms georgia perry and ms kitiya palaskas. those ladies are awesome. and special thanks to rasa j for taking some cute pics on the night too (you can see them here, and some from the melbourne launch here).
after the launch was over, i did get to spend one whole (almost) stress-free day cruising around sydney with raph and shauna, but since then it has been absolute non-stop madness. too much madness to squeeze into one blog post, so i’m just going to start with our picnic feature in the current ’summer entertaining’ issue of inside out magazine.
for this shoot, raph and i teamed up to create an eating and D.I.Y picnic bonanza. we dragged our kids and our friends conor and amanda and bonnie in on the action too. here are few of the shots:
as part of the feature there is a pretty great competition too – you can win some of the things i created for the picnic (including the triangle patchwork picnic rug which i found very hard to part with!), as well as a copy of my book “find and keep”. entry details in inside out magazine. also: big thanks to photographer mark roper and stylist leesa o’reily for making the whole day run so smoothy.
a keen eye may well spot that we used raph’s third truck – taco truck dos - in the shoot, which finally hit the streets last week. check out the taco truck facebook page or twitter feed to find out where it is serving it’s goodness (southside you are now getting a good look-in!)
designing this and getting it out on the streets was an epic process and definitely contributed to the madness. lucky every bit is worth it.
Tags: family, find and keep, giveaways, interviews, press, taco truck
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November 5th, 2012
the melbourne launch appears to have been a big success. although i spent most of the night feeling completely frazzled and overwhelmed, there was much love in the room and i have had many reports of everyone having a great time! the picture above is of my lovely shop girl for the evening alice oehr (thanks alice!). that pile of books was all but gone by the end of the night, so a big thank-you to all who came.
now it is your turn SYDNEY-SIDERS! please come and help me celebrate this thursday the 8th of november at the P.A.M. store, 20 Burton St, Darlinghurst, 6pm-9pm. as with the melbourne launch, there will be a free tote bag with every book purchase, and the first 20 bags come with some extra special surprises (different surprises to the melbourne bags!). there will again be refreshments thanks to cake wines (who also have a new wine bar just around the corner!).
again, this event is open to everyone, but please RSVP to FleurJacobs@hardiegrant.com.au so we can keep track of numbers.
hope to see you there!
PS here is a little preview of something else i’ve been up too….
Tags: find and keep, fun times, giveaways
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October 30th, 2012
please join me to celebrate the launch of ‘Find and Keep’, on thursday 1st of november, at Wide Open Road Cafe, (274 Barkly st, Brunswick), from 6pm til 8pm.
books will be for sale on the night (cash only, but ATM close by!), and i can sign them for you too if you like. there will be a free printed “Find and Keep” tote bag and a taco with every book purchased. the first 20 bags will come with extra suprises thanks to Gorman, Kit cosmetics, Third Drawer Down and me. refreshements will be provided on the night thanks to cake wines and sailor jerry rum. our new taco trucks dos will also be in attendance!
everyone is welcome, but we are asking that you please RSVP to fleurjacobs@hardiegrant.com.au if you intend to come so we can keep track of numbers.
sydney-siders put thursday the 8th of november in your diary! more details on that coming soon. plus i will also have the book for sale in my online store in the next 2 weeks!
ALSO: if you are interstate or cannot make it to the launch, the printed tote bags will also be available with the purchase of a book from select retailers too. by select i mean some of the ones on this list here. but not all the stores on the list are carrying them, so if you would like one please call before hand to check (complicated – sorry!)
p.s – thanks to all those who entered the design files giveaway – over 1,000 entries! blew me away!
Tags: find and keep, giveaways, melbourne
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October 29th, 2012
over the past few weeks i have been working on a competition which is happening over at the design files today. i approached a few of my favourite stores / companies and gathered together a few of my favourite things – all which you can win! plus there are 10 copies of ‘Find and Keep’ as well. check it out and enter over here.
a very special thanks to following peeps for very generously providing me with prizes: After Store, Emily Green, Ganim store, Mr Kitly, P.A.M, Melbourne Artist Supplies, Third Drawer Down, and Tractor home. also many thanks to chris middleton for taking all the photos (and in my book too!), and also to lucy (and lisa) from the design files for there amazing and on-going support!
ALSO – i’m yet to see it myself but ‘Find and Keep’ has hit the shelves! i can’t quite believe it! melbourne and sydney launch details very soon!
Tags: find and keep, giveaways, other blogs, things i like
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October 19th, 2012
a long time ago, when i only had one child, (and he was small), and i worked from a tiny nook in my richmond home, i remember my friend beth saying to me ”these girls i know are starting this magazine. it’s called frankie. i think it’s going to be really good“. and boy, was she right.
since the first issue, frankie magazine has gone from strength to strength, and has become somewhat of a revelation in women’s magazine publishing. and here they are now – all grown up and successful, with their 50th issue hitting the shelves. frankie have also been a great supporter of my work, and have played an important role in helping me (and many others) along my way. so this milestone makes me well-up with more than a little pride. i was exceptionally pleased when they asked me to do an illustration of my desk for the aforementioned 50th issue:
this illustration is right up my alley at the moment – getting into the detail of the bits and pieces – i could have happily worked on it for a week (and just quietly, i might be putting together some similar images for another exciting project quite soon…). frankie have also given my book ‘find and keep’ (12 days til take off!) a very nice plug, and features my “peg board cross-stitch” project (pictured above!) in the issue as well. frankie issue 50 is at all good newsagents and bookstores now (look out for the extra special embroidered/embossed cover).
on to other happenings: this weekend it is ari’s kinder fete. i will be having a stall of my stuff (i.e products) and selling many of them REALLY CHEAP as quite frankly, i’m sick of the sight of them. in the next few weeks we will be taking down my current webstore, and replacing it with a new one, so this could be the last chance to buy some of these products. plus, raph is holding a taco stand, and there will be all the other fun things that a kinder fete has to offer. details below – come visit!
Tags: beci orpin line, family, find and keep, illustration, melbourne, new work, sale!, webstore
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October 10th, 2012
Tags: family, fun times, holidays!
Posted in General | 8 Comments »
