Nan Lawson

Nan Lawson (Shannon Lawson Hoffman) is an illustrator living and working in Los Angeles, USA. Nan is inspired by hipsters, coffee and flea markets, and she specialising in illustrating a cute cast of characters (she even does custom portraits, which are ideal for anniversary presents), but it's Nan's object and typography pen and ink illustrations that I'm most drawn to. There's something about the quirky illustration style, colours and grainy backgrounds that I just love.

Nan's prints are available to purchase via her Etsy shop, and she also has a separate online shop selling her lovely photographic prints. To check out Nan's portfolio of work, also visit her website and blog.

Kirra Jamison

Today I'm feeling pretty inspired by the beautiful, bright and colourful artworks by Melbourne-based artist Kirra Jamison. Kirra fast made a name for herself as an artist after graduating from a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Griffith University Queensland College of Art in 2006, and then undertaking postgraduate study in Los Angeles courtesy of a scholarship. Kirra exhibits regularly in solo and group exhibitions, and her work is represented in private and corporate collections. Her work has also been featured in magazines such as Vogue Living, Belle and Inside Out.

Kirra's large and intricately patterned paintings employ a wide range of expressive techniques, combining found and decorative elements. I'm more than a little bit in love with her Love me two times collection, with its bright, bold and organic shapes painted in gouache, ink, pen and vinyl on paper.

Of course, a super talented artist such as Kirra would also live in a super awesome house, so it's no surprise to find that Kirra and her partner live in a cool Northcote home/studio, complete with concrete floors and white painted brick walls. Swoon. (You can check out her home tour over on The Design Files.) To see more of Kirra's work, visit her website.

[All images: Kirra Jamison]

Camberwell Market

Last weekend my friends convinced me that it would be a good idea to get up super early and head across town to the Camberwell Market, a street market held every Sunday morning in a carpark behind the shopping strip in Burke Road, Camberwell (an eastern suburb of Melbourne). The market is popular with collectors, and with 350+ stalls there's plenty of fossicking to be done. There are numerous trestle tables set up with bric a brac, collectibles, pre-loved clothing and shoes, books, music ... pretty much your standard market fare. On this visit all I managed to pick up was a cheap Kodak Instamatic camera (which I'm yet to try out), some flowers and some plants for the garden.
I've been to the market a couple of times since moving to Melbourne, and to be honest I've never had any amazing finds (I'm hoping that one day someone will just happen to be selling off their entire Scandinavian kitchenware collection for a total bargain), but when the sun is shining and you've got the patience to push through the crowds, it's a pretty fun way to while away your Sunday morning.
The Trish Hunter Finds stall (above) is great fun - a travelling vintage shop in a caravan! And those plastic flamingos! Amazing! If you're visiting Melbourne and without a car, you can catch the East Burwood 75 and Wattle Park 20 trams from the CBD via Flinders Street and the Camberwell 72 tram from Swanston Street (get off at the Camberwell Junction). Alternatively, catch a train from Flinders Street to Camberwell Railway Station (on the Lilydale, Ferntree Gully and Alamein lines) and walk south-west down Burke Road from the station (or just follow the crowds).

Sarah McNeil Illustration

I thought I'd round off the week with some lovely illustrations from the talented Sarah McNeil. Sarah studied fine arts in Melbourne and is now based in Wellington, New Zealand. You might have seen her work in Frankie magazine, as well as the Frankie 2010 (and now 2011) calendar. Sarah has also created work for a number of other magazines and has had her work displayed in Australia, the USA and Canada.

Sarah has a cast of characters that she illustrates, and also creates custom pet portraits. She is a big fan of minimalisism, and much of her work is centered around animals and nature. It might not appear obvious when you first glace through Sarah's portfolio, but there's so much attention to detail in her illustrations. A combination of fine lines and soft colours creates a truly dreamy affect.

To see more of Sarah's work check out her website, Etsy shop and blog. Have a happy weekend everyone!

