Posts Tagged ‘beatbox kitchen’

lately + some big news

Monday, April 16th, 2012

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… shit has been busy. yes, i know i proclaimed back here that year was going to be less busy, but at the moment it’s not working out like that. for good reason too. some things i’ve been up to:

* my trip to sydney for the opening of megan morton’s ‘the school‘. we were treated to a class on how to make flowerbombs with hollie hipwell. as you would expect from MM the school is nothing short of perfect, and the class was super dooper fun (and pretty). i got to meet lexi there too which was equally as fun. also in sydney, i also visited my friend Di’s beautiful place for breakfast (teal wall, cerise couch – how could i not take a sneaky photo?).

* it was easter and school holidays. i failed miserably at holidays this time. yes we did a few things: attending sebo’s annual easter egg hunt was one, but i was light-on with the organisation of playdates and other activities to amuse tyke. he would have happily spent his whole holidays on his ipod and playing minecraft, and even though this was a tempting solution for me too, i just could not watch that happen (much), so spent a lot of my time throwing non-screen suggestions his way while i madly wrote emails and scrambled through deadlines. not fun, for either of us.

* raph was on the circle! although this will come as no surprise to some – raph has been getting press left right and centre lately. between the melbourne magazine’s top 100, articles in the finincial review and pretty much any other type of printed matter he has been a downright media whore in the past 12 months. thank-god he works hard and his food is delicious and all the hype is well-deserved.

* new tee-shirt samples of prints i made for irony summer collection arrived. they look so nice. i love japanese printing so much.

* massive amounts of activity in the studio – cleaning, organising, cutting, painting, photographing.. all for the good reason i was talking of above. my big news (drumroll) - i’m working on a book! a big book. not just showing my work, more showing how i work, and other things too. it’s exciting/stressful/amazing/overwhelming all at once, and needless to say taking up a lot of my time, so please do excuse me if blog posts are few and far between the next few months. i’ll try and keep updated as much as possible (and if not, there’s always my instagrid. apparently instagram is the new blog anyway)

one more thing: i’m speaking at field trip on friday. as per usual, the thought of public speaking is making me want to vomit, and i’m kicking myself for agreeing to do it, but even if i suck the i the conference will be amazing. tickets available here.

new work

Friday, March 9th, 2012

there’s been quite a bit going on here, albeit at a more relaxed pace in line with my new working order. here’s some recently completed projects:

1. field trip: jacky winter don’t sleep. in between adding a whole new section to their ever expanding creative suite of peeps and starting a consultancy business, jeremy has also curated a pretty amazing conference – field trip. there will be more expansive post on this in the near future (as i am one of the speakers. gulp), but for now, it’s just about the artwork – which i was lovingly asked to do in a 3 day turn around. but, you know, i don’t mind a bit of pressure, so it all went well, and i’m pleased with results. plus who could resist a brief where i got to draw my favourite tools of the trade and put faces on them too? more details on the conference here.

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2. poster for stonefield: i actually designed this end of last year. i think it’s being sold as a print, i’m not exactly sure by where or by whom (useful much?), but i really liked it so i wanted to put it out there. and if you don’t know, stonefield is an all-girl band made up of four (very young and talented) sisters from country victoria. if rock is your thing you should check them out. they are pretty kick-ass.

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3. artpark journal: i was asked by all-around-ace mr.paul mcneil to submit something for artpark journal #3. no brief, just whatev’s. this is what i did. you can get a copy of artpark journal at various places around the traps, and also through their webstore. it’s FREE (although you do have to pay a tiny postage fee if you get it online).

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4. “geometrical” gocco print: i made this for the homemakers market last weekend at the richmond weekender (which was so nice btw). it’s the most multi-coloured of gocco prints i have ever attempted, and i’m liking it’s vibe. it’s an edition of 20 (8 on craft paper, 12 on white paper), they are just over A6 size and priced at $17. i have a few left, if anyone out there is interested please email me.

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in other news… this weekend i’m making my annual pilgrimage to golden plains. can’t wait. i’ll be working the till in the beatbox on sunday (mostly likely in a desperately hangover state), so please come and visit if your around (taco truck will be in attendance too!). happy weekend!

this week i…

Saturday, May 28th, 2011

* puppy-sat:

levi

his name is levi and he is a 14 week old italian greyhound. he was a barrel of fun (look – he is smiling for the camera in this shot). the kids were mental for him and even loved his sharp little bites. it’s stirred up my buying-a-new-kitten impulses. i may have even done something about it too. more on that later.

