Archive for the 'Melbourne' Category
Architect Fiona Dunin is doing great things at FMD Architects. Her work incorporates unique details – take a look and you’ll see what I mean.
Interesting use of mirror. Love the snow white kitchen and the bookshelves. Must have books near the kitchen.
Unique faceted detail above window, L shaped protrusion and angular shelf.
I’m enjoying the sculptural qualities of her walls.
Another sculptural wall treatment, the additive wall element is in the form of cabinetry.
Big beautiful doors bring the outdoors in.
Great website. Design by Monkii.
Enticing. There is something quite alluring about seeing multiples grouped into categories. You’re drawn in by the neat displays, you want to get closer, handle. I admire the architect designed collaborations Aesop uses for their retail stores.
Unforgettable use of corrugated materials for product display. Aesop Flinders Lane designed by March Studio.
Aesop @ Strand Arcade.
Limited edition jewelry by Australian and New Zealand designers at e.g.etal located in Melbourne.
185 Little Collins Street Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia
Basement 167 Flinders Lane Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia
Chiodo updated their site to include an online store with a limited range of shirts and accessories.
Just wanted to make a quick mention – we had a great meal here. Kid friendly. Recommended for casual, fine[r] dining.
59 Cardigan Place
Albert Park Vic. 3206
Ph: 9645 5305
Retail remixed by Ksubi. Walking by the outside you wouldn’t know it was a shop. No signage. Doesn’t look like a store. Maybe a gallery. Maybe it’s still under construction? Can I go in? Confusing signals. Which is the point. Ksubi manages to create a retail environment that fuses retail rules with no rules. Constructed entirely from cardboard and tape, the stores location is upscale Armadale so it’s quite a contrast to the surrounding shops which include themes and galleries.
1021 High Street – Armadale – VIC 3143
About 6 years ago I stopped by Chiodo to see what was new. I was thinking about their classically tailored business shirts mutated with unusual Chiodo design twists. On this trip, one of the shirts stuck out for me – it had a large number 22 on the back. For some reason it didn’t click at the time, and I let it go.
Fast forward to March 2008. I was sauntering down the stairs to Chiodo while thinking about the 22 shirt … it stuck with me for years … I wondered if they would ever create that shirt design again. Poking around the shirt rack, what do I see. A large black numeral 22. I ask for my size. Response: no longer in stock, all they have is a 3.
Panic. Please, not another 6 year wait.
I explain the saga-story to my salesperson. I’m from Seattle, I get to Melbourne once a year. He is really great and asks if I’d like one made. Today. While I wait. Yes please. I’m told to go have lunch, come back and the shirt will be ready. Go eat lunch at Myer food court. Return for shirt. Thanks for the custom shirt Chiodo.
Every time I wear it, people ask me, “Why the 22?”
Chiodo 114 Russell St Melbourne 3000 Victoria Australia
Melbourne based photographer, Andrew Curtis, uses the light emitted by mobile phones to illuminate his subjects face in a new series called ‘Cell’. C-type color photograph prints available at Christine Abrahams Gallery.
Artist website here.
My last post featured a significant modernist house, available for hire, located about 45 minutes outside of Melbourne.
Here’s another interesting hideaway: The Japanese Mountain Retreat
The retreat is only 45 minutes outside of Melbourne in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges. The optional Japanese set banquet looks like a must; the miso is making my mouth water.
I’ve been meaning to stay here, but sadly I haven’t found the time, -yet! See their website for rates and reservation.
Seclusion. Room to breathe. All you’d hear are the Cockatoos and Rosellas. All you’d smell are the Eucalyptus trees searing in the summer sun. Robin Boyd’s architectural response to the secluded site presented to him by University of Melbourne mathematician, Dr. Michael Baker. Located in Bacchus Marsh about 45 minutes west of Melbourne. Three separate building comprise the site, Boyd Baker House, Boyd Dower House and Grounds Baker Library.
Each of the homes is available for short term hire. Baker House is $3000 per week or $1800 for three days and Dower House is $1500 per week or $1000 for three days.
AOI is saying < domo arigato gozaimasu > by giving customers a little taste of Japan by making a tenugui, a traditional thank you gift, available in a limited supply with a purchase of a tee. From September 1 while supplies last.
Check out their updated website too!
Textile artist Stewart Russell and Donna O’Brien collaborate on the designs for densely packed silkscreen fabrics. they create a range of products including sheets, pillows, fashion and more.
There are a number of shops I like to visit in GPO Melbourne, one of them is Spacecraft. They’ve done a nice job with their retail space by creating vignettes and smallish environments within the store. Nice detail: some of the prices appear written on the ground in chalk.
Russell has collaborated with the innovative designer of the Zaishu, Matthew Butler.
Spacecraft
City Store
Shop F03 on Level 1 (next door to Akira)
GPO Melbourne
Cnr Bourke & Elizabeth St.
Melbourne VIC 3000
Chiodo is updating their website. I can’t wait to see what the finished product looks like!
Noël Skrzypczak had an exhibition titled Twelve Disasters, at Neon Parc in March. Her work reminds me of Dale Frank + Katharina Grosse.
Official artist website here.
The other day I wrote about Chiodo, a menswear shop located in Melbourne. They’ve been doing the reusable shopping-bag-thing for a while. When you make a purchase, they send you out the door with a reusable shopper, handmade with suit/shirt fabric. A nice touch and a great alternative to a paper or plastic bag. I’ve kept all my chiodo-bags from past purchases. Brighter colors were from Spring/Summer season, darker were from Autumn/Winter.
Chiodo
Basement
114 Russel Steet
Melbourne VIC 3000
Australia
03 9663 0044
Melbourne based photographer Simon Obarzanek’s series of portraits titled 80 Faces was shown at IMA@TCB (The Institute of Modern Art at TCB Building), April 11 – May 11, 2008.
Each black and white image features a portrait of a young persons face, neck and shoulder, similar to a passport photo. At first glance the styling seems minimal, but that changes when you see a number of the images grouped together. All the photographs resonate with an otherness which comes from a stylized process of selecting ‘interesting’ faces and shooting every model in a rigorous manner. The artist’s focus is on shape, scale and proportion of features. Attributes like freckles, lips and ears become isolated and take on a surreal emphasis. Juxtaposition of the images heightens this sublime effect.
Simon Obarzanek is represented by Karen Woodbury Gallery. You can see work from 2007 here, and the images from his 2006 exhibition here.