It’s that time of the year again, when we can over indulge ourselves with chocolate decadence and be free from the impending guilt, well, almost. While chocolate eggs and bunnies steal the limelight at Easter time, the Australian Bilby shapes our national Easter treat. For an extra sweet Easter gift, visit Darrell Lea and take home a beautiful Easter Bilby. Darrell Lea has been producing and selling bilby shaped chocolate creations since 1994, and donate all proceeds to the Save the Bilby Fund to protect the 6000 bilbies left in Australia.
Bilbies are an enchanting little animal, with large ears, a silky coat and a long tail, they are endangered in Queensland, declared vulnerable throughout the country. Like many native animals, bilbies must compete with introduced animals, such as rabbits and cattle for their food, and their homes have been destroyed by development. Continue reading ‘move over easter bunny, here comes the easter bilby’
As a kid, I took great satisfaction when I heard the satisfying ‘clunk’ of pulling a little wooden Babushka doll apart. I can now re-live my childhood Russian affiliation thanks to Fred Studio’s M-Cups measuring cups. The six little cups fit neatly into a Babushka (or Matryoshka) arrangement, and are cute as a button on a Moscovian blazer. The measuring cups are becoming a staple item on the shelves of Brisbane’s boutique homewares shops, so it’s hard to miss the little Matryoshkas beaming at you from their red and white packaging. With Russian beauties taking over the catwalks, versions of beef stroganoff creeping onto our menus and Russian vodka a staple in our bars, it seems only fitting to add some Red Square flair to our kitchens.
Before the movie business embraced the green screen, CGI effects or million-dollar budgets, the art of the motion picture honed in on our imagination to create our own colour scheme, script and soundtrack. Only one copy of this 1903 silent version of Alice in Wonderland remains, and it was restored by the British Film Institute.
The great thing about the internet is that it gives a voice to any who wants one (and has a computer); the bad thing is that sometimes it’s hard to sort through the chaff to find something that truly piques your interest. New Yorkers Piera Gelardi and Philippe von Borries are two people who have managed to pique the interest of close to a million fashion lovers across the world with their online fashion publication REFINERY29. The cool-savvy duo will be sharing some of their online wisdom this week as part of the ‘Portable Presents‘ series, which delivers international leaders in digital and online businesses to Australia. Each series follows trends and those leaders that create them across areas as diverse as television, music, fashion, education and politics. Hosted by The Edge at SLQ, Piera, Philippe and friends will share their thoughts on fashion-based social media, trends in online retail, and new directions in fashion reporting and business.
map magazine is giving away a free ticket to the presentation at SLQ’s The Edge this Friday March 12 at 3:00 pm. To win, email mikki@mapmagazine.com.au by Wednesday March 10.
A fragrance, once registered on the senses, can linger forever in the memory. It might evoke the warmth
of a grandmother’s affection, a yearning for a lost or unrequited love, or a fondness for an old friend. For every bottle of perfume made, a million memories are thus created – moments shared, hearts broken and adventures had. For Nick Smart, co-director of boutique fragrance emporium Libertine Parfumerie, herein lies the magic. For the shelves of his boutiques in West End and New Farm are not simply lined with bottles of perfume. They contain distinct moments in history – be it Grace Kelly’s wedding or Napoleon’s fervour for violets (and Josephine) – captured in liquid form as divine fragrances that allow such moments to remain eternal. Continue reading ‘local dreamer - nick smart’
In the eyes of world-renowned milliner Stephen Jones, hats are the punctuation of fashion. Like a shrewdly positioned comma, a hat can bring a whole new meaning to a couture ensemble that never before existed. In a career spanning almost three decades, Stephen has provided the punctuation for fashion’s elite (including John Galliano, Marc Jacobs, Vivienne Westwood and Rae Kawakubo) with his millinery creations gracing the world’s most coveted catwalks, and he has also created hats for personalities such as Boy George and Kylie Minogue. Most recently, the talented milliner has channelled his talents and passion for hats into an exhibition for London’s V&A Museum, Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones, which will take up residence at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art from March 27. Continue reading ‘international dreamer - stephen jones’
If not for the Education Minister’s Art Award in 1994, Jemima Wyman may well be moving to LA to pursue a career in the performing arts. Instead she’s donning her best flannels and a balaclava, cashing in her lottery-winning green card, and heading to the city of angels to continue her successful practice as a contemporary visual artist. Somewhere in her busy schedule she has found time to take part in the Institute of Modern Art’s current exhibition, Feminism Never Happened, and will also take up the invitation to appear at Sydney Biennale 2010. Raised in a creative and open-minded family in Mackay, Jemima attended a state secondary school that encouraged arts and cultural studies as an entree into university studies. Continue reading ‘live dreamer - jemima wyman’
