Australian Modern Design Giveaway

We have a great new Australian design book to give away on Fun and VJs.

Australian Modern Design: Mid 20th Century Architecture & Design is all about modernist architecture, art, design and culture. It is a collection of stories paying tribute to Australia's rich design culture. The new book aims to promote a better appreciation of this particular era of design.

There is a wealth of interesting stories contained within the 160 pages of Australian Modern Design.

Some of the fascinating stories include:  a glimpse into  Robyn Boyd's Appletree Hill housing estate; an enchanting story by Victoria Grounds, daughter of architect Roy Grounds, about the Betty Ramsay House; a peek into a secret location in Brisbane containing significant mid-century architect-designed homes; an examination of the life and work of the renowned furniture designer Fred Ward, and my favourite story is about Patrick Ogilvie, a milliner, who left a legacy of exquisite creations...

It is a beautifully produced book and it now has pride of place on my coffee table. I just wish I had a Noguchi coffee table to do it justice...

The hardcover design is a blueprint using a mid-century garden plan by landscape architect Arne Fink, whose sophisticated work is slowly being rediscovered by a new generation. The gorgeous cover is designed to age over time to achieve the patina of a well-used blueprint.

Australian Modern Design

Copies will be hitting stores this weekend in Brisbane, with other capital cities following suit next week.
Designed, printed and edited in Brisbane, Australia, this is a fabulous independent publication from the publishers of Brisbane Modern and Australian Modern. Recommended Retail Price is $80.

You can also obtain copies by ordering online at Australian Modern HERE. Please support independent publishers giving it a go.

Slipcovers being  assembled for Australian Modern Design

And if you're feeling particularly lucky, you can win your very own FREE copy by leaving a comment on this blog post. It will be our Christmas present to you.

Please make sure to leave an email address with your comment, so that we can contact you. The competition is open to Australian and international readers. Yay! Competition ends on Wednesday 4 December 2013. As always, Jason will pick the winner.

Good luck! 

Abandoned houses

For those of you who don't know, we live next to an old abandoned cottage. I wrote about it here back in 2009 when we first moved to the Sow's Ear.

I really haven't found much more information about the house since 2009... The owner comes around periodically to mow the lawn and tidy the yard: the house itself is now beyond repair and maintenance. The kookaburras peck at the rotting weatherboards cladding the house, probably to feast on the termites slowly devouring all that delicious timber.

By the looks of the house it is perhaps an early 1900s Queenslander cottage - it is definitely older than our 1928 Sow's Ear.

View of the old abandoned house from our deck. And the missing stump.

Word on the street is that the house was once owned by a famous aboriginal boxer (Lionel Rose?) and the house, at some point in time, operated as an illegal brothel. Yes, a house of ill-repute!

Someone told me that under the house there are still all kinds of adult devices suspended from the floor beams...of course! I don't know that any of this is true mind, but there is always a grain of truth in these neighbourhood folklores, surely? Anyway, I'm running with the story because it's a good one!

The view of the house from our side stairs. Here is the fallen timber house stump.

I'm not game enough to find out the truth about the adult devices under the house business and I will definitely not go to investigate after one of the house's foundation stumps keeled over during the storm last week. Yikes!

Although, it is very sad the home is falling apart, I find the whole abandoned house business morbidly fascinating. Clearly I'm not the only one who finds it so, as I recently discovered.

There is a whole Facebook page dedicated to abandoned houses in and around Brisbane here. The person who runs the page records the ruins for our viewing pleasure - there's nearly 10,000 likers!

So, are you fascinated by abandoned house too?

Finel Coffee Pot

The op-shop gods have been kind...I've been on a bit of an op-shop roll at the moment. It's a dreadful affliction - this need to scour charity shops for bits of pretty mid-century glass or homewares...

Finel coffee pot

However, never did I think I would find a Finel coffee pot sitting forlornly on a shelf next to the many donated pyrex coffee plungers. I did a double-take, snatched it with both hands, clutched it tightly to my chest and whispered to it, "My precious."

Image from here

The enamel coffee pot was designed in 1957 by Finnish designer Antti Nurmesniemi and has become a sort of design icon among mid-century modern enthusiasts and collectors. It is like the Finnish equivalent to the Norwegian Cathrineholm lotus coffee pots which are also a very highly sought-after item.

Etsy image from here

Looks like it's the Sow's Ear for stove-top coffee, people!

The scent of Christmas is in the air...

Sponsored by RedBalloon*

For some people it is almost sacrilege to even start Christmas preparations, despite the retail stores already decking the halls with boughs of holly.

But not for me and especially not after I received a RedBalloon MarketPlace box containing an Ecoya Christmas scented candle delivered to my door step (actually, delivered to the carport in this instance).

And no, the Ecoya candle doesn’t smell like an Australian ‘prawntastic’ seafood Christmas either – it is a more refined Caramelised Plum Pudding scent, which is simply divine. It smells deceivingly edible…like warmed plum pudding drizzled with brandy custard…

Caramelised Plum Pudding scented candle by Ecoya from RedBalloon MarketPlace

It was an absolute treat to get the package which is the ultimate aim of RedBalloon MarketPlace, providing a little bit of luxurious delight to those on the receiving end of such a gift. It was a nice surprise too even though I knew it was on its way...Ha!

Apart from the Ecoya lifestyle boxes, you can select boxes containing products like Maggie Beer, Republica Coffee, Valrhona Chocolate, as well as a wine and beer products. It would make a fab corporate gift for work clients or colleagues as well as a great gift for loved ones…particularly for loved ones who are very hard to buy for.

You can buy a RedBalloon MarketPlace subscription starting from $29.99 per month which includes all delivery and transaction costs. The subscription is available as a one month trial, or a three, six or twelve month subscription. The Ecoya candle subscription starts from $49 per month.

So, potentially you could indulge a candle lover by giving them a candle every month if you're feeling very generous! I think it’s an awesome gift idea this Christmas even if it's just as a once-off – something a bit different too.

p.s As a special offer RedBalloon have offered a discount offer for Fun and VJ readers. Receive $20 off when you spend $79 or more on any RedBalloon experience. Visit www.redballoon.com.au  and enter the code REDBLOG14 at the checkout to receive your discount. Code can only be used once per person. All purchases are subject to RedBalloon T&Cs
Expiry: 31/12/2014


*I received a complimentary subscription box to facilitate this review, and an administration fee from Digital Parents Collective. As always, all opinions expressed are purely my own.

Featherston holiday and Australian Modern Design

The last few days have been kind of fun. Yesterday I was given a Featherston chair...!! But only as a temporary loan. Ha! I didn't knock it back though.

My mates Chris and Susan who are publishers of the new book Australian Modern Design have an excess of chairs and not enough space to store them...typical dilemma for chair collectors. There were a few Featherstons, a Saarinen and some other great pieces that were just sitting in storage. Chris thought one of the Featherstons should have a holiday at the Sow's Ear...until it is wanted again. Classic!

How often can you get the 'designer look' without actually paying the 'designer bucks'?

The Featherston is now residing in our Queenslander bedroom until it is recalled for active duty at the modernist front.

How cool is that? And what's even cooler is that I got my hands on a copy of Australian Modern Design which will be out soon at selected locations nationally.

Stay tuned to hear more about this fabulous new limited edition book about mid-20th century Australian architecture and design...