This Collingwood building is owned by a couple who operate a ground floor violin shop, and live upstairs. The couple were seeking clear boundaries between their work and home domains, more natural light, and a soundproof design.

Tsai Design’s approach was to renovate and extend the home, to feature more defined zones, and three new outdoor spaces. The existing first floor with its 3.2-metre-high ceilings became the open living and entertaining area, while the bedrooms and bathrooms were relocated away from the street to a rear extension.

The staircase was replaced with a new lightwell made with transparent polycarbonate roof sheeting. ‘This not only creates a space flooded with daylight, it also invites future green space, with vertical green walls planned to bring softness and nature into the space,’ says Jack Chen, director of Tsai Design. As the building was previously overshadowed by a three-storey apartment block stretching the northern boundary, it’s hard to overestimate the change this lightwell has facilitated, ‘We hope the final outcome provides a nice surprise to the clients, as they have lived in the daylight deprived space for the last 15 years,’ Chen says.

The final built addition of this project were three outdoor decks: a courtyard, a private deck off the master bedroom, and a rooftop deck directly accessible from the open living space.

As the shop downstairs needed to continue operating throughout the project, it was crucial to ensure construction noise wouldn’t travel. ‘Construction dust and noise don’t at all complement the sound of someone playing a violin!’ says Simon Clark, construction manager at Sustainable Homes Melbourne. ‘To mitigate this, we hoarded the shop off with plywood, applying acoustic insulation to prevent sound, and builders wrap taped really well to prevent dust traveling through.’

Sustainable Homes Melbourne were also responsible for introducing various sustainability measures into the home. Natural and recycled materials feature throughout, and the home is solar ready.

This now warm and inviting home feels a world away from the store below and the street outside. ‘Above the old violin shop you don’t expect to find such an open and light-filled home above,’ says Simon. ‘The beautiful timber work, complemented by the refreshing light green walls, make you feel peaceful and content.’

I was lucky enough to call Maryanne my housemate for a time during the aughts. She had the * nice * room, the one with the ensuite, and access to the balcony. It was well-deserved. She was the lady of the house, and ruled with humour, grace and an awe-inspiring collection of vintage clothing. (The second upstairs room was occupied by none other than maker-extraordinaire Gemma Patford).

Maryanne has a luminous and commanding presence. She was a primary school teacher for 10 years. It’s not difficult to imagine her wrangling a classroom of rowdy six-year-olds. I imagine her combination of warmth and power has helped Maryanne forge her path as a weaver, and to navigate some of the more challenging aspects of parenthood. One of her kids was recently diagnosed with ADHD. I asked her what parenting him was like and she said simply: ‘The world needs different thinkers, and that’s what he is. He’s Superman, and sometimes it’s hard to parent Superman.’ 

We were living together when she met Aaron, now her husband of 10 years. Our neighbour saw them kiss at the front door after their first date. Aaron said goodbye, and our neighbour watched as Maryanne went inside, then danced around the backyard to ‘Modern Love’. (Our neighbour potentially overstepped their bounds, come to think of it, but I’m so glad they did). Incidentally, Modern Love was Maryanne and Aaron’s first dance at their wedding.

Maryanne is a bringer-together, of colour, textures, people and places. She draws in what she sees, mixes it all together and makes it teem with life. The world needs more Maryannes.

How would you describe your kids? 

Murray is 7 going on 37. He’s so desperate to be a grownup, with all the accoutrements. He wants the phone, the keys, the house, the car. He’s really driven and strategic, like an investment banker trapped in the body of a child. Rudi is really silly and a bit of a showman. He’s caring and quite in tune with people. He’ll ask the neighbour if their ailing dog is feeling better, which for a four-year-old is pretty unusual. They’re similar in that they’re both very loud, and they look similar. But we put all the ingredients in the mixing bowl and two completely different people came out. 

In what ways are they like you? 

They look like Aaron, so I was tricked into thinking they were more like him than me. But they got a lot of my personality traits, even some that I don’t like so much. It’s hard to parent that more challenging version of yourself. How do I parent my kid out of that? Do I want to? It becomes a process of birthing the mother.

Yes, which is an excruciating birth. Way more painful than birthing children. 

And so long. Years! This birth goes on for years. You fight it at the start, because you think you’re just taking this little doll home from the hospital, and it’s so hard getting up through the night and feeding and all the rest. I think all the physical challenges of parenting are like the animalistic side of us. Then as babies grow and start to become their own little people, you start getting into the emotional and psychological challenges, which is another level entirely. 

How do you stay sane enough to make it work? 

Exercising. Dancing. Talking. Actually talking about what’s going on, whether it’s with my mates or Aaron. Sometimes I share that I’m having a hard time on Instagram. Saying it aloud makes me feel like less of a monster. I get to connect with people who feel just the same as me. Everybody hates it at times! And it’s okay!

How do you and Aaron share the parenting load? 

I have the more flexible job, so at the moment I’m the primary carer. We have three long daycare days. I use one of them for errands then I have two full days weaving. Murray is in school now, then goes to after-care a couple of days a week, which he loves. On my solo parenting days, Rudi and I have playdates, go to the museum or to the zoo. I really enjoy them. Plus it’s a Thursday and Friday, right before the weekend, when Aaron is home and everything’s easier with the two of us. 

How did weaving become a career?

I was teaching art at a Primary School for 10 years. I loved it for a long time, then I hated it. I was crying all the time, broken down and bringing all my problems home. I was 33 at the time, and figured why don’t I just get married and have a kid? That will take away all my problems!

(Pause for peals of laughter)

I went on maternity leave for a year. Murray was a perfect baby, so I ended up having a lot of time on my hands. Before maternity leave, I helped clean out the art storeroom at my school and one of the things we decided to get rid of was a little loom. I took it home and decided to teach myself how to weave. I had a community of followers already through House of Maryanne, which was my vintage clothing business, and so the leap from vintage clothing to weaving wasn’t so big. A lot of people came along. I think it helped that we’d already established somewhat of a commercial relationship. I was learning and posting as I went, and people were keen to buy even my very early pieces. 

Did you sell many in the beginning? 

No. Though I probably would have if it wasn’t for Aaron. His advice was not to sell anything until it was the quality you would find in the museum gift shop. He has such good business advice, and because he’s a designer, he wants things to be beautiful all the way around. He could see my career a lot further into the future than I could at the time. 

They say parenting takes a village. Tell me about yours. I hear you’re one part of the unofficial coven of Melbourne makers…

It’s me, Kristy from Kuwaii, Imogen Pullar, who’s an architect and Mel from Cecilia Fox. Kristy, Imogen and I met on the dance floor, then we met Mel through her partner who works in the music industry. We all had children around the same time and our businesses grew around the same time, so that really sealed the deal. We have business lunches where we get drunk and make plans. We spent New Year’s together in my backyard. We’re each other’s family friends. 

That’s so lucky, but also a payoff for a lot of years of nurturing the relationships, I imagine. Is that right? How does friendship work? 

We’re all equipped with each other’s life happenings. People talk about ‘me time’, but it’s just as important to know about how the people you care about define their ‘me time’. We know what’s important to each other and how to provide the necessary support. 

Have you needed extra support around your son’s diagnosis? How have you managed on a personal level?

I saw a therapist, who was really helpful. I was so scared that being a parent of a kid with ADHD would become my identity. One of the beautiful things she (the therapist) said was, ‘You are that parent. You’re also a weaver, a wife and a businesswoman. You are a multifaceted person.’ At the time the situation felt all-consuming, but the therapist helped me realise that it was a choice to make it my whole identity. It was better for everyone if I didn’t. I couldn’t climb into the whirlwind with him. I couldn’t help him from in there. I needed to be me to do that. 

