Mulbury

Look what I found. A little online shop which sells rescued timber picture frames, industrial furniture and lots of other delightful antique (and faux antique) goodies for the home. Mulbury is based in Melbourne and whilst admittedly I do find their collection a bit hit and miss, there are definitely some really special, unique pieces I know I won't be able to live without for too much longer. 

Pantone Tarts by Emilie de Griottes

For all lovers of food and colour swatches, these Pantone Tarts were developed by French "food designer" Emilie de Griottes. What a quirky, tasty idea, and a nice reminder that some of the best colour inspiration can be found in the fridge!

Mary Kate McDevitt

Every so often, I find myself dreaming about another life to be had. In this life, I live in a pretty but humble little house with a sunny verandah where I sit each morning to drink gentle herbal tea, and eat fresh figs and rustic sourdough from the local bakery. In this dream, I don't of course have to worry about meeting client deadlines or changing a logo twenty times before it's approved. I have all the time in the world, so I choose to spend it tinkering away with my paints, inks and pencils creating mind-blowing hand-drawn typography pieces, day after day. 

Unfortunately, I think I'm still at least a few years off fulfilling that dream. Until then, I'll swoon over clever and charming unique typographic studies created by people like Mary Kate McDevitt. Who probably lives in an urban apartment like me and simply makes making beautiful things like this a priority amidst the daily grind.

The Art For Jungle Project

Just letting ya'll know about a little art show which is on for one night only next Thursday 28th June, 6pm at the Lo-Fi Bar, 383 Bourke Street (above Kinselas on Taylor Square), Darlinghurst. It's called The Art For Jungle Project, and it's an eclectic collection of art, design and jewellery with contributions from artists across Australia. The purpose of the exhibition is to raise funds for Greenpeace, so they're collecting $5 donations at the door. I've handed over a couple of my etchings as well as two of Boheem's not-yet-launched typographic screen prints. Hope to see you there!

The Cake Pop-up Bar, Fraser Studios

Just one more 'places' entry before I return faithfully to all things design. I went to an opening a couple of weeks back at the Fraser Studios, and the atmosphere was positively buzzing. The space is only open for another few weeks and apparently as a last hurrah, they're serving wine, beer and cider as well as a few tasty morsels from Bourke St Bakery at The Cake pop-up bar Thurs (5-10pm) – Sun (3-10pm) each week until the end of June. It's right near the Clare Hotel off Broadway.

Color Collections

Designers, have you ever found yourself moving the CMYK dials mindlessly back and fourth, hoping to land the perfect colour harmony for your next design project, but feel they just don't want to land as naturally and as beautifully as you'd like? I found myself in that situation recently, and soon after came across these wonderful and very helpful colour blogs, which I'm certain will prove to be extremely useful for future design projects.

At the top we have Design Seeds, which displays palettes inspired by God Himself, and the amazing combination of hues which can be found in winter vegetables, moments of stillness in the African countryside... and some human-made beauty. What I love most about this site is that you can search for the colour by hue which you can define as a RGB value, as well as browse by theme.

In the middle we have Color Collective, which is one person's collection of palettes derived from mostly fashion shoots, where someone else has obviously already curated the colour. It is handy having it all in one place, though, and I like the way that the mood is set by the colour combinations.

Lastly there's Just Jaime – not offering as many and without links to photography, but a lovely little collection nonetheless.

Matching CMYK to Pantone

For those of us out there doing any colour picking for design projects, you might be familiar with the frustration of needing to find a Pantone colour to match the CMYK you used in your draft, half way through a job. I have at best spent aaaaages thumbing through our Pantone Swatch books trying to find a good match, but often I'm wanting a Pantone number when I'm not in the studio.

Here are two great sites which will help us all when we find ourselves in this predicament in the future. The first one at font.is gives a pictorial step-by-step instruction of how to match colours in Adobe Illustrator. But my favourite is this very ordinary, unassuming page at ginifab.com – which simply provides four boxes for us to type our CMYK breakdown, and then promptly delivers the Pantone equivalent. Not always completely accurate, but pretty close!

The Larder, Dulwich Hill

Sorry people – I know it seems this blog has become all about new Sydney finds, but there have been so many delightful retail and food spots popping up around the place (at least, my life), that I have to share them.

The Inner West is so hot right now. This unassuming little deli, The Larder, is located at 489 Marrickville Rd, Dulwich Hill. Who knew. The selection of food here is outstanding – pasta, chutneys, tea and coffee, cheeses, sweet treats, breads, plus lots of food I'm not even sure how to pronounce let alone know what it is... selected from suppliers worldwide. If you're after something obscure and tasty, and a grocery shopping experience which transports you immediately to a small, quaint French country town where your package is lovingly wrapped and handed to you in a rustic brown paper bag, then this is the place to visit.

