It’s now less than a month until Life Instyle Melbourne. Are you going? I am! Today, I’m pleased to share with you a first look at the look books for Life Instyle and Kids Instyle and share with you a few of the exhibitors I’ve got my eye on.
Tag: life instyle
Remember the fabulous Style Lab launched at Life Instyle Sydney with Jane Frosh and Lucy Weight from Cool Edie’s? Well it’s back for the Melbourne fair and Julia Green and Jacqui Moore from Greenhouse Interiors will be the stylists doing the honours. Exciting!
You may have enjoyed my interview with Julia last week. If not, you should totally read it if you want to be inspired!
Style Lab explores the elements of style and creativity through a series of changing scenes, designed and created live each morning of the August event. Julia and Jacqui will create a different theme each day, allowing visitors to witness the creation of a real life photographic studio set, using exhibitor products and industry trends to build and grow a concept on the spot.
Is it that time of year again already?! Registrations are now open for Life Instyle at Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building, with a new slogan ‘defy ordinary’. I like it.
The trade event, from 1 to 4 August, welcomes a line-up of close to 300 carefully selected exhibitors representing premium, bespoke and design led products across homewares, giftware, lifestyle and children’s products within a beautiful, intimate shopping environment.
“Following the success of Life Instyle Sydney, we continue to push the envelope, raise the bench and add colour and excitement to our program. The exhibition has received overwhelming support from trade and looks forward to welcoming a high calibre of exhibitors this year,” says Amelia Coote-Harris, exhibition manager. Visitors can expect to source from industry heavyweights such as Telegram Paper Goods and Seedling as well as new faces such as Armadillo&Co and Samantha Wills Stationery.
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This year’s Life Instyle Sydney
Can you believe this was my first ever visit to Life Instyle? It definitely has a very different, more boutique feel than the other trade fairs and I really enjoyed it. Despite skipping most of Kids Instyle (not my bag) there were still plenty of beautiful wares to look at. Here are a few of my favourites.
My favourite stand belonged to Mrs Darcy (originally of Ada & Darcy fame). I love Kellie Collis’ colourful designs. There were plenty of new things, like gold chevron cushions (just when you think you’ve seen enough chevron you realise you need some gold chevron in your life!), gorgeous girly robes, hand creams and candles. Her floral textiles are just beautiful.
I also stopped by my favourite Voyager Candles’ stand for a sniff, went nuts over the paper goods at Bespoke Letterpress, admired the new Cool Edie’s paint colours at the Murobond stand and fell in love with everything at Bonnie and Neil (gorgeous new bed linen and ceramics mean even more places to use their gorgeous and colourful designs in your home).
Who is going to Life Instyle this week? I’ll be there on Friday and Sunday so please say hi if you see me (thanks to having this blog, you all know what I look like!)
Life Instyle Advisory Board member and design futurist, Genty Marshall, from New Black Global Trends, has outlined some top trends predications to watch out for:
NEON BRIGHTS: coral, yellow and turquoise will continue to be popular
CURRY POWDER YELLOW: a warm colour that is expected to appear in a range of interior products
MINERAL GREEN: multifaceted emerald continues to sparkle and fascinate, bringing luxury and elegance to the palette
Want to learn more about using social media for your business? Maybe you’ve avoided it so far because you think it’s too difficult or you’re too old or it’s not for you? Maybe you’ve got a business Facebook Page and you’ve started playing around with Instagram but you want to know how to make it work for you, and make sure you’re not wasting your time?
I’m running a free one-hour roundtable discussion at Life Instyle where I’ll share my secrets and the common mistakes I see from my social media clients in the interiors and homewares space.
Places are limited and you must book, so don’t hang around! Book here now!
The Life Instyle lookbook is now online too. Check it out.
The ladies at Cool Edie’s are the latest stylists to team up with Murobond on their own paint range, and very cool it is too.