* discovered a new cookbook:

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it was the awesome cover art that coerced my purchase of this from my local bookstore brunswick bound (so obsessed with pie-charts right now). as it turns out the flavour thesaurus is not only an inspiring resource, but also full of the most amusing and clever cookbook writing. author niki segnit is pure genius.

*prepared for markit:

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we are having our third ever market stall at markit at fed square this sunday. we have been making some new products for it too – printed tote bags, painted brooches and some baby quilts made from ‘vintage’ princess tina fabrics (some sneak peeks above – they have come up a treat!). as per usual everything is in limited numbers so we may or may not have them on our webstore afterwards. we will also be selling our existing stock (mobiles, cushion etc) all at special markit prices. plus, there are lots of other great stall holders there too including douglas and hope, michi girl and iggy and lou-lou. more details on the markit website.

and if you needed even more reason to go – due to the NGV 150th anniversary both the taco truck and beatbox kitchen will be at fed square. they actully start tomorrow and will be there all weekend – serving from early til late in the night.

* went to 2 exhibitions:

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holey hole by misha hollenbach at utopian slumps and bleemweaver by brianna martin at mr kitly. both are completly different – misha with his amazing gigantic photocopy collages, organic ceramics and slices of neon, and brianna with her beautiful hand-woven scarfs and bags (colours so fantastic!) – but both equally great and worth checking out.

holey hole at utopian slumps, ground floor, 33 guilford lane, melbourne. until 18th june

bleem weaver at mr. kitly, 1st floor, 381 sydney road, brunswick. until 8th june

* stayed at the lark house in daylesford:

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technically this was actually last weekend, but i still had to write about it because it was so damn nice. allison from lark has done a stand-out job of setting up a guest house that is cosy, beautifully decorated (gorgeous wallpaper! vintage posters! patchwork quilts!) and kid-friendly. plus it sleeps a lot of peeps and is walking distance to all the good things daylesford township has to offer. i dragged my mum along with us for her outstanding company (and willingness to stop at country opp-shops). it was great to get out of the city and enjoy some country air and the prettiness of daylesford in autumn. you can see lots of pics of the house here, and if you would like to stay in it you can book here.

apart from the above good things, my past 2 weeks have actually been pretty crap. i dont think my planets are aligned at the moment. but things are looking up, and i have many more good things to post about in the near future. til then, enjoy your weekend, might see you at markit!

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

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.

5 things i did this week:

Sunday, February 13th, 2011

1. taste tested raph’s tacos:

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our newest addition to the beatbox kitchen family is almost here, but this time it’s not burgers, its taco’s! with a bit of luck it will be ready to roll out next week. in the meantime, above is a little sample to wet your appetite – fish taco with red cabbage & corriander slaw topped with poppy seed mayo and fresh lime, beef taco with fresh tomatoe salsa, radish and chipotle mayo. there more options too (including of course some vego/vegan). we are also hand-painting the truck  - you will be sure to see that event featured on here soon.

2. completed work for the great melbourne treasure hunt:

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i know i already blogged about this, but it was such a big project, it deserved another mention. above is the “city concierge” caravan on swanston st. hunt is still on until 26th feb.

3. downloaded the micheal morcombe birds of australia app:

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as a closet ornithologist, this app is all my dreams come true. its pretty pricey as far as apps go ($36.99!), but at the touch of a button you can find out any information you need on every, single australian bird (including recordings of their call – my favourite bit by far!). i now know the bird i hear in the middle of the night that reminds me of staying at my grandma’s is the masked lapwing, the pair of parrots we see in the grass at the park are red-rumped parrots, and the bird that nests in the tree outside my window is a silver-eye (cornwalli variety). i can’t tell you how satisfying this is. me at my absolute nature-loving nerdy best.

4. brought a cushion on ebay:

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we decided this week that raph is going to move into my studio, so that we can turn his office into a lounge room (our current lounge room is a tiny cave-like affair). the prospect of redecorating a whole room in our house seriously had me awake until 2am with frenzied excitment (what a freak!). and so this purchase was made. i have been obsessed by kilim’s for a while now, and although i have moslty been lusting over expensive antique rugs this cushion is a nice substitute, and good start to our new lounge room too.

