HOT: Oak Off Chapel, Level 1/33 Simmons St, South Yarra

One of the things I love about Melbourne is that it’s a city that nurtures and encourages creativity. Maybe it’s because we don’t have fabulous weather all the time (though personally I love it) or pretty beaches to swim in, but Melburnians really seem to enjoy delving into their own creative headspace. The vibe of [...]

HOT: LTRHDS Letterheads 2010, 1000 £ Bend, 361 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne

LTRHDS Letterheads is an exhibition of, you guessed it, letters of the alphabet.
But this isn’t just a grown-up version of Sesame Street. Each piece of artwork denoting A to Z has been produced by 26 different artists, cartoonists, graffiti artists, graphic designers and illustrators from Australia, UK, US, Japan and Brazil. The free exhibition is [...]

HOT: Michelle Lane of Mishy Lane

Just in time for L’Oreal Fashion Week (14-21 March), today’s HOT Chat is with fashion and product photographer and graphic designer Mishy Lane.

I came across Mishy’s work through the daily newsletter The Colour, and liked her use of colour and textures – plus we have a little in common because she has also moved from Brisbane [...]

HOT: NGV Artbus to the Yarra Valley (Part 3) – Healesville Hotel and Heide Museum of Modern Art

Click here for the first stop of the NGV Artbus Tour of the Yarra Valley at Yering Station and the second stop at TarraWarra Estate.
After two wine tastings and a gallery viewing, we were all about ready for lunch.

To my delight, the lunch venue was the lovely Healesville Hotel. Not only is this the grand [...]

HOT: NGV Artbus to the Yarra Valley (Part 2) – TarraWarra Estate

Click here for the first stop of the NGV Artbus Tour of the Yarra Valley, Yering Station.

Our second stop was the winery TarraWarra Estate, with its famous TarraWarra Museum of Art – the first significant privately funded, public art gallery in Australia. We started off with more wine tasting on the lawn, looking out over [...]

HOT: NGV Artbus to the Yarra Valley (Part 1) – Yering Station

The National Gallery of Victoria regularly runs arty bus tours for its members and non-members. Usually they’re conducted during the week and aimed at an older crowd, but for the first time in February they held the tour on a Saturday and encouraged NGV Artbeat members (the under 40s branch of NGV Members) to sign [...]

HOT: Marvellous March in Melbourne

I’m all for comfort food, opaque tights and scarves (I think it’s a reaction to growing up in sunny Queensland) – yay for Marvellous March!
Marvellous March is also the name of a handy little booklet produced by That’s Melbourne with details of the big events around Melbourne that will make you love autumn. This is [...]

HOT: The Social Studio, 128 Smith St, Collingwood

Fitzroy/Collingwood seems to be the hotbed of social enterprise businesses in Melbourne (see my review of restaurant Charcoal Lane), and in late 2009 another one opened around the corner from me – The Social Studio.
The Social Studio is a non-profit fashion studio space staffed by approximately 20 young members of Melbourne’s refugee community and overseen [...]

HOT Chat: Matt Hurst from The Humble Vintage

Cycling is one of my passions (don’t worry, I’m no flourescent lycra bike nutter) and I’m a big fan of any business that encourages people to enjoy this wonderfully flat city by bike – ideally travelling with style over speed.
Today’s HOT Chat is with Matt Hurst, the owner of bike rental service The Humble Vintage [...]

HOT: Angelucci 20th Century, 113 Smith St, Fitzroy

Smith Street has no shortage of cool vintage stores to browse (see reviews of Lost and Found Market and 84 Smith Street) and the latest addition is the Fitzroy outpost of Windsor shop Angelucci 20th Century.
For over 15 years the owner Dean has sourced vintage furniture from Denmark and France, flatpacked it for import and [...]