This is the second year running that we have collaborated on the “girls for ….” theme (last year was the very successful girls for boys) and we hope to show as a group annually in the future. We anticipate continuing an exploration of contemporary themes through our love for jewellery and object making.

The idea behind this year’s exhibition, titled girls against gold is to challenge society’s perception of the use of materials in jewellery and to question what makes something (jewellery or objects) precious. What do you consider precious- the materials used or the artist stories behind the work?

The ten female artists have created an exhibition of quirky, unique and handmade contemporary jewellery and objects aimed to inspire, provoke thoughts, capture the imagination, while exploring the question ‘what makes something precious’.

The artworks will specifically be wearable jewellery and freestanding objects. Expect works incorporating found objects, wood, paint, resins and bone paired with more traditional jewellery materials like sterling silver.

Opening night is Thursday 15th October from 6pm til 8pm, at blank space gallery in Surry Hills. The exhibition will be running daily until Wednesday the 28th of October.

http://tenmoregirls.blogspot.com
http://www.blankspace.com.au

The Ten More Girls artist collective are proud to present their 3rd annual exhibition of jewellery and objects titled: Girls Around the World.

Please join them for a drink at the opening on 9th September, from 6pm at Gaffa Gallery, 281 Clarence Street in the Sydney CBD.

This year’s show is inspired by diverse cultures, a love of travel and issues such as globalization, international politics, the environment & human rights.The artists’ stories, expressed through wearable artworks will be fabricated from contemporary and traditional materials and promises to challenge perceptions and capture the imagination.

An added bonus for gallery visitors will be a Meet the Maker event to be held on Saturday 18th of September from 2pm.

All are welcome to come hear the girls speak about their work & ask them questions regarding the exhibition.

Opening night Thursday 9th September, runs until 21st September

www.tenmoregirls.blogspot.com

Griffith University Gold Coast invites you to its annual Open Day on 8 August 2010.

For art and design students, the Queensland College of Art (QCA) will be hosting activities ranging from student exhibitions, information sessions, graffiti art demonstrations and 3D sculpture making.

Come along, have fun and make new friends, especially if you’re considering a degree in the traditional or digital arts. There’s even a free T-shirt giveaway to the first 50 prospective students on the day.

When: August 8, 2010 from 9am until 2pm.

Where: Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Parklands Drive—off the Smith Street exit (66) of the Pacific Motorway

For more info: www.griffith.edu.au

So I just flew in from attending some Melbourne and Sydney fashion week shows and I have to say, what the fuck is going on with the models?

We know it happens all the time – people say the models are too thin, but maybe it’s because they actually are. Having seen them first hand – I have to say, some of these girls look revolting. And while it may be the clothes look better on thin girls, if we wanted to see skeletons we could have gone to the cemetery and dug up some corpses.

Every year we hear the media say some of the girls are too thin, and every year the designers tell us the same lies; that the girls are healthy looking. In whose eyes, though?

You need only ask your average Australian male their opinion and they will say they find catwalk models bodies ugly; they prefer women with some meat on them.

An Australian designer was quoted as saying: ”˜You can’t tell by looking at someone if they’re healthy or not … Often the girls who are really thin eat constantly.’

They are right – if someone looks like death warmed up and we can see their ribcage, then I’m guessing they have been spooning their way through a tub of lard every day. Sure they probably do eat constantly … But honey, last time I checked, tic tacs were not listed in any of the five food groups.

Given that there are a few tall thin natural girls out there, they will obviously be the choice for the designers to parade their garments on. So it is not surprising that our obsession with weight encourages even these women to be thinner then they naturally are.

And the solution to this is simple. Make all the models eat a Big Mac meal for dinner every day for a month before the first show.

wyshop was designed specifically for the mums who do not have time to shop, the men who wouldn’t know where to look, the style-savvy women who want to find a particular label, the males who need a suit, and the visitors who want it all.  Developed with a function similar to a search engine, the site has a listing of all Gold Coast retailers and boutiques that are specifically categorised into different fashion sub groups, such as men’s and women’s fashion, and more explicitly, for example, into swimwear and formal styles. 

