Love stories...

You know that type of film you walk out of with an undeniable urge to tell strangers that the world is a beautiful place, Beginners is that type of film. Our story follows Oliver (Ewan McGregor) on a metaphorical game of hide and seek with love. Oliver is dealing with first the rediscovery, and then the loss of his father, Hal (Christopher Plummer), the meeting of new love through Anna (Melanie Laurent) and a conflicting past which imposes itself upon his current emotional stability. Written and directed by Mike Mills it is no wonder this poetic film has the capacity to intertwine audiences within its imagery, the intimate moments he creates seem to reach out to the unconscious threads within our own minds... "You spend your whole life wanting a lion, then a giraffe comes along and says it wants to spend the rest of its life with you. You're going to take the giraffe".

Waiting on Yesterday is an ongoing project initiated by myself in order to re-locate Craft and Craftsmanship within modern communities. The project hopes to identity Craft and the practice of workmanship as sustaining pathways for our futures through a revival of past skill and a series of new strategies that hope to work towards building, for us, a viable way of being in the years to come. The initiative values traditions of the past and cultural, hoping to deconstruct these into new hybrid practices that are realistically applicable to the ways in which we live today.

NEAT THREADS is the first campaign developed under the project ‘Waiting On Yesterday’. An educational campaign designed to empower denim as our saving grace, based around strategies for clothes rationing introduced during WWII, the program hopes to suggest refreshed patterns of repair, and longevity within our wardrobes as more intelligent pathways into the future. Also attempting to create an awareness of our own damaging habits and misunderstandings, the campaign links modernity's constructed proposals of cleanliness to denim sub-cultures and suggests these revised patterns of care and wearer/garment relationship as progressive approaches to clothing.

Stay tuned for more info on this initiative as well as ways to get yourself involved ~

Just another crazy saturday night

Blue Jean Baby

As most of you probably don't know, although perhaps some of you do, I have recently found myself spending innumerable hours contemplating the significance of our trusted and loyal friend denim. This new found fascination can be blamed, in the most part, on my recently embarked upon quest in understanding the nostalgic and functional relationships we form with our clothing in the hope of uncovering meaningful new strategies for our cotton clad futures (otherwise known as my fourth year project).
I feel I can confidently say without hesitation that denim, in some shape or form, has definitely been a part of all of our lives, whether it be that first pair of teenage skin tight hipsters, or maybe more fittingly that trusted travel companion emblazoned with memories from abroad. Every pair of jeans has a story - it would be really super if you'd like to share yours with me...

These bad boys have been kicking around with me for the past year. I guess if I'm to be honest with myself, we're still in the honeymoon phase, that being said, I have a sneaking suspicion that they may in fact be 'the one'. I remember the day we first lay eyes on each other, I had just taken up residency as official bar maid in a dingy inner west watering hole, the price tag said no, but the fit said yes and a few graveyard shifts later they were finally within my reach. Primarily, they would serve as my working trousers, filling me with confidence and pride as I hauled crates of longnecks up that staircase from the basement. Our love had been cemented.  I soon realized that these jeans deserved a better life. As emotions for each other grew deeper these fancy black trousers became my uniform for university, my uniform for weekends, my uniform for life. These jeans grazed my ankles, unfazed by my lack of footwear, on the first day I tasted the irresistible fish burgers of Clovelly's 'Out of the Blue', these jeans protected my lower half the evening I heroically mounted the bar in attempt to remove my female assassin,  these jeans were by my side during my first day at my new job, and these jeans stained my legs (mostly thanks to the rain) the day my good for nothing boyfriend decided to cut me loose.
On reflection I feel as though I should apologize for being unable to titalize you with one specific denim memory, but the truth is that these jeans have been there for it all. They are the one object in my life that I would genuinely struggle to live without, through thick and thin, sun and rain, beer and popcorn they have been companion, protection, and sometimes, in my finest hours, even pajamas.

I would really love if anyone has a gem of a denim memory they'd care to share with me, bonus points for photos!

Long Lost...

Just a little sneak peak at the early stages of some illustrations I've been working on

Reform- Sydney Design 2011

Thanks to Sydney Design the average student is spoilt for choice when it comes to current inspirational design initiatives this week.
As an exercise in fairness (all in the name of design research), I attempted to pack as many exhibitions as I could into the space of a day- leading me on a winding quest from Zetland to Paddington only to take two steps backward in the direction of Ultimo.
Surprisingly, the highlight of this marathon arrived early into my day.
Reform is the culmination of a project undertaken by Sydney design studio The fortynine. Here, the collective repurposes and redefines objects of perceived lesser value (primarily as a result of damage or age). The project proves an exercise in urban futuring and suggests ways in which re-appreciation and appropriation of the old can establish new, sustaining future pathways. By far the most successful outcome of the Sydney Design 2011 festival, Reform harnesses the collective craftsmanship of designers Lauren, Ben, Carly, Sarah and Harriet and firmly establishes the rise of the new artisan.