Another product of the creative  Brooklyn, New York scene – is dutch designer Marianne Van Ooij. Her most recent artistic offerings are her best yet; clothing-themed bowls and plates. Bringing fashion and food together through detailed ceramic-work, her designs are truly unique – think business shirt sleeves on plates, buttons and zips on gorgeous shallow white bowls. The pieces aren’t on sale yet but Marianne has a lovely collection of her other artistic pursuits on her website.

Many creative-children would be able to point to a time in their childhood when their Mother yelled, “Don’t draw on the walls!” But the table isn’t off limits is it? The quirky Design*Sponge crew don’t seem to think so, check out their “how-to” on painting a stencil on your dining room table. Such a simple but effective design idea.

Travel brings out the worst in people; flared tempers as you sit elbow-to-elbow on a cramped airplane, angst that you may lose your all important passport, and general dissatisfaction with your appearance – those toilet lights are too bright! Amidst all these “getting there” negatives emerges a positive, complete travel style and organisation in the form of a carry on. Found via SwissMiss, Amsterdam-based TravelTeq’s bags are just gorgeous and a welcome break from the everyday plain-Jane black suitcases wheeled around. Their wheelie bag is strong, sturdy and features those perfect little compartments. The best thing? You can kick out the legs and sit on top of it in those awfully long airport waits! The perfect accompaniment to the bag is the gorgeous leather laptop case/handbag (pictured above), which hooks onto the handle of the wheelie.

Etsy is a wonderful creative shopping online shopping space; home to great collections of vintage homewares, clothing, shoes to inventive stationary. A fabulous spot to while away internet hours. An Etsy creation doing the blogging-rounds this week is this gorgeous print by Mike Oncley. It’s a lovely, funny tribute to the cultiest of cult Woody Allen films, Annie Hall. There are five other Annie Hall themed prints in his store.

This adorable video is doing the blogging rounds at the moment, and for good reason. Poet/singer/songwriter Tanya Davis has teamed up with film-maker Andrea Dorfman to artfully remind us all, “How to be alone”. The clip features adorable on screen illustrations, and reminders of “the little things” that make us happy. Davis’ narration is lovely throughout too… a beautiful reminder of the joys of life.

It may not give you a $2 reward, but these “scratch” maps are pretty cool. Simply buy one and scratch off each country as you visit it. It’s kind of like the advent calendar of travelling… it provides a cute art piece for a proud travellers’ home too. Found here.

Brisbane is Australia’s new “premiering ground” for all things wonderful in art. It started in 2007 with Australia’s largest showing of Andy Warhol pieces at GoMA. The exhibit was expansive showcasing over 300 works by the ground-breaking pop artist, and it burst open this sleepy town’s art scene – to the envy of our big sister cities. Then came the more recent, eye-popping and alarmingly real Ron Mueck human body sculpture exhibit. Now it’s the Valentino Retrospective. GoMA will fling open its doors on 7 August, giving Brisbanites unprecedented access to the world of haute couture until 14 November. The exhibition will present designer Valentino Garavani’s first collection from 1959, up to the  latest Autumn/Winter 2009-10 collection. The celebrity factor is the cherry on top of this creative cake: dresses worn by Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor and others will be on display. Adult tickets are $20, concession $16 and children free.

Singer/songwriter and banjo player Abigail Washburn is a music anomaly. Her music is a yin-and-yang mix of deep south American bluegrass and Chinese folk music, proving a surprisingly entertaining and bolstering act. Washburn charters new water with her bluegrass/Chinese folk genre. Majoring in East Asian studies at college, this bluegrass singer once had visions of being a lawyer. But those dreams fell by the wayside when she began pursuing her musical hobby in Nashville, Tennessee. The pint-sized, curly haired chanteuse/banjo player is backed-up by the Sparrow Qaurtet, featuring; a jiving trumpet, booming cello, rousing drum beats, and delicate violin. When the quintuplet chime out Chinese song Taiyang Chulai, the room alights forcing Westerners to jump up and dance – or in the very least tap their feet to this funked up old-time song. The American-born singer is playing in Shanghai as part of the Shanghai World Expo and Fourth of July celebrations. She played at Shanghai’s Glamour Bar last night and will play at the U.S. Pavillion on Saturday 3 July and the Expo Culture Centre on Sunday 4 July. Her sound is revolutionary, original and refreshing to the techno-dominated music scene.

