Above: Materialistic designer Angie McCarthy and her studio!

View full Tea Towel Range

View full Napkin Range

I was doing some sneaky christmas gift googling during my work day this week (please don’t tell my boss!) and it really got me thinking about making a real effort this year - I want to make an impression on family and friends this Christmas. I want to give special homemade gifts … none of these last minute pre-packaged ‘gift packs’ or ‘this will do, right?’ gifts. I’m secretly fearing the overcrowded shopping centres full of screaming children and rogue trollies.  Im going to be organised and do my best to enjoy the ‘christmas gift’ buying process while impressing my friends and family with my very, very clever, stylish, unique gift giving!

I was thinking … textiles. Hand printed textiles. Locally made hand printed textiles.  Bright, graphic, interesting and fun (and functional!). I have accepted the fact its way too late to create my own home made gifts, potato stamps and acrylic paints just wont live up to the dream … trust me - I’ve tried!

I have always fantasised that my homemade gifts will bestow on me the status of ‘Gift Goddess’ amongst my loved ones. But realistically, I know that if I can’t make them myself then I must hunt … and hunt I did, and boy did I find!

It didn’t take long to come across MATERIALIST (my hero!) online. I found their website and was instantly attracted to their fun, colourful tea towels, napkins and home wares … so many talking pieces! All the ‘perfect gift’ boxes seem to be ticked, I can almost feel that burst of excitement when my gift is ripped opened on Christmas morning (or when the sticky tape is slowly, delicately peeled off the wrapping paper - which fyi actually drives me crazy. Please don’t do it. If you’re reading this and getting a gift from me. Just humour me and rip that christmas wrapping like a wild tiger. Please?

We have so many talented Australian designers selling their products in local stores and online - I feel like I just want to shout it from the roofs - wake up people. Its so easy to buy affordable, local, unique gifts and home wares!

So, in the lead up to Christmas Im going to hand pick my fave Australian online designs weekly! Starting here with MATERIALIST. (Disclaimer: My co-worker actually brought to my attention that Materialistic is listed in the current Spring 2011/QH issue under the Design + feature. What a very naughty employee I am - not paying enough attention to features in the actual magazine I work for! If you did want to pick up the issue - find it online here > Materialist features on page 21). The range of eye catching fun tea towels and unique napkins pictured are my top picks.

I will leave you with this little quote by Materialistic designer Angie McCarthy … “My designs are based on things I love and would like to see in my own home, and what my friends would love to receive as a gift – something creative, that’s unique in colour and design, yet simple in form. My products aren’t things you can’t live without – they are things you love and just have to have.”

View Materialistic’s BLOG > http://www.materialistic.com.au/blog/

Oh, if you have any Australian made gift ideas or fave local designers - email me! joanne.thies@graphicpublishing.com.au

Happy gift hunting!

Joanne Thies - QH online

With Christmas just around the corner, this quirky Pop Up shop by Everingham & Watson is the perfect place to pick up some unique, Australiana treasures.

The 4-day Pop Up shop will feature loads of unique and beautiful gifts with an Australiana twist and also a great range of vintage furniture.

This Pop Up shop only runs from December 1-4, so make sure you don’t miss out!

WHERE:

29A Logan Road, Woolloongabba (Next to Crosstown Eating House)

WHEN:

Thursday, December 1  9am-8pm

Friday, December 2  9am-8pm

Saturday, December 3  9am-5pm

Sunday, December 4  9am-5pm

> Keep up to date with all their latest news … like them on Facebook!

> Check out their website … everinghamandwatson.com

‘Cut Throat’ Razor

Left: ‘Powder Puff’ Compact, Right: ‘Mirror Mirror’

Brisbane’s Spiro Grace Art Rooms (SGAR) is putting the ‘art’ into artefact in MADE, an exhibition drawing on the enduring appeal of one-of-a-kind collectables through the inspired works of five of Australia’s finest creatives – from November 4 to 26, 2011.

This latest SGAR offering features wholly unique and limited edition works by leading Australian artists and designers KT Doyle (QLD), Matt Dwyer (QLD), Cinnamon Lee (NSW), Stuart Williams (TAS) and Susan Lincoln (QLD) based on a multiplicity of forms including sculpture, print, wallpaper, timber, light and other materials.

Top & Right: ‘Plume’ Hand Fan‘Perfum’ Left: Perfume Bottle

Think an exquisite limited edition Matt Dwyer feather and black coral Plume fan resting atop your mantelpiece, a distinctive Susan Lincoln antique moulded glass Hydrangeas light illuminating a nook in your lounge room or a one-of-a-kind Stuart Williams digitally imaged marine ply Lake Burbury Cabinet on show in your hallway.

From the uniquely intimate blink-or-you’d-miss-it domestic gallery space of Spiro Grace Art Rooms to your very own lounge room, these are artistic treasures to engage, enrich and inspire the beholder for generations to come. They are objects MADE to last!