The idea surrounding the initial concept of wyshop.com.au was to create a site that would encapsulate all of the shopping areas on the Coast through one particular e-source.  This enables both tourists and local residents to locate shops that may not be easily accessible at major retail outlets.  While it can be noted that glossy magazines and various print media identify labels and locations through various monthly features, there is no one site that acts as a fashion guide for shopping.  The white and yellow page directories, while listing a majority of retailers, fail to list current information as some stores sited no longer exist; only 76% of retail outlets are currently listed in the white pages followed by 46% in the yellow pages.  The introduction of wyshop.com.au to the consumer market will over time see the act of shopping on the Gold Coast change significantly.  With the ability to log onto the internet, create a search and find an exact store location, the time spent ”˜shopping’ will notably decrease.  The international and domestic potential of wyshop is of significant benefit to the local economy as a holiday destination.  As visitors tend to stay in the more tourist-driven areas (due to advertising by Gold Coast tourism), and as transportation can often be limited, the use of wyshop.com.au creates a more diverse shopping palate available for perusal.  Furthermore, as most retailers lack their own website for customer purchases, wyshop bridges that gap by developing an international market potential to promote such outlets worldwide.  Heightening the awareness of exclusive boutiques through interaction with the e-retail index would only further build on the notion that the Gold Coast is a fashion capital.

For more information visit www.wyshop.com.au
or email info@wyshop.com.au

Apple iPhone Princess Plus

Encrusted with 138 princess-cut diamonds and 180 brilliant-cut diamonds all set in 18-carat white gold, the Apple iPhone Princess Plus is one of the most expensive phones in the world. Austrian luxury designer and jeweller Peter Aloisson sold the iPhone to a wealthy Russian businessman for $152,000, but he also designs “cheaper” versions with “only” brilliant-cut diamond studs for just under $60,000.

iPod Shuffle

You might not want to bring this one to the gym. At $40,000, you’d hate to see this 18 karat diamond studded, white and pink gold iPod shuffle accidentally fall onto the treadmill and go flying across the room.

MacBook Pro

The fine folk over at Computer Choppers will gladly case your laptop in gold or platinum for anywhere between $1,200-$1,500. For an extra $2,400 you can have an Apple made of diamonds, or for something even more delicious, an apple made from chocolate diamonds.

Memories

What better to plug into your pimped-out laptop than a pimped-out flash drive? The 16 GB Adamant is made of gold with three diamonds, and costs more than most computers at $5,650.

If you own anything, you can be sure that someone owns the diamond-studded version of it. And you probably won’t ever cross the paths of these people, because chances are they will be typing away on their diamond laptops or chatting on their diamond iPhones while sipping diamond lattes in a Starbucks made entirely out of diamonds.

Article by James Fraser

Ken with Gold Coast QCA student Chris Bouffler

Australia’s most well known graphic designer made a fleeting two day visit to Brisbane and the Gold Coast last week to talk to staff, students and alumni of the Queensland College of Art.

Ken gave seminar presentations at the Griffith University South Bank campus and the Sheraton Mirage on the Gold Coast where he spoke about his work, the AGIdeas conference and the future of design.

He also expressed his disappointment at the practise of free pitching within the design industry and praised the potential of cross-cultural design as a way to ‘do design differently’. He also raved about his clients and described them as creative colleagues.

The two day series of events were organised by Griffith Enterprise, in conjunction with the QCA and offered up opportunities for the students to network with the design industry and showcase their work in a variety of forums, as well as giving a range of designers the chance to hear Ken speak.

Photo by Camille Santiago www.camille-nathania.com

The Sydney Underground Film Festival has today announced a brazen new program for the festival, which runs 9^th-11^th September this year. Covering the political, the perverse and the simply bizarre, the festival boldly goes where no other festival dares tread, screening a number of films never before seen in Australia.

Screening 89 films over one huge weekend, the 2010 Sydney Underground Film Festival includes:

• Films from ten countries internationally
• 10 full length feature films and 79 shorts
• 7 feature film Australian premieres

Just weeks after the federal election, the festival will kick off with a truly political flavour Thursday 9^th September with the Australian premiere of Oliver Stone’s SOUTH OF THE BORDER, a controversial documentary following the filmmaker’s trip through South America and interviews with past presidents.

Festival highlights are also set to include ENTER THE VOID from famed French filmmaker Gaspar Noé, a screening of THE TAINT, Australian film EL MONSTRO DEL MAR!, LIFE AND DEATH OF A PORNO GANG, and Harmony Korine’s TRASH HUMPERS.

Sydney Underground Film Festival director Stefan Popescu said ‘we are excited to present our program for 2010, The Sydney Underground Film Festival aims to push the boundaries of the conventional, and we feel that this year’s program achieves this perfectly, offering Sydney filmgoers the opportunity to see these films from all over the world.’