Brisbane-based writer Benjamin Law has been padding up his CV for sometime. Boasting a swag of published articles in magazines like; Frankie, The Monthly, QWeekend and Sunday Life – it’s only fitting his next step be writing a book. The Family Law is an amusing memoir of a Chinese family growing up in Australia and the normal/not-so-normal growing pains along the way. He launched his book at Avid Reader in West End last night to the raves of veteran, Brisbane-born writer Matthew Condon and the support of dozens of local friends and fans. His writing is capturing and relatable due to his honesty and ability to spin the mundane into the hilarious. At the launch Law said, his book is “open to interpretation”, a tale that isn’t specifically Chinese or Australian,but one that many today can relate to. The story centres around his parent’s divorce and includes funny everyday tales – like teaching his computer-illiterate Mother about the internet. And although fans know he’s destined for bigger things – Brisbanites will always claim him as their very own, read his book and tweet him your thoughts.

A book has recently been released called, Why Didn’t I Think of That? :101 Inventions that Changed the World by Hardly Trying, it’s a modern encyclopedia of all those great/crazy (and now necessary) inventions you just wish you’d thought of – effortless geek if you will. It isn’t until you start reading the book that you realise how many great inventions people with no particular credentials have made. One scenario that springs to mind is that crazy guy who traded a red paperclip for a house. The book doesn’t mention that pioneering genius – but it does reference; Post-Its, the Heimlich Maneuver, the Pet Rock, the Smiley Face Icon, Sliced Bread, “Happy Birthday to You” and other money-making creations.  Read it and weep, or perhaps be inspired to make something that forces everybody else to ask that golden question.

If your lunch sometimes goes missing from the work fridge the (above) anti-theft lunch bag is your savior… as you can see it casts a mold-illusion over your delicious sandwich and repulses unknowing hungry coworkers’ eyes. It may also come in handy at home, especially if you’ve a penchant for expensive chocolate and your family a desire for scoffing it down.

There’s a rumbling underground, it’s not another earthquake or even that volcano-that-no-one-can pronounce erupting – it’s underground supper clubs. Supper clubs are run by everyday people/sometimes ex-chefs, who open their home to random guests (word is usually spread online) and host a dinner for them. The dinners have garnered hipster popularity worldwide – but you’ll have to do some serious Google-digging to find them. The most established of these supper clubs is Jim Haynes‘ in Paris. This France-based American expat has been hosting Sunday dinners in his Parisian home for over 20 years. Jim’s suppers attract an international crowd of various demographics, on a night there you’re bound to encounter someone with an interesting life story. Now across the ocean to that acclaimed city crooned by Frank Sinatra and most recently Jay-Z and Alicia Keys – (more…)

Ron Mueck’s sculptures are so lifelike it’s frightening. Mueck, an Australian “hyperrealist” sculptor, will bring his realistic sculptures to Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) this weekend for a three month long exhibition.  His lifelike depictions are, as a matter-of-fact, larger than life. “Mask II”, the sculpture above, measures 77.2 cm x 118.1 cm x 85.1 cm = much larger than the.. err.. average human head. Mueck has shown at numerous galleries including the Brooklyn Museum in New York City and at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. It will be a certainly unusual, original and all ’round unmissable exhibition – there’s no one like him in the art world today. As the winter chill sets over the following months, seek refuge at GoMA and be amazed/inspired/and be creeped out by Mueck’s realistic sculptures.

