knowyourproduct

are you game?

2012-01-06T13:09:00.000+11:00

Tetris is certainly the all-time classic 'think quick' hand-eye video game. And if you've ever been around when we are loading the van with fresh stock for the shop, you will have seen it's practicality as training for real-life situations ...

But have you tried 'first person tetris'? An amazing javascript variation which makes it a whole new ballgame (block game?).
Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger? This one just makes us dizzy!

ancient modern

2011-12-21T23:55:00.000+11:00

Dunno how we haven't come across these before - about the most beautiful bottle opener in the world ... Nambu Tekki crows.

Nambu cast iron dates from mid 17th century Japan. Originally the technique was used to create ceremonial iron teapots, but is now a well established craft, with the black color the result of a rust resistant urushi glaze.

Can't find them for sale here (again!) - but love them enough to be considering an online purchase, if it comes to that. They sell 'em at Mjölk ... hmmmmm.

vintage home office

2011-12-16T09:51:00.002+11:00

Sadly they don't ship to Australia, but US retailer Restoration Hardware have come out with some really nice looking vintage themed leather office furniture we really like ...

Or for the traveller - perfect for that 10-week steamer trip to Europe ...

And to accessorize -

Good, old-fashioned, hand-tooled leather fun.

sofa alternative

2011-12-15T14:20:00.001+11:00

Totally forgotten where we saw these, but would love some for 'round the house.

Rockin'.

voyeuristic fun

2011-12-15T14:17:00.000+11:00

We always enjoy a bit of a browse thru apartment therapy - great website, with never-ending inspiration and ideas (interiors and lifestyle-wise). They post regular 'house-tours', some really nice, others ... well, other. This one, posted from LA a couple of days ago, is right up our alley.

Fella named Mark who bought his 50's house and became only it's second owner. He has been very strict about keeping it totally original, and it has paid off magnificently. There are 20 or so photos on the house tour - you should take a look!

From a brand you can trust!

2011-11-30T18:55:00.000+11:00

Well, the batteries in the DVD remote finally ran out today, which gave us our first opportunity/reason to look at the old ones ...

Not a company we know much about, but a bankable name, for sure.

by wire ...

2011-11-24T21:41:00.002+11:00

With Summer looming, the verandah at the farm needs a bit more chairing up (as with most spots around our place, need may be a mild exaggeration), and we have been hunting for something to compliment our long-time favorites ...

Of course, the problem is that any new addition has to be vintage, look good, and have a decent pedigree ... oh, and fit our budget if possible.

Today things came together nicely - we were off to Richmond to deliver some chairs and thought we should take the opportunity to check out the recently launched Permanent Collection on Burnley Street. A great stop all 'round. The store is stocked with some officially fantastic mid-century pieces, Charles is a lovely chap to chat with, and ...

... a vintage (c.1950) local-production of the sweet Bertoia 420c side chair - quietly waiting for us. With nicely cracked plastic-coating and just enough rust developing to fit in with the verandah's current set, she's just the thing.

Joy. So now we just need maybe one or two more nice bits of white wire and ... oh lordy ...

Like Charles Eames, Harry Bertoia's sculptural chair designs from the 40's+50's have become fodder for those 'reproduction' monkeys (MattBlatt, Click-On, Sokol, etc, etc) who are getting low-quality copy furniture SOOOOOO cheaply from China and populating every real-estate brochure and carbon-copy renovated house in the western world. So we know that for $149 (+ delivery) we could have as many of those $12 (wholesale - check alibaba.com for a laugh) knock-offs as we please ... but does the world really need to put our dwindling resources into turning classic design into disposable, paper-plate chairs?

As for the originals ...

A vision of tomorrow before we humans got together and trashed it!

the evils of shelving ...

2011-11-13T14:24:00.000+11:00

We were chatting with some 'vintage fans' the other day, and the conversation turned (naturally enough) to 'what are you collecting these days?' ... both of them had a good specific answer - one was hunting 50's plastic squeeze-toys, the other was accumulating vintage ceramics by a specific Australian potter.

Both of us were a little less defined as to our current 'things'. Looking around the house today I get the feeling that perhaps we are collectors of shelving, with a view to giving more homes to our collections of collections ...

Perhaps a sample or two?

Every flat surface seems to be an excuse to accumulate ... oh lordy.

love a job once it's done

2011-11-13T11:55:00.001+11:00

Ages ago, we picked up a set of 4 dining chairs - Parker model #26, 1963 - a design we really love, and had not had before. They came with a table (which we restored and soon re-homed though the shop), but the chairs were in extremely pre-loved condition.

All the frames were pretty loose, the upholstery had holes, and those fantastic 'spade' backrests had serious damage to their veneers. If they weren't the best-looking chairs in the world, we might have given up ...

We re-glued the frames so they were all as strong as new, but have been totally stuck since then on what to do ... re-covering the seats is no problem, but the damaged backs were beyond our abilities to repair (and the cost of getting an outsider to re-veneer would make the chairs unsellably pricey), so they have been resting in the shed for months.
This week, inspiration struck - refinish the backs in matte-black enamel and see how they look ...

So we stripped the seats and re-covered them in a nice full-grain leatherette, then got to work on smoothing out the spades ...

And, of course, polishing up the rest of the frames ...

After a whole lot of sanding and smoothing, the time has come. Found a nice low-sheen black enamel paint, which would conceal the sins of the past, and a big roll of masking-tape to protect what needs it, and set to painting ...

We gave them 7 coats over 24-hours, and were really excited to find that the grain texture of the timber shows through the enamel. Bit more sanding, and polishing the backs, and it's time to re-assemble.

We're really happy with the result ... now the only problem is going to be parting with them ... still, they're going into the shop today, so we'll see.

Post wall art in Berlin

2011-11-12T13:35:00.001+11:00

Sure, it's an ad - but what an ad!
A 'mobile phone event' product launch by LG - with absolutely astounding 3D projections onto the facade of a building in Berlin. Seven minutes of madness ...

Thanks to boingboing for the original post and footage ... wow.
So what's next? Banksy's holiday snaps as a slideshow on Westminster?

do you do the do's and don'ts?

2011-11-04T18:29:00.000+11:00

We do love a cruise thru the Vice mag's archives, and usually get stuck on the DO's and DON'Ts for hours - slice'o'life street photos with captions that sail thru nasty, gross, cruel, and mostly right-on ... this one's not even X-rated, so ...

DO

You think you’re into design but you’re not a true furniture snob until you can say your ass has never, ever touched any of those tacky subway seats.

There you go, fun enough and nobody got hurt ...

DON'T

There is nothing worse than bumping into your ex-boyfriend on the train. So bury your head in The Adventures of Petalwink the Fairy and try not to make eye contact with that immature freak.

Anyway, it's mostly fun ...

Have a spooky night, everyone ...

2011-10-31T16:25:00.001+11:00

Cut him open, scooped out his guts and made a fire inside ... and then we made soup with his innards - now that's proper ghoulish.

oh good.

2011-10-31T16:20:00.000+11:00

Found in a lake near a nuclear power plant in Argentina - a 3 eyed fish (left) closely resembling Blinky, the fish caught in Lake Springfield almost 20 years ago ...

Plenty of online reports if you want to know more ...

Not saying the fish would have been any less ugly if he had the standard 2 eye configuration, but it's just not as funny in real life, that's all.

In other news, so far no reports of mutated wildlife in areas of solar power generation.

tim-berrr ...

