Open Studio at Karla & Natalia's!!

We kind of wanted to keep this to ourselves so that we'd get all the good stuff, but this is just too good to hold on to... so with much reluctance we urge (yes urge!!) you to get down to their open studio which is happening this Friday 10 Dec from 11am-8pm at the Nicholas Building.

See you there!

PS. so many things to buy this week!! ahhh!

Craft Cubed featured event: Nicholas Building open studios, 19 + 20 Aug

Coming up this Thursday and Friday evening is highly anticipated annual event, the Nicholas Building Open Studios. Enjoy poking around through 8 floors and 29 studios and galleries in one of Melbourne's most diverse collection of artist studios.

We're extra keen on visiting several of Craft Victoria's stockists, supporters, exhibitors, pals and a whole lot of jewellers including

• Emma Grace and Nadine Treister (floor 4, studio 11)
• Natalia Milosz-Piekarska & Karla Way (floor 5, studio 9) who will be exhibiting at Craft Vic in October
• Jin Ah Jo (floor 7, studio 12)
• Open Studios producer Vikki Kassioras (floor 7, studio 10)
• Craft Hatch graduate and recent addition to COUNTER Naoko Inuzuka who is sharing a studio with another CV supporter Helen Bowman (floor 8, studio 21)
• Past Craft Hatch participants Amina McPhee, Rhiannon Smith and Lisa Engelhardt (floor 9, studio 17)

Phew! What a lot of jewellers! Not forgetting of course the very lovely and wonderful artist Nicholas Jones (floor 7, studio 4) and Peter O'Connor (floor 4, studio 13).


Here's a peek at what to expect:

Serena Lindeman, milliner (floor 6, studio 2)

Vikki Kassioras, jeweller (floor 7, studio 10)

Clare Whitney, painting & printmaking (floor 8, studio 2)

Natalia Milosz-Piekarska, jeweller (floor 5, studio 9)

l'ucello, vintage haberdashery (floor 2, studio 5)

For further details, click the image to enlarge the program!

Or better yet, drop by Craft Victoria to pick up a hard copy of the list of studios.

Natalia Milosz-Piekarska

During the fabulous Nicholas Building open studios event, a group of us from CVHQ trotted down to poke around the studios, many of whom are COUNTER stockists. We popped by the amazing Natalia Milosz-Piekarska's studio (which she shares with Karla Way) and there was much ooh-ing and ahh-ing at Natalia's amazing design aesthetic. It's out of this world!

Natalia recently dropped off some great earrings the other day (pictured below). The studs with the gold dots have been snapped up already... but the rest are still here and waiting to be taken back to a good home!

The image above is from Natalia's blog, the very aptly-named 'ahhness', which you should totally check out for more images and info. It'll give you something to save up for till next payday...

Nicholas Building open studios

Our friends at the Nicholas Building will be opening their studios to the public today from 4-9pm and tomorrow as well from 4-9pm. This event is part of Craft Cubed and is your chance to take a fully legit peek into the studios of some of the best makers in town, without feeling voyeuristic/awkward/nosey.

Featuring COUNTER stockists Natalia Milosz-Piekarksa (Floor 2, Studio 4), Nadine Treister & Emma Grace (Floor 4, Studio 11), Peter O'Connor (Floor 4, Studio 13) and Tim Fleming a.k.a. The Founder of Flatland OK (Floor 7, Studio 16).

Also featuring previous Craft Hatch participants Amina McPhee, Rhiannon Smith & Lisa Engelhardt (Floor 9, Studio 17) and PERSPECTIVE exhibitors Jin Ah Jo (Floor 7, Studio 12) and Karla Way (Floor 2, Studio 4).

Click the flyer for an enlarged view.

What a line-up! We're really excited! We'll see you there tonight! Triple exclamation mark use!

New exhibitions open tonight!

Installation view for The World of Small Things

We've been an excitable lot here at CVHQ for the past few days and it all boils down to this evening. Tonight is the launch of our new exhibition program featuring a wonderful group exhibition curated by former CVHQ Head Honcho Kevin Murray, a series of figurative sculptures inspired by the artist Emma Davies' recent trip to Johannesburg, and Alana Clifton-Cunningham's exquisitely crafted knitwear designed to examine the ability of knitwear to function as a 'second skin'.