Jane Frosh and Lucy Weight have come up with four colours: a matt black (of course), a gold, an almost-emerald green (how on-trend) and a peach.
“We wanted a set of colours that really represented the Australian interiors industry as it stands and our Cool Edie’s approach to styling. A matt black (Cool Edie’s Religion), because it directly reflects on Cool Edie’s, our religion if you will. Who doesn’t love a matt black? It neutralises all other colours and adds a tough, chic element to any interior.
“The gold, well, does that need explaining?! Gold is a sense of humour, a touch of glam, a pop of insanity, hence the name Confetti Bomb. Boom! It just reeks of fun and parties and frocks and laughter.
1. American heavyweights Pottery Barn, West Elm and Williams-Sonoma are all hitting Australian shores for the first time ever and opening in Bondi, date to be confirmed.
2. The Block All Stars starts in the New Year featuring four favourite double acts from previous series. I’ve already had a look around the houses in Bondi and I can’t wait to see how they all turn out. In my opinion, they can’t fail to sell for a small fortune!
I’m beyond excited about the latest initiative from Life Instyle. Style Lab is a new interactive concept, in collaboration with Jane Frosh and Lucy Weight of styling house, Cool Edie’s. I love those two and their work!
The concept will be unveiled during the trade fair’s first event of 2013, held at Sydney’s Royal Hall of Industries & Hordern Pavilion from 21-to-24 February.
Style Lab will explore the elements of style and creativity through a series of changing scenes, designed and created live each morning by Jane and Lucy. “The importance of creativity and style has always been at the heart of our events,” says exhibition manager, Amelia Coote-Harris. “We’re excited to introduce an interactive element this year and to be teaming up with the Cool Edie’s team, who share our passion and vision.”
Life Instyle, the trade event for premium and boutique brands, has opened registration for its first event of 2013, held at Sydney’s Royal Hall of Industries & Hordern Pavilion from 21 to 24 February.
Delivering a mixture of beautiful designer brands and products across categories such as homeware, giftware, lifestyle, kids and baby, the acclaimed trade event is held over 4 days and hosts 300 carefully selected exhibitors leading the way in innovative product design, aesthetic and latest trends.
Is it really that time again?! I ran the City 2 Surf in Sydney this morning (anyone else?) and this comes to you from the couch where my legs and I are currently in a world of pain! Anyway, back to this week’s best bits…
- Jaclyn Carlson from Life InStyle gave us a roundup of last weekend’s Melbourne trade fair where neon was all the rage. See the pix here.
- At a time where everyone’s saying print is dead (trust me, as a journalist for the day job, I hear this all the time) it was great to see magazines like Belle and Luxury Home Design show huge circulation increases in the latest readership figures.
- Speaking of magazines, Inside Out founding editor Karen McCartney has joined the team at online homewares store Temple & Webster as editorial consultant. Not to mention the first issue of Inside Out came out since Claire Bradley replaced Richard Waller as editor, and it was a cracker in my opinion.
- I shared the top three bathroom trend predictions.
- I started a new regular feature called Folded Corners and kicked off with telling you what I’m coveting from the latest issue of Real Living magazine.
- Homewares store Whiteport published an interview with me on their blog where I talked about how I juggle blogging with my job as editor of a business magazine. You can read it here.
- These sustainable and very beautiful lamps were popular with readers.
- I had a good whinge about my spare room and how spare rooms in general are so often awkward and under-utilised spaces. You’ll be pleased to hear I made a start on transforming mine this weekend with a lick of fresh white paint. How’s your spare room looking?!
- On Etsy Tuesday I shared some cute nursery artwork inspired by Mid Century furniture.
I have a real treat for you tomorrow with a beautiful apartment project by Melbourne interior designer Christopher Elliott. In the meantime, check out the last project he shared with us here.
I hope you all have a great week!