2011-10-20T18:17:00.001+11:00

In a perfect world, your nan would call you up tomorrow and tell you that you're ready to inherit her old 'woody' station-wagon ...

Or was she a van driver?

Either way, it's about time that all these designers coming up with sleek carbon fibre mod cars realized that a boxy vehicle with some wood panels is all the world really needs.
Though there are limits ... eg: Lee Stoetzel's wooden Kombi Van. Not for the splinter-prone.

cabinet craziness ...

2011-10-20T18:05:00.003+11:00

Sideboards are always pretty popular in the shop - seem to be the 'must-have' interior item of this end of the 21st century ... perhaps even more than those repro eiffel-base Eames shell chairs the real-estate agents insist on including in every house photo you see.
This past week we have had a stream (or at least a few) people asking if we had any more tucked away in storage (sideboards, not repro Eames chairs). Good motivation to dig deep into the shed and take some photos. Now we just wish we had a few more lounge-rooms so we could fit a few more in at home.

And that's the ones we could get to!
So - if you're looking for something really nice in the way of Scandinavian made vintage storage, please pop by the website or contact us and get us motivated to move 'em on!
Thanks.

mmmm, dark ...

2011-10-09T16:51:00.000+11:00

As a 'look' for the interiors of our place, we have been leaning towards the lighter end of the spectrum.
The main walls are pale mud (mud-bricks made from the clay out of the dam), and this summer we plan to make time to paint out the rest of the place in white. Most of our furniture is teak, with a mix of olive-greens for upholstery and the ceramics and bits'n'pieces we're collecting up. We have gradually been stashing away a bunch of chairs in beech and maple timbers to brighten up the front room - which will hopefully give us a pretty breezy feel.
But, gee, seeing this interior makes you think ...

A country house in Nordsjælland, Denmark, the styling is pretty amazing - a timeless sort of 'lodge' look.

You should take a look - the place is pretty nice. The photos (by Birgitta W. Drejer) are from VartNyaHem, via MyScandinavianRetreat. We'd live there if we had to ...

thanks steve ...

2011-10-06T18:37:00.000+11:00

Love 'em or hate 'em, apple corporation have become the design touchstone of the current generation. They have made some very beautiful things and stuck to the 'Think Different' commitment Steve Jobs gave.

RIP Steve, and thanks.

tough times

2011-09-29T15:58:00.002+10:00

Well then ...

After a few years of rampant and undisciplined chair collecting (we classify most of the collection as 'stock' to help us feel better), we have finally picked up our first 'proper' Featherston chairs ...

Sure, we have had plenty of his Aristoc pieces, which we love, and a few of the crazy 'numero' chairs in various forms, but never anything from the early 1950's 'Contour' range for which he is most well-known.

But this week ...

... a couple of super-cute D350 dining chairs have come into our lives. So sweet and small, and more usable (to us) than the lounge chairs. They need a lot of love, restoration and refreshing, but that's pretty much our favorite part of the job.

So here's the problem - from a purist's point of view, the chairs should be left in their original state - worn upholstery, scuffed timber, missing buttons - proper evidence of 60 years of life. It may masquerade as respect, but there's a bit of cynical 'protect the re-sale value' in that attitude. If they were oil paintings, I'd say leave them exactly as they are ... but we reckon commercially produced consumer goods should be maintained and refreshed to keep them living on.

But we want them to have a future as well as a past ... AND they do have to fit into the family up at the farm too!

So, yeah, one grey chair and one red one are going to look a bit out of place. We want them to settle in and play-nice with everybody .... so the hunt is on for the perfect vinyl to freshen 'em up. Promise they will be going to the most respectful and professional upholsterer we know.

We'll keep you posted.

solar gets niftier

2011-08-11T11:16:00.000+10:00

We're in the process of upgrading our solar setup at the farm - graduating from 12v to 240v, which means bigger panels on the roof, and more of 'em. That's an exciting prospect, but seeing this incredible development makes us wonder why EVERY roof and wall in the world isn't decked out ...

Marketed as 'solar ivy', it's a pretty beautiful looking setup - loads of small photovoltaic cells all clipped to a mesh that feeds your battery and beautifies at the same time.

Pretty nice, huh?

Or maybe we'll just move to Palm Springs ...

2011-07-14T11:59:00.000+10:00

Sure, every decent town has it's enclaves of nice modernist architecture ... driving through parts of Kew, the back-blocks of Toorak, or the side-streets of Beaumaris reassure us that Melbourne was well-blessed during the 60's.
But Palm Springs!

That combination of Hollywood dollars, mega-star extroverted reclusiveness, and the future-inspired architects working out of California in the mid 20th Century made for a pretty cool little area.
These are pics of William Krisel's work - haven't seen much of it, but it looks kind of nice.

From an interview Krisel gave to Dwell magazine a few years back -
My ideal project is a tough challenge with a minimum budget and lots of conditions to be met. I like doing houses with a minimal square footage that have all the comforts of an expensive place; budgets and costs aren’t criteria for doing good design. Design is design, and it has nothing to do with dollars and cents.

"Here's a story, of a man named Brady ..."

2011-07-14T11:41:00.000+10:00

Despite the near-continual re-runs that made the Brady family a part of many of our lives (in the same way generation Y will remember the Simpsons forever), we sometimes forget ...

The perfect family, sure ... but later we realized that it was the perfect house that was the best bit ... the central lounge, Mike's fantastic home-office ... that great open-plan kitchen and dining area ...

Too cool - I think Mike Brady was the inspiration for a generation of architects ... maybe?

Would love to live there ... maybe we should hang onto the plans in case we somehow end up with a construction budget and a nice spot on a sunny suburban street ...

Thanks Sherwood Schwartz ... RIP.

mo' faux

2011-07-06T22:10:00.000+10:00

Is it a mac? Is it timber?

Nope ... but you knew that already.

Let's work together to cover everything bland in woodgrain contact.

whew ...

2011-07-06T11:08:00.000+10:00

Hey, sorry we've been a bit quiet over the last few weeks. Been cooking up a shiny new website for KYP!

We kind of knew it would be a bit of an exercise trying to move from an online catalogue to having an online store ... but it has given us plenty of perspective on just how much stuff we collect (and how much we love it all, too).

There's nothing like taking half a dozen photos of each item, and then measuring and weighing and describing it, to remind you of what you have stashed away.

It's been pretty fun though - and today we 'go live' - hope you like it ... we are pretty happy with things so far.

But we thought she was a good girl ...

2011-06-15T21:28:00.000+10:00

Down at the toy shop today we were curious about the new packaging design on the Barbie dolls ...

Not even pink stickers ... we checked with Greenpeace - hmmmmm ...

The video campaign is pretty compelling too.

got 5 minutes?

2011-06-03T19:15:00.000+10:00

no special effects, fixed camera, good fun ...

another nice interiors blog ...

2011-06-03T14:01:00.000+10:00

KYP friend Catherine sent us a great link a couple of weeks ago - you should check it out ...

The blog is called The Brick House - it's a sort of 'renovation diary' combined with a generally amazing collection of interior ideas and inspiration by a Californian gal named Morgan Satterfield ... along with some decent DIY tips ...

It's fun checking progress and development on their house - with a nice collection of furniture which evolves as the diary goes on. She is also working on an ebay store for some her renovated finds ...

We kind of suspect that it was the Brick House entry on woven wall-art that prompted Catherine to send us the link tho ...

