more melbourne creatives

well, i still haven't heard back from the lost & found hotel room about a possible reservation, so i'm thinking i won't be livin' large in their stylish space anytime soon. but, i did receive an email from shelley panton, a local melbourne potter, the one who has her beautiful wares featured in said hotel room. it looks like shelley has a gorgeous shop in middle park, full of her own work & treasures by fellow artisans, which shelley best describes as:

"with a background in food, interiors and events, plus having a passion for art, photography, food, music, fabrics, wood and anything handmade, i have created a space where i can work on my wheel alongside representing a collection of works by other local artisans and craftsmen."

and it seems it's not just the lost & found crew who are fans. circa have used a collection of shelley's pieces to work in with their new menu and recent renovation and heide moma commissioned shelley to produce a collection in tribute to the exhibition 'sunday’s kitchen: food and living at heide'.

on a slightly different note, i think if we were having a little girl, we'd have to call her sunday. there's the connection to heide & then there's the fact that we could call her sunny. most of all, i wish happiness for my kiddyliwinks & if sunny doesn't sound happy, then i don't know what does. right? that said.. what to name our little boy?? i don't know why, but we're finding boys names so much trickier.




p.s. the last image is from the book 'sunday's kitchen: food and living at heide,' by heide curators lesley harding and kendrah morgan.

saying thank you

so you may or may not remember that i mentioned a little while ago how i wanted to share a website i came across full of quirky thank you notes. well, i had it sitting open for ages & then the lovely checks & spots bet me to it. you can see her favourites here. so anyway, i wasn't going to bother, but then i read the latest & couldn't help myself. clever & quirky, it made me laugh out loud, except that to make it true for me, i'd have to swap the words "turntables/ speakers/ vinyl records" with "yummy homewares/ lighting / furniture, (most often, bloody expensive designer furniture.. i'm saving up for 6 of these babies for our dining table & yes it may take me years & no i won't compromise with any replicas. the only question will be whether i get the plastic herman miller ones through living edge in melbourne or order the fibreglass modernica ones down from spence & lyda in sydney). 

while i'm on the thank you train, i thought i'd add the link to the fun connect-the-dots card that i saw on black eiffel, which you can buy on etsy here. how great would it be to send this off to a friend, knowing they won't be able to help themselves and connect the dots?

simple clever

i've only recently added handmade charlotte to my blog reader list and more & more i find myself saying  "ooo, i like that." silently that is people. you know, to myself. i don't actually say it out loud. i'm not crazy (mostly). anyways, here are two pieces of furniture i saw on handmade charlotte that i think are both beautifully simple & really clever. the first is called a grand chair..


"For grandparents and grandchildren to rock together, designed by jelte van geest. Lift the child’s seat, turn it 180 degrees, and they can sit facing one another."


the second is called the little bird swing, designed by architect Christopher Campbell, which can also be used as a toddler rocking chair when it's sitting on the floor.

junk shop treasure

what is it about little tables & stools that suck me in? we met up with friends at our favourite cafe in yarraville this morning before taking the little one to the park. of course, the way to the park is paved in temptation in the form of a little junk shop. i could just walk on by, but you have to understand that they have all their goodies spilling out on to the footpath, proving hard for almost anyone to resist. i love me a junk shop. i do. most of the time it's just to lurk, see the potential and then sensibly walk away, knowing i have no time to take on any new projects. but not today. today, two little treasures came home with me. a small side table (10 bucks) & little white metal stool (15 bucks). the husband was with me on the table, but not so on the stool. funny thing is, the little stool is my favourite of the two. i've only just noticed that it looks a lot like a champagne top.. maybe that's it. 

20 month portrait on the eames rocker

a-ohh.. as mirka would say. this one is just a little late! the photos were taken on time, but ahem, i'm posting them 2 weeks late. so here we are.. it's mirka's 20 month portrait time on the eames rocker.  so what's new? hats! absolutely loves hats. loves putting them on, taking them off & loves telling you whether it's on or off. her saints beanie was her favourite, but lately it's this little pink one. it doesn't seem to matter if the peak is on the side, or if it's down too low at the front to see properly. the important thing is that it's on & that she put it on. our little gracie girl still loves racing to the door when she hears the beep beep from daddy's vespa & loves, loves, role playing with her teddies. she loves to kiss my growing belly & say "bay-bee". the baby gets more kisses than i do. i'm 4th on the list. 1st is daddy (her all time favourite word), 2nd is the baby (my tummy), 3rd is coco her favourite teddy & then there's me. mirka can say "mummy" clear as day, but i'm noticing lately that she actually calls me "mem-me". the other big change is that she is finally. finally. a good little eater.. the change is amazing. after months and months of 1 step forward, 2 steps back with her eating, we can now dish up almost anything for dinner. goodbye to only eating yoghurt and mashed up food. hallelujah.

you can see the older ones here... 