Perhaps it’s a sign that summer is just around the corner but Life Instyle Melbourne, Australia’s boutique trade event, was absolutely bursting with pops of colour this past weekend and I’m here today to bring you some behind the scenes photos from the show…
It’s official, neon continues to emerge as the season’s top trend and love it or hate it, store shelves will soon be stocked with bold, bright products just in time for Christmas. Pink and yellow reign supreme so if you wanted to brighten up your home or need some interior inspiration, you’ll be in luck!
Love Pinterest? Love stylish interiors? Want to win a grand? Oh, okay then. Check out this cool competition from the Life InStyle trade fair which launches today. I’m delighted to be a judge in great company with stylist Mr Jason Grant and blogger Lucy Feagins of The Design Files. Everything you need to know about entering is below.
“We’ve always embraced social media as an integral part of our overall event strategy and have found Pinterest to be an extremely valuable channel in which to connect with our core audience, says exhibition manager Amelia Coote-Harris. “Life Instyle was founded on the principles of style, quality and design, and Pinterest provides us with the perfect platform to interact with a global audience that shares those values.”
Have you registered for Life InStyle Melbourne yet?
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Maison InStyle postponed
The much-anticipated inaugural Maison Instyle trade event has been postponed until next year, it was announced today. The event had received great support with over 1,000 interior designers, retail buyers, wholesalers and stylists signing up to attend. Feedback, however, from the Maison Instyle Advisory Council and other industry leaders has been that to enable as many brands and companies to participate, the event should run at a later date.
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Sharing the design love
It’s been a good week for sharing the interior design love. I’m going to be guest blogging for Life InStyle’s new look blog and I also shared some of my favourite design blogs (including Kelly Wearstler, Anna Spiro, Mr Jason Grant and decor8) with decoration+design. Will you be attending these great trade shows in Melbourne?
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Why not say it with succulents?
I received this divine blog first birthday gift from the Life InStyle and Maison InStyle teams last week. I think it’s such a great alternative to flowers and lasts so much longer. Also easy to transport home (who else has battled, slightly embarrassed, home on the bus with a bunch of flowers?) and will last for ages! The packaging design is really cute and the grey pot will go with everything. PLUS you could send this to a guy (not that I don’t know plenty of men who wouldn’t mind receiving flowers but maybe that’s indicative of the interiors industry!). I’ll definitely be considering Say It With Succulents next time I need to send a gift. What do you like sending as a gift instead of flowers? I think cupcakes have had their day! Check out Say It With Succulents today! They have a Mothers Day competition running on their site at the moment.
This year the popular August trade fair is moving from Flemington to a new, convenient location at Centenary Hall Precinct, Melbourne Showgrounds. Bringing the industry together, this new venue creates a stylish hub for all your sourcing needs so save the date! Register here.
Despite my best intentions I only made it along to one of the three trade fairs in Sydney this week and it was Home & Giving. I think stylists, decorators, retailers and buyers across the country are probably breathing a collective sigh of relief and pouring themselves a large glass of wine this evening. It’s been full on!
I really enjoyed Home & Giving. My favourite stand belonged to Have You Met Miss Jones. I had a great chat with owner Jennifer Jones, who seemed to be run off her feet taking orders all day. And it’s no surprise as her new stock is gorgeous. I’ve long been a fan of her bone china ornaments but now I’m eyeing off some colourful clay pottery, especially the orgami range of vases.
My favourite new discovery was Picket Fence Imports (their website doesn’t do their stock justice), where I drooled over vintage glass (like the 1920s jars below), baskets full of industrial bobbins and piles of old crates (including Coca Cola crates), most of which is imported from the US. TO DIE FOR. A stylist’s dream PLUS no minimum order!
I loved these giant glass bottles at Villa Maison.
And I was really surprised by how nice these battery operated flameless candles from Enjoy Lighting were. They even smell! Seriously, they’re good. Check them out. And this is a great little business success story too. They’re exporting them all over the world.
Which fairs did you go to and how were they? I heard nothing but good things about Life InStyle.