DATE: 9^th – 11^th September, 2010
LOCATION: Factory Theatre, Marrickville
TICKETS: www.suff.com.au

FEATURE FILM SYNOPSES:

SOUTH OF THE BORDER (dir: Oliver Stone, USA)
www.southoftheborderdoc.com

There’s a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn’t know it. Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media’s misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents. In casual conversations with Presidents Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and ex-President Néstor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raúl Castro (Cuba), Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon the exciting transformations in the region. 

ENTER THE VOID (dir: Gaspar Noé, France)
www.enterthevoid.com

Oscar and his sister Linda are recent arrivals in Tokyo. Oscar’s a small time drug dealer, and Linda works as a nightclub stripper. One night, Oscar is caught up in a police bust and shot. As he lies dying, his spirit, faithful to the promise he made his sister – that he would never abandon her – refuses to abandon the world of the living. It wanders through the city, his visions growing evermore distorted, evermore nightmarish. Past, present and future merge in a hallucinatory maelstrom.

RED, WHITE AND BLUE (dir: Simon Rumley, USA)
http://www.redwhitebluemovie.com/

In Austin Texas, the lives of three young people – Erica, Franki and Nate – intertwine in a fateful, tragic way and head down a rocky and violent road to heart-rending oblivion.

Erica (Amanda Fuller) lives rent-free in the local co-op, but spends her nights trawling the bars and beds of Austin.  Damaged, emotionally withdrawn, never really connecting with anyone, and sleeping with multiple men is just what she does… until she meets the older and mysterious Nate (Noah Taylor), working in a hardware store, but with an “honorable discharge” from Iraq. 

Despite his quiet air of danger, Nate’s the only guy who doesn’t seem to want to get her into bed at the first opportunity, and the two form a hesitant bond.   But one of Erica’s casual sexual encounters is about to bite back.  

Franki (Marc Senter) is a young, hot-headed wannabe rock star trying to make it big. Looking after a sick mother and estranged from his long term girlfriend, he “shared” Erica with his buddies one drunken evening.  A shocking twist of fate is all it takes throws his already crazy world into a spin, and in Franki’s eyes there is only one person to blame…

MEAT (dir: Victor Nieuwenhuijs & Maartie Seyferth, Netherlands)

A butcher operates what appears to be an ordinary meat market and Roxy is a pretty girl who helps out in the shop. She videos everything as part of her search for answers, her limits, her life. As the butcher gets into her head, they’re lives start to become involved. After hours, there isn’t the ordinary employer/employee relationship as they take part in bizarre sexual game playing, with Roxy capturing the action on her video camera. Yet to Roxy’s horror, she discovers their kinky after-hours activities are not the only thing at the shop that would shock their customers. When the miserable inspector comes to investigate the mysterious demise of the butcher, it seems that there is only one solution for the puzzle: recreate the death of the butcher.

THE TAINT (dir: Drew Buldoc & Dan Nelson, USA)
www.taintmovie.com

The water is tainted. The Taint poisons the minds of men. It turns them into raging misogynists: monsters who want nothing more than to crush women’s heads with rocks(or other objects). When society is transformed into a land of sadistic violence and horrible brutality, it is up to Phil O’Ginny and his hot friend, Misandra, to combat the horrible evil that is The Taint. Can they survive a world brimming with castration and endless head crushing?! The Taint is an independent low-budget horror-comedy feature film created by Drew Bolduc and Dan Nelson. It is a satirical horror-comedy that seeks to expose the misogynistic nature of many Hollywood and Independent films, by being one of the most misogynistic films of all time.  It was made for roughly $5,000 dollars and quite a good deal of blood, sweat, and tears.

AMERICAN: THE BILL HICKS STORY (dir: Matt Harlock & Paul Thomas, USA)
www.americanthemovie.com

15 years after his death Bill Hicks (16/12/61 – 26/2/94), is now more popular than ever, and is widely seen as one of the best comedian of the modern era. However, in America, where he challenged institutions and accepted ways of thinking, he suffered censorship and was never truly recognised by a wide audience. In the country which enshrines freedom of speech in its constitution his story is truly about what it means to be an American. 

Now Bill’s remarkable story is brought to life in AMERICAN: THE BILL HICKS STORY, a feature-length documentary which combines live action with a stunning new animation technique manipulating 1,000s of photographs to uniquely immerse the audiences in his world, which is re-told from the point-of-view of the people who shared it with him.