19 months, 18 months, 17 months, 16 months, 15 months, 14 months, 13 months, 12 months, 11 months, 10 months, 9 months,

a shop called milton

a shop called milton. we went along to the opening last night & here are my photos. it's owned by amy wright & jess cameron-wootten. we had a chat to amy, who told us that jess & her decided on the name after brainstorming on a park bench. they wanted a name they could build a personality around & milton, jess' grandfather's name, seemed the perfect choice. don't you just love a story like that. it would seem that jess & amy are quite the creative duo. he is an amazing shoe maker (is that the right term?) & amy is quite the talented artist. i was going to type textile designer, but i think her creativity extends beyond that. amy hand draws all of her own images that she uses to screenprint, but i also think i spotted a stunning mixed media work (2nd photo) on display that was done by amy's hand. i love how it is framed too, with the work floating in the frame, rather than pinned down under a border. i think that kind of framing makes you appreciate that it's an original & on a beautiful piece of paper. anyways, i'm quite tempted to go back and pick myself up a mini-cushion & a couple of grey & white pillowcases (right half of photo 4). you can check out the blog here & the online store here. fun.

lucky duckies

a few weeks ago while out & about in fitzroy, we passed the beautiful warehouse where galerie montmartre lives. i slowed down, wondering if shelley would be in & while i was deciding whether or not to take the little one, pram and all, in to see, i heard a big, happy "captain!"..which made me laugh & answered my question all in one. shelley disappeared for a second, saying she had something for me & wasn't i blown away when she presented me with this sweet, sweet, little vintage poster, framed and all! i still can't believe it & it makes me smile when i go into mirka's room. mirka loves it too. when i ask her "where are the ducks?" she giggles and points at them. happy.

update: i forgot to say that mirka's gorgeous singlet with the happy yellow kokeshi doll screenprinted on it is from the talented kingsley. you can get one from her etsy shop, i heart mockingbird, here.

cafe cavallero

you know, smith street collingwood is not so scary anymore. it was a different story when we first moved to melbourne eight years ago.. and yes i know that makes me sound pathetic, but that's the truth. sure, we used to visit a couple of cafes, but i'd soon gravitate up to brunswick street in fitzroy where i didn't feel quite so eye balled. we very nearly rented an awesome warehouse style apartment down a little cobble-stoned laneway, but it was a dark, quiet little cobble-stoned laneway & i didn't think i'd be the first to be stabbed down there on a cold winter's night, so st.kilda it was.  anyways... cafe cavallero. very nice. i loves me some simple black & white warmed up with some timber & a pop of yellow. reminds me of cafe sette bello in the city. go. you'll like it too. 

clever creatives

i love ideas like this. well, it's more than idea. it's a big, bold idea that has amazingly, been made a reality. no doubt with a lot of creativity & hard work to actually make it happen, but what an idea. what? the awesome peops behind lost & found have set up a hotel room in the heart of melbourne. not a hotel. better. just one room. full of melbourne made furniture and treasures*, with your own personal concierge. it will only be open for 3 months over winter & only to their loyal subscribers for free. for free! how amazing is that? anyway that's all i really know about it, but you can read more here. i guess there's no guarantee that i'll be given my reservation. who knows how many people have asked for the same weekend as me, but fingers crossed. excited.


*treasures like aesop bathroom goodies, linen & moore bedding, native collection furniture, pierre and charlotte furniture & lamps, shelley panton ceramics, temperature design chair & lamp, third drawer down bedding & goodies, desk by thomas place, throws by waverley woollen mills and gorgeous flowers by florist cecilia fox.

my here little ol' blog

ahh.. so many ideas to blog about. my list of (not so secret) ideas to post about is ridiculously long & now that i'm back in the office 3 days a week without my precious, child free wednesday, to get non-architect, non-mummy, general life stuff done, i'm finding it even trickier to produce the goods on my here little ol' blog. before i know it, i've done another mama post & as much as i love to share my little muppet's adventures with you all, i feel like the design posts are too few & far between.

anyways, if i can pull it together in the near future, there's an awesome melbourne design hotel room opening up over winter to tell you about.. yes, a hotel room, not a whole hotel, full of awesome melbourne design.. furniture, linen, treasure etc with it's own concierge to make the most of your melbourne experience. there are some beautiful knitted string lamps that remind me of these, one of my first posts over a year ago. a funny site just for quirky thankyou notes & a beautiful, unexpected surprise gift. all to come. preview.

happy mama's day

here's hoping you enjoyed a happy mama's day today. we had a very relaxed affair.. some silliness in the park followed up with a hunt for fresh jam donuts. how gorgeous is mirka's new winter coat? no doubt you'll be seeing a lot more of it considering it's a size 3 and she's not even 2 yet. we bought it from yarraville markets & it's called a woolly wooky*. gotta love a catchy name. love.

* handmade coats made by lisa timson from 100% woollen blankets. email lisa at rwjones@iprimus.com.au

kid measurer

my talented friend jacq sent me the link to this. remember this post? well, this is the australian version from small australian projects. at $350 it's something you want to be happy to look at for the long term, but i guess that's the idea. it is beautiful, no? modern, graphic, subtle, crafted & like i said, beautiful.

little hoodie

the husband's lovely sister, mili, came to stay with us on the weekend & we took the little one to the park.. perfect timing to try out her new stripey dress by polka from little pinwheel. a little licorice all-sort & a little tv test pattern, the dress proved a hit on the playground circuit.. we even had people stopping us in the street to ask where we bought it from.  hayley, who owns little pinwheel, also has a gorgeous, behind-the-scenes & mama blog here. colour.

girls in the kitchen

maybe it's the knowledge that our next bambino is a boy, but i find myself making mirka's daily life even more girlie & her near future is looking even more so. when the husband first said to "get something nice for mother's day" in response to my plans to check out the signature prints pop-up store, i didn't really think i'd find something that said mother's day, but looky looky, now the little one & i will have matching aprons & tell me that doesn't say mummy & mirka. perhaps it's a little daggy & bourgeoise darling, to be too matchy matchy, but i love the idea of baking some ya-ya* yo-yos with my own petite ya-ya. i'm not normally much of a red person, but i love the boldness of the florence broadhurst fingers print & liked the orange tinge to the red, so here is a sneak preview to my mother's day present. 

*that's what vivi, kingsley & i call ourselves just because we can.