Little Veggie Patch Co. Packaging

I, by no stretch of the imagination, possess a green thumb (I’m barely keeping my poor basil plant alive in this cold weather), but it's something I aspire to. So when I spotted these fantastic Little Veggie Patch Co. seed packets in the Heide gift shop the other weekend I suddenly got all enthused about gardening. Yep, I really am that superficial!

This collection of Heirloom seeds has been designed for all sorts of veggie growers, and the packaging was developed by Adelaide-based designer Frank Aloi. Because the term ‘heirloom’ refers to an old variety, it was fitting that the packaging communicate a vintage feel via typography and illustration, and Frank also designed the packaging so that the seeds could be sold in non-traditional outlets such as gift and book shops.

I think Frank has done a really effective job, and the seeds definitely look enticing sitting in a display box together. Frank also designed the great Little Veggie Patch Co. logo. To see more from The Veggie Patch Co. pop over to the website, and to see more of Frank's work check out his portfolio here.

A Visit to Heide

The other weekend, on a grey and overcast Sunday morning, the Mr and I decided to visit the Heide Museum of Modern Art. Why it took us over a year to visit is beyond me, as it’s a fantastic place to experience Melbourne’s rich artistic past.

Heide I building

Heide is located out in the Melbourne suburb of Bulleen, and the tranquil site comprises sixteen acres of buildings, gardens and a sculpture park. There are three main gallery buildings – Heide I, Heide II and Heide III. Heide I was the original home of John and Sunday Reed, two of Australia’s most significant art benefactors. The Reed story is quite fascinating and part of the reason why I wanted to visit Heide in the first place. John and Sunday met in 1930, married in 1932 and settled on the property in 1935, transforming the original Victorian farmhouse into a French provincial-style cottage, naming the house and property Heide as a reference to the nearby town of Heidelberg. They both had broad intellectual interests in art, politics, literature, poetry and a passion for gardening (which you can still see maintained in the property’s two kitchen gardens), and became champions of the modernist art that was emerging in Melbourne at the time. As a result, the property became a haven for progressive modernist artists such as Albert Tucker, Joy Hester, Sidney Nolan, Mirka Mora and Mike Brown.
The Heide I building is now used to display exhibitions that provide an insight into the rich history of Heide through archival material and works from the Heide collection. The house itself is lovely, and you can almost picture the creative, bohemian hub it once was. My favourite room was the library, filled to the brim with lovely books. I was pretty much ready to move in!
Vegetables and roses in the Heide II kitchen garden. The Heide II building was commissioned by the Reeds in 1963 as a new home, and is now a gallery space for the changing Heide collection exhibitions. On display during our visit was Born to Concrete, which centres on the emergence of Concrete Poetry in Australia in the mid-1960s. A mix of art and literature, the works included typed words on paper, as well as letraset and screenprints. The Heide III building opened to the public in 1993, and is used to house Heide’s major exhibitions. Currently on display is Albert Tucker: Images of Modern Evil and Colour Bazaar. Attached to the Heide III building is also the gallery shop, which has a lovely range of goods, including Rob Ryan ceramics (and I couldn’t walk away without purchasing a Rob Ryan mug, oops!).

The Heide III building.

If you’re looking for something to do on a lazy Sunday then Heide is an ideal way to while away a couple of hours. See the Heide website for exhibition details and visiting information.

'Rings of Saturn' sculpture by Inge King in the Heide gardens.

[All photographs by me.]

A4 Paper Festival

The A4 Paper Festival is happening next week in Sydney! Presented by the Paper Convention Collective, a group dedicated to the documentation of paper expressionism, this new festival is a celebration of all things paper. Small objects and figures, large-scale installations, handcrafted creations, self-published zines and three-dimensional graphic sculptures will all be showcased, created by a variety of creatives from across design, print, graphic design, illustration, fashion, sculpture and animation.

The week-long event will be hosted from 31 May to 4 June at The Paper Mill, with other elements of the event to be held at Object Gallery and the University of Sydney’s Design & Architecture Building. The festival will showcase Australian and international paper artists, including Yoshinobu Miyamoto (Japan), Hattie Newman (UK), Benja Harney (Aus), Jesse Brown (US), Emma van Leest (Aus), Anna Gleeson (HK) Trial+Error (Aus), Matthew Roland Bannister (Aus) and Bianca Chang (Aus), as well as animation by Benjamin Ducroz (AUS).

The festival is curated by designer and all-round paper lover Lisa Loxley, founder of the Paper Convention Collective and designer of lox+savvy paper goods.

You can read about all of the workshops and talks over at the A4 Paper Festival website, and can register for the opening night here. The festival definitely sounds like fun, so I thought I’d leave you with some of the amazing paper work from the artists who will be showcased. Enjoy, and have a lovely weekend!