How has parenthood changed the way you see the world? 

I used to think there was a right way and a wrong way to do things. If I did that thing, I’d get that result. But parenting isn’t like that, birth isn’t like that. There’s no such thing as an A+. The kids and Aaron and I try and say, ‘I appreciate you’ as much as we can. We say it to each other all the time. Murray will set the table and say, ‘Nobody said they appreciated me!’ And I’ll say, ‘Hey, nobody said they appreciated me cooking the dinner!’ Then we’ll say it to each other. Having these little moments that make you feel good are important. They help a lot, actually.

FAMILY FAVOURITES

Rainy day activity?

LEGO, wrestling, yelling, fighting.

Sunday morning breakfast?

It was Wildlife Bakery, until my kids somehow turned off the power and water at the mains. Now we just get their sourdough and eat it at home as damage control.

Date night?

Bar Idda – so yum, always.

Go-to album?

Kurt Vile and Tycho are long trip must-haves. They send our boys into a rare silent trance.

Weekend getaway?

Visiting mates in Daylesford or Macedon in winter and camping on the coast in summer. 

If you would like to commission an original artwork by Maryanne, you can email her at hello@maryannemoodie.com. Interested in learning to weave or honing your skills? Head to maryannemoodie.com for information on her entirely unstuffy workshops and tutorials.

Marge’s Cottage is an accommodation spot 25 years in the making. The owners, Cheryl Guzzardi and Phillip Ledin, first bought the property next door in 1993, then this small farm in 1995, including a cottage tenanted by a beautiful woman named Marge. For 14 years, the couple used this extra land as a free-range egg farm and to raise a small flock of East Friesian sheep they still own today.

When the time came for Marge to move closer to her family, the cottage was empty and fell into disrepair. A tree began growing through the laundry window, and a section of the roof rusted away. ‘That was when we had to either bestow some well overdue TLC on this humble cottage or demolish her,’ says Cheryl. ‘Bestowing TLC won.’

The couple set about demolishing unsalvageable parts of the cottage and rebuilding with the recovered materials. Elements of the original roof became exterior cladding, and a local craftsman recycled timber pieces into kitchen benches. Much of the interior inspiration came from Country Style magazine, and an assortment of windows, French doors and timber Cheryl has collected over the years. ‘As I was renovating in a rural area, the regulations were very strict, but I was mindful that I had to do this right as I was using this cottage for guests,’ she says. The entire project took just over 12 months.

One can only imagine what would have happened to this humble cottage had Cheryl and Phillip not been brought to this South Gippsland property those 27 years ago. Cheryl says, ‘I feel that I have achieved with the help of many amazing craftsman…In the end we are only caretakers and I’m so grateful that the real estate agent took us for that drive.’

Book your stay at Marge’s Cottage here.

Marge’s Cottage is one of the many properties participating in Airbnb Open Homes in the wake of the Australian bushfires. This initiative offers free, temporary housing to people who need a place to call home.

Costumier Rose Chong is exactly how I imagined. She loves the colour pink, and wears a pink shirt, pink glasses and has a light pink tint running through her hair. ‘It’s my favourite colour!’ she beams. I’ve always been taken by her corner shop on Gertrude Street with its impressive leopard print façade, and have over the years tried to train my brain to resist the urge to look in the shop window when I drive past and keep my focus on the road. But there’s something about Rose and the world she creates…  you simply cannot look away.

Originally from the UK, Rose’s mother was a sewer. ‘I’ve just always done it,’ tells Rose. She trained as an apprentice, went to art school in London and worked as a dressmaker before turning to costumery, and working for a theatre company in Cambridge. In 1973, she moved to Melbourne, Australia.

‘I was lured by a man!’ she explains. ‘And I’m still with him!’ She’s talking about Min Chong, the pair met when he was studying engineering at Oxford University, and they moved so he could complete his PhD at university in Melbourne. ‘He’s a world expert in Turbulence,’ she says proudly. I ask if I can sit next to him on a plane.

When Rose and Min had their first son (they’ve since had three more), Rose decided to start working for herself, and opened her iconic costume shop in 1979. She worked in the film industry for a number of years making costumes before the business evolved into the version of her shop we know today. This year marks her 40th year in business – to celebrate, she appeared on the news dressed in a pink gorilla costume.

The shop has always remained in the same landmark location, but Rose and Min did not move into the residence above the shop until 1996, which brings us to Rose’s good room – which is less of a room, and more of a pool. On. A. Rooftop. In Fitzroy!

‘I do all my thinking up here,’ she says. The decision to put a pool in the sky is an ode to Rose’s mother. ‘At the time we were renovating, I lost my mother in the UK and she left me a bit of money, so I decided to put a pool on the roof because I knew it would make her very happy to see us sitting in the pool.’

Rose designed the rooftop in an all-blue palette. The surface is lined with blue astro-turf and seamlessly connects to the plunge pool. ‘You can see the whole thing on Google Earth’ she says.

The pool has become a central hub of celebration and congregation in Rose’s world. ‘I mean it’s not suitable for high class swimming, it’s only suitable for sitting around, floating on the pineapple and a bit of drinking.’ Rose’s family use the pool all the time, and she regularly hosts ‘very productive’ staff meetings up there.

‘We once had a Christmas party where Min cooked satay prawns and everyone accidentally dropped the skins in the water, a few hours later we looked down and it was like we were swimming in a big satay soup!’ she laughs. The pool also served as the aquatic stage for a theatre production, where a boat floated in the pool while an opera singer performed. ‘Mermaids and mermen danced around it too, it was good fun.’

Rose never misses an opportunity to enjoy her ‘good room’, and says it will be the perfect place to study next year. ‘I’m going back to school to study fine art, because I never actually finished my degree,’ she says. ‘It’s going to be two days a week for two years but at the end I will get a certificate and will be so thrilled!’ I ask if the graduation certificate will go straight to the good room. ‘Of course, we’ll have to waterproof it first’.

When this stately 1850s house in Windsor was purchased at auction, it was effectively saved from developers who were keen to demolish it. Recognising this potential fate, the owners engaged Junctions90 to renovate the home in a manner so enduring that its legacy and significance would never again be questioned.

The project presented an opportunity to marry the existing period architecture with superb 21st century living requirements. The clients required enough space to accommodate a home business, and bedrooms for multiple generations under the one roof.

Restoring the original rooms of the house was the first order of business. All the fireplaces and plasterwork needed replacing, with local craftspeople engaged to create replicas, including one of a 160-year-old ceiling rose. The floorplan remained unchanged except for one room transformed into a walk-in wardrobe.

A voluminous two-storey extension was added, inspired by the ‘extreme clarity and simplicity’ of German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s work. Bleached white polished concrete floors and a suspended concrete roof give the space durability, complemented by an understated palette of walnut, white and black. ‘The approach to the materials selection – concrete, steel and glass – was based on the idea that these timeless materials and clean aesthetic would reduce obsolescence. Occupants can update furniture, but they don’t need to update the building fabric,’ says Dina Malathounis, principal of Junctions90.

The interior highlight of the extension is the sunken lounge surrounding a sculptural hanging fireplace. While based on popular lounges from the 1960s, this seating arrangement fulfils the very modern purpose of bringing a busy family together.

A further standout element of this project is the upper-storey rear facade featuring a reflective stainless-steel finish. Dina’s vision was for this facade to appear almost invisible, concealing the 21st century features inside.

