Typeface

Ok, so I actually went to this as part of SOD, but I just couldn't seem to fit it into my previous posts and thought that straight after my post on Swensk - and their slow fashion - was pretty appropriate.

Taking the story of the Hamilton Wood Type Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, this amusing documentary looks at its place in the current revival of letterpress printing, and how people are returning to slower methods of printing, as opposed to using digital methodologies.

You can check out the clip here:


We were also treated to a panel discussion afterwards with Carolyn Fraser from Idlewild Press and David Lancashire from Lancashire Design, who discussed their thoughts on the printing industry and even floated the idea of holding a "Slow Down Design Day" sometime in the future. I am not sure if that will ever be anything more than a pipe-dream...but I have certainly added the Melbourne Museum of Printing to my list of places to go.

Sweet treats and open houses

Finishing off the mad activity for SOD, I was treated to a double luxury - a beautiful six course dinner in the working studio of the Australian Tapestry Workshop, and a day-long free pass to wander through some of Melbourne's oldest, greenest and most intriguing architecture for Melbourne Open House (MOH).

Set up by one of my Indesign colleagues Francesca Unsworth, and her Paris-based friend Rachel Khoo*, Edible Tapestries took inspiration from the interesting surrounds of the historic workshop to weave a unique culinary journey through a mix of innovative creations. Starting with a delicious elderflower and Tanqueray martini (a definite "you had me at 'hello'" moment for me) we grazed our way through Incan Cerviche, Saffron-dyed Spaghetti, Scarlet Dashi, Beef Cheeks and Kumquat Millefeuilles...need I say more?

(*The English duo met when they were muffin-making at Parisian foodie bookshop La Cocotte and, bonded over their mutual Cordon Bleu diplomas, and love of cooking)

And perfectly matching each course were the latest offerings from husband and wife team - Sarah and Sparky - at Melbourne winery Mollydooker (whose strange nitrogen-based preservation of wines requires you to shake the contents before before sampling it). Hmmmm....



Check out the image above, and Victoria Robertson's post of the evening here - like me, she is interested in all things design, an unlike me, she was actually armed with a camera!)

It is not surprising then, in the company of good food, wine and friends, it was hard to get my head off the pillow the next morning - even with the promise of architectural mastery beckoning! But, somehow I made it onto the #8 tram and headed down Lygon Street to my first stop: the Pixel Building.



Designed by studio 505 as the head offices for Grocon's redevelopment of the the Carlton Brewery site, it is the first carbon neutral office building in Australia, and its rooftop laboratory will be used for research by the University of Melbourne.



Unfortunately the line out the front slowed my progress down somewhat, and I was only able to make it up to see CH2 and the ANZ Gothic Bank after. Which was probably just as well after the hectic week I had already had.

Lights, no camera, but plenty of action

Ok, ok, I know I should be taking my camera everywhere with me these days, but damn it is heavy! But not nearly as heavy as the rain I faced this morning, as I rushed off to join in on "The Reinvention of Punt Road" for the State of Design (herein known as SOD).

Led by Alex Ritchie, Creative Director of E2 - a multi-disciplinary design team that thrives on the experiential - we all took off our shoes to crouch along a 5 or so metre-long plan of Punt Road...and hoping give it a brave new future.

Split up into groups from all professions, companies and skills sets - I was with four others, including Stephen Axford and Nivedita Vijayan from Urbis and Murray Brassington from Baldasso Cortese.

Needless to say, with all the black indelible texta scribblings, my cream tights didn't fair so well....but the overall experience was very interesting. It seems no one wants cars on the road anymore! Many of the solutions centred around sinking the road, and other transport modes, completely, using a cut-and-cover method, and creating additional high density housing, with various mixed use development and dedicated greenspace.



It will be interesting to see how the conversation continues next year, with the theme of "mobility"...

(You can check out Ben Hosking's photos of the event here - fortunately only a couple back-of-head shots of yours truly!)

State of Design - Open House Speaker Series

And so starts the flurry of activity...after arriving back late on Sunday, I went off to the second part of the Open House Speaker Series at BMW Edge in Fed Square last night.

And what a treat it was! Not only an awesome line-up of some of Australia's leading architectural and urban planning thinkers - Andrew MacLeod, Stuart Niven, Rob Adams, Geoffrey London, Tim Jackson, John MacDonald, and Tim Leslie - but also a very healthy discussion about the issue of housing density in Melbourne.

Big snaps go to Tim Jackson, for showing his project "Circa" at Coburg, still in design development phase, and Rob Adams for his impressive list of stats and figures. If you start to do the math, living smaller and closer to each other isn't really such a bad idea after all.

Check out some great links here, for some awesome places where it has already been put into action...

Bo01, Malmo
K2 Housing
Melbourne Terrace Apartments

Time to get serious...

Well I guess it kind of had to happen - the point when I decided to add the link to this to my regular email, thereby forcing myself to write about things people other than my family might be interested in! Well, soon, but not yet. I have to redesign it first...

(But you can follow me on Twitter)

Right now I am in Perth, frantically trying to prepare for the upcoming State of Design Festival, and all the events that I am covering on their own, and as a wrap-up for DQ. I am super excited about so many things!!

Like this dinner at Comme...

And the Top 6 x 6 designers...

Not to mention Iron Designer...

And Rick Joy's work...

The only bad thing about it is that it is only one once a year...