art and design

HOT: SO:ME Space, South Melbourne Market, 322-326 Coventry St, South Melbourne

December 12, 2011 ⋅ One comment

South Melbourne Market has moved out the dollar stores and moved in some hip wares. Under the big shed they’ve created a space for small shops and pop up sites called SO:ME Space. It’s filled with clothing, accessories, artwork and bikes – a fun place to browse before or after your market grocery shopping. Some [...]

HOT: Malmaison at Paris to Provence Festival, Como House and Garden, South Yarra

December 6, 2011 ⋅ 3 comments

A few weeks ago I attended the Paris to Provence Festival as the end stop of the Melbourne Tweed Ride. It was a bright sunshiney day and perfect for strolling around the grounds of Como House eating and drinking French delights, doing a spot of shopping and apparently a great opportunity to pull out your [...]

HOT: The Design Files Open House, 40 Little Napier St, Fitzroy

December 2, 2011 ⋅ One comment

What’s better than a pop up shop? A pop up house! Melbourne design blogger extraordinaire Lucy Feagins has brought her blog The Design Files out of the interwebs and into real life. With the help of The Project Agency’s Esther Navarro-Orejon, Lucy has turned a swoon-worthy Fitzroy warehouse conversion into an even more swoonworthy display home [...]

HOT: Zakkaya, 52 Johnston St, Fitzroy

November 24, 2011 ⋅ One comment

Nestled in Johnston Street, in between the curry houses, Latin American restaurants and sweaty gyms is Zakkaya, a quietly beatific shop selling contemporary Japanese goods. Their wares range from clocks, clothing, jewellery, toys, storage and everything is delicate, charming and oh-so-cute. It’s the perfect place to find a unique gift for that special person with [...]

HOT Chat: Georgia Beattie from Lupe

November 18, 2011 ⋅ 2 comments

Melbourne Music Week starts today until 26 November – a fun-filled week of music (natch), films, workshops, parties, eating and drinking. One of my discoveries for Melbourne Music Week is actually not directly about music. If you visit any of the bars at Melbourne Music Week you’ll find Lupe, an innnovative single serve filled wine glass [...]

HOT: Melbournalia Home, Level 1 Rear 126 Franklin St, Melbourne

November 17, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

Stuck for a unique, Melbourne-themed Christmas gift or holiday souvenir? Then make sure you get to Melbournalia, a series of pop up stores open now in the lead-up to Christmas. Over the next few weeks four Melbourne CBD venues and one repurposed newspaper stand will host displays of Melbourne design goodness, with HQ being at [...]

HOT Chat: Anna Martino of Wet & Wendy

November 4, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

Anna Martino is the brains behind the stylish weatherwear label Wet & Wendy. Wet & Wendy hails (pun intended) from Melbourne and the products are perfect for Melbourne’s four seasons in one day weather. I chat with Anna in her Collingwood studio as she gets ready to launch her Spring/Summer 2011 range, some of which [...]

HOT: Quartetthaus, Melbourne Festival, Ngargee Centre for Contemporary Art, Sidney Myer Courtyard 111 Sturt St, Southbank

October 18, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

Something very curious has landed in the courtyard of the Malthouse Theatre. What is it? It looks like a big wooden box. No obvious doors or windows but if you listen carefully you can hear the faint scraping of string instruments. It’s the Quartetthaus! The Australian National Academy of Music and lighting and design studio [...]

HOT: Cafe Vue at Heide, Heide Museum of Modern Art, 7 Templestowe Rd, Bulleen

October 6, 2011 ⋅ 3 comments

It’s been a while since my last visit to Cafe Vue at Heide and this time we decided to try the a la carte menu rather than the Menu du Jour set menu. On a sunny weekend the cafe is a real drawcard for visitors to Heide Museum of Modern Art. There’s often a queue [...]

HOT: Fringe Furniture, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers St, Abbotsford

September 26, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

Melbourne Fringe Festival is on now until 9 October 2011 and one of the regular parts of the eclectic program is the free Fringe Furniture exhibition. The theme for this year’s exhibition is ‘Dancing in the Dark: Small Solutions to Big Problems’. Basically, this translates to design that’s smart, green, sustainable and beautiful by designers, architects, [...]