Killara has certainly achieved its design intent, taking out a handful of awards in the process. The sunken lounge living room was named ‘Room of the year’ by Australian House & Garden magazine, and Dina became the first female lead designer to win the BDAV Building Design of the Year in its 22-year existence.

From the street, this Armadale home appears no different than its Victorian weatherboard neighbours, but look closely and you’ll notice small but profound details hinting at its unique capabilities.

To the right of the facade, beyond the beautiful water-wise native garden, is a charging adaptor for the family’s electric car. Details are visually subtler inside, but their impact is just as radical. Once a traditional Victorian weatherboard house, the property has been impressively extended and retrofitted to the most sustainable level possible.

Owner Cameron Munro has an engineering background and was inspired to undergo this project after living in Europe, where homes are comfortable year-round. ‘They wanted to reproduce that experience with their home in Melbourne, without the expense and environmental impact of large heating and cooling systems,’ says designer Luke Middleton, director of Eme Design.

To achieve this, a membrane was wrapped around the house, making it 15 times more airtight than a conventional new Australian home. Basically, the home has been wrapped in plastic from the inside, reinsulated and replastered, making each room slightly smaller as the walls are built-in. This membrane reduces the need for heating and cooling by more than 90 percent. No wonder there’s such a feeling of stillness and calm when you enter this home – it’s almost like being in a spaceship!

To combat the risk of the house getting ‘stuffy’ or ‘stale’ inside, Cameron has integrated a genius ventilation system, providing constantly fresh, filtered air to every room. This operates at very low power and is monitored by sensors to maintain air quality and temperature.

The form of the new rear extension is a modified iteration of the V-shaped butterfly roofs of mid-century Melbourne architects Kevin Borland, and Chancellor and Patrick. The efficacy of this roofline is evident when comparing it to the home next door, which gets little to no sunlight, despite facing the same direction.

Cameron is so proud of his house – he knows the ins and out of every single element. It’s like a living, breathing organism in some ways. He explains this house is not exactly a 10-star house – which is almost impossible to achieve when working with a period home, but it’s pretty close! It’s also won a number of awards for its sustainable design ­– which are displayed proudly around the house.

It’s clear both design and performance were equally important considerations in this project, culminating in a home that is healthy, comfortable and incredibly energy efficient to run. As Luke explains, ‘This project strove to demonstrate that leaky, cold weatherboard homes can be brought into the 21st century and have very high performance, while still respecting their architectural heritage.’ Mission accomplished!

Australian skincare company Sukin do everything they can to ensure our environment is protected. From partnering with Reef Aid to ensure the Great Barrier Reef has a future, to fully offsetting their carbon footprint. Discover the world of natural, and read more about their sustainability efforts at the  Sukin Journal. 

When designing a garden on a 1000-square metre block, it’s tempting to allocate large expanses to a lawn. In this garden however, Ben Scott Garden Design has created distinct zones reflective of the accompanying home’s varied architecture.

The inspiration for the entire project began with an existing mature Liquidambar tree. Ben designed the project (literally and metaphorically) around this tree, with the front garden essentially forming one large garden bed beneath its outstretched branches.

Ben says getting plants to grow under this tree, while managing the full sun conditions elsewhere in the garden, was the most challenging part of this project. He explains, ‘Although your palette of plants is restricted, you can get plants to grow under established trees. It just requires strong horticultural knowledge.’

Another inspiration for the garden was the work of landscape architects James Van Sweden and Wolfgang Oehme, who designed similarly layered and seasonal planting schemes. ‘I think the front garden references their ideologies and work, with botanically rich perennials en masse with strong seasonal interest,’ says Ben.

The rear garden is much more pared back, working with the simplicity of the house’s contemporary addition. Attention has been paid to screening plants such as bamboo and Boston ivy, which shroud the built outdoor elements with greenery, and offer privacy. The deciduous mature ornamental grapevine on the rear pergola provides summer shade, while still allowing light through in the winter months.

This garden was completed four years ago, over which time the plants have matured and adjustments have been made. ‘Good garden designers will get 95 per cent of it right, but there is always five per cent that needs updating to suit the specific onsite microclimates and conditions,’ says Ben. This garden will continue to beautifully evolve over the decades, serving generations to come.

After a freak accident saw most of their beloved family home burn to the ground, Sarah Woodhouse and Brad Nicholls of Nicholls Design set out to design a new and improved version.

This couple and their sons, Tom, now 14, and Angus, 9, designed the new house in 2012 around the rammed earth wall – one of the only elements of their original home to survive the fire. The badly soot-damaged bedroom side of the wall has since been stained black, while plants were integrated into the incredible living room side to hide fire marks. ‘7 years on, it is now turning into a jungle!’ Sarah says.

With limited time and budget, Sarah and Brad worked on developing a practical, cost-effective floorplan, with the roof pitch set at the same slope as the land. Most of the project was designed and built by the couple themselves, alongside their builder, Lucas Constructions. The couple are the owners of furniture label Nicholls Design, so naturally almost all the furniture was made by them too. ‘Our house is filled with prototypes!’ Sarah says.

The couple wanted the home to blur the distinction between indoors and out, with plenty of natural light, and no wasted space. Sarah says the finer details of the project came quite naturally, explaining ‘many creative decisions were made with a beer in hand at the end of the day!’

The earthy, relaxed and homely interiors feature plenty of handmade touches throughout. Sarah describes the aesthetic as ‘modern country, with mid-century Scandinavian and Japanese influences.’ There’s also a strong emphasis on recycled materials, including windows made from recycled hardwood salvaged from one of the original foundries on Spencer Street in Melbourne’s CBD.

This is a remarkable home by any standard, but especially given the circumstances under which it was created. The land it’s on is also particularly special, being such a large semi-rural property, within 40 minutes of the CBD. ‘There are very few properties this size left in our area,’ Sarah says. ‘It was challenging building the second time around, but we think we have built a better house.’

If you love Sarah and Brad’s style, check out their stunning contemporary handcrafted furniture – Nicholls Design.

Working out the back of his Thornbury home in Melbourne’s North, Lucas Wearne of Neighbourhood Studio makes functional, sculptural objects, hand-carved from Australian natural limestone. His refined designs and expert craftsmanship make it hard to believe he’s only been working with the medium for the last 6 months. 

Experimenting with new forms, shapes and designs, Lucas is constantly reinventing his style. From curvaceous Picasso-inspired vases, contemporary columns with precise hand-carved detail and mushroom-topped lamps, each new series of objects references a different period of art and architecture. ‘In a sense, I am always “launching” a new collection’, Lucas says. ‘I like the idea of each piece being unique, it gives me room to keep challenging myself and my practice’.

And if you need any more of an endorsement, the TDF team gifted me one of Neighbourhood Studio’s wavy orb lamps for my birthday last week – #obsessed! You heard it here first –  Neighbourhood Studio is the next big thing!

In the past few months I’ve been seeing your limestone work pop up all over the place – but scrolling back through your Instagram, it seems like you’ve only been working with the medium for a short amount of time. There’s a lot of timber furniture going on before that. What prompted you to experiment?

I taught myself how to make furniture because I couldn’t afford to buy the kinds of things I liked. From there I began making things for friends, and it kind of spiralled after that. I discovered that people liked what I was making and wanted to buy my things, so I set up my business at the beginning of 2019. I knew I didn’t want to work with wood forever so while I was selling the timber furniture, I was always experimenting with a whole bunch of other materials like metal, glass, and then stone.

As soon as I started playing around with limestone it just felt right. I’ve always been interested in sculpture, and I felt like I had so much creative freedom after the (somewhat) rigid nature of woodworking. I’ve only been working with limestone for about 5-6 months but so far the response has been incredible. I’m a little overwhelmed (but excited!) with how supportive and encouraging people have been! 

