Wednesday 13 July 2011

Design:Made:Trade – 21 to 24 July 2011 Royal Exhibition Building


Well I am delighted to say that now my corner shop The Crafty Squirrel is open for business
(I still can’t quite believe it is finished!) I can turn my attention back on to my other business under my eponymous label. To think I sowed the seeds for this business about 7 years ago now is amazing. And to think that I am still doing it and still feel as passionate and creative as I did when I first started, says one thing to me - if you do what you LOVE and LOVE what you do – everything really will be right for you.

I am doing what is right for me and I am very pleased to say that this is really super supported by my husband and my family and by the Australian Housewives Association (see endnote). Which means that even when I have days where I really do wonder whether I can continue to grow and sustain my business, I have my family to encourage me and to provide support and assistance. Thank goodness for them because I just don’t think I could do it otherwise!

So in the name of supportive family…next week I am heading down to Melbourne for 5 days to exhibit as one of a selected group of 12 Craft Victoria members at the State of Design's Design:Made:Trade event. This group has been chosen by Craft Victoria to represent the spirit, creativity and diversity of contemporary craft and design in Victoria.

What an honour it is to have been selected and how exciting to take part with some very clever fellow exhibitors like Gaye Abandon, Harvest Textiles and Pocket Carnival.

Returning for its fourth year, Design:Made:Trade features small manufacturers, product designers and product makers from a diverse range of design disciplines including industrial design, graphic design, textiles, lighting, furniture, fashion and handmade objects.

Thursday and Friday are trade only days but Saturday and Sunday are open to the public. So if you are in town and feel like dropping in for a visit (especially Australian housewives who know good design when they see it) – please do J

Endnote
The Federated Association of Australian Housewives was established in Victoria in 1915 and was broadly dedicated to representing the interests of housewives, through political lobbying as well as various efforts to help members keep their household costs down, including domestic advice and member discounts. The Association’s aims were to ‘support, protect and raise the status and interests of the home, women and children; to promote and establish co-operation among housewives; to oppose profiteering in every practical manner and to encourage the greater use of Australian-made goods.

With a combined membership of 115,000 by 1940 - 41, it was for a short time the largest women’s organisation in Australia.

The sticker shown above is stuck to a dress making dummy that I bought in an op shop about 15 years ago. I have always wondered who the Australian Housewives Association was – so I took a look!

Monday 4 July 2011

Silver Jewellery

Continuity ring by George Jenson
I have the most ridiculous collection of jewellery. Lots and lots of beaded necklaces from places like Dinosaur Designs or ones that I have made myself under my own label or been given as gifts. 
Ceramic rings, resin rings, cute plastic rings, rings given as gifts, vintage rings that were my mothers when she was in her twenties, rings from when I was a child!

And bangles and bracelets made from beads, resin, felt and silver. Brooches for lots of different coats and cardigans,  earrings to wear with every single outfit in my wardrobe and then some…its just crazy really how much jewellery I have - and you know since I moved house all but a few new pieces that I have bought recently are still all packed in boxes! 

Offspring Bangle by George Jenson
If I am honest – I occasionally think about certain pieces and think that I must dig around and get it out so that I can wear it. But the vast majority of the time – I am so busy being a mother and working in the studio or renovating the shop that there is no real place for jewellery. It just gets in the way really.

And yet….I still have desire in my heart for more.
I am particulalry fond of silver jewellery and currently have my eyes on a couple of pieces from one of my favourite brands George Jenson.

If I was to treat myself at the moment I would definitely get a Continuity ring which really reminds me of a similar ring I have inherited from Mum but which is too small for my finger now. 
The designer Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe has hidden a heart and the infinity symbol in the flowing shape and says that the feminine form is set out with the idea of the continuous flowing form of perpetuity. I am in LOVE.

The other piece I am coveting is also by George Jenson and is a bangle called Offspring and is inspired around the partnership of Mother and Child. 

Both are simply stunning I think and definitely make my heart skip a beat. So there you have it -desire in its purest form and my heart sings as I dream. x