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Art Homewares

Rachel Kennedy on leaving her job to create whimsical art

With respective backgrounds in graphic design and sales, Rachel Kennedy and her husband Jarrod found that working for others left them wanting more creative freedom. So, they began designing a small range of greeting cards and distributing them among local retailers, the response was overwhelming and Rachel Kennedy Designs was born.

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[contextly_sidebar id=”wjwNCEOr10RcFxJA6BmsZNcgjsQPMpz4″]Since then, the brand has grown to offer gift-wrapping, greeting cards and swing tags, as well a unique collection of wall art prints. A stunning combination of free-form art infused with on-trend applications, like typography and gold foiling, their latest collection is entitled Into The Blue.

“Our newest collection Into The Blue is inspired by my love of the ocean,” explains Rachel. “Which has really been home to me throughout all stages of my life. It’s been a safe place and a place of rest and refreshment and I wanted to capture a small piece of her nature in this series.”

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Featuring whimsical watercolours and acrylic hues, alongside free-spirited hand writing in black, white and gold, the newly curated range is already making waves having been featured on The Block and used by Bec Douros.

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Within the collection is also a range of designer stationary including swing tags, gift-wrapping and greeting cards, adopting the same distinct and vibrant watercolours with words of love and inspiration.

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Created using locally sourced materials and crafted around the corner from their Northern Beaches home, all products are made to the highest possible environmental standards; from the use of vegetable and soy based inks to the recycled papers and ecologically approved wooden frames.

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Art

Renowned photographer George Fetting opens online gallery

When at age seven George Fetting picked up his first Kodak camera, there was no going back. Since that fateful day, he’s gone on to have a diverse and noted career, winning a number of photographic prizes including Capture Magazines Australian Travel Photography of the Year — twice.

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Now, George has decided to take his carefully archived images and turn them into an online gallery, covering everything from ethereal seascapes, contemporary landscapes, seductive flowers and abstract art.

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The gallery, entitled Photo Editions offers artworks in a number of sizes, edition numbers and price points, meaning greater choice and accessibility. Committed to providing corporate, private and investment collectors a beautiful selection of art, the works span a large part of George’s career and include many of his favourite pieces.

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While the imagery is quite diverse, the real aim of Photo Editions is to display beautiful and captivating works of art, many of which have never been seen before. George’s passion for travel and exploring new places means there will be a constantly evolving range of unique and original imagery on offer, with the gallery being a long-term ongoing project.

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Art Designers Homewares

Page 33 and Blacklist collaborate on a unique light box

Don’t you just love it when two of your favourite brands collaborate?!

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Page Thirty Three, creators of functional artworks and objects, have taken their 2010 release, the Cinematic Light Box, and given it a fresh new twist thanks to their partnership with Blacklist.

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As one of Australia’s favourite stationery, prints and paper goods companies, Blacklist have provided custom lettering and iconography for the Cinematic Light Box.

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Entitled Artist Collaboration No.1, once the limited edition run is sold out, Page Thirty Three will partner with a range of other artists to continue to create truly unique artworks for the home.

The Artist Series Cinematic Light Box goes on sale 25 May (though is currently available for pre-order) for $440.

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Furniture Homewares

Beautiful and ethically sourced rugs from Argentina

A collaboration between two photographers — one from Argentina, the other from Australia — Pampa represents the coming-together of two worlds, two visions and two cultures.

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Specialising in handwoven rugs, fine art photography prints and this year the introduction of two lines of handwoven cushions, Pampa ethically sources their products from Argentina.

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Most proud of their handwoven rug collection, each and every rug is a one-off piece, handpicked from the indigenous community where it was designed and woven. The techniques used to make the rugs are part of the fabric of Argentinian tradition, heritage and ancient knowledge.

Using patterns and designs passed down through the generations and inspired by nature, the rugs are woven on traditional looms in a process that can take more than six weeks. Once off the loom, the rugs are finished by joining two woven panels with a central seam.

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Believing in a world of ethically made and fair trade products, Pampa deals directly with their artisans. Paying a fair price for their products helps guarantee the weavers receive the working wages they deserve. Profits from the pieces are used by Pampa’s artisans and their families to cover day-to-day living costs such as buying food and clothing, paying school expenses, accessing medical care and sourcing new tools and materials for weaving.

