creative nation

it's a busy weekend for the right-brains of the east coast… this saturday the city of brisbane will not only host one of the nations only full blue skies, it will also showcase the states best-known creatives at the Renegade Market.  Head to fortitude valley between the hours of 10 and 3 to pocket a piece of creative goodness.

further south, VIVID Sydney is in full swing.  you have until june 9 to admire the enormous (and free!) Good Design Showcase in martin place… a carefully curated selection of the the best in cutting-edge design and innovation from around the globe.

for those of us on the isle, the Design Centre Tas launches its Winter In Design program with it's usual belly and soul warming finesse.  Tapas, tunes and a tipple are on offer… as are a few 50x50 boxes in which you may submerse your noggin for full exploration of the senses.  hmm.. curious?  drinks will be poured from 6pm this friday.

So… what's happening in the west??

Reggie

Reggie in certified local tassie oak and dyed black FSC eucalyptus

hypnotised this past month by the textural giddy-up of my new drum pendant light, Reggie, I missed whispering howdy to the outside world. so a booming happy wednesday and without ado here's...drumroll...rrrrReggie, dedicated to Tasmania's tallest growing hardwood Eucalyptus Regnans. or good ol' Tassie Oak as we botanically challenged like to say.

Reggies inside chevrons laid flat

cotton on the riviera

completely sochi-fied out from a blur of flying, twirling, olympic lycra, that I flipped down to poland… the reason for no posts these past two weeks. albeit, this heady tour was (regrettably) via eyetv and the pages of the polish 'riviera' magazine where the grandeliers skated onto the 'new designs' page. ah, the life of a light. and lycra.

natural lighting

French financial paper, Les Échos, warmed the euro winter with a botanical theme in last weekend's mag. leafing through perfectly manicured pages Parisians stopping to admire George Clooney sipping beans also got the 'pure pleasure' of other odes to nature...including our Pod Luxe. Voila!

interior design magazine

cucumbers and bananas feature in my morning smoothies (a tropical phase) and are also handy bookmarks for New York design tabloid Interior Design Magazine's fall issue...where the Pod Luxe hangs with a bunch of light-minded designs. tis the season for lame metaphors. isn't it?

festive marketing

if you're in tropical melbourne today (dec 8) then jostle in for the final day of The Big Design Market, Royal Exhibition Building...over 250 'designer shops'...close to the amount of hand cut 'leaves' for our wall. say hello to our new range.

aand if you're in Hobart, get down to the Masonic Temple where there are many beautiful present possibilities to be procured at the market. our fave creative collective, DOT (Designed Objects Tasmania) will be hosting their very own pop-up shop, brimming with covetable wares & illuminated by a few fine grandeliers, of course!

think BIG

think festive shopping is an oxymoron?  you've been visiting the wrong places scrooge.  now rid your sacks of that coal and nasty dollar store fillers, and prepare your list for The Big Design Market!  this weekend, melbournes Royal Exhibition Building once again provides the dramatic backdrop for over two hundred independent designers to showcase their wares.  2 Brothers Brewery will be bringing the jolly, alongside a troop of merry meal makers (everything from decadent triple choc brownies to beatbox burgers). intoxicated by the creative air, you may just be moved to partake in one of the many crafty workshops on offer…  and while you're at it - steer the tots toward the badge maker to knock up a few nifty home-made stocking stuffers.  

fashion, accessories, homewares, textiles, lifestyle and kids products, stationary, books and a spectacular new light by moi!  that's right - we'll be unveiling our latest pride and joy at this three day design extravaganza, so be sure to pop by (it's fab lighting for a few shameless selfies).  all the details and an a drool-inducing gazette can be located on The Big Design Market site.

images courtesy of The Big Design Market

street light

with all the recent focus on our luxe leather, we couldn't resist grabbing a moment to tinker with some timber - to get back to our roots (tassie oak, to be precise) and see what materialises.  a flurry of slicing, folding, weaving and questionable origami interpretations ensued…  and from it 'Street Light' emerged.

a nod to our incredibly public-spirited pal, Caitlin Street, this little number is our most personable yet.  customisable in shape, size, interior colour… as a stand alone lamp or simply as a shade.  so grab a ruler and a swatch book and tell us - what does your street look like?

alex the great

photo via TEDxSydney

juggling a portfolio that reads like an atlas; the workload that ensues a ranking in Phaidons 100 most influential designers worldwide; and a darling, new baby girl - it's little wonder why Alexander Lotersztain installed his luscious, fur-lined restaurant, Depo, beneath his west end studio, derlot.

photo via Design Addicts

the man is unquestionably prolific, and we had the pleasure of working with him at the recent flat.stack.fold workshop in queensland.  endearing us with his argentinian bred accent, and passion for designing a sustainable world (both flaunted in his TEDx talk), Alex helped us tweak the Pod Luxe into the mailable masterpiece that it now is.

so, if you're looking for a little weeks-end inspiration, or motivation, be sure to scan Alex's website (may require a few sittings), and also the highly desirable furniture he's created with our fellow taswegian designers under the one/third label… and then have a lie down.

Plantation by Derlot Editions

WORKSHOPPED 13

"how can design be future proofed for a disposable society?"

it's the question that's seen fifty home-grown bright sparks weild hammer and pixel to bring you fifty innovative responses at Workshopped13.  honoured to be asked for our input, we saw no better time to debut our new 'mod tech meets ancient craft' pendant - Pod Luxe.

emulating the success of the designers they foster, Workshopped kicked off in 2001 as a hobby, with 5 designers and an opening night figure of 400.  ok, so thats not a bad crowd, but...  zip forward to o-twelve and we have the single largest event on the australian product design calendar, with a history of 200 designers, and over half million names on the visitors book.

