Fleurieu Film Festival

Above: Fleurieu Film Festival 2018 at Serafino Wines.

In February 2021, the Fleurieu Film Festival will again present a feast for the senses beneath the stars.

First presented in 2016, this will be the fifth Fleurieu Film Festival after a short hiatus in 2020 to regroup with a new director. The theme for 2021 is WILD – a notion with broad scope that invites many different interpretations. The challenge for filmmakers is to respond to this theme through telling a story or informing the audience with a documentary, in no more than eight minutes.

Early career filmmakers and students are encouraged to make the festival an event they will remember all their lives – perhaps as the one that launches their career. Many previous prize winners have gone on to develop successful pathways in the film industry and their selected films have won awards internationally.

The 2021 festival returns to Serafino Winery. Guests will enjoy a choice of enticing options from local food stalls in a picnic setting on the lawns, or may opt for a pre-booked dinner in Serafino’s courtyard. The Onkaparinga Concert Band will set the scene playing favourite film themes, while later the haunting four-part harmonies of Saltwater Taffy will accompany the gathering crowd as they sip Serafino’s wine and wait for darkness to fall. The audience will then be entertained and enthralled by the ten films chosen as finalists. To close the evening, long after sunset, prizes will be announced and awarded to the filmmakers in recognition of their creativity and skill. New festival patron Professor Chris Daniels, radio personality and expert on wild things, will open the event. He joins long-term festival patron Erik Thomson, well known actor and local Fleurieu resident, in providing invaluable support to the festival and its filmmakers.

The festival is supported by the City of Onkaparinga as major sponsor alongside major state creative industry bodies and influencers, such as the South Australian Film Corporation, Adelaide Film Festival and Mercury CX. UniSA and Flinders University have welcomed the festival as a vehicle for their students to test their talents in a public arena.

Since the last festival in 2019, a new director and board have taken on the management and promotion of the festival. Their aim is to bring these special short films to a wider audience, with a roadshow of the best films in other Fleurieu townships such as Port Noarlunga, Victor Harbor, Yankalilla and Goolwa.

The organisers are planning the biggest event yet and guarantee a wonderful night out for locals and visitors alike. The festival will be held on 13 February 2021 with tickets available through Eventbrite. More information about the festival and how to buy tickets, is available at fleurieufilmfestival.com.au

Story by Stephanie Johnston.

Previous page: Featuring a chunky red oak understory topped by powder-coated steel accents and a woven Danish cord top, Howe’s J7 Day Bed is at once sensual, comfortable and tactile. Above: SpaceCraft’s curved timber range hood brings a strong, crafted, textural element, adding warmth and a handcrafted element. Photo by Jonatahn VDK.

A verdant, sun-soaked landscape provides the backdrop to my adventure into the world of bespoke designer/makers. Over two days, I discover commonalities and points of difference between three local enterprises who are embracing the customised design movement, revealing a shared passion for timber, texture and traditional techniques.

It seems SpaceCraft Joinery, 35° South Building Company and James Howe Furniture Design are all tapping into a growing desire for direct and authentic connections between buyer and maker. It’s a movement born of buyers’ increasing interest in the story behind the product; in the designer’s skill in crafting a product, their ethical approach, and the origins of the materials used. They’re looking for high quality, unique, innovative products and services with low environmental impact that reflect their chosen lifestyle – and they’re increasingly prepared to pay for these characteristics. The reasons for engaging a designer/maker often go beyond appreciation of a particular expression of a craft. For these three designers, values are also important – both the designer/maker’s and the customer’s. One of these shared values is community; in a world of escalating uncertainty, customers want to shop and support local, and they connect with the strong sense of place and community that permeates the creative practice of these three businesses. Connection also begets trust, which enables these custom designers to take creative risks. A sense of adventure informs each new project, and makes for an exciting shared journey for user and maker, opening up space for unexpected and exceptional results.

And compatibility is the key to successful outcomes in this world where personal relationships rule supreme.

When I ask kitchen design specialists Nathan and Ellen Wundersitz of SpaceCraft Joinery what drives their clients to seek out their customised cabinetry solutions, the answer comes without hesitation: ‘When people come to us, they come because they’ve already spent time researching the market and they’re bored,’ says Ellen. ‘They want something different that’s unique to them.’ >

Above: SpaceCraft design using concrete, plywood, timber, tiles and laminate to add layers of texture to this Scandinavian-influenced industrial look. Photo by Bri Hammond. Note: At the time of going to print the SpaceCraft team had won won all three kitchen renovation categories as well as best kitchen design at the 2020 HIA Kitchen and Bathroom awards.

Nathan is the designer/maker in the partnership, and when I ask him to identify SpaceCraft’s point of difference, he explains that while their layouts might follow standard templates, it’s all about attention to detail, and customised tweaking of the different design elements and finishing details. ‘It might be a handle, a unique tile, an open box timber detail, or the introduction of shadow lines,’ he explains. ‘My passion is texture on texture on texture, often achieved through layers of timber ribbing in combination with other materials. I also have a passion for curves at the moment,’ he adds.

