Yann Gross

WE'RE SUPPORTING

I just can’t get enough of British illustrator Stuart Kolakovic’s quilt-like, narrrative compositions, which abound with folksy Eastern European themes, figures and type.

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Black Eyed Dog is the project of Fabio Parrinello, a singer-songwriter from Varese, in northern Italy. His second album, Rhaianuledada (Songs To Sissy), brims with a brooding intensity, referencing the best British folk ballads of the past. Rhaianuledada (Songs To Sissy) was recorded at Vicolo Recording Studio in Sicily by Fabio Genco and was mastered by Luca Martegani in Varese. Listen to the track Honeysuckle Gal.

WE'RE THINKING

Ah, the joys of spending a seven-hour flight three rows up from a chronic snorer with a bad case of indigestion. It was like an episode of Grange Hill was unfolding before my very ears as the upper tier of a shiny new Qantas 747 was subjected to a series of unfavourably boisterous noises emanating from his general direction. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

This gourmet paint is made by only two dedicated paint makers without fillers, just pigment and oil, like it should be. There is only one store that sells it and it is run out of the Elisabeth Foundation for the Arts building in Chelsea, New York. They have a table set up there so you can play with and mix any of the colours together to see its effects. I usually go to pick one tube up and hang around asking questions to one half of the duo, Gail, and usually leave with five tubes, having learned a lot about the history and the process behind each colour.

I spent the formative first six years of my life in Wellington, New Zealand, a beautiful windswept city framed by a magnificent harbour in one direction and a stunning collection of green, rolling hills in the other. It was here, on a return visit many years later and deep amongst the clipped accents and ruddy faces of the weather-beaten locals, that I stumbled upon the vast catalogue of the then Dunedin based record label Flying Nun. And what a roster of acts they housed — The Chills, The Bats, The Clean, Tall Dwarfs, The Verlaines, and my favourite guitar-pop band, Straitjacket Fits. Read more

WE'RE WEARING

Cuffs are pretty glam right now and I’m particularly feeling those by Leethal Fashion Accessories. They also have a huge range of stylish jewellery such as bangles, rings, brooches, and earrings, all for less than $50.

WE'RE READING

Yes, we’d like to believe we’re all adults, but sometimes, after a few beers, it’s fun to play a game of Who’d You Rather? Read more