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Pampa rugs, cushions and fine-art prints are available from select stockists around Australia and internationally. Customers can also buy directly through Pampa’s online store.

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Art Homewares

Artist Tracey Keller’s cushion covers for animal lovers

With a hugely unique aesthetic, Tracey Keller has been creating quirky kaleidoscope-style animal paintings to critical acclaim.

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Popular with celebrities and even yours truly (my family has one of Tracey’s originals!), her work is showcased in many of Australia’s leading galleries and has exhibited around the world.

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And now, animals lovers can get their hands on one of Tracey’s artworks at a super affordable price (think $35), thanks to her new range of cushion covers, which are bright, happy and include the signature Tracey twist.

Silky smooth, with a beautiful animal print on one side and a plain off-white colour on the other, they feature black piping and a hidden zipper. With 10 designs on offer, everything from cats and dogs to elephants and pandas, the 45x45cm covers are perfect for updating old drab cushions.

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Art Designers Homewares

Markit@FedSquare, showcasing the best in Australian design

Melbourne always has the coolest events and Markit@FedSquare is one event I’m very disappointed I won’t be attending!

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Occurring twice a year, Markit@FedSquare showcases the very best in Australian independent design. On Sunday 24 May, from 10am-to-5pm, Federation Square will become a shopping mecca with 100 of Australia’s most talented creatives selling their own ranges of homewares, ceramics, jewellery, clothing, stationery, and limited edition artwork and prints.

All products are handmade by the designers themselves or ethically manufactured in limited runs using sustainable production methods and locally sourced materials. Entry is free.

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Categories
Art

Distinctive and beautiful photography direct to your home

In an exciting creative collaboration, award-winning Melbourne photographer Elizabeth Bull, has partnered with photographers from around the world to bring handpicked, distinctive and beautiful photography to the general public.

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Coming together under the business One Fine Print, the collection will primarily be available through their website, as well as a pop-up showcase in Melbourne’s Fitzroy, running until 26 April.

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“Our aim with One Fine Print is to bring people beautiful and unique photography that they might otherwise not get to experience,” says Elizabeth. “There will be no need to trawl through looking for treasure; we’ve created something that until now has been difficult to find: a curated forum of unique, bold, intriguing large photographic prints that people can take home and enjoy.”

Each photograph is printed on high-quality, museum-grade cotton paper and embossed with the official One Fine Print authentication seal, to indicate that the piece has been selected and inspected by the team.

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The pop-up showcase will also host satellite events throughout the month of April, in which people can come and hear the stories behind the photographs.

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Art Furniture Homewares

Online shopping fix: Seventh Lane Textiles & Homewares

While Ashlee Farrell is busy designing beautiful and colourful cushions and wall prints, her boyfriend Kal, is lovingly handcrafting unique reclaimed tables refurbished from old pallets.

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Together, their designs form Seventh Lane Textiles & Homewares, a business Ashlee has always dreamed of owning.“Ever since I was a little girl, I always loved decorating. While both my sisters were playing with their Barbies, I was redecorating the doll house! Fast forward 20 years and not much has changed, except now I’m designing original and inspiring homewares to use in real life homes!”

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Designing pieces that can easily be mixed and matched, they try to stay away from the transient current trends. “Creating that peaceful, happy, vibrant and eclectic home you crave is less about following this season’s trends or studying those all-important style rules. It’s about knowing who you are and reflecting your values and beliefs into a space that says: ‘I live here’.”

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Categories
Art

Affordable art from VISIONS means no more empty walls

Believing art should be accessible and approachable for everyone, VISIONS’ motto is: “No empty walls, no mass production and no huge price tags!”

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Delivering a diverse and interesting mix of limited edition art prints from across the globe, all works are at an affordable price point. With a collection of art that cannot be found just anywhere, artists included textile and fashion designers turned painters, digital artists from the Tumblr generation and photographers pushing the colour and print boundaries.

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VISIONS work with their artists and photographers to select each series’ individual specifications, including quantities, sizing, paper stock and printing techniques, so the final selection is small and refined. Collections are curated as a series, however each print also works as an individual.

