WE'RE SUPPORTING

I’ve been digging the work of Berkeley illustrator Jesse Lefkowitz for some time now. You just have to love that fantastic printmaking meets vintage cartoons vibe he’s off and running with.

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

As a non-coffee drinker, I’m not going to rant about the coffee. I’ve heard, though, that the coffee is damn good. But I am going to talk about something else: food. Oh. My. God. Sydney’s Single Origin cafe have this awesome meatloaf sandwich and a raft of sourdoughs and prosciutto and roast lamb and chevre and chunky steak pies and yogurt with compote and four-cheese toasties and baked beans and … oh! Don’t forget Karlie’s special homemade lemonade! Karlie is always in the house so you know that it doesn’t come from a can and arrives at your table with that sour tang that reminds you of the annual Royal Easter Show. Everything they serve is created ethically and organically. Add the constant grinding aroma of coffee beans wafting through the air and, well, is there any other place to be? [photo by Daniel Boud]

WE'RE WEARING

You’d be hard-pressed finding a designer with a more impressive background than Jessie Hill. While most of us were waiting to outgrow our awkward teenage years, she was already on her way to Los Angeles. Leaving her Sydney home at just seventeen to pursue her love of fashion, it wasn’t long before Jessie Hill made a name for herself, styling cool kids like No Doubt and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

Everything about illustrator Bradford Haubrich’s work feels charmingly handmade. Even his website has a lovely sketched feel to it. My sense is that this is a guy who just loves to sketch and doodle and who can’t resist a single surface in his path because it’s just what he does.

WE'RE READING

We love sex in art. No, not in a smutty Benny Hill kinda way, but rather the way in which Australian-based website Sex In Art takes a healthy peek at all things arty and well … sexual. There’s some beautiful illustration work up there and some evocative photography. Heck, I’m getting a little hot under the collar just writing about it. While most of the work they feature is work friendly, some of it isn’t. Still, it’s worth more than a casual glance, like this painting by Chinese artist, Guan Zeju.

I don’t care if Jimmy Hendrix was dragged kicking and screaming from where he lies, put through a torrid round of detox, and handed an invisible guitar – a Flying V carved out of the bones of Robert Johnson. It would still pale in comparison to this. Read more

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Give me a minor key song anytime. Yup, I’ll take the heartfelt purity of an introspective trawl over any warm and fuzzy major key shimmy. I once asked UK band The Editors why there aren’t more cheerful songs in the world: ‘Three words’, vocalist Tom Smith replied. ‘Shiny Happy People’. He smirked. I grimaced. Enough said.

Listen to Casiotone for the Painfully Alone’s, Don’t They Have Payphones Wherever You Were Last Night.