You should take a look sometime. Oh, and thanks for the link, Catherine!

new wall-hanging

2011-06-03T12:01:00.001+10:00

Loving the strong Australian dollar - great time to scan US ebay for those bits and pieces that are so tricky to find here ...

Last week Cath scored a new bit of string wall-art on ebay - we think the design is based on a Yeti? Whatever the case, he's fitting right in with the others.

Actually, it might be a free-form portrait of 'Sam the Sheepdog' from the old Looney Tunes cartoons - the fringe is a bit of a giveaway ...

We'll live with him for a while and see.

Oh, and we finally got around to covering one of our Fler SC55's in green fabric - so there's another exciting addition to the loungeroom.

trying to be strong ...

2011-06-02T15:01:00.000+10:00

Saw a photo of a crazy and beautiful phone at that 224 collectibles auction in Sydney a couple of months back. Never seen one before, and had been comfortable in the knowledge that we never would again ...

Then this one showed up on ebay this week.

It's in the UK, and would probably take some expert work to convert to work on Aussie phone-lines ... but still ...

Seriously - it's got to be one of the maddest telephones ever designed - 'Bobo' by Telcer, Italy. And in green, dammit!

Being realistic, I don't think we can justify it - it's 180pounds plus another 30 or so for shipping - even the maddest collectors have to have limits, don't they?

Torture ... if you see one for a more reachable price, please let us know!

welcome to winter

2011-06-02T14:48:00.000+10:00

Sunny and clear - just hasn't been feeling like winter up at the farm ... until the sun goes down and then it's freekin' freezing!
Everything's looking so nice though ... can we just keep pretending it's spring already?

Still building the woodpile just in case ...

mmmm ... woody ... again!

2011-05-27T18:12:00.000+10:00

Not the most groundbreaking innovation, but people seem to be astounded and confounded ... lots of "Where did you get that???" comments.

The hard part was choosing what colour woodgrain we liked best, but after that it was just a quick session of snipping and the veneer was on ...

Hey presto - a woodgrain macbook.

Will take a pic of my dodgy 'faux-timber faux-mac' Toshiba at some stage - always good to see the evolution of concept.

ugly can still be beautiful

2011-05-27T11:09:00.000+10:00

How to make an eyesore make people smile ...

rearrangement

2011-05-21T12:38:00.000+10:00

Always nice to freshen things up with a big re-jig at the shop ... anybody walking past on Friday would have thought we were converting to a sidewalk market - everything out, chairs all over the place ...

But by sundown it was all back in and looking good again ... ahhhh.

Now it's time to part with a few pieces and make space ... for the next rearrange.

open fire!

2011-05-12T21:37:00.000+10:00

After maybe 2 years of scouring ebay and generally keeping our eyes peeled, we finally got lucky on a fireplace for the farm.
The house has a little potbelly stove, which does a pretty good job of warming things up, but only takes really small logs, and lacks the 'open' factor we've been longing for - can't see flames, so how can it be warm?

And besides, there are enough fallen trees around the back paddock to feed a serious blaze every night of the year ...
We've been bidding on various copper 'hood' thype things - very 70's, but definitely the right shape for our space. They weren't coming up too often, and we got outbid on at least 3 or 5 we were serious about ... just never quite got lucky on a sub $300 one within driving distance.

Got kind of excited seeing one not too far from home, with a caramel coloured enamel finish. This is how it looked on the listing -

We did a 'what the hey' and put in a fairly serious bid, then left town (and internet access) for a couple of days. Whadda you know - got home and there was the congratulatory message in our inbox ... ours for $60!
The seller was really lovely, AND had it all neatly dismantled and packed up for us at pickup time. We wrapped everything up and filled the van with all those bits of flue and chimney that you kind of forget about, and took her up to await installation.

Promise, soon as the rain lets up I'll get up on the roof and cut that hole ... how hard could it be?

street art

2011-05-06T13:08:00.000+10:00

Yes vs No.

Good fun. And it used to just be a wall.

David Lynch, odd man.

2011-05-06T12:03:00.001+10:00

Like that's a revelation.

Was over at Door Sixteen a couple of days ago (a reliably interesting blog, for sure, by a reformed Manhattanite - Anna), and was totally entralled by this commercial. David Lynch selling his own brand of coffee ...that would be David Lynch Signature Cup Coffee, of course ... and what a compelling ad he has made.

David Lynch Signature Cup Coffee from David Lynch.

Just a glass of water for now, thanks.

woody clocks

2011-05-06T11:53:00.000+10:00

Love fake woodgrain, love clocks ... some selections from our collection ...

The classic nasty plastic cuckoo ...

Traditional Smiths wood-face ... dad had one of these on his office wall in the '70's, and we've managed to pick up a couple over the years.

Our Junghans, with what appears to be woodgrain con-tact for decoration ...

This is one we received from Sweden - originally it was electric, but a bit temperamental - new works, new hands, good as gold now.

Of course, no collection of woody clocks feels right without a few plastic woodgrain animals on the walls around them ... we have a few deer-head barometers, but our cow-head with cow-bells (souvenir of Salzburg, no less) is extra-special.

Her (his?) face is flock-coated for extra realism (despite the scale suggesting that the beast may have been the size of a chihuahua at time of mounting). Good kitsch.

nice place ... i guess ...

2011-03-31T21:39:00.000+11:00

Do you frequent apartment therapy? It's a good regular stop if you're interested in interiors - not always gold, and with an American flavour (or is that flavor ... not sure, it's cheesy either way) more often than not - but a fun regular browse.

This place was a bit of a recent standout for us. A rented warehouse loft in LA, inhabited by proper cool folk - we'd evict 'em and move in in a trice.

If you like the look, make sure you click the 'enter tour' link for a gallery of 30+ photos of the place.

On a serious note, though ... their lounge (photo below - LigneRoset "Togo") - if you have one of these sofas that you need removed from your loungeroom, please get in touch. Cath's on a mission to find one ... sadly, they don't seem to grow on trees and nobody's left any on the nature-strip for us.

One would be fine, but if you have more, we'll make room in the van. You won't even have to help carry it out!

Thanks.

collecto-mania

2011-03-31T21:14:00.001+11:00

We haven't been up to Sydney for a while, but have oft admired the wares of 224 - Lucas Callaghan's store in Bondi - on the net. By the looks, they have just had a major sellup via auction.

Amongst a clearly passionate collector's collection of classic 20th century collectibles were some amazing and quirky bits and pieces ... wish we'd been there with the means to bid.

Maybe it's for the best we missed it ... that would have to be the coolest phone ever, though.

sneak peek

2011-03-30T12:28:00.000+11:00

On the subject of beautiful things from Scandinavia ... we have finished the 'collecting' part of getting together our next shipment. As we speak, a warehouse in southern Sweden is bulging under the strain of some amazing and high-quality furniture. The spring thaw up there means that the time has come to pack it all up and ship it down to sunny Melbourne!

Time to make some space in our (also bulging, and shamefully well-stocked) shed at the farm -

Eeeek ...

anyone for basketball?

2011-03-30T12:15:00.000+11:00

A few years ago we picked up a couple of panels of reclaimed/salvaged basketball court flooring ... it was back in the days of newspaper classifieds (pre-ebay), so guess that dates them to the '90's? Back then I was driving a 1971 Kombi van, so the limited carrying capacity meant we could only buy 2 panels (that and the fact thet they weigh nearly 100kg each, so they're not super-easy to cart around.