Sometimes a talent is truly discovered when its possessor is challenged to redefine everything they thought they knew and start from the beginning. For 26-year-old Kym Ellery, the eponymous founder of blooming Australian fashion label Ellery, there was never a question of whether or not she would become a fashion designer. But the moment that she truly began her journey to success was whilst doing a short course at Central St Martins College in London, when one particular tutor took everything she thought she knew about art and design, and turned it on its head. Some fashion designers find their inspiration for collections in the shape of nature, others in an iconic period
of history, or in the architecture of a foreign city. Continue reading ‘national dreamer - kym ellery’
Multitasking is the order of the day, especially considering that any given day we tend to spend a sizeable amount of time at a desk, whether professionally or at home. Needless to say, a comfortable, attractive, and functional workstation is a welcome upgrade from the standard swivel chair and filing cabinet combo. Spark your imagination with the Four Works Station a multi-faceted workstation from Danish design company, Four Design. The workstation features a lounge-like chair, built-in laptop hub, storage space for stationery, ring binders and paperwork, and coffee cup spot takes pride of place. The workstation combines functionality with edgy design and also features built-in power plugs and light. The four-part desk arrangement was designed by Danish design team Patricia Terrazas and Michael Swan.
As a general rule, the education system in Australia allows for a somewhat seamless transition between high school and university. Students in Uganda, females in particular, are not always so fortunate. The team at Sseko Designs (pronounced say-ko) provides opportunities for impoverished Uganda women to earn money, and build life skills during the transition from high school to university. The women create sandals with interchangeable coloured straps, which are shipped internationally and are garnering worldwide attention. During their employment with Sseko, the women receive training, accommodation, and the opportunity to save for university tuition. Sseko Designs strives to empower its employees with a sense of sustainable economic independence, and encourages responsible and proactive consumerism on a global scale.
The museum of The International Table Tennis Federation can teach us many things. One such fact being that the term ‘table tennis’ originated during a board and dice game in 1887, in New York. Table tennis, or ping pong, has returned with a bang to The Big Apple, with a 13, 000 square-foot ping-pong club taking up residency on Park Avenue. SPiN New York gives inner-city ping-pong enthusiasts the opportunity to convene in a dynamic space, and brush up their skills whilst sipping concoctions from the in-house bar. The ping-pong haven features 17 individual playing tables, a lounge, bar, restaurant facilities and robotic ball machines. The club even features a ping-pong table fashioned completely out of mirrors. The Perhaps SPiN New York got word of the ping pong table that takes pride of place in the map magazine office. Ping pong has never been so in vogue.
Some nights when our heads hit the pillow, we realise that we have spent so much time on our mobiles or immersed in cyberspace, that we haven’t conducted a substantial conversation with a living, breathing human being. The sleep-easy team at gt goods has designed a thought-provoking pillow for the restless mind. Thanks to the clever pillow case, even if we sleep alone, we can communicate our daily musings and thoughts. The pillow features a simple question, neatly printed in cursive script, ‘What did you do today?’ The pillow is designed in conjunction with After These Messages, a mindful-communication awareness campaign group, which encourages society to collectively ‘think twice before we communicate.’ In any case, whether the pillow sparks your desire to brush up your calligraphy skills, address your daily routine, or inspires you to sit in a park and chat with a long-forgotten friend, the natural-cotton pillow slip will help you clock up on your beauty sleep.
Wildlife conservationists often view the world through eyes of hope, beauty and positivity, and through active conservation work they strive to encourage people to care for the world with a loving attitude. Paula Kahumbu is a passionate conservationist and fierce wildlife guardian, and lives and breathes the importance of saving wild African landscapes and animals. Paula is the executive director of Wildlife Direct, a Kenyan and US charitable organisation that provides support to conservationists in Africa through a hands-on blogging platform. Paula is in charge of ensuring that Wildlife Direct’s projects are addressing conservation matters appropriately and effectively. Paula dreams of educating people about the importance of loving nature’s beauty and inhabitants. In 2009, she was acknowledged as a PopTech fellow, a global community of cutting-edge leaders and innovators.
