Australia’s premier design exhibition DESIGN:MADE:TRADE returns for its fourth consecutive year in 2011.

Applications are now open for Australia’s leading furniture, fashion and industrial design brands to take part in this year’s exhibition held at the Royal Exhibition Building from Thursday 21 to Sunday 24 July 2011.

Launching the State of Design Festival (20 – 31 July 2011), DESIGN:MADE:TRADE will feature a program of workshops, talks, exhibitions and displays with a focus on driving strong industry attendance to foster business networks and sales opportunities.

More info here

For anyone who picks up a Sydney Festival brochure, browses the website, Facebook and blog, or catches a glimpse of a Festival banner on George Street – it’s all about Marcela Restrepo! Restrepo is responsible  for all the beautiful illustrations of Sydney houses, parks, buildings,  icons, and of course, those sulphur-crested cockatoos. A left-handed illustrator, Restrepo finds inspiration in the blend of nature and city that the Sydney landscape offers. But the main ingredient in her work is everyday life where ideas come from a trip to the shops, and seeing an antenna covered in a flock of native birds.

Restrepo started out in web and graphic design before a short course in illustration with Christopher Nielson opened up a new creative path. Introduced to the Festival by Saatchi Design  (who have done the overall design and branding for the 2010 and 2011 Festivals), Colombian-born Restrepo is now based in Sydney’s inner west, and clearly loves a lot about Sydney. Restrepo’s work features many things that are intrinsic to Sydney, and is characterised by warmth, naiveté and freedom.

See more of Marcela’s work here
Sydney Festival 2011 runs January 8 – 30, more info on what’s on here

Craig Redman is an Australian born artist living and working in New York. His work is filled with simple messages executed in a colourful, bold and secretly optimistic way. He works in many mediums, specializing in illustration, typography, pattern design and character design.

Darcel Shopping Bag

Melt

With Rinzen (a collective, formed with 4 friends in 2000), Craig has had 2 books published and has exhibited across the world, notably at the Musée de la Publicité, Louvre, Paris. He has worked with clients such as LVMH, Nike, Apple, Vogue, Converse, MTV and The New York Times.

Hungry Eyes

His blog, Darcel Disappoints, often collaborates with Parisian superstore colette and in Spring 2010 he opened a solo exhibition there, titled ‘And a miserable day to you too’.

See more of Craig’s work here

Saturday 11 December
11am-4pm. City Library (253 Flinders Lane, Level 1 gallery)

Image: Cat Rabbit, Christmas Card, $5 at December Craft Hatch.

The Craft Hatch market is the perfect place to pick up a unique Christmas card, gift or stocking filler, like one of these screen printed Christmas cards by local label CatRabbit.

A market veteran with a practice encompassing soft toys and jewellery, CatRabbit has developed a dedicated following over the last five years. Every

Christmas the label produces a limited edition set of cards printed with the Japanese Gocco Screen Printing machine.

The Happy Christmas Bear card sells for $5 and is printed on recycled paper using the Gocco screen printing inks. The cards are sold in a limited edition of 100, so you can rest assured they are as rare as that special someone in your life.

The Craft Hatch market is a one stop shop for locally designed homewares, jewellery, clothing and accessories. Every market presents a newly curated selection of the best emerging craft and design.

Also exhibiting at Craft Hatch in December are: Ellka Design, Erica Bramham, FUNKYWOMBAT textiles & The Curious Girl, Genna Campton, Goldenink, Gwendoline Page, Handmade Life, Jaylene Falkner, Rose Megirian, Rebecca Martin & Aldis Kossdottir and Urthly Organics.

Craft Hatch markets are presented by Craft Victoria in collaboration with the City Library on the second Saturday of every month, 11am-4pm. Please note there will be no Craft Hatch market in January.

See more at Craft Victoria

Images R-L: Karim Rashid designs at the RG Madden stand, Modula fir treet at the Büro North stand, Glow in the dark Zip Zips at the Zip Zips stand.

Melbourne’s original pop up design market continues to be the place for style hunters to gather, be inspired and shop.

Since 2005 the Melbourne Design Market has been popping up twice a year for ONE DAY ONLY and transforming Fed Square’s underground car park into designland.