At the time it seemed like a good idea - over the ensuing years they have acted like they were just symptoms of a bad hoarding habit, hiding under a tarpaulin, waiting. They look a little scruffy now, but with a little love they will be very nice, for sure.

Finally steeled ourselves and carted them up to the farm this week. After the strain of lifting them in and out of the van, we decided to put wheels onto the undersides ...

So our mission over the next few weeks is to give them a light sanding and a bit of a varnish - get them looking as good as they should. Won't remove the coloured lines, of course. You have to have boundaries, yeah?

Once they're done we'll have a nice surface to photograph some of our gorgeous new Scandinavian furniture on ... stay tuned.

readers digest again ...

2011-02-15T13:50:00.000+11:00

November 1964 ... great articles, quotable quotes, unbeatable advertizing ...

new chairs ...

2011-02-15T13:41:00.001+11:00

So our farmhouse decor is decidedly stuck on a theme - pretty much everything in the lounge and dining areas is woody and/or forest-green. It's a scheme that gives the room a calm sort of cave-ish feel, and it definitely links nicely to the eucalypts that grace the view from every window.
It sort of just worked out that way, started with our super-amazing dining chairs, who have reigned for a few years now ...

... and we have let fate keep it rolling - the right piece, with it's original upholstery in the right green.

So we felt pretty lucky to come into possession of a set of dining chairs this week fitting the criteria. They're a style we have always admired - Model #26 by Parker, made in 1963 - and of the set of 4, there are 2 needing serious restoring. In the interim, of course, the other 2 were looking for a home (guess it will be temporary - once the damaged pair are back to full health they may have to join a matching table we have in the shop).

We have seen these chairs a few times over the years, and always thought they were enormous ... almost too big for a regular room. Just last week we brought in a new dining table however, and the table's pretty much big enough to bring any chair down to scale.
So there you go - another bit of 60's green fabric that means we need to make space in the house. Thanks universe!

no accounting for taste ...

2011-02-11T16:32:00.000+11:00

For some reason we have come to love these woven wall-hanging things.

We have collected a few over the years - always pretty large-scale, and in nice mixes of natural tones. We now have 5 or 6 of them around the farm - all different, but definitely tied together thematically.

The thing is ... we have tried them out in the shop a few times - thinking that they are great pieces of mid-century decor, perfect for a 70's den - and folks just don't seem to like them ...

... maybe it's just us - hopefully folks will get it one day!

Very excitingly, we found a fantastic new one last week - super fantastic, don't bother denying it! it came straight into the house, and found it's perfect spot immediately.

Craft ... art ... science?

skram-azing

2011-02-06T15:55:00.000+11:00

Our old (2005) laptop kind of clapped out about 12 months ago (crippling!), but after a couple of weeks at the doctor's it's back up and running with some fresh ram and we're all happy again.
One fun thing about reviving an old computer is revisiting forgotten folders of images and folders ... found a photo of a crazy-looking chair by a company called Skram ...

It's a pretty irresistible shape - like a cartoon of a 50's danish design? Went off googling to see what they have been up to - plenty more kooky stuff out there. They're based in North Carolina, USA, so we are far enough away not to be tempted to blow the rent on a mad chair (again), but would love to see some of their pieces in the flesh.

Wow.

readers digest ... social barometer

2011-02-06T14:54:00.002+11:00

We have been collecting vintage Readers Digest mags for a few years now ... great and dated articles, and those invaluable opportunities to Enrich Your Wordpower being great motivators. But the advertising is a major highlight ...

All of these are from the same issue - June '61 - but seriously, every month is just as good, even the '80's ones.

Seriously.

a special mention goes out to the marvelous Caterpillar corporation for telling it like it was - the headline says it all - "Today's bush - tomorrow's farm" - helping us tame this once overgrown land of ours.

As the saying goes ... read 'em and weep.

sounds good

2010-12-08T11:04:00.002+11:00

In a world of add-on accessories for the accessories we all feel we need, ipod extras are everywhere ... so many variations on docks and speakers and electronic amplification out there.

A canadian company called Science&Sons have made about the coolest - and it doesn't need a power source. They are on to their third incarnation of the 'Phonophone' - a ceramic horn which increases your pod/phone's volume to a pretty respectable 60dB, using old-school gramophone technology.

Surely as elegant and clever a solution as anyone has come up with ... below are pics of the 'Phonophone I' and 'Phonophone II' - both also amazing looking pieces.

So clever.

We have admit, though, we are pretty satsified with the results we get from sitting the ipod in a glass vase or fishbowl (no fish or water) - it can pretty much fill a room off it's own steam ...

new brood

2010-12-03T09:34:00.000+11:00

In other news, this great rainy spring has really motivated Mr and Mrs Swallow up at the farm ... 5 new chicks - just as ugly as the last clutch!

refreshment

2010-12-03T09:30:00.001+11:00

After a couple of years of talking about how the shop needed a freshen up, we took the plunge last week and did it. Took us a few days (and many van-loads shifted into temporary storage), but we emptied it out and gave the store a re-paint.

Walls, floors, ceilings, all white ...

So nice and clean we were tempted to just keep it that way ... maybe just pop the mac on a desk hooked up to our website so visitors could pick what they liked and we could deliver direct from storage.

We spent the weekend re-stocking, though. Pretty pleased with the outcome.

Now we just need to keep it tidy. Love a challenge!

roadside critters

2010-11-12T20:45:00.000+11:00

Native fauna sightings from 'round the farm (other than the ubiqitous kangaroos, of course) ...

... so you know how turtles are really slow ... we saw him on the road around a blind corner (100km/h zone), starting his crossing. By the time we had stopped and turned around and gotten back he had made about 10 inches of progress and looked to be facing a 5 to 10 minute trip across the road. So Cath picked him up and took him over to the other side ... he wouldn't pose for a photo after, though.

Less shy, but pointier ... just hanging out by the side of a dirt road, thankfully no need for picking up and moving.

nice rooms

2010-11-12T20:30:00.000+11:00

just a couple of pictures we like ...

... nice little office setup, put together by a Swedish - Louise Svensson for GUTS. We came across it amongst some great finds on emmas designblogg - a Stockholm lass who sources interior inspiration and posts some neat selections and links.

Okay - how's this for a loungeroom?
By B&Bitalia - via the fantastic doorsixteen blog - also well worth a visit.

kindred and kool

2010-11-12T14:46:00.000+11:00

We are terrible late-night blog-surfers ... you know, find one entry that hooks you and you can write off the next 2 or 3 hours.

The latest one we're loving is kitka design - layer upon layer of nice and interesting. A couple from Toronto, Canada, Juli&John run a cool-looking store called Mjolk (pronounced Mi-yelk), stocking a range of Scandinavian homewares.

What has made their blog so much fun is that as well as info about what's happening at their store, their travels, thrift store finds, and there are loads of updates as they renovate and redecorate their home (above the shop, it appears - which we can relate to), which they document with passion. And their tastes are not too shabby either ...

Clean and minimal ... enviable restraint ...

AND we have really enjoyed following the progress of their do-up on their 'country place', which was an old family holiday home which they are bringing back from years of neglect and turning into something pretty special. Again, a theme we live and love ...

Super-nice work thus far, guys. Maybe we'll cross paths around the arctic circle sometime?

for your convenience ...