Shop Tour: Shelley Panton

On Saturday we had some glorious sunshine here in Melbourne, so the Mr and I decided to check out the farmers' markets at the Gasworks Arts Park, and seeing as how we were in the area, I thought it would also be an ideal opportunity to visit ceramicist Shelley Panton’s Middle Park shop and studio. Shelley was taking part of Craft Victoria's Craft Cubed open studio events that day, and even though I was about twenty minutes too early to watch Shelley hard at work on her potters wheel, she was kind enough to let me take some photos of her gorgeous shop to share with you on the blog today.
Shelley’s story is both interesting and inspiring. With a background in food, interiors and events planning, Shelley found herself out of work when the recession hit and decided to rethink her career plans. She was looking for a house to rent that could also double as a studio space when she stumbled across 88 Park Road – a quaint, century-old shopfront in the backstreets of Middle Park that had a house at the back. A shop wasn’t part of the original plan, but the space felt spot on for Shelley. Her studio and shop were born and she hasn’t looked back!
Shelley specialises in producing functional tableware. Each piece is handcrafted on the wheel and glazed before final firing, which makes her stoneware items durable and resilient for everyday use. Since opening her studio, Shelley’s items have been highly sought after by chefs and food stylists, and in March 2010 she was even invited to produce a collection of kitchen-inspired pieces for the Heide Museum of Modern Art in tribute to the Sunday’s Kitchen: Food and Living at Heide exhibition.
As well as stocking her own range of lovely stoneware items, Shelley also supports other artisans and designers by stocking a range of locally-produced furniture, kitchenware, books, furnishings and numerous other pretty things! Her experience as a visual merchandiser means that the retail space is packed full of visual delights.
I hope that you’ve enjoyed this little tour of Shelley’s lovely shop, and that you’ll be tempted to stop by and take a look for yourself if you get the chance. The Shelley Panton shop is located at 88 Park Road, Middle Park. To see more of Shelley's work, check out her website.

[All photographs by me.]

miki.o stationery & paper goods

Bianca van Meeuwen is the talented and creative lady behind stationery and paper goods label miki.o. Originally from the Netherlands, Bianca now calls Melbourne home. By day Bianca works in marketing, but her spare time is spent dedicated to creating her range of lovely greeting cards, recipe cards, gift tags, gift bags and fabric flags. Bianca also has a range of and print-it-yourself wedding stationery, including invitations, save the date cards, labels and RSVP cards.

Bianca's designs are bright, modern and sophisticated. Her multi-coloured greeting cards are especially cute (I love anything with a flamingo on it!), and I also love her hand-stamped mini doily gift bags, which would make a nice alternative to wrapping a present.

To see more of Bianca's work check out her general stationery and wedding stationery online shops, as well as her website and blog.

Millie Marotta

Hello all, did you enjoy your weekend? We had some glorious sunshine in Melbourne, which meant I spent as much time outside as possible. I'm so excited that spring is on its way!

I thought I'd kick start things off this week with the work of British illustrator Millie Marotta. Millie works as a freelance illustrator in her studio by the sea in Wales. Growing up in the middle of nowhere led Millie to develop a mild obsession with flora and fauna, and this, along with intricate pattern and detail, plays a big role in her work. Millie enjoys working in traditional and digital media, and has produced work for Virgin Atlantic, Howies, Timberland and HUCK magazine.

I think my favourite illustrations from Millie have to be her hand drawn Bull Finch and Blue Tit birds. So lovely.

To see Millie's full portfolio, check out her website.

2012 Frankie Calendar and Diary

I haven't given all that much thought to what I'm doing next week, let alone next year. But thankfully, when I do start to think about it, the new Frankie 2012 calendar and diary will be here to help. Frankie's planners are always well sought after, and that's because they're always so pretty, and it looks as if 2012 is no exception.

The calendar features the work of numerous artists including Pin Pals, Donna Wilson, Catherine Campbell, Anke Weckmann, Sarah McNeil and Black Apple, and the diary features the sweet illustrations from Melbourne artist Amy Borrell. To avoid missing out, you can pre-order calendars here and diaries here.

Have a good weekend everyone, whatever it us you get up to! xo

New from Mini Moderns

British design studio Mini Moderns (aka Mark Hampshire and Keith Stephenson of Absolute Zero Degrees) has been very busy recently working on some new designs for their ever-growing homewares label. You might remember I posted about their Festival range earlier this year, which has been developed for the 60th anniversary of the Festival of Britain happening next month. Well, the boys have also released a few fabulous new designs recently that I'm sure will keep their fans happy.

First up there's Hold Tight, which has been developed as part of the Day-tripper collection in collaboration with the London Transport Museum, and is based on their collection of vintage bus tickets. The pattern is available on wallpaper, cushions and tea towels in mustard, British lichen and harvest orange colourways.

A visit to London's Courtauld Gallery inspired Mark and Keith to create the Vanessa wallpaper design as a tribute to textile designs of Vanessa Bell. The pattern is available in lido, mustard and harvest orange colourways.

And finally there's the Whitby collection, which is of course a nautical design inspired Whitby in North Yorkshire, where both Mark and Keith coincidentally spent holidays as children. The linocut style of the design helps to express the movement of the waves and the ruggedness of the coastline. There are cushions, mugs, totes, tea towels and wallpapers available in lido, washed denim and awning red colourways.

I love that you can purchase different items from the Mini Moderns range with the same surface pattern. Why not have matching wallpaper and cushions? I'm a big fan of the Mini Moderns range and think that Mark and Keith have delivered the goods once again. To see more, head on over to the Mini Moderns Shoppe.