Posts Tagged ‘melbourne’

currently obsessed with:

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

sozi

sozi: a new project from one of my favourite illustrators rilla alexander. sozi even has her own blog, and shop (cant wait for my very own sozi doll!)

radish

radishes: thanks to my step-father’s influence we used to snack on them all the time as kids. in the past few years they haven’t made it onto my shopping list – i had forgotten how delicious they are. particularly in the above salad from the wednesday chef. recipe here

dots

watercolour and paper dots (still!)

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come over sunday: my new favourite house blog, in particular the post on an 84 yr olds house in mackay - so beautiful! speaking of beautiful houses, this is my new dream house.

blossoms

blossom-spotting: although its been pretty easy of late – they seem to be blooming everywhere. in between the torrential rain and  gale-force winds we have actually had some blue skies, and even some 18 degree days. i read that spring “comes in like a lion and leaves like lamb”- so looking forward to some warm days and for the BBQ-ing season to commence!

studio update coming soon xx

rounding off nicely

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

i am major countdown mode for our holiday – in a few days i will be exploring new toyko neighbourhoods, eating onigiri from 7-11 and buying ridiculously cute homewares. its been perfect timing with work in the studio too, as today we were able to sign off on lots of recent jobs: a project with japanese company GAS (designing credit cards! more soon!!), textile print for local store grace, an illustration for monthly column in readers digest and the justine clarke tour posters and advertising. and the absolute icing on the cake was a final approval for a very long and equally as frustrating job i have been working for a few months now (have mentioned it before) – cant tell you the relief it gave me to see that leave my inbox forever. 

leah, noe and miso will be holding the fort while we are away, and there is still lots to keep them busy too (well maybe not miso – he will just be getting spoilt rotten by our house-sitters).

one thing i will be sad to miss out on while we are away is MARKit at fed square – a market focusing on illustrative design. not only do i love a good market, but it’s our first ever time taking part in one! we will have all our products at special market prices, plus some other goodies too. and there are lots of other great stall holders as well including zaishu, third drawer down and the lovely victoria mason jewelery. its on sunday 12th of july, 9am -5pm. 

markit_logo

speaking of our products, the love tree was featured in july/august issue of inside out. thanks to styling genius vanessa colyer tay  and photography genius  sharyn cairns – its never looked so nice! 

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and one more thing to check out… irene grishin-selzer (aka iggy and lou-lou) has a solo show of new ceramic works at outre gallery titled “i threw a kiss in the ocean“. the show opened tonight (was planning to go but unfortunately 2 grumpy kids, rain and a ton of washing made it tricky) and is on until 18th july. i really love irene’s work and have no doubt her new things will be beautiful.

igs

well, thats about it for me for now. i may have neatly finished off my work, but now the family pre-holiday organisation frenzy begins – pack everything for everyone, clean the house, write instructions for house sitter, set auto-respond on my email, give miso some extra pats, and oh, dont forget to buy cat food. and plane snacks. and something to sedate the children (JOKING). and remember to get to sleep in time for a 4.00 am wake-up to catch the flight. geez, my mental lists are already getting the better of me.

i am fairly sure i will be blogging while i am away (although our laptop literally just died on raph as i was writing this post!), but if not, i have a good excuse and rest assured there will be plenty of japan adventure stories & pics on my return.

oyasuminasai xxo

perfect saturday night

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

in my eyes, its a perfect saturday night at the orpin-rashid’s tonight. i have a banana-coconut cake in the oven, a glass of tempranillo in hand, just finished watching a DVD and the house warm and full of food from today’s market shopping and also surprisingly (sort of ) clean.

if i would had read this of myself (or anyone else for that matter) 10 years ago i would have scoffed and thought “how utterly tragic”. 10 years ago a perfect saturday night didn’t start until at least 1am, involved much more than a glass of tempranillo and definitely didn’t involve baking. on occasion i miss the sense of anticipation and possibility that i used to have before a night out, and of course the general spontaneity of my pre-parenthood life, but on the whole i would say i am pretty happy with this domestic state i am now in. 

5 other things that have been making me happy: 

1. supermarket sarah

supermarket_sarah

i am sure this is one of those things everyone in the world knows about this except me. online shopping on whole new level. founder annette’s selection is amazing. she does live just around the corner from portobello market, but still, you need a good eye to seek out such awesome-ness. made even better by her hand-drawn”your deserve it” and “buy now” signs. too good. this week supermarket sarah featured the talents of another design gem donna wilson. but my absoltue fav thus far was her col-ab with uber-fantastic patternity.  no wonder just about everything sold on their page. 

2. karen walker’s runaway A/W collection

KW_AW

its like ms walker has been in my head and designing exactly what i would like to wear right now (with these two outfits in a particular - even down to those cute yellow boat shoes). now on the hunt for both of these outfits.

