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Fabric Quarterly 8 Q1 2020

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Publisher’s Note

Eight issues on and I’m ever-increasingly amazed at the depth and diversity of Western Australian talent hidden beneath the surface yet making its mark, and often away from the glare of publicity. Fabric Quarterly’s ethos is to seek out and uncover such rare jewels, and this issue is no exception. We follow two inspiring stories with cultural pathways in this issue: the career of up-and-coming Indigenous male model Nathan McGuire, and the remarkable collaborative arts project building connections between Mirrabooka’s newest community members and its oldest cultures. Once again we delve into the proliferating ‘natural’ movement. It is not a passing fad but is entrenched in a healthy lifestyle. Visionary skincare manufacturer Rohr Remedy creates a range of natural skincare products from Australian bush medicines that are versatile, effective, and luxurious. The lo-fi wine industry is thriving too, producing wines with incredible character and soul. This issue we seek out Swan Valley winemaker Sam Jorgensen to experience his ingenuity and passion for minimal intervention. If you’re visiting London and fancy a glass (or two) of natural wine, we review a wine bar established by a WAAPA-trained opera singer turned restauranteur. Total sustainability is indisputably a logical path. Nightingale Housing is leading a housing revolution in our cities by constructing multi-residential buildings that are financially, socially, and environmentally sustainable. Fremantle will see WA’s first venture. Our glossy leaves feature Beth George’s thoughtful renovation of a classic Subiaco home into a functional, modern residence. And we visit a few local hotspots renowned for their quintessential WA atmosphere and tasty coastal eats. Walk-ins welcome, no bookings necessary. With much, much more inside, immerse yourself in the ever-evolving FQ.

Marcus Rosenwax Publisher, Managing Director

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Contents

Role Model

Design News

Australia’s first internationally-signed Aboriginal male model, Nathan McGuire, is a force for good – and now his influence is immortalised in a 25-storey mural at Perth’s new Art Series Hotel, The Adnate.

We asked some local furniture specialists to share the best of their latest from the most innovative and creative designers across the globe.

Turning the Soil

The Natural Choice

An emergent apartment building in White Gum Valley symbolises a shift in thinking about how we could, should, or want to live together.

Minimal intervention wines served from the back of a ute: a wine tasting at the makeshift cellar door of Old Mate Wine’s Sam Jorgensen.

Worker Beats

No Reservations

Perth-born, LA-based music production duo FnZ discuss cities, beat production, and starting out, with fellow LA-based producer Jesse Shatkin.

Stay a while at these local hotspots renowned for their quintessential West Aussie atmosphere and tasty coastal eats. Walk-ins welcome, no bookings necessary.

Weaving Culture

Feeling Grounded in the Vodka Palace

In Mirrabooka, a collaborative arts project is building connections between Mirrabooka’s newest community members and its oldest culture.

Vodka Palace is a luxurious yet lowmaintenance concrete cave. Industrial yet oozing a warm and moody ambience, it’s just what the client asked for.

The Reed House

The Alchemist

On a tree-lined street in Subiaco stands a residence once known to the locals as ‘the lilac house.’

A dermatologist’s daughter, a fine arts graduate and gallerist, the wife of a fourthgeneration chemist, a skincare brand creator, and a true believer in the power of the Australian bush—meet Emily Rohr.

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Filo luce earrings and penta luce bracelets.

GENUINE AUSTRALIAN SOUL, STRAIGHT FROM THE SOURCE. We are proud to be launching Vela Jewellery with a collection that celebrates the natural beauty of Argyle Champagne diamonds and Australian South Sea pearls. Designed with the modern woman in mind, and crafted using materials sourced ethically, sustainably and locally in Western Australia. STOCKIST Rohan Jewellers | 162 Oxford St, Leederville, W.A, 6007 WWW.VELAJEWELLERY.COM

Contents

Empire Rose

Quiet Corners

She’s the flame-haired fashion doyenne who has celebrated the highs and waded through the lows of the retail industry for an incredible 22 years, holding rank amongst the sector’s elite.

In Barcelona’s quiet corners, contemporary Catalan culture emerges.