Benja Harney

Bianca Chang

Emma van Leest

Hattie Newman

Yoshinobu Miyamoto

Anna Gleeson

Alice Tait

I spotted the work of Alice Tait over at the fantastic Odessa May Society blog and was immediately intrigued and had to find out more. Alice is an illustrator based in Bath, UK, who specialises in hand drawn illustration and type. Her impressive client list includes Penguin Books, Habitat, Jamie Oliver, Vogue and Waitrose, and she also sells her work as prints via her online shop.

Alice has such a sweet illustration style, with nice watercolour touches...

That above image perfectly illustrates the weather in Melbourne right now! I think my favourite pieces from Alice have to be these lovely illustrated maps of Paris, New York and London. Aren't they pretty?

If you'd like to see more from Alice check out her website and online shop.

Australian Book Design Awards 2011

You know, we really do judge books by their covers. I probably didn't realise how much so until I started working in publishing, but a good book cover (and internal design) can make or break the success of a book. A lot goes into the design of a book; the design often needs to visually communicate things that can't be said through words alone. So in appreciation of good book design, I wanted to take a moment today to take a look at some of the winning entries of the Australian Publishers Association 59th Book Awards. These awards recognise the best Australian book covers and designs across a range of categories, and were announced last week at the Sydney Writer's Festival.

Readings bookshop has a good overview of the winning entries on their blog, but I wanted to quickly share some of my favourites. First up, the Best Designed Book of the Year went to Reuben Crossman and Murdoch Books for the gorgeous Quay: Food Inspired by Nature written by Peter Gilmore, which was released late last year. This is one extravagant cookbook, complete with lavish photography by Anson Smart. Lovely.

Allison Colpoys won Best Designed General Illustrated Book for Shack: In Praise of an Australian Icon (Lantern) by Simon Griffiths. I love this cover. Jenny Grigg won Best Designed Reference & Scholarly Book for the Pocket History series (Murdoch Books). Tony Palmer won Best Designed Children's Fiction Book for The Midnight Zoo (Viking) by Sonya Hartnett. Lisa White (cover) and Bookhouse (internals) won Best Designed Fiction Book for Jasper Jones (Allen & Unwin) by Craig Silvey.

And, finally, Emily O'Neill won Young Designer of the Year for Ape House (Allen & Unwin) by Sara Gruen, Journey to the Stone Country (Allen & Unwin) by Alex Miller, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand (Allen & Unwin) by Helen Simonson and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Allen & Unwin) by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows.

Any favourites here? What are your favourite designed books from the past twelve months?

Inaluxe for Earth Greetings

Today, some exciting news! One of my favourite local illustration and design teams Inaluxe has teamed up with one of my favourite stationery companies Earth Greetings to develop a fantastic new range of cards and wrapping paper. The Inaluxe designs have been perfectly transferred to these 100% post-consumer waste cards, printed with vegetable-based inks. Moreover, Kristina and Jason's lovely Australian birds and flora (inspired by their rural Victoria location) sit well with the Earth Greetings ethos and commitment to locally-produced, sustainable design. Here's a preview of the new range.

Aren't they delightful? It's so great to see Inaluxe further developing their product line and Earth Greetings collaborating with Australian artists. You can check out the full range and purchase items over at the Earth Greetings website, and if you'd like to see more from Inaluxe check out their blog here and online shop here.

Sycamore Street Press 2011 Collection

What better way to start the week than with the newly released Sycamore Street Press 2011 collection of cards and prints Designer and printer Eva Jorgensen, the lady behind Sycamore Street Press, has outdone herself with the new diverse range, which is full of bright colours, cute motifs and witty sentiments. I'm in love with the fruit prints below - they'd look rather lovely hanging together in a row in a kitchen or dining room. What are your favourites?

Head over to the Sycamore Street Press online shop to see more and purchase from the new range. Also check out the Sycamore Street Press blog here.

The Lark House

Oh boy, what a busy week! I don't think I've been able to cross much off my growing to-do list, which just isn't cool. Don't you hate when that happens? Sometimes I think that it would be nice to be able to skip work and escape to the country — and stay in a cottage with vintage fabrics and wallpapers and a fireplace. And wouldn't you know it, Alison from the lovely Lark shop has just the ticket! She has recently redecorated her family Daylesford home and decicded to let it out as a holiday cottage. Built in 1860, the cottage is one of the oldest in the area, and offers contemporary comforts mixed with old, like a lovely record player and a sewing corner. Yes, a sewing corner!

This house is a vintage lovers dream - so very pretty. And these images, taken by Alison's friend Rohan Anderson, are sending me off into a Friday afternoon daydream.

You can check out more images of this lovely house on the Lark blog and website. And on that dreamy note, I hope that you all — whether in the city or country — have a lovely weekend doing the things that make you happy! x

Hanna Melin

Hanna Melin is a Swedish-born illustrator living and working in London. Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2002, shehas gone on to work for a range of clients including The Guardian, The NY Times, Nokia and Louis Vuitton. Aside from her editorial work, Hanna also sells her prints, cards, totes and accessories via her online shop. Nice work, right? You can see more from Hanna here.