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Art Homewares

Urban Road’s latest affordable canvas art: Sanctuary

Urban Road’s new Sanctuary collection features 29 affordable canvas artworks and five new double-sided cushions designed to coordinate with them.

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Delivering almost too much choice, the 2015 Autumn/Winter collection offers everything from light and bright florals to moody seas.

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Available from 16 February, all canvases are matte artist quality with 38mm deep timber stretcher bars and come strung and ready to hang. Sizes range from 40cm x 55cm to 120cm x 160cm, with prices starting from $120. Light enough to hang with removable hooks, they’re a renter’s dream!

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For more information.

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Homewares

Olivia’s Fab Four Insta-Finds 18.12.14

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Olivia’s Fab Four is a weekly post that features my favourite finds on Instagram for the past week. To be in the running, all you have to do is hashtag your product photos #oliviasfabfour and tag them with my handle: @oliviashead.

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Here are this week’s beautiful products (clockwise from top left)

1. Handcrafted Artisan Round Wooden Serving Board in Ruby Red, $45, from Rustic Sands. @rusticsands

2. Dream big little one print, $15, from The Eye Spy Milk Bar. @theeyespymilkbar

3. Christmas collection, $15 each, from Meraki Soy Candles. @merakisoycandles

4. Pom Pom Concrete Planters, $34.95, from Meina Farala Home Decor. @meinafaralahome

 I’ll be back with more next week! Olivia x

Categories
Art Homewares

Festoon: affordable and beautiful plywood prints

With a dream to one day run her own design business, Pinky Makaude spent several years working in both design and marketing.

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Careful to make sure her creative drive was matched with a good business sense, it was time on maternity leave that saw Pinky take reign of her career by creating Festoon, her long dreamt of design business!

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Launched last year, Festoon’s main products are a collection of colourful plywood prints designed by Pinky herself. With styles ranging dramatically from floral, landscape and geometric, they are designed firstly as hand sketches, before being digitally finalised and printed onto plywood.


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Also selling adhesive wallpaper, furniture coverings, furniture accessories and prints on paper, Festoon is committed to developing and managing the creation of unique and quality interior design products. With a belief that Australian designed and made products brings back the genuine quality of things, all products are a reflection of our nation’s design talent, craftsmanship and local industry.

Festoon also offers graphic design services and product development. To find out more information and to shop online visit their website.

 

Categories
Art

The latest gold foiled prints from Papier d’Amour

Gold + typography + positive affirmations = my idea of fun! I’m loving the latest print series from Papier d’Amour. Which will be your favourite?

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Do what you love

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Categories
Art Homewares

Affordable, unique artworks from New Henry Design

After a diverse life filled with varied jobs, study, creative ventures and motherhood, Brisbane-based Jade Goulding has finally found her calling: New Henry Design. Primarily offering a range of artwork and photography prints from her online shop, Jade also offers artwork commissions, interior design services and product styling.

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“New Henry is an outlet where my ideas and ability to create connect with people who desire and appreciate beautiful and interesting spaces,” explains Jade. “My artworks have evolved over time to become an eclectic mix of styles. Whatever is taking my fancy at the time is what I experiment with, from ink, watercolour and acrylic, to photography, digital and graphic design.”

With three collections featured in her online shop, my favourite has to be the Bowerbird Vintage Style Collection, an artwork series which had been an idea of Jade’s for quite some time. “I have this collection of encyclopaedias that I have wanted to do something with, plus ink paintings, plus some graphic design, plus finding files and images that I love. It just all come together to create this lovely tangible culmination of ideas that have been rattling around in my heart for a while.”

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The Word Series is a highlight for Jade: “Words are powerful, and if you have something stated on your wall, it will influence mood and atmosphere and relationships.”

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Jade also stages homes for sale as well as doing product styling. “I really enjoy styling because I love putting stuff together to create beautiful scenes, functional spaces, and visual harmony. I also love to help people find their own style and organise their lives better to make sure their space is comfortable and inspiring. It’s my dream job, and I just want to work on things all the time!”

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Homewares

Online shopping fix: The Eye Spy Milk Bar

Behind the handmade wooden homewares, the custom-made and personalised pieces and the range of inspiring prints for your walls, is father and daughter duo Ray Leetham and Katy Thomas.