2010-11-11T11:57:00.001+11:00

Almost forgot ... our web address has been streamlined. For those who find themselves getting too tired typing in -

You can now save precious seconds with a swift -

for the same satisfying results.

phew!

2010-11-11T11:48:00.002+11:00

From this ...

... to this!

That's major progress. The shed is done ... and pretty full already ... definitely need to do some work on our 'good use of space' techniques. We're pretty happy though - and getting plenty of use out of our allen-key collection turning it all back into furniture.

This is DEFINITELY the fun part ... assembling, polishing, repairing, cleaning ... we just have to stop picturing everything in our house and start imagininging more of it in the shop! We are taking pics and gradually getting it all onto the website now - so keep an eye out.

update on the swallows

2010-11-11T11:35:00.000+11:00

Been a bit lax on the blog these last few weeks ... seems to bee lots going on offline ... we'll do our best to catch up.

In baby-bird related matters, there has been much progress. After all of their hard work, Mr+Mrs Swallow successfully raised a brood of 5! (we talked to a few people in the know, and all seemed to think that of the 5, one or two wouldn't make it to bird-hood, so we have been pretty pleased with the outcome.). The last couple of weeks, the nest has gotten ridiculously crowded - think the parents have had to sleep outside some nights. This photo shows mum and dad, and one of the babies - the other 4 are all crammed underneath ...

Pretty funny. Last week there were lots of flying lessons, and family trips to the dam, and it looks like all the kids have now packed up and moved out.

Gluttons for punishment, the adults have been repairing the nest again, and swooping us when we go near, so it looks like another clutch of eggs have been laid.

flipped

2010-10-15T12:48:00.000+11:00

Between Grand Central Station and the New York Public Library, in a city not necessarily renowned for it's great coffee ... D'espresso cafe ...

The interior was designed by Nema Workshop, and looks fantastico - a library tipped 90 degrees onto it's side.

Parquetry floor on the wall, bookshelves on floor and ceiling. The coffee wouldn't even need to that good. This interior features on plenty of blogs - try thecoolist for more pics.

god bless vinyl

2010-10-15T11:43:00.000+11:00

The postman just brought us some treats ... a few reissues of our favorite hiphop albums all the way from sunny California ... already wearing out our fresh copy of Pauls Boutique. Remember 'Hey Ladies'?

Such a highbrow bunch, those Beasite Boys ... here's an appropriately scratchy and rough copy of the video ... disco revival in the Hollywood Hills.

Beastie Boys - Hey Ladies

What's not to love?

life in the box

2010-10-15T10:59:00.000+11:00

Hmmmmm - big metal box ... so much potential. We're planning to turn ours into a lock-up workshop, maybe put a deck on top for the views, but having seen a bit of architect/artist/designer Adam Kalkin's work on architectureandhygiene, maybe we're lacking a little ambition ....

How's this pop-out cafe designed for illy (from a few years back now) - unfurls in 90 seconds at the push of a button ... and, most importantly, sells coffee!

Modding beats building anyday. Nice slideshow here, too, showing a self-contained residential application ... oh, and Kalkin's PushButtonHouse2 ... super-cool!

looks good on paper

2010-10-15T10:41:00.000+11:00

Back before fun had to be electronic and have a screen, paper dolls were a sweet way to play. So long as somebody was available to cut out the tricky bits, a printed page could keep a kid entertained for hours ...
With access to a bit of discarded packaging, cardboard boxes can take it to the next level - small for a doll's house or large for a touch of junior architecture in constructing a fully fledged fort ...

But artist Don Lucho from Chile has taken it to the next level ...

We came across some photos of his work on styleofdesign (among plenty of great reading) - just makes us want to get a few rolls of masking tape and redecorate ...

Maybe we'll wait 'til these rains stop.

the good wood

2010-10-14T14:09:00.000+11:00

A frustrating part of this amazing interweb of ours is that you get to see fantastic and inspiring things that are too far away for you to have and touch ...

Been reading a bit about Rhode Island furniture makers STUDIO DUNN who make a compact range of beautiful and sustainable timber furniture ... really like their new Kingstown stools ...

The fine, spindly legs remind us of Ponti's 'Superleggera' chair, or some of Parker's finer 60's shapes ...

We'd love them teamed with one of local craftsman John D Waters' amazing and powerful (but so light on the eye) pieces - maybe his Ironbark bench as a kitchen setup ...

Or a set of 8 or 10 stools around his Bunya Table?

A cure for the city concrete blues!

logistics, eh?

2010-10-14T13:39:00.002+11:00

Well ... the race has been run and won ... who would have though that a container of vintage furniture from Sunny Scandinavia would be able to sail halfway 'round the globe, pass thru customs, and take a truck-ride all the way to the farm faster than a pile of bits of tin ("yeah, mate, it'll take a couple of days to put up ... three at the most.") could be assembled into shed form?

EXHIBIT A (truck manouvering around bits of shed)

EXHIBIT B (photo taken standing atop container)

So there you go ... all good 'zen' training for us - a big steel box full of beautiful mid-century bibs'n'bobs, and we can't open it to unpack ... yet!

good ol' spring

2010-10-14T12:00:00.001+11:00

The rain has been a welcome inconvenience, and the temperatures are up and down in what feels like a pretty random pattern, but you know that Spring is officially here when the swallows renovate their nest and start getting territorial ...

For a couple of weeks, the pair who live on our verandah were extremely busy collecting mud, grass and feathers to get their nest up to scratch ... but not as busy as they are now ...

Totally exciting - 4 babies - all ravenous, all constantly cheeping for more ... Mr and Mrs Swallow are looking skinnier and skinner by the day, but are keeping up with a pretty extreme demand. Sure, it's a natural obligation, but for these ugly little monsters???

have you met ...

2010-10-04T13:23:00.002+11:00

A pretty nice range of interior products and sweet ideas ... haveyoumetmissjones is worth a look, whether you are window shopping or doin' it for real. Here are a few pieces we would like to try living with ...

See?

polaroid news

2010-10-04T13:14:00.000+11:00

Great news ... Polaroid have released a new instant camera, the 300! We stumbled across an update on the mrjasongrant blog, and are happy to hear.

She's a different looking camera to the classic SX-70 and 600 series we have been collecting, and produces a smaller picture, but good to see nonetheless!

Meanwhile, after years of picking up films for our old Polaroids from US sellers on ebay (and having to curtail our snap-happy ways due to the cost-per-shot factor), we were pretty excited to find that the Impossible Project have released films that are good for both the (easier to find) 600's AND for the SX-70's from a local seller on ebay ...

Could this spell the end of digital photography?

update ... excuses ...

2010-10-01T14:41:00.001+10:00

So sorry, we've been a bit slack on blog entries lately. Been juggling the shop and a bit of organizing ...

After almost a year of sourcing and seeking, buying and storing, our fresh shipment of vintage Swedish design gold has landed in Melbourne. Somehow our man on the ground in Scandinavia managed to get hold of all the things we 'needed', and (even more impressively) got it all to fit into a shipping container. Burly Swedish truck-driver Magnus is pictured below doing his bit to get it all away ...

Wow ... that drab looking steel box has enough in it to keep us occupied on polishing and restoring though most of Summer, we think. And if that's not enough fun, we'll have a container to renovate too.

Of course, what's a big furniture collection without a home? So we chose the wettest August/September on record to get a big workshop shed built up at the farm ...

Ahem ...