3. choo choo’s at the toff

choo-choo

on the nights i do manage to go out – the toff  is one of the places i like to go. having worked for owner camillo for a long time, and knowing a few folk who work there, it has a family vibe for me. this week the toff re-launched their restaurant, re-naming it choo-choo’s and changing the cuisine from 70’s inspired gourmet snacks to contemporary thai food designed to share. 

technically, i am not sure if choo-choo’s is actually making me happy, as i am yet to try the food. but… i did design the new logo and menu (which i have read in depth, and subsequently my drool caused my already mal-functioning keyboard to become even more broken), and have eaten karen batson’s outstanding thai food many times downstairs at cookie (in fact, we love it so much we had our wedding there!), so deliciousness (and happiness) is almost guaranteed. and rumour has it, its been packed every night since the re-launch! i’d book ahead if your thinking of trying it. 

4. my sisters blog

elfi

this is purely selfish reasons really – em lives in seoul, and now with her blogging i can easily keep track of what her and her cute puppies elfi (above) and ferdi are up to on the other side of the ocean. but aside from that, she is a great writer and is sure to cover all things good, crafty and otherwise. take a peek!

5. holidays!

800px-Cherry_Blossom_Inokashira

after weeks of frustrating location, date and budget discussions (ending in a day of tantrums from myself) we have  booked a family holiday and will soon be departing for 2 weeks in tokyo! i have been lucky enough to travel to japan many times before, but its been over 3 years since my last visit. have so many things on my “to do ” list – one of the first is to hire a cute duck boat and paddle around inokashira park enjoying the tokyo summer humidity. i also cant wait to make good use hello sandwich’s tokyo guide (fingers crossed might even get a personal tour from the almost tokyo-resident miss sandwich herself!) 

oh! my cake is just about baked. hope you are having a perfect saturday night too xx

leah’s exhibition

Monday, June 14th, 2010

my studio right-hand-lady leah bartholomew is having an exhibition which opens this thursday 17th june at gorker gallery in fitzroy. it’s titled “these are the days” and will feature prints, collages and paper sculptures. the blurb on leah’s show (written by the amazing amanda maxwell) describes the work  as “nostalgic, personal, ethereal and precious”. i’ve had a little sneak preview of it and what i have seen looks just that. her colours and special techniques look pretty lovely too –  

BARTHOLOMEW_FLYER_FRONTleah_dancing_A4

after sitting next to a very over-tired leah for the past few weeks and i know how hard she has worked and it’s sure to look beautiful. (cant wait to see the paper sculptures leah!). 

“these are the days” opens thursday june 17th 6.30-8.30pm, and runs until 27th june, at gorker gallery – 395 gore st fitzroy (crn kerr st). gallery hours 3-7 wed-fri, 11-7 sat-sun.

talented friends

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

this week, two of my good friends get to show off their talents -

olivia radonich works for the prestigious tolarno galleries. in between dealing with the likes of bill henson, patricia piccinini and louise hearman, she has curated her first exhibition, titled “points of view”. olivia’s personal opinion and taste in art (among many other things) is exceptionally well-researched, passionate and worthy and it’s great to see it being unleashed on the world. she has a chosen a unique selection of young artists including conor o’brien, brendan huntley, riley payne and dan moynihan (some of my favourite artists all in the same room – i can barely contain my excitement!)

‘points of view’ runs friday 14th may – 26th june at tolarno galleries, level 4, 104 exhibition st, melbourne. tues-fri 10-5, sat 1-5

POV_1POV_@POV_3POV_4

from top – brendan huntely, riley payne, dan moynihan, conor o’brien

another friend misha hollenbach has a solo exhibition opening at the new utopian slumps this week. misha, (who is one half of PAM) has had a profound influence on me over the years. a long time ago he introduced me to illustrator, theo parish, drinking lots of vodka during the day and eating volcanic chicken. he also hand-balled me many freelance clients and along with his partner made melbourne an awesome place to live and work. while i have been happily dappling in the world of graphics, misha has continuously pushed himself and his work into new territories. his exhibition “forewards” will feature sculptures made from ceramics and neon as well as collages and prints and is sure to be amazing. 

forewards runs friday 14th may – sun 8th of june. utopian slumps, ground floor, 33 guildford lane, melbourne. wed-sat 12-6

misha

finally…

Sunday, May 2nd, 2010

…i think i get to have a break! not anything crazy like a holiday (although there are family whispers of that soon), but an actual whole day off. i plan to spend it with ari. i used to spend one day a week hanging out with just him but the past few months i have been so busy that that fun duty has been passed on to papa, which has made me a little miserable at times.

oh my god i am so sick of talking about work. so i wont too much – but needless to say there has been no reprieve and it has been another manic week full of late working nights and stressful deadlines. keeping me busy this week has been: cute new project for frankie (more on that in the near future), an illustration for US magazine popular mechanics (thanks JW – who also have a new site!), seven seeds new website (coming soon!)/business cards/tee-shirts/coffee packaging/anything else they can get me to do, textile prints for jethro and jackson plus other on-going projects. dude – i am exhausted.

anyway, like i said, no more work talk. so here instead are my current 5 favourite things:

1. “sequential” top from pam

sequintial

i got this a few weeks ago and i have been wearing this flat out. it has become one of those pieces of clothing that i am sad to wash because it means i wont be able to wear it for a whole 2 days.