5. discovered an awesome blog:

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freckle farm, put together by multi-talented designer/illustrator afton hakes, from portland, oregon (seriously how many great things can come from one town?). i love hearing of other ladies in similar industry to me and her taste is impeccable too.  (above photo from her blog taken by her – i think)

hope your week was filled with goodness too! x

NB – please forgive the terrible quality of photos lately. after our good camera broke, i moved onto tykes’ camera (which we brought from kmart for $100), which has since also disappeared and now i am down to the camera on my iphone. it’s a tradgic situation, soon to be rectified.

nice things from the weekend

Monday, January 24th, 2011

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featuring:

- dinner at new beatbox locale with ed and liv and max (and max’s backpack).

- a trip to mcclelland sculpture park for an extended family get together (and to play on my favourite sculpture).

- dinner at annie and norm’s house where we got to pick everything from their magic garden first and then eat it, followed by water fights and much tickling.

summer is the best!

collector’s corner

Saturday, January 22nd, 2011

let it be known, i do love a trip to the nursery. however, my ungrateful children do not share this love, and whenever i put the suggestion forward, i am met with moans and groans and “do we have to?” and “boring!”. raph is not usually bursting with enthusiasm either. but, i have found a solution to this problem – collectors corner.

as you can see from its awesome 90’s website, collector’s corner is a nursery that specialises in succulents, cacti, bonsai, orchids and carnivorous plants. it also houses a collection of objects to compliment your weird plants, such as gems and fossils, some insect taxidermy, dream-catchers and porcelain dog figurines. plus a permanent cactus garden and bonsai display (some over 40 years old!), a grotto with fish, and a huge life-size dinosaur skeleton (plus a few hidden other dinosaurs bits too).

basically it can fulfill all your new-age and weird plants needs, and the kids love it too.

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being in keysborough, it is a bit of a trek (for us anyway), but well worth it (did i mention you can also buy fashion accessories for you cactus here too – hats and so forth. i’m not joking).

collectors corner – 810 springvale road, keysborough. see their website for opening hours etc.

ALSO – due to the overwhelming success of beatbox kitchen friday night neighbourhoods jams in north carlton (last night sold out by 7.30!), raph is now doing saturday evening neighborhood jam at a new location in brunswick. you can catch him parked on brunswick park, victoria st, just next west brunswick tennis courts, from 6pm – 9pm (or sell-out). see location map here. there is little in the way of child and dog-friendly outings on a summer’s saturday evening, and this one is both! see you there!

christmas list

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

i’m not really digging on christmas this year. usually i manage to muster up a bit of christmas spirit and excitement, but to be honest, i would be happy if we could just give it a miss this time around.

not only is there the usual madness one encounters this time of year (last minute deadlines, christmas party hang-overs, remembering to buy presents for everyone), but raph is also taking the beatbox to falls festival. working out how he is going to potentially feed 16,000 people over 5 days during a period where lots of his suppliers are closed is a logistical and complicated nightmare. and to top it off he also has to be set up by boxing day, so it’s thrown our usual lovely-beach-dinner-with-friends plans (that i really really look forward to) astray. sigh. the things we do.

but, as we have children, there is no chance in hell we can skip christmas. and for their sake alone i don’t want to either. so last week i made some chirstmas effort – we brought a christmas tree and decorated it, and have had an advent calander to count down the days. and tomorrow i am hoping to shake the “bah humbug” out of me by baking gingerbread and making some other christmasy type things too.

i thought of another way to lift my christmas spirits – make yet another dream present list:

shine shine cushions:

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all the way from cape town and featuring prints by the amazing heidi chisholm. my lounge room is crying out for some of this bold crazy african style. if i was brave enough i would cover a whole couch in one of the textiles too. available in australia through tractor home and one of my fav melbourne stores – after (99 thierry st, melbourne, which is now bigger and better!)

* taxidermy budgie from cottage industry:

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i am quite partial to a spot of taxidermy. i once had a taxidermy duckling but it was eaten by my dad’s standard poodle. these budgies are great colours and not too expensive either (you read more about them on penelope’s blog). i’ll have 3 thanks.

karen walker sunglasses:

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i’m not big on sunglassses. when i wear them it makes me feel like i am in 2 dimensions. but i really should (trying to be more sun-smart and all). so after a long search these are the only ones it want. and of course they are limited edition and only available in NZ. so typical.