LIFE AND DEATH OF A PORNO GANG (dir: Mladen Djordjevic, Serbia)
http://bascelik.net/films-gang.php

This razor-sharp and often perversely comic metaphor about the social pathologies of Serbian life in the 1990s was a major hit at the Rotterdam Film Festival. A travelling “porno cabaret” journeys from village to village across rural Serbia, performing live sex acts in radical framings as a means of sexual confrontation, often provoking violent responses from the locals. Situations take a turn for the darker when the troupe are approached by a shady foreign war correspondent who makes them an offer they struggle against refusing—a ton of money in exchange for shooting actual murders, theatrically “performed” on willing, consensual victims who no longer care about living.

BIKER FOX (dir: Jeremy Lamberton, USA)
www.bikerfoxmovie.com

Biker Fox is the story of Frank P. DeLarzelere III aka Biker Fox, Tulsa, Oklahoma’s misunderstood motivational bicyclist, nature conservationist and muscle car guru. Part-documentary and part-self-help testimonial, the film navigates the uneasy relationships DeLarzelere has with both the city of Tulsa and himself, as his Biker Fox character’s intentions of spirited goodwill sometimes neglect certain boundaries.

EL MONSTRO DEL MAR! (dir: Stuart Simpson, Australia)
www.monstromovie.com

After breaking down in their car in the middle of nowhere the three girls lure a car down to help them. But instead of waiting for the two men to get them back on the road, they pull out their switch blades and slit both their throats and steal their car. They set out towards their destination, a beach shack in a small isolated town to lay low for a while. But it doesn’t take them long to totally disrupt this tiny fishing community with their loud, brash and don’t take any shit attitudes. After swimming in the water and after being warned not to go in there (by a furious Joseph) they awaken the ancient evil that has plagued the town for as long as they can remember. That night the girls try to corrupt the innocent Hannah by getting her drunk while the local fishermen are ripped apart by the massive sea creature. The next morning, after discovering the bloody mess left behind, including one of their own, the girls go back to interrogate Joseph about what the hell is out there. Before long the answer is on their door step and the four of them (two Vixens, Hannah and Joseph) must fight for their lives in the confines of a small wooden shack.

Influences for the film range from the characters in Russ Myer’s Faster Pussycat Kill Kill and Ernest Hemingway’s classic book The Old Man and the Sea to the epic atmosphere of John Huston’s Moby Dick and Steven Spielberg’s Jaws.  It also draws reference from the stylistic violence of George Miller’s Mad Max and the playful Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead.

TRASH HUMPERS (dir: Harmony Korine, USA)
www.trashhumpers.com

A film unearthed from the buried landscape of the American nightmare, TRASH HUMPERS follows a small group of elderly ‘Peeping Toms’ through the shadows and margins of an unfamiliar world. Crudely documented by the participants themselves, we follow the debased and shocking actions of a group of true sociopaths the likes of which have never been seen before. Inhabiting a world of broken dreams and beyond the limits of morality, they crash against a torn and frayed America. Bordering on an ode to vandalism, it is a new type of horror – palpable and raw.

There have been many fashion versus comfort atrocities over the years. Most of the seasoned fashionistas are dedicated to the cause of appearance over any pain that may be caused on an evening out – but the towering 12cm heels preferred by many women (and a lack of seating at many functions, it must be noted) can be almost crippling. It one particularly horrifying example, I was actually witness to a group of early twenty somethings who were walking barefoot and carrying their heels on the way OUT– which is really telling the world you have given up.

Personally, I have never been a fan of ‘thongs in the handbag’, because a fabulous dress is not only ruined by the appearance of thongs, but is also ruined by the accompanying handbag the size of a microwave that’s required to contain them.  But, halleluiah, there is a solution at hand.

Welcome the Flipster. It’s not as beach friendly as the thong, but it is cleverly designed. Flipsters, launched in October 2009 is a super slick pair of thong flip flops that thanks to their innovative ‘flip, flop, fold’ design, fold up to the size of an average digital camera and slot into a sleek, black, zip-up pouch to keep in even the smallest of handbags.

These are definitely a product that are for those emergency situations – your podiatrist would not be a fan – but there has been careful consideration given for the aesthetics rather than just the practicality alone. They have an ankle strap, which creates a slightly more elegant aesthetic than thongs and makes for a sturdier position on the foot – particularly useful if there has been one too many champagnes consumed throughout the evening.