2. bow headband from south for the summer

ss_bow

how good is it?!  i also have an inez feather headband on order. bow will hopefully make me feel like hello kitty, and also match perfectly with sequential tee. i am all about a bit of colour co-oridnation. (creator jen also has a blog)

3. “the language of graphics” book

 book_coverbook_1book_2book_3 

i brought this after a quick glance from my favourite junk shop. i had no idea of the awesomeness that lay inside. once i got home and opened it i was blown away – every single one of the 320 pages is an absolute joy and inspiration.

4. ‘after’ shop

after_1after_@after_3after_4

i discovered ‘after’ about a year ago and now every time i visit it has something original and cute to offer. their eclectic selection (from recycled paper bowls to african woven bags, pretty porcelain pieces to vintage medical containers) is too good to resist. it’s also conveniently opposite queen vic’s deli section, so you can stock up on delicious pantry treats while you are at it. 78 therry st, melbourne, 300o. hours:10 – 4 tues, thurs, fri, sat & sun

5. tsumori chisato s/s 10 collection -

tsumori_1tsumori_2

pure mind-blowing genius. via bird & banner and lena corwin. more here

hope you are having a nice crisp-morning, leaf-falling, soup-making, cake-baking, autumn-type weekend. x

ari_walk

under the pillow

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

thanks so much for the nice comments and emails i received after my last miserable post. and actually, things didn’t get much better after that. ari was sick for the second time in three weeks, which meant he was sleepless and grumpy.  subsequently i had a lot of work i couldn’t get to, which also made me sleepless and grumpy. raph was stressed about no time/sleep and having to run a bizillion business’s whilst beatbox is in full effect (he generally works 18 hrs days in the beatbox). tyke was grumpy because everyone else was no fun. and then… our internet got cut off!!! and still is. which has once again left me wondering how the hell did i run a business/survive/do anything without email and the world wide web? its driving me crazy.

on a brighter note, family life has now calmed down. everyone is healthy (knock on wood) and being much nicer to each other. i have been making lots of new work which i am very happy with (including some tee-prints for japanese company GAS!). i also had a nice picture come out in frankie. unfortunately as i still have no internet and am currently typing this from a friends house down the road (thanks lou! champ!) i cant show as yet.

but i did want to do a quick post to mention this exhibition by yoko georgiou which opens tonight -

YOKO_EXHIBITIONweb

under the pillow! so cute!! i talked about yokos work previously here. her partner olie sent me this sneak preview. check out her amazing use of colour!!

DSC02266

if are in prahran area you should really check it out. so nice!!!

there are actually a ton of other shows to check out at the moment too. will post about when i am back in the land of the functioning-internet. I CAN NOT WAIT!!!

botanic gardens visit

Monday, January 25th, 2010

today we took advantage of the last of the freedom of school holidays and the perfect weather and visited my favourite place in the CBD – the royal botanic gardens.

botanic_2botanic_3botanic_5botanic_1botanic_4botanic_7botanic_8botanic_9

the last one is our very perfect picnic spot. the second last one is from the ian potter childrens garden – we usually spend a lot of time there but today  the interactive water feature was in action. was the first time we have experienced it and was absolute paradise for tyke and ari (there were many many leaf boats made, sailed and sunk). despite my warnings tyke came out saturated when we left. water sporadically spurting out of the ground was just too much temptation for a 6 yr old.  if you haven’t visited you should add it to your “to-do-in-melbourne” list. its well worth it. and free too!

tomorrow i am celebrating australia day by working with/for raph in beatbox kitchen, which will be serving its goodness at the big day out (we have added frites with 4 different sauces to our menu!). its my first venture into hospitality and i am mildly freaking out. if you are one of the 53,000 peeps going we will be in the lily-pad (over 18’s area – sorry kids) – come say hi and laugh at me burning myself and possibly swearing profusely (although am thinking of sneaking off to see dizzee later in the evening). beatbox will also be serving at laneway festival on saturday.

i’m off to sticker a few thousand frites cones – ahhh the glamour and excitement of small business….

