POP UP OF THE YEAR - DOMESTIC FRONTIER

the wild frontier

You still have a few days left to visit the hottest pop up in town. Domestic Frontier brings together makers that have some interesting and beautiful similarities. The aesthetic is earthy, simple, with distinctive handmade qualities.

Jo Ruchel's beautful baskets

There is also a beautiful colour palette ranging sumptuous earthy tones to indigo blues, basically the stuff of dreams in our opinion.

Bridget Bodenham's free form platters

The ladies of HML wished this sort of thing happened more often. There is such a freshness to it,  and we can attest to the beauty and functionality of the pieces (We love our Sophie Moran cups and use them every day for that all important first coffee).

Sophie Moran's perfect cup

We are also huge fans of so many of the makers involved. We've been swooning of Greg Hatton's furniture since we saw it last year at the Slow Clay  open day.

Of course Vic Pemberton is a firm favourite as we loved her indigo course and always find her Bind & Fold range so seductive, she always gets the best blue out of her indigo forays!

Bind & Fold beauty

So gorgeous and not to be missed!

Domestic Frontier closes this Sunday
19 Nicholson Street Brunswick East
Open 11-6 so plenty of time! BECK AND RAMONA

SHOWS OF THE WEEK - WAYNE GUEST, MARI FUNAKI AWARDS, NICHOLAS BASTIN

treasure trove

There are a number of fantastic jewellery/object shows on at the moment and we recommend seeing them all in one hit, make a day of it. Do a circuit starting in Brunswick Street walking up to Crossley Place and then heading down to Russell Place.  We always wish Studio Ingot put on more exhibitions, they have such a fantastic stable of makers. We are looking forward to seeing our reflection in the ever so shiny vessels of Wayne Guest.

Kiko Gianocca wins the Mari Funaki Award 2014

Mari Funaki Gallery hosts a truly international Award show this month which acts as an ultra sophisticated survey show of what is happening in the world of contemporary jewellery. It's a formidable world, full or rigorous ideas that challenge us and get us talking - you may need a coffee break at this point in the tour!

Nicholas Bastin creates small worlds at Pieces of Eight

One of our favourite makers Nicholas Bastin has set up a mini museum of small scale works that are both intricate and mysterious. Combining precious and non precious materials with saturated colours and alien like shapes, it's a quirky show that sits perfectly at Pieces of Eight. When was the last time you popped in to these amazing spaces? We highly recommend a refresher for a shot in the arm of inspiration. RAMONA

RADIOTHON OF THE YEAR - RRR

Yes people it is that time of year again: RADIOTHON! The ladies of HML have been heading into the studio now for 6 (nearly 7) years to keep y'all informed as to the craft goings on about town. We've been so lucky to have the opportunity to share shows, markets, shops, objects, people with you and we're always excited when people say 'we heard you on the radio'! Without a community radio station like RRR we wouldn't have an on air avenue to broadcast all the ace goings on about town. So this morning we are heading in to celebrate at around 10am, we hope you listen in and of course SUBSCRIBE - to The Grapevine of course!

This is us at last years Radiothon... yep we have Great Heads For Radio!  BECK AND RAMONA

OPEN STUDIOS THIS WEEKEND - VALERIE RESTARICK, SLOW CLAY,CONE 11, JILL SYMES

WHEELS KEEP ON TURNING

This weekend is the Annual Open Day of Australian Ceramics and it is a real treat to peak behind the curtain and into the ovens of some of the best makers around town. Our local is definitely the very talented Valerie Restarick at North Carlton ceramics who  has collaborated with Nectar Efkarpidis to create some super cool adobe house shapes. Others we'll be popping into see are:

Our friends at Slow Clay are open Sunday in Collingwood

Cone 11 at the lovely Abbotsford Convent

Amazing Jill Symes opens her Sandringham Studio

These events are all part of Craft Cubed Festival which is rocking on statewide. Luckily the Ceramics Open Day is a nationwide event so you can check in here to see who is flinging their wide doors open to you. Lovely weekend for a drive we think! RAMONA

SHOW OF THE WEEK - BIN DIXON WARD

grid lines

The ladies of HML have been fans of Bin Dixon Ward since we saw her work in the 2012 Fresh exhibition at Craft. There was something both industrial and playful about her work so we were really excited to see  new work in her current solo show.

'Urban' is the first word to describe the work. The use of the grid, the repeat pattern of the city, but in an entirely unmexpected way. Streets, buildings, windows, signs, layering, density, arcitectural plans, land allotments. This is the language of the urban environment and this work fixes itself 'squarely' (see what I did there) in the centre.

Probe a little deeper beyond those initial responses and that is in the work really comes alive. By using 3D drawing and printing as a tool the work has a futuristic quality. It's as if it has has just appeared on the holodeck of the starship enterprise, the adornment on a particularly intelligent and sharply dressed alien life form perhaps.

The colours too, citrus intense and seemingly glowing from the inside out, have a synthetic super future flavour. This is not the dirty gritty grey streets that we currently inhabit, but an imaginary super city full of colour and light.

The series of rings in their own stand are particularly impressive. Despite their conceptual bent they are completely wearable pieces that tempt as much as Willy Wonka's Everlasting Gobstopper. The installation of the show, in the small third gallery space at Craft, is clean and considered, one of the best uses of the space in recent years. Words RAMONA pictures BECK

Grids by Bin Dixon Ward
Craft until August 31
as part of The Craft Cubed Festival