here comes the sun

As I wait for the sunshine in Melbourne I’ve been looking back at my holiday photos of Samoa, white beaches, swimming holes and amazing people…

the secret beach near our hut

To Sua Ocean trench... yep 30 ft climb down eek!

two Samoan cuties!

our hut for 5 days

 

lost world!

ah Samoa…. I cant wait to come back! x mp

click click- Behind the scenes at the shoot for the summer 2010 look book.

Photographed by Chris Von ( who has shot the last 4 campaigns for obus) at local artist Jacqui Stockdale’s studio on a  cold but sunny day, our model Lana ( from giant management) was a good sport getting into those  bathers  and silk dresses to produce some stunning shots!

The hair and make up was done by the talented Nadja Mott, and she also created that beautiful head piece by sewing lots of trims and trinkets together.

It was a busy two-day shoot as Kylie and Brigiitta (Obus design assistant) styled, pressed and sewed on the final touches to garments. All photos from the shoot can be viewed on the obus website.

www.obus.com.au

“Which Bank?”

Westpac with style… On Safari!!

Ta-dah! A true facelift for our friends at the Westpac QV Branch. Obüs visual merchandiser Hannah Bradmore created this fun window concept as part of Melbourne Spring Fashion Week!

Nicholas Building Open Studios

 Last Thursday and Friday night, many Melbourne peeps (including myself) ventured into the heart of the CBD to a beautiful place called The Nicholas Building. This wonderful piece of architecture houses tons of artists who practice across a huge range of disciplines.  Every year these artists open up their studios to the public to show off, make contacts and sell their amazing creations. Every studio also puts on free wine and snacks which is a HUGE bonus after a long day and certainly helps getting up and down the stairs! 

 

I have quite a number of friends who have studios’ in the building and I love visiting them and spending time in such a unique environment.  

Amina McPhee and Rhiannon Smith's 9th floor Studio

Natalia Milosz-Piekarska 's fabulous jewels!!!

 Once the general public left at around 9pm, the music got turned up and we all danced till late among the jewels! A RAD night was had by all.  cj xx 

 Photos from the +handmadelove+

Miniscapes

I went to an art exhibition called ‘The Brunswick Show’ a couple of weeks ago at an  amazing place called  ‘Donkey Wheel House’ on Bourke Street in the city. If you have never heard or been to this place before, you must. The show was held in the fascinating space pictured below and features an array of visual and sonic delights including performance, sound scape, video, painting, sculpture and more.

To my suprise,  I noticed the wonderful work of Clea Cregan. The mastermind behind ‘Miniscapes’ You may have seen these remarkable ‘ter.rar.i.ums’ instore the last time you visited us.

These ”Miniscapes’ merge desktop gardening and design to produce beautiful living sculptures, perfect for bringing a sustainable slice of nature to your home, office or studio! Check out the pics of Clea’s work in store from a few weeks back. They were such a lovely addition to our space and did wonders for the overall feel in the shop. A little bit of nature goes a loooong way.

you were in my dream… by Isobel Knowles and Van Sowerwine

You Were In My Dream is an interactive stop motion installation showing as part of Experimenta Utopia Now. Isobel Knowles and Van Sowerwine have been working on this amazing and very inspiring piece for a year!

Click the link below to check a sneak peek online, but for the full experience a visit to the show is a MUST!

http://www.youwereinmydream.com

EXHIBITION DATES:

12 February 2010 – 14 March 2010
Open Sunday – Thursday 10am – 6pm
Friday & Saturday 10am – 8pm
All ages welcome/Suitable for all ages FREE!
www.experimenta.org

homegrown garden goodies…

Yesterday I pickled the cauliflowers from my garden. After a weeks holiday in Tassie they weren’t looking as nice as in the photo below so it was the best thing I could think to do with them! Anyway, they look lovely now in jars with vinegar and chillies and spices, and hopefully they will taste lovely too! I also harvested my beetroots, which turned out to be beetrooty colour on the outside but white on the inside which was VERY strange! They made a very odd looking but still tasty borscht!

rmit graduate painting exhibition highlights…

I went to the rmit graduate painting exhibition last night… A couple of my favourites by Beca Hannah and Lisa Czapnik are below. Lisa used beautiful hot and pale pink jersey combined with crochet panels in her works. I also especially loved Beka’s crocheted jellyfish… they reminded me of swimming amongst jellyfish in an inland lake in Palau (in Micronesia) a few years ago. The lake has been disconnected from the sea for so long that the jellyfish have evolved without stingers as they have no natural predators… they’re now just lovely peachy transparent blobs floating and blobbing around all day long with not a care in the world.

beka hannah, (I’m sorry I didn’t get the name of these beautiful jellyfish…)

 

lisa czapnik, untitled

 

 

Inspiring handcraft…

I found this beautiful piece of embroidery amongst piles and piles of traditional Turkish fabrics in a tiny shop in Konya, Turkey. The shopkeeper laughed at my choice, and over a glass of apple tea explained to me that the piece I had chosen was not Turkish at all but of Nomadic origin, probably from somewhere around Turkmenistan. The embroidery is made of many different types of threads and colours and is coming unravelled in places. This piece of fabric formed part of my inspiration for the current Obüs summer range, and inspired two of the signature prints for the range, the Nomad jersey print, and the silk Embroidery print… BTW Konya is the burial-place of the famous Sufi poet Rumi… I was there to visit his tomb which was AMAZING…