Is this what you do full time?

Yes this is what I do full time, and I couldn’t be happier working for myself. I still can’t believe I get to spend all day doing what I love, and creating whatever I want!

How do you create your work, and what’s your home set up like?

I do some sketching of my ideas, but mostly I just jump right in and start carving with basic hand tools. I like to design with the material, rather than designing and adding the material later – something I have learnt from landscaping.

My home set up is pretty simple really – I have a small undercover workspace in my garden. This is where I make, photograph and sell everything! It’s a beautiful space with lots of light and greenery but as my business grows, I am looking to move to a bigger studio space that I can make more mess in.

Do you have any key references or inspirations?

I’m inspired by everything and anything, and I always try to keep an open mind. The first series of lamps that I made from limestone was inspired by an old broken chandelier than I found in an op shop. I also feel really inspired by the landscape around me, both natural and manmade. I find such interesting and beautiful forms in the most unexpected places, and use these as a reference for my work.

On a daily basis I am inspired by the local creative community in Melbourne, and feel really lucky to live in a city that values the arts and local design. 

What motivates you to keep creating, and what do you love about what you do?

I just find it so much fun. I love having the freedom to make whatever I like, and think there is endless potential in sculpture. I love the ‘happy mistakes’ that come out of experimenting. As I’m not formally trained, I don’t feel restricted in any way – from the tools that I use, to the shapes and objects that I’m creating. I have never felt like there’s a right or wrong way to do what I’m doing. 

Positive feedback from customers and the creative community is also a huge motivator to keep making and testing new ideas. Most of all I love the thought that the things that I’ve made are being treasured by others – I am always so excited to see photos that people send me of my pieces in their homes!

There has been such a positive and exciting response to your work so far! What are you looking forward to in the next year, and what do you hope to achieve?

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind and to be honest I’m not really sure where everything is heading! I’m definitely aiming to develop my practice further by introducing new materials and expanding on my skills. I am really looking forward to working with and collaborating with some other local makers and designers as well, and saying yes to lots of different opportunities.

I’d love to have an exhibition by the end of the year, as this has been a goal of mine for a while now. Mostly I’m just really excited to keep rolling with it, and see where it all goes.

Visit the Neighbourhood Studio website, and keep up with Lucas’ ever-evolving styles on Instagram! 

Completed in 2014, The Sawmill House by Archier is a compact, yet supremely versatile home, designed and built collaboratively, from start to finish. The project was commissioned for Archier director Chris Gilbert’s brother, sculptor Ben Gilbert, who required a simple, flexible, single bedroom home as an upgrade to the tool sharpening shed he was previously sleeping in! Positioned on the edge of an old gold mine quarry, Chris describes his vision for a space ‘that would calm an artist’s eccentric mind’.

The kind of blind faith you can only really entrust in a close family member was clear from the initial documentation – or lack thereof. ‘As designers and builders we were able to evolve the design on the fly’, Chris explains. ‘It was very (deliberately) vaguely documented before we commenced the build’. Decisions were made as the project and needs evolved, and even the custom-built furniture and interiors (from the couches, the lighting components and the joinery) were designed in real-time, mostly using materials Ben had available in his workshop (the old converted Sawmill).

The house was designed to be flexible and adaptive for a wide range of uses, including a central kitchen designed for use by just one person, or to entertain visiting friends.

The home is laid out as one long pavilion, zoned for different activities, progressing from entry on the west side of the space into the lounge, dining and kitchen, through to a master bedroom (with a bathroom and wardrobe tucked behind), with the eastern wall opening up to a grassy courtyard. This allows the space to be opened up completely on either side, as well from the northern-facing front wall, made up of sliding glass doors that look out over lush vegetation. ‘It is completely adaptive to the seasons through its large, moveable elements’, tells Chris. ‘It converts from an enclosed warm grotto to an expansive deck with a few switches’.

Upcycling existing materials is a major feat of the Sawmill House. 270 (!) recycled concrete blocks that would otherwise have become landfill make up the exterior and interior walls, while Red Stringy Bark trees that fell during a storm 7km up the road were dried, milled and dressed within the region, and used to line the ceiling and floor. The distinctive kitchen joinery is hand wrapped in a fine brass sheet, patinated with Apple Cider Vinegar, contrasting brilliantly with the raw natural materials.

Did you know every restaurant reviewed in The Age’s Good Food section is personally and anonymously visited by one of the team’s critics, and everything consumed is paid for by the publication? That might sound obvious, but in the current media landscape, to hear of a publication investing over $250,000 (!) a year in restaurant bills alone is truly remarkable.

Gemima Cody is The Age’s senior restaurant critic, who writes the scored review every week, as well as contributing to their new monthly magazine, website, and the annual Good Food Guide.

As the child of small business hospitality owners, Gemima does not take her job as a restaurant critic lightly. She knows a review can make or break a business, and brings this empathetic understanding to every restaurant she critiques.

The most important verb in the get-your-dream-job lexicon is…

Perseverance. I feel very uncertain about a lot of things in life, and I’ve had terrible imposter syndrome almost the entire time I’ve done this job, because it’s a position of authority. So, persevering through it, and through a lot of doubt, has been key.

When I grew up I wanted to be…

I grew up in central NSW, about 50 kilometres from Bathurst, where my family runs a holiday business. It’s kind of like Kellerman’s from Dirty Dancing – lots of organised activities for families – but with the Australian bush and horses. I was cooking in the kitchen from when I was 10, and by the time I was 15 my Mum could leave to run errands and I would be completely running the kitchen.

When I was around 11 years old, someone came up to do a review of my parents’ restaurant and I thought then, ‘I’m good at English, and I like food, maybe I could be a food reviewer?’ but I never thought about it again. I went onto study multimedia and law, then worked in television production for a bit, before moving into food writing.  

I landed this job by…

I started at The Age in 2014, but before that I was the food and drink editor at Time Out Melbourne. I had a friend who worked for Time Out in Sydney, so she got me involved with doing small reviews in Melbourne, before they officially launched here. I then eventually became one of their two first staff members. I got headhunted by The Age while at Time Out.

A typical day for me involves…

Each week I do the main review for the Good Food section (formerly known as Epicure), and I write all the news pieces. During The Good Food Guide season (also known as ‘eating season’!) we go on the road and visit places all around Australia. During this time, I’ll do an additional 30 to 40 reviews.

There’s a team of 50 critics who write all the reviews for the guide. Every single restaurant of the 500 that end up in the guide, plus the ones we go and review that don’t make it in, gets re-reviewed every single year. It costs well over $250,000 to do just in restaurant bills.

This year I did a good chunk of South Australia, as well as Margaret River. I did 16 restaurants and they were all degustations. Because they were all tasting menus, I ate 168 dishes in 11 days.

During ‘off season’ I’m eating out two to three times a week, and in the ‘on season’ (February to August) I can be travelling and eating out every single day.

In a day I’m doing a review, I get up at 6.30am to try and exercise, get coffee, and go on the internet. I generally work in the office during the day, at The Age’s office next to Southern Cross station. I might come in a tiny bit later than 9am, because I basically won’t get home until 9pm or after, so it’s a really long day. It’s a full day at work, with eating out on top of it. It’s really great work, but it has to be your life.

Occasionally I’ll work from home if I’m just doing writing, because it’s less distracting. I’ll spend those days calling people up, and chasing up leads by whatever means necessary. I’ll be doing phone interviews, booking pictures to go with reviews, and having meetings. Somewhere in between I’ll write some copy, stare blankly at a wall, write some more copy, walk outside, come back inside, hate myself, maybe cry… that’s just me though. I don’t think I’ve got through many reviews without at some point getting so frustrated and going, ‘I don’t know how to do this as a job.’ It’s like I’ve never written a restaurant review before – every single time.

