While we did peddle to work for the first time ever today (and are slowly getting over it), this is about the other type of peddling here… the peddling of wares.

This coming Sunday (20 July) in Melbourne, the undercover car park at Federation Square once again plays host to the Melbourne Design Market. We’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve stacked our trestles at the market, but it’s a lot because we love it.

Some never-to-be-seen-again bargains will be there for the grabbing. ‘Seconds’ copies of back issues will be just $5 each (usually $7.50) and ‘new’ copies will be just $10 (usually $15)… a whole set of seconds of back issues #1-15 will be just $75… and no postage of course.

Cover photograph by Mia Mala McDonald

[*Spoiler warning* If you want the five people in Issue 16 to remain a surprise until you receive your copy - read no further]

Photograph by Karen Harris
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo: was born Diane Perry, the daughter of a fishmonger from London’s East End. At the age of 18 she read a book on Buddhism and believed she’d found what might fill the void she’d sensed in her life. Two years later, in 1963, she was convinced enough to travel to India. She eventually entered a monastery, the only woman amongst hundreds of monks. Then, at the age of 33 she spent 12 years alone in a cave 13,000 feet up in the Himalayas. Tenzin was far more interested in discussing her current passion for the right of women to achieve spiritual enlightenment than her time in retreat, for it’s in the present, and only in the present, that one can create change…
Photography by Adrian Lander
Alistair Trung: It amazes me that more hasn’t yet been written about Alistair Trung, after all he has been making amazing clothing for 13 years… That said, he doesn’t court the spotlight or social pages, hasn’t participated in Fashion Week, and doesn’t have a PR agent, so perhaps it’s not so surprising after all. In fact, it’s probably because, once you discover Alistair’s clothes and unique approach to dressing, you just can’t bare to share it with anyone else…
Photography by Bo Wong
Bronwyn Riedel: has this amazing ability to be able to turn the things she loves into successful businesses, and still love them. She and her husband, Andreas, make little distinction between life, work and family, melding them all into a lifestyle that suits them to a tee. Their business, Bauwerk (from the German word for ‘building’), produces natural, lime-based paints that not only give walls a delicious finish, but also allow them to breathe… Producing paint is ordinarily a notoriously polluting process, but the only byproduct of Bauwerk paints is sand… oh and beautiful walls…
Photograph Caleb Coe
Jim Denevan: When his father died, Jim Denevan, the second youngest of nine children, was just five years-old. Several of his brothers later became ill and when his mother, a mathematician, developed Alzheimers’ disease in the mid 1990s Jim took to the beach in an attempt to deal with the ‘trauma’. He began drawing in the sand with either a rake or a piece of driftwood found on the beach and the resulting works evolved into something extraordinary. Photographs of them have been exhibited at PS1, part of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Jim is about the ephemeral whether it’s the perfect wave (he is called ‘the king’ by his local surfing community), the drawing which will be erased by the next tide, or the dinner he’s arranged in a farmer’s field of which there will be no trace tomorrow either…
Photography by Narelle Sheean
Natasha Pincus: These days, rather than having limited choices (like if you’re a girl you’ll be a nurse or a teacher), we’re told we can be whatever we want. Although this is surely a good thing, it can sometimes make it a bit tricky to figure out exactly what you do want to do, particularly if you’re a bit of a jack-of-several-trades. It took Natasha Pincus two degrees (in Law and Science) and 365 days practising as a lawyer to finally commit to pursuing her first love, film. She has (under the Stark Raving Productions banner) since developed an extraordinary reputation for making short films and music videos. Feature film world, here she comes…

Alex Charchar from RetinArt has just written a fantastic article for Jacob Cass’s ‘Just Creative Design’ blog in which he talks about the key role paper plays in the design process. He cites Dumbo feather as an example of how paper can be “warm and soft” and “can help set a mood and feeling in your audience before a single word is read or a fraction of an image absorbed.” We couldn’t agree more.
When we began the process of designing Dumbo feather we developed a set of characteristics we wanted it to embody - amongst them were intimacy, authenticity, quality and respect for the environment. When making each and every decision in the design process, we’d come back to these characteristics. They meant that the paper stock had to be of a good weight (and quality - it had to last and feel valued/treasured), couldn’t be glossy (because Df’s not about the ‘glossy PR’ version of the story, but the real authentic one - warts ‘n’ all) and had to be matt and uncoated, and had to have the least impact possible on the environment (hence the 100% post-consumer recycled stock and soy-based inks).