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123

The Laughing Heart

Raw Finery

From world-touring opera singer to restaurateur: Charlie Mellor’s natural wine bar and restaurant on London’s Hackney Road comes straight from the heart.

Inherently individual, distinctively Australian, and with the forthcoming closure of the East Kimberley Argyle Diamond mine, Vela Jewellery’s collection is oh-so veritably rare.

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Cover photographs by

Contributing Writers

Ben Hosking and

Claire Millett, Emma Pegrum, Georgina Barker,

James Whineray.

Jessica Rule, Kate FitzGerald, Lily Yeang, Leigh-Ann Gemson, Traianos Pakioufakis.

Publisher —— Marcus Rosenwax Editor —— Kay Cohen Sub-editor —— Patrick Quick Art Director —— Traianos Pakioufakis Printed by —— Advance Press

Contributing Photographers Ben Hosking, Dion Robeson, Dominic Eichler, Emma Pegrum, James Whineray, Jillian McHugh, Leigh-Ann Gemson, Traianos Pakioufakis.

ISSN 2208-9438 12

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Role Model

Words by Emma Pegrum

Photographs by Dominic Eichler

Styling by David Hawkins

Issue 8

Nathan McGuire is a humble guy. He was raised in the small outermetropolitan town of Gidgegannup, Western Australia, where he enjoyed a childhood grounded in his culture as a Whadjuk Noongar man. A skilled athlete, McGuire started playing field hockey from age six, and, reaching an elite level by his early teens living in Perth, he went on to join the Australian Men’s Hockey team as a development player. But that was before he became a model. In 2015, living in Melbourne, McGuire was discovered on Instagram by a scout and signed with one of Australia’s most notable modelling

and talent agency, Vivien’s Model Management. McGuire quickly became known for his strong, masculine face and fierce gaze. Two years later he was cast for an exclusive campaign by Louis Vuitton and became Australia’s first internationally-signed Aboriginal male model. I met with him on a Wednesday morning in the bar of Perth’s new Art Series Hotel — The Adnate, which features the works of Matt Adnate, a Melbourne-based mural artist and friend of McGuire. McGuire’s portrait graces an outer wall of the hotel — all twenty-five storeys of it — and he’s in town for the hotel’s launch party.

Role Model

Briefly, he runs me through his (very busy) past two years, surmising with a casual shrug: “That’s just what’s been happening with me.” While McGuire presents as inherently easy-going, his journey as an Aboriginal man trying to carve out space in the fashion industry hasn’t always been easy. His eldest sister, Shannon McGuire, rose to recognition as one of Australia’s first Aboriginal models after winning third place on Foxtel’s Australia’s Next Top Model in 2005. According to McGuire, there were very few Aboriginal faces in fashion at the time, and the industry was difficult to navigate. He says that while things have changed over time, he’s keen to see more Aboriginal men accessing the industry and embracing it as a path to success. “There were only, like, three girls working when my sister started out,” McGuire says. “Now we’ve got lots of girls, but it’s time to start getting more guys out there too. There are opportunities for us and we need to take them and find our way in.” As his modelling career has grown so too has McGuire’s sense of responsibility to be an advocate for his people. “You don’t start out thinking that you’re going to play that role, but as soon as I started modelling and gaining some success more people started looking

to me,” he says. “Each year has been getting bigger and bigger. So I think, I have to get smarter and smarter.” For Adnate, an accomplished artist who turned a teenage obsession with graffiti into a long-running career as an international muralist, McGuire was a clear choice as the focal point of the hotel. “When I paint something it’s not just about what it looks like,” says Adnate. “I want it to tell a story—so it’s not just the shape of Nathan’s face. I feel like he channels something powerful.” To create the image now seen on The Adnate’s west-facing wall the two friends conducted a smoking ceremony, with approval from McGuire’s Elders, and Adnate photographed McGuire throughout. McGuire says that the process was a totally different experience to being photographed as a model, and that the end result is something significant. “There’s a persona for Nathan the model, as opposed to who Nathan actually is,” he says. “But what I’ve done with Matt is just [be] myself. It’s different in the sense that usually with my work I’m selling something. It’s not really about me. But with this I’m representing my culture.” McGuire says he hopes the hotel’s diverse artworks can break down stereotypes about what it means to be 19