Not long to wait for the release of the new album from Broken Bells, a wicked collaboration between Danger Mouse and The Shins frontman, James Mercer.
GIVIT is a new Brisbane online giving portal designed to connect a community of givers to our community of people who need to receive. It is a site that requests quality goods and pro-bono services for members of the community who are marginalised, vulnerable and disadvantaged, and anyone can step up to help meet a request. I’m in the process of moving house and it’s been great to use GIVIT to donate several things to the Pindari Homeless Women’s Service. There is something nice about knowing who your goods go to directly. Continue reading ‘givit, got it, good’
Many young people with a yearning to change the world now choose to gain their tertiary education from the ‘university of the world’, by spending a few years wandering the globe. But for those who still value the worth of a real degree, the opportunities to study are more diverse than ever. University of Southern Queensland’s Bachelor of Social Science is a valuable starting point for any budding social entrepreneur, offering studies across community, environment, politics and social justice, and is one of the many intriguing degrees on offer at the university.
Release your inner greenie at the Green Earth Festival on Saturday March 13, when the Brisbane City Botanic Garden opens its gates to a celebration of all things green and environmentally stimulating. The festival’s organiser, Green Earth Group Inc. is a non-for-profit environmental awareness group spreading its wings in Brisbane’s environmental circles. The group’s founder, Leigh-Chantelle Koch identified a need for green advocacy groups and animal rights groups to unite forces to spread the message that ‘it’s easy being green’. The festival will celebrate caring for the environment with live bands, ‘green’ cuisine, speakers, workshops, roving entertainment, art and fashion displays, and information stalls from companies promoting environmental awareness. The festival will help the wider community learn more about environmentalism, grass roots activism and how to promote greener ways of living.
Pause midway through chasing your dreams and take stock of your happiness quota, and soak up Bobby McFerrin’s manta, Don’t Worry Be Happy. As Bobby jived his way through 1988 with his hit single, he brought to life the reality that human beings are programmed to search for happiness. Whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, we spend a large proportion of our days aiming to achieve a state of contentment, satisfaction and to find those heart-warming-eye-crinkling good vibes. His Holiness the Dalai Lama believes that, “…The most fundamental aspiration of all human beings is to seek happiness, to overcome suffering. We may go to bed at night confronted with many problems in our lives. But we go to bed hoping we will wake up the next morning! And then the next morning, in a way, it is hope that motivates us to get out of bed and carry on with our lives – the hope that we will eventually be able to achieve our aspiration for happiness.” So when we wake up tomorrow morning, let’s try to remember to put a smile on our faces before we jump out of bed.
We have all heard the phrase, ‘when I was your age’, and as soon as we do, we tend to block out the following advice because we assume it’s probably exaggerated, irrelevant, or expired. As Charles Wadsworth once quoted, ‘by the time a man realises that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong.’ To solve this generational problem, Walker Lamond, a writer and producer, wrote a book of rules for his (not then born) son, rules that were comprised before Lamond could become old and somewhat uncool. For example, Lamond advises to his son that there are only a few times that he can wear velvet, New Year’s Eve would be one. He also tells his son to take a vacation from the internet, lose the adverbs, to not jog shirtless and to always accept drinking challenges. In fact, Lamond, together with contributing bloggers, has collated a list of more than 450 very useful and learned lessons for any son to apply in life. You can read a full list of his suggestions on his blog and also make contributions to the list. May fathers never be doubted again.
“Literacy unlocks the door to learning throughout life, is essential to development and health, and opens the way for democratic participation and active citizenship.” – Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General. While many of us in the Western world view education as a given right, children in Third World countries are forced to relinquish their right to an education – an education that could enable them to escape poverty. The vicious cycle of lack of education and its link to poverty is well-recognised, and remains a significant humanitarian challenge that must be overcome, with more than 774 million illiterate people in the world. For every year a girl is educated above the average, her wages will increase by 15%. It is powerful facts like these that have driven organisations to invest in providing desperately needed educational resources. Room to Read is a foundation that aims to provide an education to underprivileged children in Asia and Africa. Their main objectives are to run programs that provide and create access to educational resources such as libraries, increase the awareness of literacy in schools and communities, and to provide administration support to facilitate educational centers. You can help Room to Read continue their efforts by donating to their website through personal contributions, fundraising, employee involvement, or hosting book drives.