Julia deVille (Issue 12) is exhibiting her new collection of Victorian garment-inspired jewellery/art/taxidermy pieces in collaboration with Eastern Market as part of the National Design Festival 2008 in Melbourne.

Her collection incorporates her signature silver bird bones, bird skulls and other cast natural objects… the pieces are made from masses of chain, decorating Victorian neck pieces, lapels and collars. Some are fashioned to adorn everyday garments, fixed to the body through a simple buttonhole or belt loop.

Details as follows… Eastern Market
107 Grattan St,
Carlton VIC
16th July - 10th August
The installation’s title, Prey, is a cross reference to the church space in which it and Eastern Market is housed and the animal bones deVille incorporates into her work. She has collaborated with emerging fashion designer Dhini for the project.

Julia deVille : Issue Twelve : Introduction

Julia deVille works across a number of different media; jewellery-making, leather work, fashion and craft, none of which are particularly unusual. It’s her love and practice of taxidermy that sets her apart from your everyday artisan. Her work takes her to where few dare to tread, inside the decaying bodies of dead animals. It’s important to note here that Julia would never kill an animal, but relies on flatmates and friends to find them for her around town and countryside. Through her eyes you will never look at that stag head in the den quite the same way again. Julia sees only the beauty in the animal and a desire to preserve that. She also sees an opportunity to remind us of our own mortality and in doing so, how precious every day of our lives is.

So, we’re going to try to migrate you all to our new (fine print-approved) Facebook ‘Page’ quick smart … you’ll go from being ‘friends’ to ‘fans’ … but that’s ok isn’t it? Become a fan by clicking the link below and then checking the ‘Become a fan’ in the top right hand corner…

And… we’ve managed to reduce our postage costs overseas, so we can reduce the cost of subscribing for you. The price of a ‘rest of the world’ sub for one year has come down from $85 to $75, and for two years, from $165 to $145. Get involved here!

Lost and Found is an eNewsletter exploring Melbourne’s creative places and events.
Volumes #1 and #2 took us on a virtual tour of the city through the eyes of some of Australia’s most fascinating people, from Kate Bezar to Clare Bowditch and Cut Copy’s Dan Whitford.
Lost and Found Volume #3 appears this June. Sign up here to receive Melbourne’s newest insider knowledge and inspiration in your inbox.

…what seems like a very long time ago, I had a small, very small, deposit saved for a house (actually, probably more like a studio apartment)… Then, one day I had this idea to start Dumbo feather, and now, instead of a my own four walls, I have a (rented) garage full of back issues!
However, day in day out, the back issues have slowly been whittled away until, to my huge surprise, I realised that we’re almost out of a couple. Copies of Issue 7 are seriously slim on the ground and Issue 8 is getting very low too. So, for the next couple of months at least (until completely gone), *you’ll only be able to get Issue 7 when you purchase the full set of back issues.

Thank you Dean [Manning, Issue 1] and Jen [Peedom, Issue 2] for sharing their gutsy and ever-so-entertaining stories.
Thank you Carriageworks & The Rabble for an incredible venue and challenging, cinematic and extraordinary performance. Here’s an insightful review if you’re interested.
Thank you Anthea, honestly I would be lost without you.
But mostly, thank you for coming. Once again, so wonderful to be able to put some more faces to the names and to be reminded of what a fantastic community of readers we have.

Till next time, Kate