On Sunday December 5, 2010 there’ll again be a diverse collection of over 50 exhibitors from small design brands just launching to well-known and much-loved brands all showcasing their latest and greatest. Plus the cool sounds of DJ Madee River, fine fair-trade barista coffee from Bean Ground and Drunk and fantastic paella from the Beer de Luxe on-site kitchen all add to the party atmosphere.

So come along, experience Melbourne’s best design market and you can even knock over your Christmas gift buying in just one day.

MELBOURNE DESIGN MARKET 10am-5pm, Sunday December 5 at Federation Square undercover car park.

Enter via Russell Street extension or Riverside Walk.
Disabled parking and facilities nearby.
Entry is free.

More info here

Scottie Neoh is an artist working out of a self-sustainable mud brick hideaway in Tallarook, Victoria. He has used his many years of working as a graffiti artist together with his love of nature and geometry to distill a style that is very much his own.

Bonsai’s work knows no bounds – mural painting, signage, interior design, fashion design, illustration, product design, you name it – he has applied his craft to it and made it his own.

ROBIN, 940 x 940 x 70 mm, Acrylic on reclaimed Tasmanian oak box framed panels

Bonsai is part of the Wooden Foundations collective, a group of artists who share a similar ideology and a broad aesthetic style that is abundant with the wonder of nature, and is also the designer and producer of Tailfeather, a hand made leather and textile goods company.

No Vacancy Project Space
Fedeeration Square, The Atrium
Melbourne.

Exhibition Running: 19th November – 1st December

Trading Hours:
Monday: Gallery Closed
Tuesday – Friday: 11:00am – 5:00pm
Saturday: 11:00am – 5:00pm
Sunday: 12:00am – 5:00pm

More info at No Vacancy

See more Bonsai’s work here

MONA FOMA (MOFO), is Hobart’s cutting edge Festival of Music and Art. Currently in it’s third year, the festival is once again presenting another ground-breaking and frontier-pushing program for 2011.
From January 14-20, curator Brian Ritchie of Violent Femmes and now The Break fame will present an incredible array of massive and amazing music, dance, theatre, visual art, performance, new media – and some art. It’s a mix of first-time appearances, festival favourites and exclusive one-off performances and it’s mostly free.

The MONA FOMA 2011 Festival line up includes:

Philip Glass and Wendy Sutter [USA]
Grinderman [Australia/UK/USA]
Botborg [Australia/Germany]
Speak Percussion [Melbourne]
Chiharu Shiota [Japan/Berlin]
Brook Andrew [Sydney]
Amanda Palmer [USA]
Neil Gaiman, FourPlay Sting Quarter &Eddie Campbell [USA/Australia/UK]
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion [USA]
BalletLab [Melbourne]
Wire [UK]
Groupe F [France]
Roman Signer [Switzerland]
Gelitin [Austria]
Ana Prvacki [Serbia/Singapore]
Health [USA]
Monanism – the Exhibition

Philip Glass and Wendy Sutter [USA]

Philip Glass [legendary composer/pianist]. Considered one of the most influential composers of late 20th Century. Widely acknowledged as the composer who brought art music to the public. Wendy Sutter [cello virtuoso]. Internationally acclaimed soloist, muse and partner of Philip.

MOFO 2011: The duo will present an intimate evening of Glass compositions. Solo piano, a cello suite ‘Songs and Poems’ and duets each include discussions by the composer. A unique relationship: Glass and his muse Sutter.

Grinderman [Australia/UK/USA]

Australian rock and roll royalty. Formed 2006 as a follow-on from post-punk group Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Nick Cave [vocals. electric guitar. keyboards]. Warren Ellis [electric bouzouki. mandocastor. violin]. Martyn P. Casey [bass]. Jim Sclavunos [drums].

MOFO 2011: These stalwarts guarantee to make Prince’s Wharf 1 throb with noise and poetry.

Amanda Palmer [USA]

Amanda Palmer: [composer/pianist/performer/ukulele basher]. Came to prominence with the American cabaret/rockband Dresden Dolls. Has moved on to a highly successful and diverse solo career ranging from music>film>theatre>dance. Her confrontational and unorthodox relationship with the audience breaks down the usual performer/crowd barriers and leads to all kinds of interactions.