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As the masterminds behind online boutique The Eye Spy Milk Bar, Ray makes all the wooden homewares and Katy adds the finishing touches, which often feature a little paint and glitter job! Katy also designs all of the prints in Melbourne, loving the fact that she gets to keep the whole design and manufacturing process local. “In a world where so many things are made overseas, it’s refreshing and unique to bring the handmade element to life,” explains Katy. “Our aim is to create a range of fun homewares at an affordable price. We take everyday items and look to inject a splash of colour, a personalised element or a mix of interesting patterns and textures.”

A keen collector and design enthusiast, for many years Katy had been taking orders from her friends for her Dad to make a range of custom-made homewares. The interest continued to build to such an extent that she decided to launch The Eye Spy Milk Bar Etsy store last year, to house the collection of her Dad’s handmade homewares and make taking orders that little bit easier.

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With many of the pieces custom-made, all products can be configured to fit a customer’s exact requirements or personalised for the perfect gift. “A customer might have specific requirements for a bedside table and we love creating something to fit. We don’t like to work in mass-produced quantities, but focus more on creating and designing custom-made pieces or a limited run of each piece.”

With many of The Eye Spy Milk Bar’s homewares perfect for weddings and events, you can also hire some of them for a special day, including wedding signs, benches and ladders. Most items ship Australia wide, with larger pieces being delivered within Melbourne’s metropolitan area. Shop online.

Categories
Art

Illustrated art by Morgan Connoley of Colour & Skulls

I spotted this talented young illustrator’s work on Instagram recently. Morgan’s 28 and a graphic designer living on Victoria’s South Coast. Her work, under the banner Colour & Skulls, features a mixture of pencil, watercolour and digital media.

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For the day job, Morgan works as a graphic designer.

Check out her work and buy online at her website.

Categories
Homewares

Online shopping fix: Ma and Grandy (plus 10% off everything for readers)

Harking back to the 1930s, Brisbane based paper goods and homewares brand Ma and Grandy, is all about encompassing the pre-war era.

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A range including limited edition cushions, A4 art prints, wood brooches, single greeting cards and card sets, it’s the old-fashioned notion of sending a note in the mail ‘just because’ that really gets founder Natala Stuetz’s heart singing.

“I’ve always loved greeting cards and am a big hoarder of things like that,” says Natala. “There’s nothing better than sending and receiving a handwritten note – they’re so much more personal. I’d love for our modern society to put down their smartphones, step away from the email and remember a time when the handwritten note ruled!”

With their wonderful typography and vibrant colour palette of mustard yellows, electric blue and gelato pinks, the Ma and Grandy range is one of delightful simplicity, made even more enchanting by the story behind the name.

Ma and Grandy were Natala’s actual Ma and Grandy (grandmother and grandfather) whose real and wholesome love saw Natala’s whole family be in awe of them. So for Natala, the name choice came easy: “It seemed so natural to represent these two amazing people through my work and continue their legacy.”

Ma and Grandy is offering Interiors Addicts 10% off everything for a week from today using the promo code Interior10.

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Categories
Art

Affordable Aussie art prints, packaged with love

Starting her own online art print boutique, designer Pia Watson wanted to tick three boxes: “to be affordable, [have the products] made locally and have them arrive packaged and presented with love and care.”

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With this mission in mind, Perri Luxe was founded and since launching late last year, has already produced a myriad of bold, bright and contemporary prints.

“We love colour and experimenting with colour,” explains Pia. “We don’t necessarily design to market trends but rather design based on styles, patterns and themes we are inspired by and colours we love together.”

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The idea came about when Pia was sourcing artworks for her and partner Matthew’s apartment and finding that many of the pieces they ordered online weren’t as expected when they arrived in the mail. “Some looked great online but were different in real life and if we were able to buy something framed, the print often arrived bubbled. Not to be disheartened, we saw an opportunity for us in the online market.”

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All the prints are designed by Pia, often with the help of Matthew, and while colour is a central theme, she is now working on a black and white series. With a dream to one day open up her Sydney studio space to the public, for now, you can buy Perri Luxe online. Shipping is free.