The most rewarding part of my job is…

When I get to discover something that no one’s come across yet, especially when it is a new and young operator who’s doing really well. So, being able to be the first person to give them that recognition and tell that story. It’s not always like that, so it’s nice when it is.

It’s a job where you’re working creatively, but you’re also watching other people doing their form of art, and that’s always inspiring.

On the other hand, the most challenging aspect is…

Living your life in the public. Even though this job is supposed to be anonymous (I will book at restaurants under false names, with a fake email and use friend’s phone numbers) – my photo is still in the paper, and I’ve been doing this for 10 years now, so people are on the lookout. My photo is inside the kitchen at lots of new places along with all the other main critics.

I’ve had to say some not entirely glowing things about restaurants in my time – I don’t take pleasure in it. I think some people don’t like taking criticism from women in particular, and I’ve had campaigns to get me fired. It’s fair when you are in a job that is criticising other people that you then attract that, but I don’t feel that comfortable going out anymore. It’s not that relaxing, and that’s challenging, because I love going out.

The culture of my workplace is…

There’s a community of understanding, because on one hand, this is the absolute best job in the world, but on the other, there are some real challenges to it. Not being able to control what goes in your mouth for most of your life, and the associated health stuff that comes with that, combined with doing creative writing half the time, is hard. But, you can never, ever, say that to anyone who’s not a food writer! No one will ever feel sorry for you, but other food writers get it.

We’re a close team. We’ll sometimes travel together, and we’ll have to bunker down doing all these restaurant reviews in a random town, while staying in the same hotel room.

The best piece of work advice I’ve ever received is…

‘It’s not about you.’ I think it’s really easy to get caught up in your head, and really worried about what people think, but everyone else is focused on their thing. Everyone is actually thinking about themselves, and not what you’re doing, as much as you think they might are.

In the next five years, I’d like to…

I have not had an answer to this for the past 10 years, but I’ve just worked it out in the last week. I really want to do long-form, produced podcasts, while still doing this. I’d like to go really deep on food topics, but things relatable to everyone, like the history of our fast food giants in Australia. 

What restaurants are on your radar right now?

Old Palm Liquor has made me the most excited I’ve been in a long time. My other favourite place is Etta, mostly because of the new chef.

Places that are less new but are my favourite are Tipo 00, and a lot of wine bars with female chefs. They just cook in a different way – they genuinely do. There’s a lot more dishes that are driven by the ingredients. I feel like there’s less ego in it. 

Do you have any advice to aspiring food writers?

Be quite straightforward and not overly flowery with your language. Keep it short, tight and properly descriptive, and draw parallels between things when people might have a reference point.

We always have a list of banned words each year that is sent out to reviewers, because there was a time that every reviewer was saying ‘the chocolate pudding is sinful’. The chocolate pudding is not sentient!

Is it hard critiquing businesses among Australia’s relatively small hospitality industry?  

There are no friendships. There’s a lot of publications that do pieces about openings and that kind of thing, where the restaurant will tell you what they’re trying to achieve – that’s the aspirational view. But when it comes to an actual restaurant critique, you have to go in and analyse how well they’re living up to the bar that they’ve set for themselves. I lose a lot of sleep knowing I’ve got to give a bad review.

I don’t like being harsh on businesses, because in most cases, people are trying. I think people often don’t give enough credit to just how hard it actually is to run a restaurant successfully – it’s so many moving parts – and people just expect that everything is good as a baseline and it’s really not. It’s a lot of work. 

How would you hope those in the hospitality industry would describe you?

I would hope they think I’m respectful and fair, because I do respect this industry and the work that people do. I put everything into trying to soften the blows, and make them constructive.

Sculptor and miniature boat maker Elise Cameron Smith happened upon woodworking in a round-about way, whist undertaking a degree in product design. She loved the craft so much, she never ended up going back into design, instead enrolling in a one-year intensive furniture making course.

The boats were a bit of an accident too. ‘I made my first boats back in 2014. I had been making furniture for a few years, and always enjoyed making little sculpture pieces out of offcuts and waste materials’, Elise tells. ‘I found a few nice curves and joined them together and that’s how the first miniature boat came to life!’

There’s something pretty magical about the way Elise works – she approaches her craft almost as if she’s living in a different time. She takes great care to ensure her materials are sustainably sourced – either FSC Certified White Beech or offcuts from furniture making friends – and any scraps she has leftover are used to make the fire that cooks her lunch each day in the studio (usually roast potatoes!). The sawdust her work generates goes down the compost toilet.

We visited Elise in her studio in Helensburgh to learn more about her life as Captain Elise Cameron Smith – ‘miniature boat maker and builder of dreams’!

Were you a creative kid growing up, and have you had any formal arts training?

I’m not sure that I was a super creative young kid, I really loved everything to do with camping, fishing and the beach.

I was around 20 when I started dedicating a lot of time and effort to the creative world. I was studying Product Design, and quickly realised I had zero engineering skills, and was really struggling. I enrolled in a part-time woodworking course just to try to help me with that [product design], but after a few hours in the workshop I fell in love with making. After that, I enrolled in a one-year intensive fine furniture making course at the Sturt School For Wood in Mittagong, and just loved it so much I never went back into design.

Where does your love of boats come from?

My Dad always had fishing boats and we spent so many weekends as a family out on the water when I was growing up. I’ve got a little tinny called Daisy, she’s a little old and rough – but I like her that way!

I love the symbolism of a boat, which can represent an adventure, a crossing or a new dream, or a new experience of any kind. You can be the master of your own destiny. And whether you’re into boats or not, people still really connect with that symbolism.

Tell us a little about your woodworking process, and the (amazing!) space you work out of?

A few months ago I set up an off-grid shipping container workshop in the bush.  I get regular visits from a big family of wallabies, and the occasional deer. There are lyrebirds, kookaburras and black cockatoos and I feel so lucky to go to work in such an amazing environment every day.

These days I’ll smash out a few hours of machining early in the week, and get the generator fired for that. Then there are days of quiet hand tool work –  just carving, shaping, sanding and finishing things off. Sometimes I’ll listen to podcasts and music, but a lot of the time I like the silence and enjoy listening to the birds.

It’s so good working on your own, you can get into real focus mode, and concentrate for really long periods of time. But sometimes to keep myself sane I like to take my little rowboat out and paddle around in the afternoons. And I made a swing for the verandah which is also lots of fun.

What inspires your work? 

The ocean and the water is always my biggest source of inspiration and creativity, but I love reading old woodworking books, and also really like romance novels and Wes Anderson films.

What are you looking forward to this year – do you have any dream projects on your mind?

This year I want to build a tiny house that looks like a boat shed, with a giant porthole window looking out into the bush. And I want to make all the walls all from shingles. I don’t know how to do any of these things yet, but I’m looking forward to figuring it out!

Check out Elise’s website and online store here, and keep up with all her creative adventures on Instagram.

Wolveridge Architects were engaged to design this home in Ascot Vale twice; once as a conventional two storey ‘box’ type structure, then again as an interwar inspired gable-roof home, after a heritage overlay was introduced to the area. This redesign was naturally very stressful for the clients, requiring the assistance of a heritage consultant and the approval of a local tribunal. 

While this house doesn’t immediately scream ‘art deco’, there are subtle details reflective of the neighbourhood’s architectural history. Key aspects informing the design response are the asymmetrical nature of nearby gable roofs, the incorporation of texture, and the hero-ing of craftsmanship as a key theme.

