art and design

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

March 9, 2010 ⋅ One comment

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 [...]

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

March 8, 2010 ⋅ 6 comments

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

March 7, 2010 ⋅ 3 comments

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 [...]

HOT: The Social Studio, 128 Smith St, Collingwood

February 24, 2010 ⋅ 5 comments

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 [...]

HOT Chat: Matt Hurst from The Humble Vintage

February 14, 2010 ⋅ One comment

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 [...]

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

February 10, 2010 ⋅ One comment

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 [...]

HOT Chat: Kim Hurley of Marche Rouge

February 7, 2010 ⋅ One comment

This week’s HOT Chat is with Kim Hurley, a visual merchandiser and organiser of the fabulous Marche Rouge market at Nicholas Buildings that I visited just before Christmas. Marche Rouge is back on next week from on Thursday 11 February and Friday 12 February from 11-7pm, and Saturday 13 February from 10-4pm, just in time [...]

HOT: Ricky Swallow The Bricoleur, The Ian Potter Centre, NGV Australia, Federation Square, Melbourne

February 2, 2010 ⋅ One comment

NGV Australia’s current special exhibition is entitled Ricky Swallow: The Bricoleur (meaning a person who constructs or creates work from a diverse range of things which happen to be available) and it comprises the watercolours and sculptures of ex-Victorian artist Ricky Swallow. The show is surprisingly small and covers only two large rooms. Frankly I [...]

HOT: Melbourne By Foot

January 28, 2010 ⋅ 5 comments

The centre of Melbourne, with its many alleyways and riverside walkways, is a place which is best explored by foot. Melbourne By Foot is a recently-launched walking tour run by Dave Carswell. For $25 per person he takes small groups through a three hour stroll through the city sprinkling factoids along the way. The route [...]

HOT Spots Summer Edition 2010 and Summer Serve

January 24, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

It’s summer. The sun doesn’t go down till 9pm. Everyone is feeling relaxed and refreshed. So why not spend some time discovering, or rediscovering, the great things Melbourne offers in summer? If browsing through MEL: HOT OR NOT doesn’t provide you with enough inspiration, pick up Hot Spots Summer Edition 2010, a cute booklet produced [...]