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: Ashley Tell from Golden Palomino Vintage and Darling Clementine

Today’s HOT Chat is also a guest post by Poppy, a Melbourne blogger who I met at the Nuffnang Christmas Party and the author of Poppy Gets a Life (which you’ll see is a MEL: HOT Read). Poppy’s blog is all about her move off the corporate ladder into a job where she has the [...]

HOT Chat: Kim Hurley of Marche Rouge

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 for [...]

HOT Spots Summer Edition 2010 and Summer Serve

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 by [...]

HOT: Cibi, 45 Keele St, Collingwood

I have two friends who are a couple. J is Asian and would like nothing better than a bowl of rice or noodles for breakfast. B is Anglo and in the morning the most substantial thing he can deal with  is eggs and toast.
I think I’ve just found the perfect place for them to have [...]

HOT Chat: Leyla Acaroglu of Eco Innovators Showcase

(All photograph thanks to www.flickr.com/photos/fernando/)
Just before Christmas I stumbled upon a very cool pop up shop housed in a newstand pillar – the Eco Innovators Showcase. ‘What a creative idea’, I thought ‘I’d like to know more about who’s behind it’. So today, we have a HOT Chat with Leyla Acaroglu, the brains behind the [...]

HOT: Suzuki Night Market, Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne

For me summer in Melbourne heralds long bright evenings, Moonlight Cinema and the Suzuki Night Market at Queen Victoria Market. Evidently I’m not alone as the night market has become a bit of a summer institution for young and old alike and in peak time (between 6-8pm) the crowds swell to almost uncomfortable levels.
Nevertheless, it’s [...]

HOT: Alterations Now, Level 1, 234 Collins St, Melbourne

My friend J’s mum is a couturier. So going op-shopping with J is a frustrating experience – she’ll pick up an ugly $10 drop-waisted peach coloured curtain-fabric dress and say airily ‘Oh, I’ll just get mum to alter it”.  The next thing you know she’s decked out in a jealousy-inducing one-of-a-kind vintage outfit.
I’m not so [...]

HOT: Eco Innovators Showcase, Cnr Little Collins and Swanston St, Melbourne

Melbourne is riding a pop up store wave and the Eco Innovators Showcase is about as ‘pop up’ as a pop up shop can get.
In the morning: one unremarkable, poster-plastered news stand pillar standing innocently on Swanston Street.

In the afternoon: the pillar has been transformed, Tardis-like, into a shop stocking over 25 Melbourne made, eco-designed [...]