The resulting building façade is a combination of two gabled elements, with one predominantly asymmetrical double pitched gable sitting in front of the other. The further use of textured materials such as slate, timber, bluestone and fine mesh contribute to the response. ‘The materials are all representative of materials that were available and commonly used in the era when the heritage precinct was first established,’ says Jerry Wolveridge, director of Wolveridge Architects. ‘We explore the merging of contemporary form with traditional materials, which aims to bring a sense of warmth to our projects.’

The clients wanted the originally imagined floorplan to remain in the redesign, but the actual form of the building required restructuring. It is still technically two storeys, but Jerry explains,  the character is predominantly single storey. ‘Our response considered the upper level of the home to be located within an apparent roof form, so that the dwelling can be considered a single storey building with roof,’ says Jerry.

More practical features incorporated into the house were three bedrooms, a ground floor living to include a gallery space for a grand piano, an integrated home office, plenty of storage for a van and trailer, off-street parking, and a swimming pool in the rear garden. 

Despite turning out to be far more complex than initially imagined, Wolveridge along with their highly capable builder client have created a unique, contemporary home. 

One of the greatest joys of summertime is eating a mango whilst bent over the kitchen sink, juice dripping down your hands as you savour every last bit from the fibrous stone. As soon as they start appearing in the shops from late November, I am compelled to buy them. They are incredibly fragrant and such a fleeting fruit of the season. I usually eat them as they are, or sometimes cut up with a drizzle of fresh cream for dessert. Alternatively, they make a wonderfully refreshing salad, as I’ve done here. Inspired by a meal I once ate on a Thai beach on a scorching hot afternoon, this roast chicken dinner is really easy to prepare and incredibly delicious.

The key to this recipe is getting the chicken and marinade all sorted the night before – the food processor will do all the work for you. That means when it comes to dinner time, you barely need to think or lift a finger to get a wonderfully satisfying meal together. I’ve also had much success cooking this chicken on the BBQ, so if that’s your thing, then definitely take the cooking outdoors.

While the salad I ate in Thailand used green mango, the sweetness of this ripe mango paired with the lime and ginger is a really lovely alternative. Just make sure your mangoes aren’t too ripe, otherwise cutting them nicely will be a real bother.

On cutting a mango, there are countless ways to do this, but the way I find the easiest is to cut the cheeks off either side of the stone then cut each cheek into three, lengthwise. Take your knife and slowly cut the flesh away from the skin of the mango. Then cut any remaining mango away from the stone and repeat.

Butterflying the chicken means it is much easier to marinate, cooks quicker and is easier to get a crispy skin. To do this, turn the chicken breast-side down and using kitchen scissors or a large knife, cut down either side of the spine to remove the backbone. Turn the chicken over and flatten with the palm of your hand. A butcher will easily do this for you if you can’t manage it at home. We eat this at home with steamed Jasmine rice, but for a lighter meal, simply serve it as it is.

JULIA’S Fragrant roast Chicken with mango salad (Serves 4-6)

1 whole chicken (approximately 1.5kg), butterflied
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup Chinese cooking wine or saké
1 lemongrass stalk, white part only, roughly chopped
Handful  of coriander stalks
Juice of a lime
4 cloves of garlic
White pepper, to taste
Sea salt, to taste

Mango salad
2 mangoes, peeled and cut into large slices
Large handful of coriander leaves, plus extra to garnish
1 red shallot, halved and finely sliced
1 red chilli, finely sliced
2 tbsp roasted peanuts, plus extra to garnish

Dressing
Juice of a lime
1cm piece ginger, finely grated
1 tbsp brown sugar
1tbsp sesame oil
Sea salt, to taste
Steamed jasmine rice, to serve
Lime wedges, to serve

Method

Pat the chicken dry with paper towel and place in a non-reactive bowl or container. Place the remaining ingredients in a blender or food processor and blitz until smooth. Pour over the chicken, ensuring it is well coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours but ideally overnight, turning the chicken once or twice as it marinates.

Remove the chicken from the fridge and preheat the oven to 200C.

Arrange the chicken, skin side up, into a shallow roasting tray and pour over half of the marinade from the container or bowl. Pour 1/4 cup water into the base of the tray and roast in the preheated oven for 55 minutes – 75 minutes or until the chicken is just cooked through and burnished in parts. About halfway through, pour the remaining marinade onto the chicken. In the final 15 minutes, use spoon the juices from the tray onto the chicken every 5 minutes to encourage a nice dark colour.

 Allow the chicken to rest for 10 minutes then cut into 8 pieces.

Meanwhile, for the salad, arrange the mango, coriander, shallots and chilli in a serving bowl. Whisk the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and season to taste. Just before serving, pour the dressing over the salad and scatter over some peanuts. Scatter extra peanuts and coriander over the chicken and serve with extra wedges of lime, the mango salad and steamed jasmine rice.

What else I’m cooking with…
East Gippsland garlic available at Georgie’s Harvest, South Melbourne Market. They bought 300kg of the stuff from East Gippsland farmer Justin Dykes, a grower affected by the bushfires and are selling it onto the public. It’s really good and an easy way to show your support.

What I’m eating…
The Cardamom buns at newly opened Falco Bakery in Collingwood.

You can follow Julia’s food adventures on Instagram and find more fab recipes via her website! 

The first thing you’ll see when entering the gates at ‘Onedin’, is a desert-style garden setting the tone for the mid-century inspired home to come. The house is relatively simple in form, with a similar facade to the the famous Kaufmann House (1946) in Palm Springs, California, but the scale and hardworking material palette makes its significance immediately evident. ‘The combination of material, form and architectural expression combine here in a way that is rare for us to achieve on anything other than a significant block with a significant budget,’ says Shaun Lockyer, director of Shaun Lockyer Architects. 

The brief was to develop a timeless and engaging piece of modern architecture to serve as a family home, and repository for the client’s extensive art collection. Driving the aesthetics was the owner’s love of concrete and stone. ‘The work of the Brazilian modernists, plus Richard Neutra, and a number of North American modernists, were significant,’ says Shaun. 

An interplay of horizontal and vertical forms and volumes, with a compositional play of light and heavy materials, was designed for the facade. The floorplan was then conceived as three separate wings around a central courtyard, framed by a long stone wall.

In the main living space is the biggest void in the house, punctuated by a skylight described by Shaun as giving the concrete a ‘sense of lightness and even tension, as the shafts of light animate the space.’

While Shaun’s team is used to working with concrete, he admits this project tested even their capabilities. ‘Being substantially off-form concrete, getting the detail and execution handled correctly was massively challenging,’ he says. ‘It is a very unforgiving design to build, so the time was taken to properly document every millimetre. Very few changes were made on site.’ 

Shaun Lockyer Architects have designed several large scale homes, but they recognise Onedin as one of their landmark projects. ‘This is a very site-specific design, along with a brief that offered a rare opportunity to explore architectural form,’ says Shaun. The architects wish to credit the ‘extraordinary team of builders, consultants and subcontractors’, especially CGH Constructions, for bringing this design to life. Shaun says, ‘This may seem like an obvious point to make in the architectural world, [but] it is rare to have this level of collaboration, support and common vision toward a single idea.’

Shelley and Tom Banders immediately fell in love with this 1890s farmhouse in Strzelecki, Victoria (about 130km south-east of Melbourne), with its 10-foot ceilings and charming heritage details.

