Evocative, Amusing, Delightful

EVOCATIVE: Trigger a feeling or sense of something; Bringing strong images to mind; 
Call up spirits, feelings, memories, energies to mind; 
REMINISCENT; SUGGESTIVE; EXPRESSIVE; VIVID; GRAPHIC; POWERFUL; HAUNTING; MOVING; POIGNANT.

DELIGHTFUL: Causing delight; Charming; PLEASURABLE; ENJOYABLE; LOVELY; PLEASANT;
 ENTERTAINING; SATISFYING; WONDERFUL; FABULOUS; GRAND; BRILLIANT.

AMUSING; Causing laughter or providing entertainment; Provide interesting and enjoyable occupation for someone; 
FUNNY; WITTY; LIGHTHEARTED; ENGAGE.

A new range of fabrics called Pearl'n'Jack, just launched this week in Sydney Australia, has taken its inspiration from imagery of the past. 

For enquires or to look at the range of tea towels, beautiful pillows, table clothes, fabrics, covered furniture (reclaimed, reinvented, remarkable!) 
just visit Seasonal Concepts 122 Redfern Street Redfern NSW 2016 Australia.www.pearlnjack.com.au

Enjoy!

In everything they make, say and do.

One sunny Saturday I found my way to a cafe that made my toes curl with Delight. 
The Rollerdoor cafe located on Beaumont Street, right next to the Hamilton train station in Newcastle, 
will bring a warm and truly happy moment to your day with the care they infuse in everything they do, say or make.

Open seven days a week, manned by fourteen creative and productive people in total, who are either students, artists, musicians 
or full time chefs who make almost everything that is enjoyed by all who pass through the Rollerdoor.

I spoke with Tarzi who manages the Rollerdoor cafe but is soon to depart, as she is about to have a dear little one in eight weeks. 
Fiona and Phil Smart started the place two and a half years ago. 
It is frequented by all, and everyone from kids having their breakfast before school through to the wise retired ones as well as those essential subcultures.

I immediately loved the overall look of the Rollerdoor cafe and its SHIFTAZINE sense.
 There is a sense of wit and inventiveness in how the whole place has been put together.
 It is both hip and homey at the same time. It clearly speaks whatever language you want to hear.
Murals, beautiful murals, cover the exterior. 
The food is cooked by local boys and girls and its as delicious as anything I have enjoyed anywhere in the world. 
The full attention of the staff is only equal to the full flavour of their coffee.

Rollerdoor cafe is opened from 6am to 5pm during the week and 7am to 4 pm on the weekend.
You can ring them on 4969 1786.

The Lightness of Joy

Purple_violet and indigo are not purples

Was Now Is

Sydney Design 2011 as usual, was full of exciting, inventive, original ideas brought to life by both the young fledglings and the older, more experienced designers of most of the design disciplines in found and engaged with our world. Not only were the cultural institutions such as the Powerhouse Museum and Object Gallery full of projects, concepts, new visions and responses to
the modern society, but also the laneways of Zetland were bubbling with delightful solutions.The pieces that have been featured in these pages were all apart of a show named ‘REFORM’ and was a part of the Sydney Design 2011.

The show was a brain child of the fortynine. The following text has been taken from a informative brochure that accompanied the ‘Reform’ show held in Tosh Lane, August 6 & 7 2011.
‘Reform emerged from discussions surrounding our shared intentions as a collaborative studio, and playing them off the theme of Sydney Design 2011 - is old new again? With a broad common brief to guide our
design work, we set about exploring both individually and as a group, frequently coming together to share our progress.

The majority of the works in ReForm are a collaborative effort borne out of the studio philosophy of the fortynine. The broad range of skills within the fortynine results in the work integrating numerous ways of thinking, designing and constructing.
The bulk of materials for the project were discarded on the streets and lane ways of Sydney and collected over time by all contributing designers.