> WHERE: SGAR (Spiro Grace Art Rooms) – 255 Gregory Tce, Spring Hill, Brisbane

> WHEN: Friday November 4 to Saturday November 26, 2011

> ENQUIRIES: + 61 (07) 3839 8925 | info@sgar.com.au | www.sgar.com.au

> GALLERY HOURS: Thursday to Saturday 11-3pm or by appointment

You’ve gotta be proud to be an Aussie. With young designers like Flynn Talbot, Daniel Emma and Elliat Rich combing forces and taking the world stage, these guys are certainly putting us on the map!

Their exhibition ‘The Other Hemisphere’, featuring in Milan’s Design Week was a way to take their work to the other side of the world and put their stamp on the unique Australian design style. The group of seven are on their way to international acclaim. Watch this space!

> To see more on these talented designers and their exhibition go to theotherhemisphere.com

- Despina Papamanolis, QH Guest blogger

We adore the little pieces of magic that ceramicist and novelist (And Brisbane girl!) Kylie Johnson creates for her Paper Boat Press collection.

Featuring quotes and poetry that bring a smile to the face and a twinkle to the eye, she is a designer, potter, poet and published author to boot!

Kylie brings the magic of words to life, made with love - using everything from ceramic quote tags, brooches, pencils, magnets, hanging stars and letterpress.

> You can browse + shop online directly on her website… paperboatpress.com

> Check out her blog: instinctandgrace.blogspot.com

> If you missed our previous ‘Made with Love’ designers, check them out here!

Stay tuned for more ‘Made with Love’ next week!

Our second ‘Made with Love‘ featured designer is another local Brisbane talent..Gone Dotti!

Gone Dotti is the name that Brisbane designer Megan Phillips uses for her collection of quirky and creative art canvas, broochs and pendants, which she makes out of her Paddington based studio.

What started as a shop to sell and encourage the wrk of local artists and crafters has now been converted in to the workshop for Megan’s own creations, which she can funnel her passion for redesigning old treasures in to new keepsakes - wares that have been made with love, laughter and passion.

> If you haven’t yet come across Gone Dotti at the local markets, or visited the store, you may just like to check out her online shop at gonedotti.bigcartel.com. Delights are guaranteed!

> To read more about our quirky Aussie designers featured in ‘Made with Love’, purchase your copy of QH Spring 2011 here!

As featured in the NEW Spring issue of QH, we give you a run down of some of our favourite designers, makers, and crafty folks behind some of the finest Australian handmade designs and objects of art!

In the next few weeks, we’ll be revealing the creative locals that made our ‘Made with Love‘ special feature - so stay tuned!

First up - Bonni Barker…

Based in far north Queensland, designer and illustrator Bonni Barker makes the most beautiful range of laser cut plywood and perspex wall clocks out of her studio, Snowfawn.

She also makes wall decals, art prints, bangles, pins and brooches using the same techniques. Originally from England, Bonni moved to Australia over five years ago and has set about interpreting her love for European inspired-wilderness, creatures and romance into a really beautiful collection for the home and body.

For more info on online stockists + to discover more of her world… visit her blog > snowfawn.blogspot.com

QH loves Aussie designers! Having already been featured in the Summer 2010/11 issue of Queensland Homes, we just can not get enough of Melbourne-based print gurus, Poulier + Poulier.

Being surrounded daily by typography of some sort or another, Poulier + Poulier does a great job in transforming one of our favourite current trends and making it into works of art for the home.

Poulier + Poulier make a wicked range of prints, bags and totes, cards and tea towels inspired by authentic optical test charts. Each optical test chart is hand pulled using environmentally friendly inks onto imported, artist quality paper or premium quality linen.

> You can view the entire range + purchase online at www.poulierandpoulier.com.au

Sunshine Coast based Seven Dandelions specialises in designing and producing stylish, contemporary handcrafted lampshades.

Owners and designers Kelly Edington and Jenny Coleman have a knack for transforming any shade into a striking statement piece, allowing customers to choose from their collection of pre-made lampshades, or employing them to custom-make totally unique shades using their fabrics, or your own.

Retro prints, chinese silks, hand-printed cottons and lots of colour are a Seven Dandelions specialty. Head to their website (sevendandelions.com) and begin your own design process!

The collaboration of Armadillo & Co was born between friends Jodie Fried and Sally Pottharst from a mutual love of earthy homewares and a frustration at the lack of good quality, hand crafted woven rugs on the market.

They wanted honest designs that combined both aesthetics and ethics. So what they couldn’t find, they decide to make themselves.

Moving on a few years and the Armadillo & Co brand has become a much loved and sought after name for pure wool, jute, cotton and hemp rugs in Australia.

It’s not only the beauty of each piece in the collection that has our little home hearts swooning, but the Fair Trade and sustainable practices that go in to the creation of every handmade rug - all Armadillo & Co rugs are produced to the IFAT Fair Trade Standards, and each rug comes with the KALEEN label to ensure there is no child labour used in the making of these rugs.

In fact, Armadillo & Co also give back to their weaving communities in India, where their rugs are made, by running a school project and funding community based initiatives that keep their workers employed and their families well supported.

As the Armadillo & Co team say, they aim for their rugs to ‘lie lightly on the earth’.

Lovers of organic interiors and pared back, earthy style will love the Armadillo & Co collections. We’ve got them on our ‘lust’ list!

Check their collection out and try not to fall in love too - www.armadillo-co.com