The pair were drawn to the South Gippsland area after visiting famed foodie Tamsin Carvin of Tamsin’s Table (fortuitously, Tom now works alongside Tamsin at The Borough Dept. Store in Korumburra). After seeing the property online, they went to visit, and were immediately awestruck. They wax lyrical, ‘We are surrounded by natural winemakers, micro dairies, single-origin cheesemakers and other niche artisans, producers and growers… However, having space is possibly the best part, we have established over 70 lineal metres of veggie beds, and planted a stone fruit orchard and a citrus grove. We are in the process of preparing a berry cane enclosure and designing a coop for our future chickens and ducks.’

After making the move from Melbourne, the couple set out to bring this farmstead into a contemporary era, while still maintaining the honesty and practicality of the traditional farmhouse. The home maintains the original footprint, with one bedroom transformed into an open-shelf larder (a country home dream!).

The walls were all whitewashed in Dulux White Polar, and the carpet stripped back to reveal beautiful Baltic pine floorboards. Shelley highlights the New Zealand pure wool carpet installed in the bedrooms out of necessity (cold winters!) but ‘also to generate a soft, dream-like quality to the resting spaces’

This soft, comfortable vibe carries throughout the home, creating a perfect retreat for the two self-described ‘home bodies.’ Shelley explains, ‘We always try to create an informal, welcoming space that radiates warmth and comfort.’ The interior finishes, objects and materials here have been selected for durability and functionality . ‘Our mostly preloved furniture allows us to relax if we’ve gotten dirty in the veggie patch. Life is too short to worry about these things!’ Shelley says.

For anyone reading along and dreaming of a regional escape, Shelley makes an impassioned case for taking the leap. She enthuses ‘Just go for it! We have never felt so grounded, connected and satisfied, ending our day with a glass of local wine, a bit of dirt under our nails and a belly full of real food. What are you waiting for?’

Put your hand up if you currently have a thriving indoor plant that’s still sitting in the plastic pot you picked it up in. Be honest! If this is you (it’s me), then this new range of planters from Jason Chongue at The Plant Society and Bianca Lambert of Capra Designs might be just the ticket.

Driven by the lack of bespoke large scale planters on the market, The Totem Collection has been designed to complement a range of different interiors and spaces.

Taking its cues from architectural forms and textures, and informed by Jason’s background in architecture, the range comprises eight different resin planters, with drainage holes matching drip trays – aka everything your plant needs for a happy, healthy life. The collection is inspired by texture and form observed on Jason’s overseas travels, from architectural columns to heritage-style details.

In a variety of different heights and shapes, each of the eight Plant Society x Capra Designs planters can stand alone as a strong design piece, or be arranged in clusters to create a *plant moment*. The perfect solution for empty corners everywhere!

The Totem Collection is available now at The Plant Society stores in Melbourne and Sydney, and online. Look out for more exciting inhouse products to be released in the coming months! 

Matisse: Life & Spirit
November 2020 – March 2021
Art Gallery of New South Wales, NSW

It’s no surprise that one of the most prestigious galleries in the country, Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) will show a dynamic exhibition from one of the most famous and influential artists of all time, Henri Matisse.

Exclusive to AGNSW, Matisse: life & spirit, masterpieces from the Centre Pompidou will show over 100 works spanning six decades from the French master.

Developed alongside the Centre Pompidou in Paris, known for its unmatched collection of Matisse works, Matisse: life & spirit will be the greatest single exhibition of Matisse masterworks ever to be seen in Sydney. Yep – you’ll be able to see his famed cut-outs, but also his adventures in paintings, sculptures, and drawings, tracking the vast and varied exploration of his artistic career. This is TRULY unmissable!

Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA)
August 8th 2020 – January 31st 2021
Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory, NT

Now in its 36th year, the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA) is a major highlight for the Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory (MAGNT) in Darwin. This fantastic exhibition spotlights emerging and established Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists across a varying range of mediums, and attracts more than 85,000 visitors.

This exhibition is so important for visitors to gain an insight into First Nations People’s perspective in both contemporary interpretations, as well as those steeped in generations of tradition. It also offers some prize money of up to $50,000 for winning artists, courtesy of longtime sponsor Telstra. All finalists’ work will be displayed in the world-class exhibition, opening in August.

Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art
February 29th – June 8th 2020
Art Gallery South Australia, SA

This year the Art Gallery of South Australia welcomes the hugely popular Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art back for its 30th year. Known for its risk-taking and expansive vision, the Biennial welcomes the wild, wacky, weird and wonderful.

The theme of the 2020 iteration is Monster Theatres, inviting artists to bring to life the ‘monsters’ of today. As described by curator Leigh Robb, ‘Monsters ask us to interrogate our relationships with each other, the environment and technology. They force us to question our empathy towards differences across race, gender, sexuality and spirituality.’

Artists involved in the Biennial include Abdul Abdullah, Polly Borland, Yhonnie Scarce + many more!

Water
December 7th 2019 – April 26th 2020
Gallery of Modern Art, QLD

Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art never fails to disappoint with its innovative, world-class programming – and Water is no exception! Exploring the theme of, you guessed it, Water, this exhibition explores this vital element from the perspective of artists around the world.

Here is some of what you can expect, according to GOMA:

‘Walk across a vast, rocky riverbed created by Olafur Eliasson. See animals from around the world gather together to drink from Cai Guo-Qiang’s brilliant blue waterhole. Gaze at Peter Fischli and David Weiss’s snowman frozen in Brisbane’s summer heat. Traverse a cloud of suspended gymnastic rings in a participatory artwork by William Forsythe. View the tidal currents rise and fall around Angela Tiatia. Reflect on the cultural traditions of bodies of water with Judy Watson, and on the long history of our reliance on water through Megan Cope’s re-created midden.’

Stanislava Pinchuk
June 27th – October 4th 2020
Heide Museum of Modern Art, VIC

Stanislava Pinchuk (also known by her pseudonym, Miso) has emerged as one of Australia’s intriguing contemporary artists in the last decade. The Ukranian-born, Melbourne-based artist captures the changing topographies of war and conflict zones through data mapping, making tiny, individual pin pricks to realise these patterns – an incredibly labour-intensive and mentally and physically draining process that appears effortless, and beautiful.

This major exhibition at Heide Museum of Modern Art in Melbourne will feature a survey of Stanislava’s most powerful pinprick projects from the past five years, accompanied by terrazzo-like sculptures comprised of pieces of debris left behind in conflict zones.

Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now
May 30th – September 13th 2020
National Gallery of Australia, ACT

The National Gallery of Australia (NGA) celebrates its ongoing initiative to increase representation of artists who identify as women with Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now.

Drawing on works from the National Gallery’s own collection, as well as others from across Australia, Know My Name showcases the work of lesser-known artists alongside Australian greats from different times, places and cultures.

As part of the broader Know My Name initiative, a new commission by the Tjanpi Desert Weavers will be on display at the National Gallery. Patricia Piccinini’s iconic Skywhale (2013) will also see its new counterpart, Skywhalepapa (2020) ascend over Canberra on its maiden voyage, travelling alongside Skywhale eight times during the exhibition period.

Pierre Bonnard designed by India Mahdavi
June 5th – October 4th 2020
National Gallery of Victoria

While Sydney-siders enjoy the masterful works of Henri Matisse, Melbournites won’t miss out on the opportunity to experience an incredible exhibition of another beloved French painter! The exquisite works of Pierre Bonnard will be on show at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) for their major winter showcase, a kaleidoscopic exhibition of 150 works from the painter with a fondness for domestic scenes and rural life. Pierre Bonnard has been developed in partnership with Musee d’Orsay in Paris.