The bespoke ethos is apparent in SpaceCraft’s personalised approach to each client from the initial point of contact. ‘We don’t treat them like a number,’ Nathan says. ‘A kitchen or any joinery is a piece of art, and should be treated like that…it should reflect someone’s personality.’ This direct relationship with the client results in happier customers and better design outcomes. It also creates a happier design team. ‘We’re not just about spitting out a product,’ says Ellen. ‘It’s about the people we employ being able to stretch themselves and become multidimensional.’

‘One of the positive things to come out of the pandemic is people making more conscious decisions about where to shop, and active choices about where they source products, who that might impact, and who might benefit,’ she adds. ‘People are valuing local employment, and understanding that their behaviour and decisions can have a direct impact on the viability of a local business, and on the community as a whole.’

Nathan points to a growing interest in the business’ environmental credentials. Sourcing sustainable Australian timber and quality products comes at a cost, however. Once again, establishing an early relationship with the client built on trust, good communication and shared values is essential. ‘I think the questions we ask in the first few conversations determine whether or not a project is going to be a good fit,’ says Nathan. ‘It’s basically about making sure you’re on the same page, and what you’re aiming for is achievable.’

Just as the farm-to-table movement has changed how we relate to food, the partners in 35° South Building Company use the phrase ‘forest-to-frame’ to describe how their projects are reshaping the way we might think about timber construction. Milling locallysourced wood that sequesters carbon is a natural extension of the commitment of carpenter/builders Tom Shaw, Sam Foutoulis and Ben Kernahan to producing truly sustainable buildings.

Ben explains how cypress and Aleppo pine windbreaks – planted across the Fleurieu since settlement – eventually reach the end of

Above left: A precision-lined timber porch welcomes you to this high-performance, double-glazed, timber-framed, permeably-wrapped, off-grid 35° South build at Narrung. Above right: The company designs, mills, crafts and installs timber frames on site. French timber framing uses heavy, squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers secured by large wooden pegs.

their life span, becoming messy, decrepit fire hazards. Landowners were apt to cut them down and burn them, releasing carbon into the atmosphere. Until the boys from 35° South, and their Lucas Portable Sawmill turned up.

Purchasing and sharing a portable mill was one of many dreams that brought these self-described ‘respectable young men’ together to form their own company just over a year ago. ‘We also had a common goal of trying to create a work/life balance, of not being dictated to by work…of aiming to enjoy what we do, and carve out something that’s a bit unique, that we’re all passionate about,’ explains Tom.

Crafting customised ‘characterful’ homes to suit their clients’ Fleurieu lifestyle is key to the team’s approach, the rugged coastlines and rolling hills of the local landscape their inspiration. This is enshrined in the company name, and embodied in their employment of traditional milling and framing techniques on site.

‘A large part of our thinking is we all had something to do with the Fleurieu, we all love it down here, it’s where we all like to work, and it’s where we’re based,’ explains Ben, who learnt the traditions and skills of French timber framing techniques, working with a French master craftsman. He dreams of showcasing the traditional wooden rafters and roof lines of a Viking-style barn to create the ‘most majestic wedding venue in South Australia’. In the meantime the boys are working on a rustic timber-framed portable wedding marquee, to be revealed in time for this summer’s wedding season.

Then there’s Tom’s pet project – a series of sea container Airbnbs featuring classic provincial interiors – while Sam imagines constructing an entire village based on innovative European technology, passive heating and cooling, locally sourced materials, and the personality of each individual home buyer.

I ask the boys why they love working with timber and why people seem to keep coming back to it. ‘There aren’t many products like it,’ Tom responds. ‘It’s almost got a romance about it. There’s a natural organic beauty there which can create a sense of awe…It’s like looking at a sunset or looking at the ocean.’

James Howe of James Howe Furniture Design could be described as the accidental furniture maker. He was pursuing a career as a freelance journalist, with daughter number three on the way, when wife Joanna decided she wanted ‘to do it properly’ this time. That is, she wanted a proper nursery setup with proper baby furniture. ‘She got on the internet and looked at all the baby furniture that was around and really didn’t like anything that she found,’ recounts James. ‘So she asked me to design some furniture for her.’ >

Above and bottom left: Howe’s J4 tables in timber and acrylic explore the interplay of light and shadow while the J5 Cabinet features chevron-fluted doors milled from solid timber. Above right: SpaceCraft – Funky timber ribbing on overhead cupboards combined with yellow pops. Photo by: Josie Withers. Bottom right: Chunky solid timber joinery is beautifully carved out at 35° South Building Company.

Joanna later saw an ad for a design award in a magazine, and convinced James to enter the pieces he’d made. His baby change table won them an all-expenses-paid trip to New York, and set James on the path of furniture designer/maker. ‘I found the process of design incredibly exciting, and really got lost in it,’ he explains. ‘I realised that was what I really wanted to do.’