The fortynine frequented wide-ranging council clean-ups and material re-dispersal organisations, adding to an already overflowing garage with a plethora of resources, ReForm has focused on re-using materials, parts and fixtures whereever possible, virgin materials have been kept to a minimum and in most pieces consist only of surface finishes and fixtures.
www.fortynine.com.au info@thefortynine.com.au

On the (garagesale)trail

I AM VERY INTERESTED IN THE WHOLE OLD FASHION IDEA OF A GARAGE SALE. THE NOTION OF RECYCLING HAS BEEN AROUND FOR EVER AND NOW WE HAVE THANKFULLY SHRUGGED OFF THE LAST RESIDUE OF THE 80S AND ALL THINGS BIGGER, AND NEWER AND MOST EXPENSIVE. ON APRIL 10TH 2010, SYDNEY CITY COUNCIL ALONG WITH OTHER SYDNEY COUNCILS PROMOTED AND
ENCOURAGED A SATURDAY WHICH FOCUSED ON THE GARAGAESALETRAIL. PEOPLE HIT THE STREETS MANNED WITH A MAP AND LOCATIONS OF ALL THE REGISTERED GARAGE SALES. IT WAS A HEAP OF FUN AND EVERYONE CHATTED TO EACH OTHER REGARDLESS BEING A FRIEND OR STRANGER.
LOVE THAT! I LOOKED UP WWW.GARAGESALETRAIL.COM.AU AND FOUND A GREAT PROFILE AND EXPLANATION OF THE IDEA.

Colour me Joy

A short b(l)ack and sides

Redfern Street in inner Sydney was always a little on the thin side for a place to take a coffee and have a chat with friends or locals, until now that is. 

 In the past six months there has been an explosion of cafes, restaurants, and wonderful new stores full of beautiful pre loved things.

The cafe COFFEE, TEA & ME opened just a month or so ago, and it has changed the sense of the hood for the good, better, best. 

Now one finds a strip of Redfern Street full of the most interesting people taking their coffees, sitting on the most charming pre loved, pre used objects 
that work very well as cafe furniture_An old wooden ironing board serves as a table for four, bicycle seats that have been placed on top of stools, 
kindergarten tables and chairs all offer you a place to sit and watch the hustle and bustle of the street.

93B Redfern Street, Redfern Sydney. www.coffeeteaandme.com.au t: 02 9008 7121

Find JOY wherever you can

I know I bang on about the notion of JOY, but really it is a very important thing in our lives. 
It does not take much to generate it, and the effect of it can last a life time. 
It is both a concrete and abstract notion at the same time. 
It can occur accidentally, or through the conscious act of a person, or just by observing one's surrounds.

Remember to celebrate what brings you JOY on the 25th November. 
It will honor my dear boy Jack, who brought us all so much joy and who inspired JOYDAY in the first place.

We shift...

Boats come and go,from ancient places – to lands of myths. Surrounded by blue of the waters and the skies, we slide through these elements sometimes fluid, sometimes blown by the winds of fate.

Always we bob to the surface.

Reinvigorate, Reprocess, Renew

It seems to me that people have embraced the whole notion of recycling, and reinventing with a great sense of creativity.

Emerging from what only a few years ago would have been considered rubbish are beautiful, quirky, and truly desirable objects.

All the lights featured in this article are from Seasonal Concepts 122 Redfern NSW 2016

URBAN STATION_The office of the future

“Dear Michael
Just found an article about this really interesting cafe in Buenos Aires. Go check it out and let me know if it is any good. 
Its called URBAN STATION. Location: El Salvador 4588 Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1414.
Thanks Jack”

“Dear Jack
Really really smart idea.... The office of the future perhaps? I can see lots of these being part of all major cities. 
In New York 3/4 of people in Starbucks were only there for the free WiFi just sitting on their laptops, this place is much more professional and very quiet, so no doubt you could actually get work done... 
Was expecting it really just to be like any other cafe but it was more like an open office, everyone was there to work. 
Really nicely fitted out interior too, but most stores and cafes in this part of Buenos Aires have quite interesting interior design.