There have been a few delays, holdups, and the like (we've seen enough episodes of Grand Designs to know that even the most basic build is guaranteed to take longer and cost more than you imagine). After a 4 month process it seems that the 'last-minute' is when things happen.

So, according to promises from one and all, our shed should be finished on Monday afternoon ... oh, and the container is being delivered Tuesday morning. Like the Grand Final last weekend, the smart money is on a draw ... just no re-match please.

oh, and ...

2010-08-28T16:42:00.000+10:00

Another addition to the iitalla glass collection ... not a drinking glass, but fits in nicely ...

the curse of 5

2010-08-28T16:37:00.000+10:00

A few nice sets of glasses on their way into the store this week ... but what was it about those '50's and '60's manufacturers and their obsession with odd numbers?

Of course ... it's 4 and a spare ... so obvious. Or maybe a throwback to the good old days of husband, wife, and 3 kids ... but wouldn't there be a matching bowl for Fido in that case?

It does give us a sense of purpose hunting for number 6.

happy ending

2010-08-28T16:30:00.002+10:00

Last week we got a call from a lady selling a bunch of furniture from her elderly parents' house. Our stockpile is growing a little unwieldy at the moment, but said that she had called lots of shops and nobody would come over - so we went.

She had a lot of well-maintained pieces which were not quite our style - but there was this one cute little table we couldn't resist.

The lady said her folks had been keen card players and this was the table they used - it has a nifty fold-out top with a vinyl surface ... nice desk or sewing-table for a small space.

Back at the store we were giving it a cleanup and there was a wierd hollow section on the underside. Further investigation revealed that the top swivelled 90 degrees, revealing a little compartment. Not an empty compartment either ...

Turns out that not only were her parents card players, but they seem to have been reasonably successful. There was a bunch of envelopes full of cash stashed inside the table (all bundles of the old paper $10 notes) - so it was a quick trip back much to her surprise.

Just remember to take a good look before you dump that old piece of furniture on the nature-strip or send it off to the op-shop. And think back - was your grandma always referred to as "the shark" by her friends?

PS - we have a sweet little folding-top table at the store at the moment if you're looking for one, and (shhhhhhh) it has a secret compartment!

mmmm ...

2010-08-11T22:52:00.001+10:00

Can't say why, but there's always fun to be had watching Monster Moves on SBS ...

And they provide a specially composed theme song for every large structure they truck across the USA ... odd. They also do animated simulations of every potential 'worst-case' - some very pessimistic folk in the graphics department. Still fun, tho.

dig the woods

2010-08-11T21:18:00.002+10:00

One of the best parts of any stroll up the hill to Northcote 'proper' is seeing the latest installment of window-dressing-art at 'in the woods'. The current plywood bear scene is beautiful.

They have a pretty compact space, but make the most of it with great stock and fantastic display ... definitely one of this town's finest ... 246 high street ... go visit!

light fantastic

2010-08-06T10:27:00.001+10:00

Poul Henningsen. Danish design maestro. From the 1920's thru to the early 60's he was laying down the template from which many much 'modern' lighting has been traced.

His career in design apparently stemmed from observations during the early years of electric home lighting, when he observed that homes generally had bare bulbs on cords hanging from their ceilings, which he found to be ugly and harsh.

He worked for many years on variations on the idea of pendant shades which diffused and directed the light, and concealed the source.

You would have to say, his designs haven't dated too badly, huh? Many of his works from the 30's to the 60's are still being produced by Louis Poulsen, and reportedly about 50% of Danish homes have at least one example.

We have a few at the farm ...

We also have an enormous one stashed away - it's a pendant about 120cm tall with 10 or so metal rings - we plan to renovate our verandah over summer and give it a worthy place. In the meantime there are a few pendant fittings and a couple of Henningsen's desk lamps on their way to our store on a slow boat from Scandinavia, so we will let you know when they arrive.

with wool, you say ...

2010-08-05T12:24:00.000+10:00

Cath picked up the seminal 1977 edition of "exciting things to make with wool string and thread" recently. Fun book, nicely illustrated ...

Amongst the many exciting things to make (with wool string and thread, of course) are these 'witch doctor masks' which look so fantastic, but might end up being the basis for some creepy 'haunted children' type horror film in the future ... hmmmm ...

Yeah, yeah, all fun putting it on ... 'make a scary face for the camera Bradley!' etc ... but how are you going to feel walking into a dimly lit room and seeing these 3 sitting silently on the floor?

Embodiments of evil ... or maybe it's just us?

nordic but nice

2010-08-04T18:03:00.001+10:00

we were just googling to find a little more about the origins of some Swedish glassware we picked up, and one click led to another ... we came across a blog by a Canadian (we believe) couple, with super-scandinavian tastes.

Hindsvik are a couple (Daniel and Valeria) who specialize in kind of earthy industrial homewares via their etsy store ... nice things ... their blog's also really nice - with a bit of attention on their progressing home decorating project - it's looking pretty great from what we've seen.

They made this unit for their entryway from metal pipes and fallen wood ... inspiring! Here are a couple of items in their etsy shop at the moment ...

They have lots in stock - and we love just about all of it ...

Pretty nice, worth a look, for sure.

... a few of our favorite things ...

2010-08-04T17:08:00.000+10:00

Wah - back to the big city again after a couple of days at the ranch. As usual, we were sad to pack up the van and head back to town - it's all chaos and traffic in the city, pretty harsh contrast to the 'roos and trees.

Thought we'd start posting a few pics of our favorite bits and pieces from the farm ... no reason ...

Our porcelain rabbits - Mr Toothpick and his assocate ...

The dining chairs ... they are the coolest shape, and we've never seen them anywhere else. The farm had always been the (neglected and seldom visited) holiday house, furnished with everyone's 'throw-away' things. When we started heading up there in '08 our first priority (aside from getting solar power so we could see what was going on) was to donate everything to the local Salvos.

These chairs came from some neighbors in Northcote, and we fell in love instantly - NO WAY could we sell 'em. Inspired by their moquette upholstery, we have ended up doing the whole interior in a mix of mid-century pieces - all in green to match the chairs and what's outside every window ...

Over the next few months we'll keep popping up snaps of our collection. What the heck, it makes us happy ...

And walking out the door ain't so bad either ...

... enough already. Back to work.

new curtains!

2010-07-22T21:10:00.001+10:00

Good old internet shopping - we got some cool vintage barkcloth curtains in the post today.

The plan is to use the fabric on some deserving chairs at some stage, but 'til then they're a welcome addition to the place.

In other news we are pleased to announce that we found a new addition to our woodgrain porcelain collection in the form of a pretty funny toothpick holder ... classy.

... and I found the first piece of my collection of iittala tapio glasses - been seeking them for a while, so pretty pleased to have found one - another 7 and there's a set.

There's just something about that bubble.

ahhh ... Lautner

2010-07-10T12:46:00.001+10:00

Well, it took us long enough, but we finally sat down and watched Tom Ford's movie 'A Single Man' last night. Really enjoyed the film overall, but naturally we were totally hypnotized by the fantastic house it plays out in ...

The place is a neat glass and redwood house designed by the remarkable John Lautner. So many great spaces and angles in a modest 2 bedroomer ...

Did we mention the copious wood? Just amazing.

If you like Lautner's work or want to see a bit more, there's a doco on ABC2 tomorrow night (Sun 11/7/10) called 'Infinite Space' which promises to be a fun ride.