Workshopped13 is free (yep, save your coins for all the goods you'll soon be adding to your wish lists), and runs from august 15 - 25 at sydneys supa centa moore park.

photo: chris crerar

the new black

thanks to the wonders of modern technology, and good taste, we welcome our boldest timber yet - eucalypt in liquid amber.

fine slices of sustainably managed, FSC endorsed eucalyptus, penetrated with a deep black (liquid amber) dye. the result? a veneer which embodies all the bewitching boldness and versatility of an eco resin in a sensuous, tactile timber light.

but enough with the pitch - Chris Crerar captures the essence perfectly with this moody black baroque.  the only question now is - which style will you choose?

stacked, folded, done, dusted.

the final installment of flat.stack.fold 2013 was delivered at full-tilt this week.  two fruitful, brisbane-based workshops, devoured by nine extraordinary tasmanian designers, culminating in the completion of nine extraordinary, new tasmanian designs.
loading our precious protos in the dodge (l-r) master craftsman Jye Edwards, Street & Garden Furniture Co. director David Shaw, and Design Tas GM Rye Dunsmuir

noteworthy highlights?  our mentor, David Shaw, delivering us to Brand + Slater Architects in his fabulous ex-Vegas dodge… enlightened moments behind-the-scenes at metal fabricator, Rockpress… a beer-fuelled presentation (at west ends über cool watering hole, Depo) to haled designers from Luxx Box, Derlot,and the curators from Artisan… and, of course, the buoyant feedback received for our newest luminaire - a flat-pack version of pod luxe - 'bolb'!  

watch this space for details on the official unveiling of our future-friendly creations in september.

euro-meets-wildlife watering hole, Depo - co-founded by director of award winning design studio, Derlot, Alexander Lotersztain.  the mans prolific!  

the ultimate flat pack?

constructed entirely of wood.  clever interlocking joinery (not a nail in sight!).  these spectacular seventeenth century curves are hauntingly familiar, wouldn't you say?  perhaps we were channelling the adroit russian carpenter responsible for Kizhi Pogost, when we created our timber lights? centuries beyond the build, this marvel of the architecture world still stands on its little russian isle as testament to the beauty and durability of sustainable design.  envisioning a cotton pendant illuminating each of its twenty two domes… what do you think?

photos: Laban66 and Matthias Kabel

latitude love

this stunning transformation of the classic cage light is credit to the innovative disposition and modernist propensity of perth designer Flynn Talbot.  an industrial decorators dream, 'Latitude' perhaps takes its name from it's ability to direct the light in whichever angle you wish - indirect uplighting, downlighting, spotlighting… options endless. ourselves? we plan on moonlighting with a sleek teal number, post haste.

tasmania by hand

whilst tassie revels in it's rep for covetable goods forged by the hands of it's inhabitants, few people are aware of the enormous expense involved in transporting these precious wares across the bass and into loving homes on the mainland... and beyond.

next month, our little island incubator will deliver five gifted artists and makers, under the creative collective known as Tasmania By Hand, to melbournes exclusive Design:Made:Trade show. throw a little support (and some dosh) their way via their Pozible crowd funding site here.

flat.stack.fold

Q. how do you stuff a grand, incandescent bovine into a humble envelope?

good question!  and perhaps a tad ambitious.  but we are eager to to explore the possibilities when Design Tasmania kicks off the second edition of their flat.stack.fold (FSF13) workshops next month.  acknowledging our conundrum (large leather pendant seeks petite packaging for future-friendly travel), Design Tas selected us to take part in their four day, bi-state intensive, alongside seven other forward-thinking furniture designers.  expertly guided by Street & Garden Furniture Co. director, David Shaw, our flat-packed, stacked and folded creations will be unveiled for public scrutiny in september.

finnish light carving

sculpting shadows in milano last month was multifaceted, nordic designer Mari Isopahkala and her de stijl inspired batons of waxed birch wood.  in possession of a skill set spanning product, furniture, textile, jewellery, light, exhibition and interior design, it would appear versatility is key for this prolific creator.  it's a sentiment reflected in her Sculpted Light collection which features primary hued, rotating rods with the cunning 'ability to direct light where most needed'.  needless to say, Mari's website houses a generous trove of inspiration - cast your eyes thisaway…

portrait sitting

merely one of the many brilliant creations to emerge from last months Salone Internazionale del Mobile (aka Milan Furniture Fair) was this ingenious range of baroque chairs by japanese design studio, YOY.  sure to tick boxes for both apartment dwellers and those with a penchant for Heston-esque dinner parties, YOY's 'Canvas' collection is actually just some cleverly inked elastic bound to a wood and aluminium frame.  now, whilst the comfort factor is questionable, you are most definitely assured of a good conversations starter.

launch love

2:15 to spare?  encapsulated in this two minute reel are the sensory highlights of Design Tasmania's Autumn Launch Party.  of course, you can skip to 1:17 for a gander at the luminous pod luxe pendants, but we highly recommend a full viewing so as to appreciate the splendid sampling of local artistry, and rather awe-inspiring craftsmanship of wood turner, Brad Moss.  better yet… pop over to The Design Tasmania Centre and soak up this superb showcase in person.

green inside (and) out

hot pops of cool colour adorn the vibrant pages of aprils Inside Out.  flip to page twenty for the leaders of the pack, featuring one, rather fetching, electric blue baroque. with vivid hues all the rage, these beauties are 'flat-out' proving that carbon neutral doesn't also have to mean pigment neutral.