Ron Mueck’s sculptures will be on show at GoMa from Saturday 8 May – Sunday 1 August.

Adult’s admission is $12.

This May-Day long weekend ushered in the seventh annual Noosa Food and Wine Festival. The weekend-long celebration of food and wine plays host to a myriad of national chefs, local providores and other foodie related things. This year Masterchef critic Matt Preston attended, and went head-to-head with five other food critics (Lizzie Loel, Bob Hart, Tony Love, Simon Thomsen and Necia Wilden) in a cook off challenge. Each critic had to prepare an appealing finger-food meal to feed the thousands of festival-goers. At the end of the day the people chose their favourite; Matt Preston, whilst Lizzie Loel and Bob Hart claimed the Critic’s Choice award. (more…)

We interrupt your ANZAC day long weekend to bring you some homegrown talent to bolster your national pride. Brisbane-based ceramic artist Mel Robson creates porcelain designs that are refreshingly different and the creative world is beginning to notice. She was recently featured on popular U.S. blog *Design Sponge*. In an interview with the blog she said of her work, “… I take lots of old things and work them in to new ones.” There’s not much more to be said about her art, because the proof of her originality is in the pictures.

Whoever it was that said ‘girls can’t reverse park’ was wrong. Take a look at this video to learn why:

In the sector of good quality espresso coffee Australian cities have New York City pegged. Think about it, every Aus capital city (and many “country” towns) have a myriad of great coffee options where coffee snobs (read: most of the Australian population) can order their latte, flat-white or short macchiato with no qualms. World-renowned chefs love our coffee too. When visiting Australia in March for the Melbourne Food & Wine festival, Chef Jamie Oliver twittered he had the ‘best coffee ive ever had in my life’ in Melbourne. It’s no wonder then, that Aussies returning from ‘The Land of Opportunity’ sneer about how hard it was to find a good coffee, we’ve… (more…)

There are some blogs/websites that are inspiring, funny, lovely that we habitually revisit each time we open our desktops, they’re the sites that keep us coming back into the “webosphere”. “Le Love” is one of these web gems. It’s a pick-me-up when you’re finding life a little lack-lusture. The site is a collective love note from lovers to; ex-lovers, current lovers and want-to-be-lovers. Admittedly some of the stories  and images shared by readers are heartbreaking, but mostly the site is touching, whimsical and reminds readers that love is the greatest emotion we share.

Something in the chromosome of the majority of women pulls us towards shoes. It’s indescribable to the opposite sex, just as their fixation with cars is to us. This shoe desire really has a yo-yo effect on women though. If she finds the right pair she’s found a new heaven, if she’s bought a cheap pair she’s in blister, sweaty and smelly, hell. Shoes of Prey is the anecdote. The relatively new Australian company, (launched in October last year), offers women the chance to design their own shoes online. Your shoes are completely bespoke from colour to design – and when they’re ready they’re delivered to your door. The company offers a few different styles of high heels and the style-honoured ballet flat. Under the “Start Designing” section of the website, there’s a plethora of choices. It’s a fail-proof way of creating your next new favourite pair of shoes, and for a fairly affordable price (pimped up flats are around $195).

sa·voir faire \, sav-, wär-‘fer \ n.m. 1: Know-how. French, savoir-faire, literally, knowing (savoir) how to do (faire).

There’s been a French buzz in the air in Brisbane over the past two weeks, but as the Alliance Française French Film Festival draws to a close some Franco-Brisbanites may find it difficult to say “Au Revoir” to all things Gallic. Fear not, Mireille Guiliano, author of French Women Don’t Get Fat has written a new book. Her new venture steps away from the food/diet focused genre and into self-help. Shock! However this self-help book is well worth the trek into that frightful section of the bookstore. Women, Work & the Art of Savoir Faire is a working woman’s guide to the business world – the way French women do it. (more…)