The need for new dining chairs was another light bulb moment, introducing James to Danish designer Børge Mogensen’s iconic J39 ‘People’s Chair’. ‘It was a real epiphany. It really hit me in quite a profound way,’ he recalls. It seems, however, that these seeds were sown early in James. As a child, he gravitated towards his Dutch grandfather’s farmhouse in the state’s mid north. He remembers it as an incredibly ordered house, with a beautiful design aesthetic. ‘When I saw images of the inside of Mogensen’s own house, I think it really struck that same chord with me. Everything I’ve done ever since is to try to provide that experience for other people,’ he muses. Mogensen’s minimalist aesthetic and hand-woven paper cord techniques have since found their way into the James Howe Furniture Design repertoire. The product catalogue currently presents eight distinct pieces that are customisable with regard to dimensions, timber, colours and finish, and are mostly manufactured by James himself. He accepts commissions only where he’s able to design the work himself. ‘If I’m going to do a commission, I want it to be something that contributes to what it is I’m trying to do in my design practice,’ he explains.

When I ask him what his customers are looking for, his reply echoes the sentiments of the other designer/makers I’ve been talking to. ‘I think that there’s a real crisis in our contemporary society, with a loss of human connection in the objects that people interact with on a day-to-day basis. Everything’s mass produced. Everything’s machine made,’ says Howe. ‘I want people to sense that human connection in the stuff I make, and I like to think that my customers recognise that.’

Above: Scenic flights, aerobatic flights, a flying school and charter flights, all at Adelaide Bi-Planes. Awesome!

Scenic flights. Aerobatic flights. Flying school. Charter flights. Awesome! Based at the charming Aldinga Airfield, Adelaide Biplanes delivers some of the most awesome flying experiences imaginable. We have a passion for pretty much everything there is to do with aeroplanes. Simply put, it’s what we’re all about, and it’s what we look forward to sharing with anyone and everyone who has ever had the slightest dream of soaring with the birds. We look forward to welcoming you here. adelaidebiplanes.com.au

Immerse yourself in the natural beauty of the Coorong while enjoying a relaxing kayaking experience with Canoe the Coorong. Tours depart daily (subject to weather conditions) and include all catering and equipment. We welcome all ages and skill levels – from kayaking novices to seasoned paddlers. Join one of our fun and informative tours of the Coorong, Murray Mouth and Goolwa Regions or hire a kayak to explore on your own. canoethecoorong.com

Set in the idyllic Douglas Scrub, the Southern Adventure Hub is an adrenaline-pumping, fun day out for groups and parties in the heart of the McLaren Vale wine region. Our epic adventure tower contains eight-metre rock climbing walls, a high ropes challenge course and a ‘leap of faith’ trapeze, making it perfect for kids and adults alike! Looking for a bigger challenge? Go rock climbing with our skilled instructors in nearby Onkaparinga Gorge! facebook.com/southernadventurehub

Above left: Casper the barn owl at Raptor Domain. Bottom left: Try SUP Down South at Port Willunga. Right: Fun for all at Southern Adventure Hub.

SUP Down South is a small family-run business based in Port Willunga. We offer paddle board hire, lessons, tours and SUP yoga and are now in our fifth season. Our coaches have globally recognised ASI accreditation and cater for beginners through to the more advanced. They can even get you into the surf! Our website has a forecast guide that will help you plan the best time for your next paddle. supdownsouth.weebly.com

Raptor Domain delivers the only ’in-flight’ birds of prey display in South Australia. Meet an array of birds including Jedda the majestic wedgetailed eagle. Enjoy a delightful interactive experience with Casper the friendly barn owl, Banjo and Clancy the laughing kookaburras and many more. In addition you can enjoy a hands-on and educational experience with Raptor Domain’s friendly lizards and snakes. Amazing private experiences now available. See website for booking requirements. kangarooislandbirdsofprey.com.au

Learn to surf with South Australia’s original surf school, established in 1991. Our qualified instructors love to share their passion and knowledge to ensure you have a great time. Starting with some beach practice, ocean awareness and safety, we soon hit the water, staying about waist deep with the instructor guiding you at all times. You’ll soon be standing, cruising along a wave with a huge smile and feeling the stoke! All ages, all abilities, all equipment provided. surfcultureaustralia.com.au

Photography and modelling by Rose Ayliffe. Styling by Megan Caldersmith. Special thanks to Sealink Kangaroo Island, Eleanor Downs and Raptor Domain.

Rose Ayliffe grew up on Kangaroo Island (KI) – part of the fourth generation of Ayliffes to call the Island home. Now living at Streaky Bay – we were fortunate to have enticed this talented and beautiful young woman back to KI as both model and photographer as we celebrate the Island’s beauty and resilience.

We are excited to expand Cardijn College Galilee Campus at Aldinga to offer middle years learning Year 7 2021 | Year 8 2022 | Year 9 2023

Noarlunga Downs | 7-12

Christie Downs | 10-12+ Across three campuses in the Southern Vales www.cardijn.catholic.edu.au

@CardijnCollege

DECEMBER: Waterhouse by the Sea

A rare opportunity to see the work of past winners and finalists of this prestigious competition and to acquire new work from the artists.

A new collection of work by thsi internationally acclaimed artist. Richard’s paintings are hung in prestige galleries around the world.

41 The Strand Port Elliot Weekends 10.00 til 4.00 or by appointment 0419 501 648