It may come as a surprise then, that the heel problems that have plagued women for so long have actually been solved by two enterprising Sydney men. Friends and business partners Ben Lipschitz and Rick Munitz, both aged 25 from Sydney took an innovative idea and designed and developed Flipsters.

 “I was on a night out with some friends and noticed a lot of girls wearing heels and suffering sore feet because of it. This sparked an idea that small but comfortable footwear could temporarily alleviate the pain. I took the idea to my good friend and industrial designer, Rick and Flipsters were born,” says Ben Lipschitz.

Rick Munitz adds: “As soon as Ben came to me with the idea I started working on design. I know lots of girls who take their flip flops out on a night out but complain about having to carry a big handbag rather than a slim evening bag. When I discovered that there was no other folding flip flop on the market, I just knew that potentially we had a great product within our grasp.”

Rick consulted senior designers, footwear manufacturers and podiatrists to ascertain the best materials and most efficient manufacturing process, analysing everything from the motion of walking to variations in feet. He says: “We looked into every single way of designing a folding flip flop. When our prototype started to receive great feedback, the realisation that we could actually take it to market really set in.”

Flipsters launched in October 2009 with a new website and are available to buy online. Their first shipment sold out immediately, with the demand exceeding beyond any expectations that had been set.

With Flipsters now available, taking the long way home doesn’t seem quite so arduous.

www.flipsters.com.au

What is your name your brand name and where are you located

Mortimer and LuKe, I stock 8 stores across Melbourne and hoping there will be more interest.

Where did you learn your craft?

I learnt from watching my Mum, I am not formally trained and I think I do things in a pretty un-orthodox way and that seems to work for me. I am fascinated by they way things are constructed and am constantly pulling things apart to see how they work, I learn a lot by trail and error forever learning from my mistakes and starting over.

What other fashion designers work do you relate to most? Who inspires you?

I Collage bits from everywhere, a lot of my ideas out of my head and a lot from magazines never knowing who or what I have been slicing up and reconstructing. I am really inspired by garment styling and I guess that come from having a Visual Merchandising background, I like the way outfits are compiled and the options that layering gives you.

How do you think/want other people to respond to your gear?

I want people to understand the way that I compile clothing and construct it, I work collections on the idea that everything can be worn together in a myriad of different ways, like layering up garments, inside out upside down what ever gets you going I want people especially guys to experiment with it and make it work for them.

Fashion or Function?

Definitely Fashunction

Are you just focussing on Hoody for now, or are there plans for going all out?

I think that hoodys are going to be part of my range for winter and summer for a while purely because they are so versatile in our Melbourne climate I reckon that you could just about wear one 70% of the year.
Yes I love hoody’s but I plan to go all out for summer, Shirts, Shorts, Tanks, Vests, Togs, Dresses and Accessories, just wait 4 it to heat up and it’ll be too hot to handle.

Where are your garments made?

Right here in Melbourne. Its hard as a young designer to make here in Melbourne and I am just starting to find that all out, there is not a lot of good fabric suppliers around anymore and unique interesting stuff is hard to come by I can understand why a lot of designers go offshore. But I’d like to believe that I can offer Melbourne a range of garments designed and produced here.

What motivates/inspires your work?

There is not a lot out there for guys and that what inspires me. I want to change that by giving the boys something to rival the girls with. There is too much variety for girls and the boys get stuck with printed T’s and stock standard shirts and jackets.I work to give the boys a fair go”…

Do you one day aim to have a show at fashion week, and or sell overseas?

Hmm id love to sell in Japan I reckon they would get what Mortimer and LuKe is all about. I have no real goals that the moment for fashion week but I do aim to have my own show next year to launch my winter collection.

What are your 5 year goals?

Put together some awesome winter collections with heaps of function and changeability then I reckon take it international.

Can you let us in on any trade secrets? ?

Hmm Trade secrets hey, well I haven’t been in the trade that long and I am still learning them, maybe you should let me in on some”…

Related Links

www.myspace.com/mortimerandluke

In a nice footnote to this story, Alister who recently purchased one from http://www.corkysaintclair.com/ on the basis of first little post we had on Mortimer and Luke says “Nice fit, funky design and you never forget your scarf again!”, so if you see Alister in the streets, make sure you see what hes hiding in his pockets :)