MOFO 2011: Will appear solo and in collaboration with several other artists.

BalletLab [Melbourne]

Formed 1999. Confrontational dance troupe present a trilogy of MONA commissioned new work. Regular MOFO performers, their piece in the inaugural MOFO was SO intense it had to be moved indoors after witnesses to the sound check/rehearsal got anxious and started to cry. One of the most inventive choreographic visionary companies working in Australia. Strikingly contemporary in nature and physically idiosyncratic.

BalletLab’s work pushes performance boundaries and invents movement vocabularies that reference contemporary culture: a transforming often provocative and polarising experience for the audience, the art form and the performer.
Blending, juxtaposing and twisting classical, romantic, baroque and contemporary dance forms, the visual impact of the movement and the provocative conceptual based imagery and design play equal parts within BalletLab’s unique choreography.

Find out more about MONA FOMA

See more here

29 November, 6-8pm
Craft Victoria, 31 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

Images (L-R): Printing of COOKBOOK north/south, photography: Dave Carswell

Chefs, artists and writers interpret their favourite Melbourne suburb in hand printed cookbook.

Craft Victoria is hosting the launch of not-for-profit COOKBOOK north/south. This unique, unbound publication has been letterpress printed by hand in a limited edition of 500. It features an inquisitive exploration of ten Melbourne suburbs via recipes, original artwork and short stories. Facilitated by the designers at Wolfgang, Shlomo & Max, this collaborative project is a platform for Melbourne’s chefs, artists and writers to personally and creatively interpret their city.

COOKBOOK north/south’s eclectic array of contributors give life to this humble publication. From Andrew McConnell’s tales of stealing fresh figs in the back alleys of Fitzroy, to Robert Castellani‘s description of his mother’s famed Ragu, their voices fill the pages with charm and localised eloquence. Contributors were asked to find inspiration in their suburb and creatively interpret their surroundings.

Whether internationally renowned or local gems, chefs were chosen via suburb research, word of mouth and SecondBite recommendations. The result is a colourful group of chefs whose delicious recipes sit alongside artwork and short stories by established and emerging local talent.

Each of COOKBOOK north/south’s ten suburb-inspired chapters feature a lino-cut artwork, short story and three recipes. A unique collection of letterpress forms, typography and colour create the visual identity for each suburb chapter. An unbound publication, COOKBOOK north/south comprises of hand printed individual cards, first offset and then letterpress printed at the Melbourne Museum of Printing.

COOKBOOK north/south retails for $100 with all proceeds going to SecondBite, a not for profit organisation committed to the redistribution of surplus food to those experiencing hardship within the community.

More at Craft Victoria here

In Grid Index, Carsten Nicolai created a visual lexicon of patterns and grid systems. Now Moiré Index is dedicated to his exploration of the moiré effect—a phenomenon that can be created by the overlay of lines. Although such interference patterns are mostly considered to be unwanted side effects, they are actually extremely interesting from an aesthetic perspective.

Based upon years of research, Nicolai has analyzed and systematically unlocked fundamental structures of crucial importance to the visualization of data. As the first extensive visual compendium of these interference patterns, Moiré Index is the definitive reference book for designers, visual artists, architects, researchers, mathematicians, or anyone else who wants to use its content as a basis for graphic designs. A CD accompanies the book and contains not only the featured moirés as digital files, but also individual elements that can be used to create an almost endless amount of new overlays. These files can be used effortlessly with virtually any platform, operating system, and graphics software and can be applied in every field of visual culture.

One of Germany’s most renowned contemporary artists, Nicolai has been working at the intersection of art and science since the early 1990s. With Moiré Index he has again produced not only a work of art, but also a practical tool for anyone working creatively.

Carsten Nicolai, Gestalten © 2010

Carsten Nicolai, Gestalten © 2010

See more at Gestalten

By: Carsten Nicolai
Price: € 39,90 / $ 60,00 / £ 37,50
Format: 18.5 × 23 cm
Features: 312 pages, b/w, hardcover, incl. CD-ROM
ISBN: 978-3-89955-308-6