Hot Spots: handmade for you

Friday 13 August 2010, 2:42 PM
By The Team | Posted in People

You don’t need an international boarding pass to come by that hand-crafted woven ikat backpack or custom-fit pair of selvedge denim jeans. Melbourne is abundant with crafty artisans who know how to use their hands and keep their production local.

Here are a few of our favourite city-dwelling artisans.

J.S. Roberts: Handmade Footwear and Leather Goods

Fancy yourself a gentleman dandy or lady about town? Well, then, you’re going to need the shoes to match that devil-may-care swagger. James Roberts is just the man to shod you, hand-crafting bespoke footwear from his perch in manly haven Captains of Industry.  

Pony Bikes

If you don’t think bikes come under the artisanal umbrella, then you haven’t been to Pony Bikes. No-nonsense lady owner Sasha custom-builds small masterpieces for you to ride atop, as well as offering repair, paint, powdercoat, and restoration services. Visit her West Melbourne workshop for consultations and general hang-outs.

AD Jewellery

Master gold and silversmith Michaela Bruton has turned her hand to jewellery-making with a selection of earthen-inspired crystal necklaces and rings. She forges these gems from her studio in West Melbourne, and they are available exclusively for sale at Alice Euphemia.  

COUNTER at Craft Victoria

Craft Victoria’s retail hub COUNTER is the mothership of all things handmade and local. With everything from hand-moulded ceramics to hand-knitted egg cosies, it’s the perfect place to find a unique gift that special someone (or yourself, if you’ve been good).

Image credit: Elizabeth from Primoeza

Hot Spots: meet The Treasury’s Emma Grace

Tuesday 10 August 2010, 12:00 AM
By The Team | Posted in Events

Waste not, want not – and still look a bajillion dollars in your recycled bling. Emma Grace runs The Treasury, an eco-friendly jewellery workshop where you can make shiny new appendages using your dated doo-dads.

Hot Spots caught up with Emma and found out how upcycling works (it doesn’t involve riding up hills), what happens at a Treasury workshop – and plenty more.  

Emma Grace, what inspired you to begin The Treasury?

For a while now I’ve been aware of the tension between two of my greatest passions: fashion and the environment. The Treasury resolves this tension by bringing the two together. Encouraging people to repair or make new jewellery out of ‘loot’ from home draws together the skills and creativity of my jewellery practice and my passion for sustainability.

What should people bring along to class?

Treasury workshops focus on fashion jewellery, so bring along old broken jewels, out-of-fashion pieces in need of a refresh, found objects that lend themselves to wearable art and any ‘upcycleable’ materials (such as metal) that may be handy.

You can also bring ideas or images of things you want to create. And don’t forget that all-important plate of food to share – shared food makes this a true community event!

What kind of jewels can we fix our loot into?

People are always really surprised at what they can fix and how creative they get with their designs. We get all the basic repair jobs (gluing brooch backs on, replacing catches etc) out of the way early, then focus the main part of the session on being creative with our materials.

I’ve had students make necklaces out of porcelain knick-knacks, brooches out of soft furnishings and rings out of doll’s accessories. Not to mention the endless possibilities of re-making necklaces just by adding (or taking away) an element or two.

Where are your favourite places to plot world domination in the city?

The recent influx of rooftop bars in the city delights my feline penchant for height and sun, but the idea for The Treasury was actually conceived at the HiFi Bar – there must be something about sticky carpet, claustrophobia and stimulation of the auditory senses that puts me in the right frame of mind for plotting world domination.

What do you love about Melbourne?

I love the love! The passion that we Melburnians have for our city and the constant flow of ideas and projects being dreamed up and realised is forever inspiring me.

Which other Melbourne-based creative projects do you admire and enjoy?

Bus Projects, Craft Victoria, The Clothing Exchange, Thread Den, Eco Innovators… the list is endless!

What do you have planned for The Treasury in the coming months?

Apart from world domination…? We’re planning a series of guest artists and designers to star at The Treasury classes and are planning to take the show on the road over summer – stay tuned!!

LINK:

The Treasury

Hot Spots: MATERIALBYPRODUCT

Wednesday 21 July 2010, 11:05 AM
By The Team | Posted in Events

Fashion label MATERIALBYPRODUCT has joined the State of Design Festival this year with a free public event, Performance: Lace by Design. The pair behind MATERIALBYPRODUCT, Susan Dimasi and Chantal Kirby, have taken lace as their inspiration, creating a performance exploring the use of this delicate and seductive fabric.

The pair is also fascinated by the concept of a portable fashion house. Want to know what that entails? So did Hot Spots. So we went and asked them about their latest adventures.

 What is your approach to garment-making?

There are two fundamental approaches to shaping cloth for the body. One approach is to pick it up and wrap or hang it around the body, known as draping. The other approach is to cut and join it into shapes to clad the body, known as tailoring.

MATERIALBYPRODUCT fuses both approaches, producing a new silhouette for the 21st century.

What inspired your current Ballchain Chandelier collection?

A love of historical chandeliers, as well as the industrial ball chain that’s commonly found on household blinds.

Your collections are very much about the exploration of everyday objects. What kind of materials do you most like to work with?

We like to work with silk and have been inspired particularly by curtains.

For MATERIALBYPRODUCT, the curtain forms reference antiquity, a period when the same piece of cloth could be worn as a draped garment, used as a blanket to sleep under at night, or hung as a curtain or partition. As a modular outcome, curtain pieces have the potential to reduce the amount of product designed, produced and consumed – while not denying the sense of enrichment well-designed fashion, interiors and architectures provide.

Other materials we have worked with include the industrial ball chains – and, in the past, wood paneling.

What can we expect from your State of Design event, Performance: Lace by Design?

A reflection and examples of MATERIALBYPRODUCT’s work that references lace in innovative ways.

Tell us about the portable fashion house concept.

MATERIALBYPRODUCT has always identified with the famous European fashion houses and, as a result, we have interpreted the modern and relevant version of a fashion house today a portable fashion house.

Our portable fashion house also denotes MATERIALBYPRODUCT geographical distance from these traditional houses. The notion of a portable fashion house is playful and fun but it also contextualizes the rigor and design language embedded in the MATERIALBYPRODUCT brand. The exploration of the portable fashion house has allowed us to harness ambiguous moments in the design process.

What’s next for MATERIALBYPRODUCT?

More fashion luxury and ease embedded in great design.

LINKS

MATERIALBYPRODUCT
State of Design Festival
Performance: Lace by Design