Kara Smith’s vintage-ness
Pioneering Australian designer Kara Smith can definitely give Urban Originals a run for their money. She creates the most innovative handbags for those that truly want to stand out. Detailed with lovely pockets and vintage buttons, Smith’s retro inspired designs literally transform original vintage fabrics into ‘one-off’ clutches, handbags, totes and accessories. I’m in love with her clutches! But yes, if you missed her over the week end at the Blue Mountain’s Leura Village Fair, she’s stocked in Glebe and Sydney’s Todae store, as well as at a variety of online outlets.
Tagged: Australian designers, floral prints, handbags, Sydney fashion labels
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Hand-made in Melbourne with in.cube8r
There’s a shop on Smith Street in Melbourne where all young designers go to live. In.cube8r supports all things craft and handmade in Melbourne, running like a long-term market, with the gallery divided into different areas that the artists lease for a tiny cost. There are more than 75 of Melbourne’s top crafters on show and the gallery is always looking for new designers.
Lea Nguyen has designed a no excuse handbag, relieving us of that moment when we are at the grocery store and the clerk asks us if we need a plastic bag, only to realize we didn’t bring a handy, re-usable carrier. UGH! The label Poupees Russes, the French name for Russian babushka dolls, offers its first line — Katarina — with the Boria tote being this friendly accessory to your daily stroll. It’s cute, functional, comfortable and helping to save the earth, one less plastic bag at a time. Just the way we like it.
Belinda Chen will be graduating with an honours in Communication Design from Melbourne’s RMIT this year. Her vibrant design work takes its inspirations from ‘light reflections, design with interaction, sounds, Murakami, going on adventures and people’. Read more
Also by MICHELLE WILDING
Kill Pixie’s Supreme Beings in Berlin
My fellow Germans — or anyone willing to fly to Berlin — should go check out the solo exhibition Supreme Beings by emerging Aussie artist Kill Pixie (aka Mark Whalen). His latest series of geometric paintings are on display at Berlin’s Merry Karnowsky Gallery until December 19. I’m particularly intrigued by Kill Pixie’s use of candy colours coupled with his depiction of masked puppet-like characters set in celestial and futuristic scenes. Supreme Beings meticulously ‘questions the games people are forced to play, reinterprets the universal human struggle and what will be necessary for survival in the future of our world’.
Cloud Control have just unravelled a newly recorded track, Gold Canary, from their forthcoming 2010 album. It’s straight up pastoral Blue Mountains goodness. I actually heard it live earlier this year and it sounded quite rad.
Australian company Dosh wallets turn the necessity of carrying money into a daily fashion parade thanks to their sleek extra thin designs. Even more intriguing is Dosh’s recent Wallets As Art project. Some of the world’s finest contemporary artists have teamed up with Dosh to splash their creative vision across blank wallets, which are now available exclusively to the public via auction. Bidding for individual wallets ends on the evening of November 2, so get in quick if you want a memorable chunk of Kill Pixie, French, Stefan Marx or Jonathan Zawanda adorning your Dosh wallet.
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This photo from Rhode Island photographer Diana Brennan has made my day. The delicate beauty she captures, which is so tender and still, is a nice thing to pontificate over a rich coffee and a sense of quiet introspection. ‘Brennan shoots mainly with a digital SLR camera, but also enjoys using vintage film cameras and experimenting with different techniques. She believes that the essence of a scene is often captured best by photographing the details. Her work evokes her love of natural New England, her awareness of the environment, and her passion to create’.
We featured White Williams on Lost At E Minor recently, so we thought it was time to pin him down for a chat. Metaphorically speaking of course. Read more
Presented as a tableau of vignettes, the work of UK illustrator Jody Barton is executed in a variety of techniques and mediums, yet manages to run the gamut from delicately bold watercolors, to thoroughly noir black and white ink drawings, to child-like, and endearing, colored pencil scribbles.
New York-based Japanese artist Shusaku Arakawa designed this small apartment block in 2005 in the Tokyo suburb of Mitaka in conjunction with his poet partner, Madeline Gins. According to the SushiLog: ‘Painted in eye-catching blue, pink, red, yellow and other bright colors, the building resembles the indoor playgrounds that attract toddlers at fast-food restaurants. Inside, each apartment features a dining room with a grainy, surfaced floor that slopes erratically, a sunken kitchen and a study with a concave floor. Electric switches are located in unexpected places on the walls so you have to feel around for the right one. A glass door to the veranda is so small you have to bend to crawl out’. Read more
You heard it here first. Singer-songwriter Julian Perretta might just become the most exciting new artist of 2008. Read more
With the recession still biting, it may be time to whip out the glue and the cardboard and make your next pair of cool kicks. Don’t know how they’d manage in the rain though? Read more
FFFFOUND! is a fun website that allows you to bookmark your favorite images from the Internet and share them with fellow users, sort of like a del.icio.us specifically for pictures. The site is still in private beta and not currently supported on Mac, but as its collection of images expands, it’s likely to become much more widely available.
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Italian-born, New York City-based photographer Paolo Ventura creates fairy-tale like pictures out of amazingly constructed, miniature dioramas that almost trick the eye into thinking he’s a tilt-shift photographer. Read more
Illustrator Timothy Karpinski sews painted paper together to create his images, giving them a classic look. Read more
T-post: the world’s first wearable magazine
So here’s the scoop. Every six weeks, T-post subscribers get a new t shirt issue in the mail, with a news story on the inside and an artist interpretation of that story on the front. Yes, we agree. It’s clever, clever. Read more
Almanac Market in Philadelphia is slightly pricey, but you definitely get what you pay for. Offering fantastic bread, cheeses, produce, and cured meats such as sopressata and pepperoni, it was a great pit stop when my band played in town, and definitely more economical and tasty than hitting a greasy spoon for road snacks.
There is not a medium that UK illustrator Lizzy Stewart cannot wrap around her little finger to make the most beautiful, whimsical images. Read more
Wolfmother. Rock n roll. Mystical lyrics. Heavy riffs. They have a new album out, Cosmic Egg, and we have five copies to giveaway, along with their debut album. To enter, tell us your favorite Wolfmother song and the city you live in. Yo! Two fingered salute. Read more
This Spider Necklace by Andrea Corson is made from oxidized sterling silver and is a one of a kind: a blackened creepy crawly on a bed of Caviars that will freak and treat. We have them for sale in the Lost At E Minor online store. Read more
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Kara said | 15 October, 2008
Thanks for this! Fantastic!!!