... see how satisfied he looks - how could you not be with a room like that around you? Lautner's homes (many of which were built in the Hollywood Hills, as well as Malibu and out in Palm Springs) pop up in movies, so seem pretty familiar. The Sheats Goldstein house is so familiar you almost feel like you've been there ... nuts!

best woodpile ever?

2010-06-07T17:00:00.000+10:00

Another one via Ouno Design, this is a work by Alastair Heseltine, a sculptor from British Columbia ... suddenly we're not that impressed with our firewood pile ...

Probably wouldn't be able to bring ourselves to burn any of it though. Wonder if he's planning an upright version?

public seating

2010-06-07T16:53:00.000+10:00

a couple of park benches in Mexico City we saw on Ouno Design's blog ... fun!

nice.

modern love

2010-06-02T14:48:00.000+10:00

No big news, just a gorgeous house we saw in Bendigo ... can't understand why people are demolishing mid-century beauties to build hollow rehashes of the same design principles. This place has it all (at least what we could see from the street) - crazy-paved walls and verandahs, floor-to-ceiling glass panels, cantilevered skillion roof-line ... too cool.

It's a pretty simple formula, but we'd take this over some new-build metricon shack any day! C'mon people, buy 'em, save 'em, love 'em!

dining chair revival

2010-05-29T15:11:00.000+10:00

We have had this set of 60's Danish dining chairs hanging 'round for months now, just waiting for some love ...

The seats were originally done in woven rattan, but all 4 were pretty badly broken, and re-caning is a bit beyond us despite our enthusiasm for restoring and reviving.

So stripped them all last week, and gave the frames a good sanding and re-oiling while we podered our alternatives ...

We found a supplier of nice narrow seat-belt webbing, and couldn't resist giving it a try ...

And what do you know? They look amazing (in our opinion, anyway), AND they're really nice to sit on, too.

Now it's just the fun of answering the "What are you planning to do to finish those chairs?" questions ...
Thankfully, once people sit on them the 'get it' ... so the chairs are in the shop and waiting for a new home. In the words of Murdock from the A-Team, "I just love it when a plan comes together!"

bring it on ...

2010-05-13T17:40:00.000+10:00

Cold nights are the best ... we've been cleaning up a few fallen trees and we are ready!

tagging with a purpose ...

2010-05-05T13:22:00.000+10:00

On a sentimental note, we used to travel to China a lot for work (past life), and were just remembering the predominant graf style over there. We'll spare you the full onslaught of our collection of phone number photos for now - here's a typical example from a favorite overpass in Humen, Dongguan Provence.

Guess the priority over there was more than just getting everyone to remember your 'street name' ... they want you to know their number too! Possibly the eastern equivalent of RSVP, or maybe just the 'budget billboard'.

paste ups

2010-05-05T13:10:00.000+10:00

Love a good paste-up ... way more fun than a half-assed tag. This set on Mitchell St in Northcote are nice ...

Referring to the great boobs that were sadly removed from this wall a few months back ...

... and we couldn't go past an old school classic piece ...

... among the gumtrees

2010-05-04T15:39:00.000+10:00

As much as we are born and bred city folk and love Northcote dearly, it's the weekly visits to the country estate that keep us sane - no sirens, no tram noise, and lots more nature. We have had this vintage fire-guard for years, reminding us of where we'd like to be.

We feel like our farm is getting close to being just as cute ...

... or maybe it's just an excuse to keep collecting furniture - that extra loungeroom that we need so our spare chairs and sofas have somewhere to hang out ...

If it wasn't such a long drive I think we'd go back there every night ... there is nothing like that peace and quiet!

Aside from the crazy birdlife of course.

Stay tuned for a full tour of the farm in future posts ...

vans ...

2010-04-23T15:03:00.000+10:00

Ever since getting my first kombi van back in '93, I wouldn't seriously consider driving any other type of vehicle ... nice high ride and great carrying capacity ... and road trips are way more fun in a van.

But can you beat those Californian vans for proper '70's cool?
Check out 'Vans and the places where they were.' for some really nice pics.

just wow ...

2010-04-23T14:49:00.000+10:00

Nobody can deny that there's an art to good storage, but Swedish artist Michael Johansson has made it ART. We saw a few of his pieces featured on 'What's blogging my view' (Janne, a Norwegian blogger with a GREAT eye), and had to follow up.

Johansson combines collecting and curating and colour-coding and compacting so well ...

For those of us with a nasty habit of accumulating more than we can accommodate, his work is pretty inspiring, and the mix of scales is cool too.

Sadly, though we share some of his principles in filling our garage with our finds, the lack of open space around our stacks means we're not quite at exhibition levels yet. Great stuff though!

windmills of our minds ...

2010-04-22T15:19:00.000+10:00

Cath's a big fan of those 'Southern Cross' windmill pumps that are scattered thru the dusty paddocks of rural Australia - most country drives we take involve a few 'out the window' blurry snaps of great, rusty bits of iron. We had occasion to head up towards the NSW border a couple of weeks ago and spotted pretty much the biggest we've ever seen, just outside Shepparton.

Impressive as it is, it rides the 'tourist attraction' / 'functional machine' border - still super beautiful though.

It's next-door neighbour definitely falls into the category of 'nice spot to stop for a devonshire tea' ... not that we're judging.

Will collate a few of our pics of the 'proper' windmills and post them soon.

return of the mantis ...

2010-04-22T15:11:00.000+10:00

Guess it must be the change of seasons - though it kinda feels like summer's still here - the praying mantis posse is once again descending on our garden.

They are definitely the kookiest bugs we see in our neck of the woods ... and a lot less harmful than the locust plague Victoria's being smitten with ...

position vacant

2010-04-09T13:21:00.001+10:00

Just heard the news of the passing of Mr Malcolm McLaren this morning, at 64 years of age.
Probably best known for his fashion collaboration with Vivienne Westwood in the early 70's via their stores 'SEX' and 'Let It Rock', and his subsequent engineering ot the punk movement in London, he was an archetypical music entrepreneur.

I was a late arrival to (but big fan of) the Sex Pistols, and the aesthetic McLaren gave them ... but I have to say that the work I loved the most (and played to death - sorry mum and dad) was his fusion of B-Boy hip hop and world beats, the fantastic Duck Rock album.

A totally kooky and cool collection of music ('Buffalo Gals', 'Double Dutch', 'Soweto'), it's a record we still play in the store now ...and as for his appropriation of Haring's NY street art style ...

Though he hasn't had too much relevance for you genX and genY kids, he gave us older folk a lot of joy during the 70's and 80's ... might be a nice time to look up some his past work ...

Thanks Malcolm ... it may not all have been art, but it was a lotta fun!

truck and roll

2010-03-26T13:12:00.000+11:00

Conserving and restoring mid century furniture is our preferred pastime, and with so much product still out there looking for love we can never understand why people opt for sub-standard new pieces, or cheaply produced (though seldom cheaply priced) knock-offs ... no not much respect for 'new' mass-produced stuff.

We recently came across the site of a Japanese company who seem to be crafting new pieces with absolute respect for the look and feel of vintage, though.

They are called TRUCK, and their stuff is super-cool ...

Heck, maybe we have been fooled into thinking they are doing something that they're not ... neither of us is too hot at reading Japanese - but whether it's all original vintage or all new stock with a great deal of effort put into making it look old, it's hard to deny the aesthetic ...

super-cool - we love it ... take a look sometime.

judging a book by it's cover?