Described by Matisse, a close friend of Bonnard’s, as ‘a great painter, for today and definitely also for the future’, this groundbreaking exhibition spans paintings, drawings, photographs, folding screens and early cinema, depicting scenes of modern 20th century France in bright, vivid colours.

Aside from the opportunity to see one of the works of this beloved painter, what makes this exhibition absolutely unmissable is the design of the show itself. Iranian Paris-based designer India Mahdavi (the interiors genius behind the iconic pink Gallery at Sketch restaurant in London) has been commissioned by the NGV to bring Bonnard’s extraordinary works to life, elegantly balancing historical references with contemporary culture in an immersive experience.

22nd Biennale of Sydney, NIRIN
November 8th 2020 – 16th February 2021
Various locations, NSW

First held in 1973 as part of the opening celebrations of the Sydney Opera House, the Biennale of Sydney is now in its 22nd year and is one of Australia’s blockbuster contemporary art events.

Taking place across six major sites – Art Gallery of New South Wales, Artspace, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Cockatoo Island, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and the National Art School – the Biennale of Sydney will see 94 artists from 47 countries

Under the guidance of multidisciplinary artist and this year’s Biennale Artistic Director Brook Andrew, the 12-week exhibition is titled NIRIN, meaning ‘edge’ in Brook’s mother’s Nation – the Wiradjuri people of western New South Wales. He says, ‘Optimism from chaos drives artists in NIRIN to resolve the often hidden or ignored urgency surrounding contemporary life.’

Carriageworks Commissions
Rebecca Baumann: Radiant Flux, January 8th – June 14th
Reko Rennie: REMEMBER ME, January 2020 – January 2021
Kate Mitchell: All Auras Touch, January 8th – March 1st
Daniel Boyd: Video Works, January 8th – March 1st

Australia’s largest multi-arts centre, Carriageworks, has been home to some pretty major large-scale installation commissions in its time (who could forget German artist Katherina Grosse’s otherworldly technicoloured universe in 2018?). This summer, four new site-specific commissions from leading Australian artists Rebecca Baumann, Daniel Boyd, Kate Mitchell and Reko Rennie have taken residence in the epic historical space.

Spanning over 100-metres, Rebecca Baumann’s Radiant Flux sees every glass surface of the building’s exterior covered in a film that changes colour at every angle, flooding the space with kaleidoscopic light that will never be the same twice.

A study in human energy, All Aurus Touch by Kate Mitchell captures an aura portrait for each of the 1,023 census-recognised occupations.

Video Works by Kudjala/Gangalu artist Daniel Boyd features three major video installations, where gallery walls will be mapped with the artist’s otherworldly, infinite cosmos.

Interdisciplinary Kamilaroi artist Reko Rennie references the massacre of First Nations people in Remember Me, a massive illuminated sign that will remain on display for the whole of 2020, the year marking the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s first landfall.

Archibald, Wynne & Sulman Prizes
May 9th – September 6th 2020
Art Gallery of New South Wales, NSW

The Archibald, Wynne & Sulman Prizes are some of the most prestigious and highly anticipated art events in the country. Since its inception in 1921, The Archibald Prize the most well-known of the three awards celebrates paintings of notable figures that reflect Australian culture across areas including art, media, entertainment, politics, sports and more. The works are always a great capsule to represent Australian culture of the moment.

Finalists for the Archibald (portrait), Wynne (landscape/scenery) and Sulman (genre/subject) are shown in an exhibition that starts at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and tours at select galleries around Australia for the remainder of the year.

The Station House is one of the oldest standing buildings in Daylesford (located about 90 minutes north-west of Melbourne). Theresa Albiloi and Tony De Marco purchased this property in 2015, kicking off eight months of renovations to bring the rundown home up to scratch.

The couple are seasoned renovators, and one of their golden rules is to always live in a property while undergoing works. ‘This gives us a feeling for the place, which helps with the design decisions,’ Theresa explains. ‘It’s not easy to get into the mind of a guest unless you’ve lived in a property yourself.’

While magnificent in nature, the house needed significant work to suit its intended life as a holiday home.  Walls in the kitchen and dining areas were teared down to open up the entire living space.

Nearly all the home’s period features were retained in the process, including the original vaulted ceilings, fireplace and 160-year-old French doors leading out to the garden. The couple further enhanced this outdoor connection by adding more glass doors and windows. ‘We had this vision of somebody waking up and being inspired to go for an early morning stroll to explore the property’s three acres,’ Theresa says.

Theresa styled the home in her distinct aesthetic, characterised by vintage leather furniture and grand furnishings. Most pieces were purchased locally from The Mill Market in town, adding to the uniquely ‘Daylesford’ feeling of this home! ‘A lot of places try to go for the vintage feeling, but it’s not authentic, because the properties themselves are only a few decades old. The Station House is genuinely one of the oldest standing structures in town, and guests can feel the history,’ says Theresa. ‘Sometimes I wonder if we’ve bought something from a local dealer which belonged to the house’s original 19th century owners.’

The Station House is today one of nine properties owned by Theresa and Tony, and one of 70 (!) the couple manage as part of their business, The Houses Daylesford. It’s only been a few years since they first settled in the town, but the couple are clearly a driving force behind Daylesford’s continued popularity as a travel destination. ‘It is very rewarding working and living in such a beautiful town,’ says Theresa. ‘All of the business owners look out for each other, because we know the town benefits when everyone is successful.’

Halcyon House 

Halcyon House is one of Australia’s most unique five star hotels, located in Cabarita Beach, just 15 minutes south of Gold Coast Airport, and 30 minutes north from Byron Bay. Condé Nast Traveler lists the hotel among the top 10 best in Australia, coming in at number five in their 2019 Readers’ Choice Awards.

The accommodation is most famed for its interiors, created by acclaimed interior designer Anna Spiro. Rich fabric upholstered walls, and handpicked antique treasures are found throughout the 21-room boutique property. (Take a look at the snaps from when our managing editor Sally Tabart visited!)  

Halcyon Spa is the latest addition to the accommodation, offering luxury experiences such as massages, facials, and treatments, as well as a unique dome-shaped steam room for ultimate relaxation! 

One TDF winner will win two nights in a Classic Room at Halcyon House, valued at up to $1400, and two 60-minute Halcyon Relax Massage spa treatment, each valued at $145.

Lon Retreat

Escape to 200 acres of rural and conservation land at Lon Retreat. Located in Point Lonsdale, on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula, this luxury accommodation consists of only seven suites across a sandstone lodge. 

Each room in Lon is individually designed with its own character and connection to the ocean, lakes and surrounding farmland owned by the same family for seven generations. Pristine beaches are just a stroll away via the accomodation’s private beach track.

Also on site is the Lon Spa, which offers guests the therapeutic effects of local mineral water fed soaking tubs, along with steam rooms and a heated mineral pool.

One TDF winner will win a weekend experience for two adults at Lon Retreat. The prize include two nights in a Luxury Suite, an artisan breakfast hamper, unlimited access to the heated mineral pools, and two 60-minute Blissful Marma Massages at Lon Spa. The total prize value is $1320.

HOW TO ENTER 

To go into the draw to WIN one of these two incredible mini getaways, simply complete our annual Reader’s Survey here!

We would love to hear from you, so we can offer more of what you want to see on the site (and in real life!), in 2020!

This competition is open to Australian residents only, but we still very much welcome surveys and feedback from readers all over the world.

Please note, flights are not included in the prize package. The winner will be selected at random from all entrants who have completed the entry requirements. Your responses will not impact your chances of winning – we want your honest feedback!

You can read the full terms and conditions here.

To be in the running to win, complete our Reader’s Survey here!