[One trendy clothes store was set up in an old bar, but instead of refitting everything, they left all the bottles and bar setup and just improvised the store around it]...
Also there are 2 conference rooms upstairs but I couldn't take pics of the main one as people were having a meeting in there. 

 Talk later.

Michael”

Scratch, Scribble, Spray

Graffiti can be such a hassle, if it does not possess some creative intent.

 If it’s nothing more than some random, and meaningless scribble, 
it can be so disappointing to find on your wall.

Where I live you can see a wide but sadly not varied range of these pointless scribbles and scratchings.
 You can also see how people have tried to paint away these scribbles with whatever paint 
they have lying around in the shed.

One day I was struck by how beautiful these patched walls were as they reminded me strongly of
 Rothko and his adventures in fields of colour and simple, graphic shapes.

All it took was a shift in how I looked at a thing.

GAB FAB

There are a lot of great, exciting streets around the world. 
Streets full of fabulous bars and cafes where one can drink and nibble on yummy tit bits.
Streets full of shops that offer many opportunities to spend our money on things big and small, which we did not know existed, 
let alone desperately need to possess until confronted with them for the first things.

Streets such as Crown Street Surry Hills, Oxford Street in both Sydney & London, or any street in Manhattan, or Paris. 
 But there is an area in Brisbane, known affectionately as the Gabba where a new street experience has emerged, 
where the likes of Canvas bar is found and its gab fab! Enjoy.

All Washed Up_Never

One day I had a revelation when I discovered the photographic work of Bill Eggleston, an American photographer.

He possess an eye and a sensibility which gleams beauty in every corner of one’s ordinary world. His work is truly significant. I thank him.

The Colour of Fairy Floss

Where is magenta on the spectrum?

You can not find magenta in any standard colour spectrum, but you can find it everywhere in life. 
(I wear so much of this colour that I have always said if you cut me I would bleed magenta.) 
There is a considerable amount of unknown information written about it's mysterous existence on the net, such as at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_psychology. 
Magenta or hot pink, call it what you will, is a colour that constantly makes its presence felt.

Street Finds

One day I came across what appeared to be the front of an old style car garage. No big deal except when I looked in for some reason I found a wonderful shop full of things that should have been seen as old, worn out, past their ‘use by date’.

But I saw, things of beauty things of elegance. I saw clever, witty objects, just like these world globe that had been converted into desk lamp. I was delighted!

I was to find out that this place was called 'Ici La' and you too can visit it as it is just off Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, in Sydney.

Wishes do come true

Rain, Rain, go away

My heart could break from the ironic twist of nature.

Not enough rain brought hand wringing anguish and the tears that were shed were not enough to grow a blade of grass.

Now there is so much rain and there is no where for it to go and this rain is matched only by the tears it triggers from frustration and loss.

Shift your thoughts to our land and all that inhabit it. 
Send it and all its residents hope and love and strength.

There is an Islamic expression that God sends an angel with every rain drop. 
We need an army of angels right now.

Past, Present, Future

GOING TO A LOCAL FLEA MARKET OR ONE OF THOSE DISUSED CINEMAS OR AN OLD WAREHOUSE NOW FULL TO THE BRIM WITH OLD STUFF IS A 

GREAT, CARBON FRIENDLY, FUN IDEA. 
FASHION, WHETHER IT IS THE OBVIOUS CLOTHES WE WEAR, OR THE INTERIOR DESIGN THAT SEEMS TO HAVE BECOME A CONTEMORARY CONSUMER OBSESSION, SHOULD BE YOUR OWN,
 NOT THE VISION OR STYLE OF SOMEONE WHO DOES NOT LIVE YOUR LIFE OR KNOW YOUR QUIRKS AND FANTASIES.