retro, revamped & restyled equals reissued

I like a clever name and I think Reissued is up there. One of the discoveries I made at Magnolia Square, Reissued takes retro furniture pieces and rediscovers their beauty 'reissuing' them with new skins. The very clever Jacqui Porter uses Australian sourced fabrics that are enviro friendly (either sustainable new or vintage) which makes these one off pieces even more covetable. The retro furniture is also mostly Australian made and found locally.

I have to say I really love furniture that has a past, I have been known to collect furniture from odd places - in particular I once 'found' a large high-back arm chair that had been sitting in the rain for I don't know how long. I had noticed it when on my way into college via the train and when it was still there by the railway tracks after many days my flat mate and I [Hi Kylie] took a car that was way too small and put this ridiculously wet chair in the boot, tied it down and drove very slowly home through the back streets so as not to be pulled over for dangerous driving! Once home I think it sat in front of the wall heater stinking out our flat for about a week before it had dried out. It now belongs to my Mum after it had been given a gorgeous magenta slip cover, she loves it! However I think if I did the same now my husband would disown me, Im reduced to collecting small odds and ends from opp shops - and I think he just 'tolerates' that - my man is one of distinctly modern (aka new) tastes!

So suffice to say Reissued caught my attention straight away. I was particularly taken with the pair of dining chairs [below top right] sporting the gorgeous Formosa hand printed fabric [watch this space for a post soon on Formosa - truly gorgeous stuff]. Im now thinking of a way to incorporate one of these lovely pieces into my latest design project, Ill let you know if I manage it!

Reissued can be found at Maker Handmade or check out Reissued on Flickr.

blooming magnolia square

I took a trip to Magnolia Square a couple of weeks ago, it's a boutique market that I found had predominantly children's products with a few others such as jewellery, stationary and homewares sprinkled through. Whilst a small market, I have to say though it was a really nice experience. The atmosphere of St Kilda town hall was the perfect setting and of course I wasn't at all influenced by being able to sit and enjoy a good coffee (love Ed Dixon Food Design who happened to be catering the event) while having great options for kids - including crayons & paper to keep them busy. It was perfectly catered for the target market - Mums like me looking for unique goods that are often locally made or at least are local businesses. A highlight of the market [shown above] was a central stage & entry that featured inspiring creations all made from paper by the talented Jo Neville of paper Couture [above]

In the next couple of posts I'll feature a couple of the great retailers I discovered at Magnolia Square and next week stay tuned for the announcement of the launch of i spy kids... our new partner blog, where we will feature some of the great kids products that were there and celebrate the launch with a fab giveaway! Yay!

[PS - why not hop on over to i spy kids... now and subscribe via email so you don't miss out on your chance to win...]

[above - the great atmosphere of St Kilda Town Hall, Ed Dixon food Design's great cafe set up & some of the paper inspired displays set to inspire market visitors]

aker collective inspires consumers to create...

Don't you just love that image - I'm inspired by it without even knowing what I am looking at, I love the combination of the colours and the natural timber and even the cardboard. I just want to get in there and do something with it all. Well, lucky for me that's exactly what Aker Collective want - for you to complete the creative vision that is their Take 'n' Make series of lights.

Aker Collective believe that the future of sustainable design will rely on involving the user - "The value of design will be it's ability to inspire people to engage". With this in mind Take 'n' Make was created, a furniture series that comes together with the consumers creative input.

The first part of the series was launched at the Stockholm Furniture Fair. Consumers can choose elements of the lamps such as shades, coloured cords and tripods, as a result different sizes and styles can be created. I love the look of the slightly unpolished finished product and can imagine that's what they had in mind, to emphasise rather than downplay the consumer construction part of the design. Keeping a close i spy eye on Aker Collective for what they do next...

lets jump right back in...

OK, Im just going to jump right back into it and hope you never even realised I was gone [actually that wouldn't be good, I would prefer it if you had noticed a little]! Lately Ive been busy planning my business - well trying to work out how to write a business plan anyway - have you ever had to do it? It's really quite daunting but it does make you focus on questions you probably hadn't had to answer before like what exactly do you want from your business and where do you want it to be in 12mths? Etc., etc. And - the 'hows' - How am I going to get there? Im not really that good at planning, I am a bit of a doer and tend to jump steps due to impatience so I guess this is a good [and probably necessary] exercise for me.

So I have been trawling the web for help on all of the above and have found, as I usually do [good ol' internet], some great resources. The most exciting stuff was the other entrepreneurs out there offering advice on how to conduct business online. My favourites being Laura Roeder from Laura Roeder.com & April Bowles from Blacksburg Belle. Check them out for yourself they are a bit of an inspiration!

On to the next post - some cool design stuff - I know you just lurvvve that stuff don't you?