* anything from angelucci 20th century:

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i have been a fan of angelucci for years – dean sold me my first featherston and eames chairs way back before i knew children could destroy them. he still has eames and featherston but also lots more beautiful things – rorstrand ceramics, danish table linen and the best cane chairs i have ever seen.

frankie spaces book:

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i am sure you have seen this featured in lots of places, but that’s because its really really good. if i don’t receive it as a present, i will be buying it first thing boxing day

ALL knitwear.

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i have been admiring annie larson’s hand knitted goods for a few months, and contimplating which one to order, when low and behold there they were right on gertrude st in cute new store (and french school!!) dagmar rousset. this knitwear is the best thing i have seen in AGES. i chose this top becuase its cute and summery but there are about a thousand other pieces that are equally (if not more) as awesome. check out annie’s flickr and prepare to be gob-smacked with the best colour combo’s you have possibly ever seen.

mary and matt chocolate:

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hands down best designed chocolate ever. one of my favourite blogs too. available from third drawer down

* a gigantic cacti

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in particular one from collectors corner, the best plant store in melbourne. they also sell dinosaur fossils and crystal. really, this place deserves a blog post all to itself. maybe it could be an upcoming holiday special.

that’s enough self indulgence for now, although i think i may have succeeded in making me feel a little more festive. or do i just want to go shopping?

hope you are surviving the pre-christmas madness out there…. bring on 2011 i say! xx

sucksville

Thursday, November 18th, 2010

so, you know i don’t mind a whine, and sometimes its quite self-indulgent rubbish. but this week, i feel my whine is going to be quite valid. i am totally the mayor-ess of sucksville right now.

first of all, we have been enjoying the absolute lows of running your own business i.e – zero cash flow. thanks to a couple of quiet months and lots of money gone into starting a new business we have been financially strapped liked never before. and just when i thought everything was finally settling into an almost stress-free monetary rhythm too. thank-god we have been able to pay for essentials (mortgage, baked beans), but there has been little else (not even any opp-shopping). and it always seems to be these weeks when everything else is totally crap too. for instance:

* our kettle broke. we simply cannot survive without cups of tea, so have resorted to the old boiling water in a pot trick. just the thing to make you feel that little bit poorer.

* i got hit by a car on my bike. it was actually not that bad, more of a bump really, it didn’t even hurt a bit. and despite it not really being the elderly drivers fault, i still went completely mental at him, and he was still really nice to me, which made me feel terrible and cry, which made him think he had really hurt me. gosh it was confusing. but the worst thing about the whole incident was my absolute favourite wear-5-times-a-week pants getting ripped beyond repair. that really did make me cry. 

* our car got hit by a truck. again, not as bad as it sounds. raph was driving and completely un-harmed and the car is still drive-able, but still a bit scary (it dented the side were ari’s car seat is), and annoying as we will be car-less next week while it gets repaired. 

* working on jobs that go on forever. and get more annoying with every email. obviously i won’t go into specifics, but this latest one really takes the cake. it is taking every inch of my strength to get it finished. 

but, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. i found a spare kettle in the shed, and we are really busy again in the studio, which means bills will get paid. and we have also been working on some really fun things too. here is a peek:

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from the top:

a small section of my customised ply bike for “ride : life in the bike lane” which opens tomorrow night in sydney. details here

preparations for some one-off beci orpin products we are making for our upcoming markit stall (sunday 28th november at fed square – more details soon!)

screen shot of more beci orpin markit products being layed up – the colours and repetition looked so nice. lets hope it translates into the final products (and yes it does feature the return of the tooth in a whole new form!)

WIP of my customised zaishu stool which is being auctioned as part of “pin up your doodle“. (lots of other proper artists are customising them too, such as amber wallis and esther erlich)

one of the finished panels of my zaishu stools (there are 5 panels that make up the stool).

all zaishu and doodles go on display from tomorrow at donkeys wheel house, basement, 673 bourke st. for opening times check here. select doodles and the customised zaishu stools are being auctioned at ACCA on the 24th of november. auction details here. all proceeds go towards shebeen, a not-for-profit bar (it sort of a complicated set-up – they call themselves the ‘robin hood of booze’ – its good though. more details at their site)

and a reminder about the design files calendar launch at lamington drive tomorrow night. beatbox kitchen will be there too. its going to be fun! you should come! hopefully myself and my family wont be involved in any accidents tomorrow (currently knocking on wood) and i will make it there as well.

good night from sucksville. fingers crossed i wake-up in awesometown tomorrow xx