word up

CRAFT FIND OF THE WEEK

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.

Fashionista

SHOWS OF THE WEEKYes folks it's that time of year again. fashion Festival hits us with full force next week so one half of hml is dusting of the Manolos (or is that birkenstocks...) while the other is busy packing for a jaunt to Tokyo (lucky Beck!) .

Quite frankly the latest from Wayne Cooper and Allanah Hill doesn't interest us in the slightest (they don't like us so why should we like them?) but this year the cultural program really kicks some goals and there are some cheeky coattail riders like the show at

Bus (from their media release)

From the sublime to the ridiculous. 20 Melbourne Artists! Experienced tailors and needle nicks as well as some people who have never even paid more than 50 cents for a frock have answered the call of Patrick O'Brien (bus) to create something that means fashion, couture, costume.

Kind of coinciding with the Melbourne fashion festival, Bus is where you will see the real cutting edge of what all the kids will be wearing...... in about 10 years time..... maybe.

Bus 117 Lt Lonsdale St Melbourne 3000 http://www.bus117.com

(opening this Tuesday 6-8pm)

Part of the official program includes a hot ticket at SOMEDAY in Curtain House Swanston St -Hml fave Irene Grishin-Selzer's much anticipated installation of sculptural work in their newly configured space. You can catch a V.I.P viewing this thursday between 7-9pm - we'll be there drooling over those ceramic skulls. Her work is there from the 1st of 12th of March. Don't miss this rare opportunity to see what the genius behind Iggy & Lou Lou creates when the work goes 3 dimensional - stunning.

hoot hoot

CRAFT FINDS OF THE WEEK

Something has happened. We think we are on the verge of turning into ladies who collect owl figurines. Is that so bad? We don't think so. We have it on good authority that owls aren't as smart as they look (bit like us really) but we still think that they know something we dont (like which lodge Agent Dale Cooper really resides in).

see what we mean...

owly goes large

SHOW OF THE WEEK
Our show of the week is completely self serving. Ramona (ie me!) has pulled out all stops and put her entire greeting card range and some original owly paintings in the window of Craft Victoria. It's only when you have the chance to line up an entire years worth of work that you begin to realise why your so tired! It looks a treat (even if I do say so myself!) and the hml ladies would love you to see it.

out of africa

THEY MADE IT THEMSELVES

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. According to Nicky "We named our shop, "Shweshwe" after the fashionable wax coated fabric of Africa. We loved the nuance of it's meaning, "the sound the cloth makes when you walk". Really what could be better.
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.