Of all the many festivals Melbourne hosts each year, the State of Design is my favourite!
The festival officially started yesterday, and this morning I went along to the Blogger's Breakfast, held inside a cardboard bubble at Design:Made:Trade in the Carlton Exhibition building. Not that I would really call myself a blogger, I mean I have a blog, and I blog on that blog, and if you say blog too many times it kind of sounds like you are saying it wrong. But Lucy from the Design Files (a real blogger) and Pip from Meet Me at Mikes (retailer, author and super-dedicated blogger!) were the guests of honour and had some very insightful things to say about the online web log world.
It's interesting to me to see an 'industry' develop itself over the years via ordinary people who just have a passion for something (many of whom have no professional experience in web design or PR or writing). To see something like a blog become successful organically in a make-it-up-as-we-go-along kind of way is great, because so many things these days and planned and focus grouped and market/advertiser driven, it's nice to bring it back to the 'personal'. To see those people have extra success in their careers via their blogs is also awesome.
The other thing nice thing about this breakfast was that even though blogs may be accessible from anywhere in the world, to meet and catch up with local people you have met through or gotten to know better via their blogs is a lovely thing. It was so nice to see familiar faces there this morning - Lucy, Susan, Shannon, Kate and especially Shelley (whom has been through so much in the last month, her smiling face was a testament to how amazing a person she is!).
Ok, anyway, yada yada blogs are awesome on so many levels - I know you know it, so I won't go on.
After eating too many mini-muffins I whisked around Design:Made:Trade and here are my favourite finds:
RetroModern have a rad idea... take mid-century modern furniture that has either a) seen better days or b) maybe was one of the less-attractive designs of the time (marble laminex anyone?) and restore/redesign them into a contemporary piece of furniture - to your specifications! Maybe they should take a gander at some of my local opshops...
Even though they're specifically designed for Macbooks (sigh), these Aegis laptop sleeves are made from 100% wool felt and come in nice colours. They do phone and camera cases as well!
Felt was definitely a theme at D:M:T. Hand felted from lambs wool here in Melbourne, Kyoko scarves are beautiful and delicate... The info on Kyoko Osato's about page sums up my (ideal) clothing aesthetic exactly: "Designed to be practical with simple structure, colour palette and aesthetics. The combination of all these elements gives the textiles a 'less is more' timeless look that goes beyond disposable trends."
There was a beautiful dress by Klei that I can't find online, but it sort of looked a bit like this, with pockets. Klei are quite multidisciplinary - clothing, ceramics, jewellery... I liked their clothing the most, and from the looks of their blog they are currently expanding their range.
And finally Cloth. Ooohhhh I love Cloth... everything, remember? They have a rad new range of Hemp rugs and a wallpaper collection in conjunction with/for Porter Paints. Patrick, how do you feel about living in a Cloth showroom? Great, see you there.
2 high fives:
yay.. blogs are awesome :) and you are totally a blogger! i love this post & your thoughts on the blog world.. totally agree with you.
Tess, it's scary as we picked up pretty much the same cards from the same businesses...snap. And yes, totally agree with your point re: the freshness and greatness of passion-driven make-it-up-as-we-go blogging and am sad to think it might not be that way in the future.
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