As usual, artist talks will begin this evening at 5.30pm with the official opening to commence from 6pm till 8pm. Do join us to celebrate yet another fabulously curated exhibition schedule. Featuring opening speakers Soumitri Varadarajan (Associate Professor at RMIT's Industrial Design course), Julia Raath (from RMIT's Textiles department) and Magdalena Moreno (Director, The South Project and CEO of Kultour), we promise you good company, plenty of inspiring conversation, and of course a great time.

See you tonight!

L'oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival 2009

This year Craft Victoria are involved in 2 of the 52 Cultural Program events in the L'oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival. Make sure you head down and surround yourself in the fashion fever thats quickly rising through Melbourne as fashion week draws closer. This is what is coming up soon in CVHQ...

1.
Chicks On Speed:Viva La Craft
Thursday March 12 - April 25
Gallery 1, 2 & 3

A long standing avant-garde project, Chicks on Speed (Melissa Logan and Alex Murray-Leslie) are recognised nationally and internationally as a formidable force in contemporary art, craft and music practice. Chicks on Speed: Viva la Craft! will transform Craft Victoria’s three gallery spaces into a laboratory of craft development: a live workshop, design studio, performance space and installation; a mash-up of new technology and artisanal technique. Viva la Craft! is Chicks on Speed's first solo exhibition in Australia and will feature collaboration en masse: don't do it yourself, but with everybody else!" This exhibition has been kindly supported by the City of Melbourne and Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces.

A Limited Edition Chicks on Speed poster developed exclusively for Craft Victoria, will be available to purchase from Craft Victoria during the exhibition. Further details about how to pre-order will be listed on our website soon.

2.
AFVMBP0309CV247LMFFCP
Monday March 2-March 22
enCOUNTER window

Melbourne based fashion design studios ALEXI FREEMAN (AF) and MATERIALBYPRODUCT (MBP) collaborate to produce an installation of new work, AFVMBP0309CV247LMFFCP that will be showcased at Craft Victoria’s enCOUNTER 24/7 exhibition space in March 2009. Both studios are actively engaged in the exploration and promotion of hand processing techniques in contemporary design. ALEXI FREEMAN draws upon dry-point etching methodologies to produce his signature geometric motifs; MATERIALBYPRODUCT appropriate markers of construction as templates for print design. Together, as collaborators AFVMBP, they explore the garment hybrid, AFVMBP0309CV247LMFFCP: both an experiment in form and an exchange of design vernacular.

Open Studios

Part of the mammoth Month about Making saw yours truly convince the talented folk at the Nicholas Building to open the doors of their studios for two nights.
Sandy took off her front of house hat last night went along to check it out:


With my Best Boy and Best Girl in tow I braved the Nicholas Building’s ancient lifts and traveled up up up to the ninth floor. Along with a crowd of other adventurers we wound our way around and down through a maze of dark corridors and brightly lit studio spaces.

Along the way we drooled over lovely jewelry, chatted to makers, visited tiny, crowded nooks with windows into the central shaft of the building and sparse gallery spaces with views down St Kilda road. Every studio was totally different – with each room bearing the stamp of the individual inhabitants.

Best Girl’s highlight was Idewild Press with the scent of ink in the air and the endless possibilities of the printing press. She is all fired up to do one of their short courses. Best Boy’s favorite thing was the little dancing robot man he found in the first studio we went into. He also got a kick out of getting to glimpse all the hidden away workspaces high above the city.

My #1 had to be the views of Melbourne town by night as we wound our way around the building and #2 was seeing into the work/headspaces of so many artists and craftspeople. It was a total treat see the finished products on display right next to the tools of the trade.

Thanks to MATTT for the beers and to Vicki Kassioras and Matt Thomson for organising such a great event.

Open Studios at the Nicholas Building continues on its merry way tonight: Friday 29th August 5pm-9pm