This weeks craft find had to be wrestled out of my brother Matt's hands with a ridiculous amount of begging, pleading and freshly made pesto bribery.
You see he too had headed north to the magical op-shopping heaven that is Hervey Bay and snaffled a swag of excellent objects which he said he'd be donating to HML. Of course in the cold light of day (or was that the sweltering heat of a Melbourne weekend) he decided that he wanted to keep them for himself - although how they are going to fit in with the 70's teak bachelor pad meets futuristic vinyl record emporium look he has going we'll never know.
Thankfully he finally consented to a temporary loan, just long enough to let us photograph them as our 'Gothic Victoriana meets contemporary kitsch' themed craft find of the week.Amazingly we realised that our mutual love for the CAMEO wasn't limited to the traditional framed ladies of the long neck as seen in the plastic incarnation above; we were also both massive fans of another Cameo - one with a special penchant for the leather codpiece and fade cut.
word up indeed.
You may know the name or beautiful textile work of melbourne based designer Nicky Gabriel... what you may not know is that she, her sister Val and friend Carmel are the great granddaughters of the famous Great White Zulu Chief John Dunn hml thinks this is quite a formidable family tie. Chief John Dunn was both a friend and ally of Zulu King Cetshwayo, and awarded John 49 Zulu wives and 1000 hectares of land in the Zulu Kingdom... that's a pretty big pat on the back! As the ladies are self described "failed Zulu Princesses" and non starters in the obligatory series of tests of booty shake and pot on head balance that would let them claim their tiara's they decided to put their existing talents in marketing, entrepenuring and textile design togehter and open a store to showcase contemporary african craft and design. It's truly a fantastic shop and is called 
SHWESHWE is at 210 brunswick street fitzroy and well worth a visit, make sure to check out the the excellent food wrapping neckpieces, giant felt 'rocks' and plastic bottle top window treatments. Genius.
Typically however, in true hml fashion, we managed to flip the shopping schedule and concentrate our attention on crafty romantic treats perfect for us while on the hunt for presents for our significant others... not that we're dropping any hints.
Katrina Weber's heart shaped vintage clutches, Anne Weckart's black hearted brooches and IG Design valentine magnets (the perfect accompanyment to a fridge full of champagne and chocolate) would all do the job quite nicely. So now let's see what we actually end up with...
This weeks craft find comes straight out of Africa. these big bold basket/bowls were made by Sth african artist Hlengiwe Dube (that's her on the right with Lucy Irvine) during her residency in Australia as part of the Common Goods project last year. HML was lucky enough to snaffle a few of them up during the event. Who'd have thought the humble telephone wire could be used to such creative effect. Apparently the cable is such a hot commodity in sth africa that people have been known to tear down phone lines just to get their hands on the raw materials... watch out Telstra!
We'll be posting some real photos from the exhibition after our visit, until then take in the uber cool collegiate styling of Mr Nelson Mandela. 
Architecture in Helsinki