The Organic Type

Created by graphic designers for graphic designers, The Organic Type makes it easy to incorporate the texture of handcrafted lettering into any project without ever picking up a pencil. Amazing! Worth noting that these typefaces don't actually work as fonts, they have to be placed as Photoshpo file – this is due to the extraordinary detail in each letter. What a find! Now I just need a project to use it for...

Margaret Tarrant

These completely adorable fairy tale illustrations were thoughtfully and beautifully composed by the prolific illustrator, Margaret Tarrant (1888-1959). Or, 'Aunt Maggie', as I like to call her. Yep, this incredible woman is actually somewhere – admittedly distant, but present nonetheless – in my family tree. In fact, the relationship is so remote that if you're reading this, you may be related to her as well. Margaret Tarrant has captured countless children's imaginations for many generations, I can't wait to read some of the nursery rhymes she has illustrated to my own children.

MONA

We Australians are all aware that our land is made up of two parts: The Mainland and The Island Below The Mainland. We are all fond of Tasmania and many of us would like to see ourselves at home in a pretty green Tassie Valley, with tasty berries growing in the backyard and a sunny kitchen which wafts aromas of fresh sourdough and tea. We're all aware that Hobart houses Australia's most outrageous, awe inspiring art museum too, it's just getting there which is the problem! For all of you who has the MONA on your list of places to go, here's my quick review.

Clearly, David Walsh didn't have enough space in his living room to display the pictures and things he's been collecting over time. And how exactly does one house an interactive installation of 300 lightbulbs? If you have the money, you pay a few people to build a giant adult art-gallery disneyland to show it off. The building is A-MA-ZING, and whether you're into art or not, exploring this incredible architectural feat is an experience in itself. The museum spaces are all underground; one has to wander down a spiral staircase or take a tubular lift downwards.

The collection is a little bit funny. Dave Walsh is intrigued by sex, death and poo. But lots of us are I suppose. It's not the sort of collection which left me feeling inspired, though. This is a particular taste and probably not representative of the most clever contemporary art on the market.

But I'm a designer, and my favourite part by far was the branding. The two symbols, the plus and the cross, are brilliant in their simplicity. They appear in the various marketing material and signage with the same whimsical approach which is applied to the whole museum. They smartly represent 'old' and 'new', and they exist as little marks which aren't fabricated icons and they're not strictly type, either. I love the way they animate on the website, they represent 'love' and 'hate' on the portable touch-screen devices and how they combine to create an asterisk of sorts for the MONA shop. Just lovely.

Keeping up with Keep Cups

Congratulations Abigail and Jamie Forsyth, sibling team and creators of the wonderful, revolutionary, reusable, dishwasher safe, BPA free and colourful Keep Cups. I only just realised when I saw them featured in a US design magazine last month, that they've only just hit international soil. I've been using and loving my Keep Cup for a couple of years now. The thing I love about it most is that unlike the old-fashioned thermal outdoor mugs which keep your beverage scolding and shockingly hot, these ingenious polypropylene little guys keep your coffee warm the same way a ceramic mug might. If you're reading this and you haven't thought of that perfect mother's day gift yet, I'm telling you... this is the thing!!

ERD Communications

Don't know if this is quite the platform to be promoting other design studios, but these guys are awesome and they're in Melbourne anyway, so I'm doing it.

I attended the DIA Masterclass seminar day recently, following an invitation from my lovely friend and lecturer at Enmore Take, Jacqueline Hill. Didn't get to be there for the whole day, but received some pearls of wisdom from the very clever and creative Rosanna Di Rossi, Creative Director of ERD. She shared about a series of bill posters (shown) they did to get attention one week in Melbourne when they were pitching for a big job. She talked about how important it is for designers to actually read the copy they are laying out – sounds like an obvious one, but sometimes we do skim and miss some of the important stuff. I was really inspired by the depth of concept they showed in their publications, and I'm looking forward to exploring new opportunities this year with our clients where we can try some new ideas. My aim is to be making work which raises eyebrows and makes people say 'oh that's SO clever!'.

Chai Tea Packaging

I visited Newtown's Fijian grocery store the other day. I'm not exactly sure what food one eats in Fiji, but this place has proven to stock a lot of international foods I've struggled to find elsewhere. I spotted these charming little chai tea boxes on their cluttered shelves, aren't they sweet!

Kitchen by Mike

Upon Kass's recommendation recently I ventured out to Rosebery to see for myself the visual spectacle that is Kitchen By Mike. I'd like to say I happened upon this wondrous design showroom slash cafe, but in all honesty I had to hunt it down. This amazing little eatery accompanies the Koskela showroom and was opened earlier this year by former Rockpool chef Michael McEnearney. The open plan kitchen means visitors can watch as food is prepared – a handy distraction as the line to be served is a tad slow. Meals are served by portions, ie one would order a $3.50 serving of coleslaw to compliment the $7.50 serving of pork belly. Don't bother planning your meal choice before you go, though; the menu changes daily according to what fresh produce can be sourced. Although, if you're keen I believe that their Facebook page is updated regularly with what food can be found.