2010-03-19T13:39:00.000+11:00

Cath's got this knack of collecting that has a logic all of it's own. We're currently hunting for a couple more bookshelves to accommodate a burgeoning stack of novels from Penguin Publishing - a stack which gets bigger each time she spots a different logo on the spine ...

We're just waiting for the apocalypse now, so we have a bit of time to hole up at home and read 'em all ...

boxfresh ... easy-pack living

2010-03-19T13:26:00.000+11:00

Another 'via' find - saw these crazy things on 'what's blogging my view' (ever-reliable for pretty stuff and good finds) and we love 'em.

These pieces are all by TAF architects of Sweden (man - Scandinavians leave the rest of the world waaaay behind sometimes!). There was a mini-feature last month on design*sponge ... plenty more fun stuff to see - check it out.

Sure, you might need to psyche up a bit before you take on the stairs with a hangover, but well worth the effort ...

... and how simple would the re-upholstering job be when you wanted a new look!

attention young modernists

2010-03-19T13:15:00.001+11:00

Well hi there ...
As is often the case, we might be a little late in cottoning on, but a friend popped in to the store yesterday and directed us to ModernistAustralia - a great blog/site which is right up our alley. These few picks are a sample of their mind-blowing content ...

They have a fantastic eye, and pay homage to local mid-century architecture with a great set of photos and links to current homes for sale. Some great and thorough scouring involved for sure - they have so many great pics of those few places that haven't yet been demolished to make way for townhouses ... imagine if there were a few property developers out there with this much respect for the truly beautiful.

We are totally hooked and will be frequenting their site for sure ... wholeheartedly recommended!

more reasons why 2010's not so bad ...

2010-01-23T18:43:00.001+11:00

so, we are totally blessed to have a like-minded friend on the other side of the world who helps us with our chair-sourcing ... he's got very similar taste in design to us, plus the energy to scour and hunt for hidden gems. and he found us ...

we're not label-snobs looking for 'designer' items (heck - we appreciate design, but it ain't the label that gets us excited), but we can't believe that we will be sharing our lives with the lovely 'pernilla 2' by Mr Bruno Matthsson. 1941 - that's crazy!

the next shipment should be here in late march, all going according to plan ... not sure that pernilla will be on display in our store tho' - haven't met her yet, but i think it might be true love.

travel safe baby!

big ups to bookhou

2010-01-23T18:23:00.000+11:00

have you seen these guys? a canadian couple, based in toronto, their work has been pooping up on a few blogs - artist/furniture makers with a really nice mid-century aesthetic ...

their name is bookhou (John Booth and Arounna Khounnoraj) and they have been collaborating since '02 in 2002 on some nice simple pieces using natural and recycled materials ...

we will definitely be keeping our eyes peeled for more of their designs ... they have a compact range of pieces on their site with a consistent them of really, really nice shapes. oh - they do a lot more than just woody chairs ... we just have a bit of a bias is all.

lounge love ...

2010-01-23T18:06:00.000+11:00

Well, it's definitely getting serious in the furniture-discipline department ...

We bought this great 70's Fler lounge suite about 4 years ago. Took it to an antiques restorer to get the framework stabilized (he said it was the newest thing he'd ever worked on - by about 50 years), and it became the family favorite - comfiest seating ever. When we moved and ran out of space, we did the logical thing and replaced it.
But, like the sensible furniture fanatics we are, we put it into storage - just couldn't say goodbye - and it has spent the last 24 months hidden away. But the time has come ...

So, old friend, into the store you go ... you and we understand - it's because we love you that we want you to move on. Find a new home and be the star of their loungeroom. Still, it is mighty comfy - maybe we should hold on a little longer ...

YAY!

2010-01-12T22:01:00.000+11:00

It's been an up-an-down couple of years for all of us Poalroid fans ... but it appears 2010 brings glad tidings. Looks like the comeback is well and truly on the rails.

It's called the PIC-1000, made by the reborn Polaroid company, and is set to be released later this year.

Compatible with the classic 600 film as well as Polaroid 100 film, and will be released in silver metallic finish, AND in the super-classy faux timber that we could never say no to. We're really glad to have read the news on gizmodo (more product photos on electricpig), and are guessing that the best bit will be that access to 600 films will improve for those of us who have held on to our 70's and 80's instant cameras.

It's a golden age we're living in.

another new year's resolution out the window ...

2010-01-08T16:36:00.000+11:00

Well, here we all are - new year, new decade. Hope yours has started out well ...

This was to be the year when we got our furniture collecting under control.

We know it makes sense - if you collect swapcards you can go nuts and accumulate - always room for a few more - but if you have a weakness for chairs, a little self-discipline is called for.

We started the year well - were out of town for the first 4 days, and nowhere near opportunity. Tragically, the next 3 days made up for it somewhat. A quick mental inventory shows that we have picked up 34 new chairs between the 5th and 8th of January!

Naturally, we did need all of them - a set of Fler SC55 armchairs (see above) - just can't deny their beauty ... 5 very old Fler LC chairs, dating back to the early 50's (below) ... and then the usual assorted mid century dining chairs and stools.

So I guess the plan for 2010 is to build a very big extra room at the farm and give these guys a good home. In the meantime, you are most welcome to sample their delights down at PRODUCT - they are in-store and available - unless we get too attached and sneak them off to the stash!

Let's get over to Hamburg!

2009-12-23T13:44:00.001+11:00

Just been checking out this amazing shop in Hamburg, Germany ... imagining that one day we'll get Know Your Product looking this amazing.

The store's called 'Wohnkultur66' - and is run by a couple named Martina and Manfred - and specializes in Scandinavian mid-century furniture. They stock a nice mix of pieces from some of our favorite designers - Wanscher, Juhl et al - and their display is nice if you're into that kind of thing. We most certainly are.

We first came across them earlier this year when their home was featured on the apartmenttherapy site ... just nice all 'round!

Take a look if you have a few spare minutes - beautiful place in a nice setting. Though I suspect they suffer the same problem we have where friends come to visit and often note that our house is just like our shop, but with a tv ...

... tis the season ...

2009-12-23T13:28:00.000+11:00

What with all the decking of halls we've been doing (not to mention the comfort and joy one is constantly tiding this time of year), we almost forgot that it's all a big buildup to the 25th.

It's all kind of a retail festival as much as anything else these days ... but we like to think that there's a little more to it. Please try - be nice to somebody in the carpark of the mall, tip your waitress, take your shoes off before you kick the dog ... niceness begins at home.

Thanks for visiting us and entertaining us thru the year - have a safe break!

reptiles again?!??!

2009-12-16T23:42:00.001+11:00

Always thought we'd be sharing our love of mid century design on our blog ...
We went down to Morwell see a lady about a sideboard on Monday ... the sideboard's lovely, and has enjoyed a touch of restoration and is on the floor at PRODUCT now.

But the real action came when she asked if we could help out with a lizard problem she was having. She had spotted a blue-tongue in a tea-chest of old magazines in her shed a week ago, and was too scared to go back into the shed since.

Turns out that blue-tongues move kind of fast when they see a hand coming towards them, so decided to carry the whole box across the road to a bushier spot and our scaly friend was soon off to terrorize some non-humans.

Oh ... if you need to be reminded why we have sent all the politicians off to Copenhagen this week, we recommend a trip down to south-east Victoria ... the views ...