christmas shopping secrets

Friday, December 18th, 2009

this year has easily been our busiest to date, and has left me feeling very satisfied, but equally exhausted. so if it wasn’t for a 6 yr old reminding me about it every waking moment, i would be happy to give christmas a miss this year. but i cant, and a-present shopping i must go.

i am what most would classify as a last-minute-type shopper – i am not talking chirstmas eve, but lets just say i am yet to make the majority of my purchases. however i have at least been thinking about it and writing a list. i am planning to do it all in one afternoon – my usual style, and generally it works out pretty good. here are some of the places i will be shopping in the next few days:

third draw down – hand tattoo’s for tyke, “kick the habit” socks for a friend who should be giving up smoking, and miranda july pillowcases for someone secret (who might be reading this blog…shhhhhhhhh!)

animal-hands_popupkick_blogmiranda_july_pillowcase_blog

(third draw down will also soon be stocking our beci orpin line!)

lost and found –  for vintage wares for many on my list

LF_home

xocolatl - a big box of handmade sweetness for tyke’s amazing teacher who gave him the best first year in school we could have ever hoped for

castle bed linen – for me

newbedlinenPicture 6

brunswick bound  - books are possibly my favourite gift (to give and receive!) – lucky for me, my local bookstore houses an amazing array of titles. there will be many a things purchased here, including this treehouse book for my dad (in the hope he will build me one one day)

treehouse

kido – my favourite favourite kids store. shame its in sydney but thank-god their online shop is awesome. this is what i am thinking of for ari. he loves balancing and pink, i love barbapapa. perfect! 

ari_present

excuse me for my absence…

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

but just when i thought things were about to calm down, they got crazy again. however… has been a different sort of crazy.

a few weeks back i was emailed by a 2 young gentleman from new york named thomas and tim, who had quit their jobs to work on their own series of documentaries titled this is my city. they are currently in the process of visiting 12 different cities, and in each city they spend a week with a stranger, getting their version of their city. one of the cities is melbourne, and for melbourne, the host was my lucky self. my itinerary was pretty action-packed, and although i don’t want to let loose too many of my activities (as it will spoil the episode), here are a few things we got up to while they were in town:

opening of baker d.chirico’s pop-up shop in crossley place:

pop_Up

what better way to show melbourne’s food obsession than with treats from melbourne’s best baker. and to make it even more special the shop has beautifully insane cosmic bakery wallpaper (thanks to misha), and special tote bags and the best apron i have ever seen (thanks to shauna) for sale. and definitely put the licorice and lavender macaroons on your “things to taste” list. out of this world. it’s open until dec 24th, mon-sat 10am-7pm, ph 03 9639 1624. (pics from three thousand)

australian premiere of where the wild things are:

wild_things

this was thanks to my exceptionally kind and thoughtful friend daniela. (check out the invite – hello keepsake!) my expectations for this film where sky high, and unfortunately for me it did not deliver 100%. i would still recommend it, and will still be going back to see it a few more (hundred) times. 

visit to amanda’s beachbox:

beach_box

yes it was as idyllic as it looks. that’s thomas in the green, ari in the stripes and amanda in the tie-dye leggings. she is an old uni friend who is now in film and was along for the ride to help out with production (her blog is almost as stylish as she is).

and here is tim.

tim

it was quite strange being followed around by a camera, and apparently i was pretty good at avoiding it. but i got used to it after a while. and it definitely helped that they were lovely, relaxed and super fun to hang-out with as well. in fact possibly too much – twice i got home after 4am, both times in quite a… lets just say “disrespectful”… state (more than a little bit nervous about that footage. yikes). that is a lot for me these days. lucky for me i have the best husband in the world and can also deal with 2 children,a hang-over and very little sleep not too badly at all. regardless i feel weeks of recovery coming on.  

there has also been another kind of new busy-ness going on in our studio. literally, a new business – just when you thought we couldn’t get any more insane, we go and start another project. this one is raph’s baby though. he has long been obsessed with food, and has always wanted to start some kind of food thing. we looked into starting a restaurant but the over-heads and time commitment were just too much, especially as we didn’t want to give up any of our other bits and pieces.

so instead, we built a food truck! its called beatbox kitchen – and its exactly that – a giant beatbox, that will be serving delicious, top-quality, comfort-style food.

beatbox_kitchen

beatbox kitchen’s debut gig is at meredith, followed by many more festival over the summer. raph is also planning to drive around to various parks and neighbourhood hangouts (twitter will tell all!) on summer evenings so you can come and eat goodness then too. as i said, its more raph’s thing than mine (i am just doing graphics. and tastes tests of course), but after months of planning, preparation and pain, it’s still bloody exciting (and equally terrfying!).

will post photos, website and twitter account next week. and also possibly some new work. if i ever get around to doing some that is.