Role Model

an Aboriginal person. Throughout the hotel, more than six hundred reproductions of thirty of Adnate’s most recognisable works adorn rooms, and McGuire’s portrait is joined by other diverse faces, including a tattooed Maori woman along the laneway off Hay Street. Undoubtedly, though, McGuire’s mural is the pièce de résistance. Depicted with his body painted for traditional ceremony, a handful of smoking leaves, and gazing out over the land that his people have called home for centuries, it sits in stark contrast to the model’s slick high-fashion shoots with Emporio

Armani and Louis Vuitton. The mural immortalises his influence in challenging stereotypes, and will be looked to for generations to come. “For me, it’s opening up the conversation [around] how Aboriginal people live in today’s society and culture,” says McGuire. “I really want these artworks to challenge peoples’ perceptions of what it means to be an Aboriginal person. Our mob are all from different nations, different cultures. We all have different stories, different histories. You bring culture no matter what – we’ve just gotta’ go do our thing and that carries with us.”

@nathan.mcguire

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Turning the Soil

Words and images by Leigh-Ann Gemson

Turning the Soil

An emergent apartment building in White Gum Valley symbolises a shift in thinking about how we could or should want to live together.

On the corner of Wood and Blinco Streets the foundation is being laid for a building which will alter the shape of the local cultural landscape. The site forms part of the Knutsford precinct in White Gum Valley, a former semiindustrial area just east of the Fremantle CBD re-inventing itself as a leader in sustainable urban development. White Gum Valley was settled by the Swan River Colony in 1829. Before this the area was an important meeting place for Indigenous Australians, and its significance remains today. The adjoining Booyeembara Park is reputed to be the birthplace of the Whadjuk Noongar leader Yagan.

In the 1950’s a family-run business named Caesar’s Plumbing started up at 29 Wood Street and operated until it changed hands in 2016. The property was purchased by an invested resident of White Gum Valley - Dimitri Kapetas. Almost ten years ago Dimitri and his wife Rashmi turned the former factory at 31 Wood Street into a multigenerational home for his young family and a grandparent. Motivated by his vision to repeat the process with greater impact, Dimitri discovered the Nightingale Housing Model. The Nightingale Model emerged around 2014 from collective dismay at the state of multi-residential

Issue 8

developments in Australia and the conviction that our cities and communities deserve considered, affordable, and well-built homes. With Jeremy McLeod of Breathe Architecture at the helm, a group of Melbourne architects banded together to try something better. The question being asked was how can we build well-designed, community-led buildings for owner-occupiers rather than investors? Following the German Baugruppe movement, the solution was to change the financial model behind developments, including using equity investors to raise funds, and placing a cap on profits so that there are no corners cut in the build itself. What emerged is a living, breathing prototype in the inner-city suburb of Brunswick and a replicable triple bottom line development model with apartments that are spacious, generous, simple, affordable, sustainable, and that add value to the community. Dimitri is also a director at EHDO Architecture. EHDO have established a reputation as a firm dedicated to the positive impact that good design can have on peoples’ lives and the environment, with projects like The Beehive Montessori School in Mosman

Park as a beacon. Naturally aligned values easily secured a license for EHDO to commence design of the first Nightingale project outside of Melbourne. EHDO’s design will replace the former plumbing workshop with a mixed-use precinct containing fifteen apartments and 270m2 of commercial space intended for occupancy by profitfor-purpose tenants. The design is exceptional in its sustainability outcomes with an average NatHERS (Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme) rating of 9.5 stars. The structure incorporates a substantial photovoltaic array to power the building and reduce running costs. Living spaces are oriented to capture the abundant West Australian northern light. Windows and doors are double glazed for insulation and internal temperature regulation. A central garden space ensures all apartments have a dual aspect to capitalise on natural light and the prevailing winds for cross ventilation and passive cooling in summer. The material palette weaves together natural cork, brass tap ware, white washed plywood cabinetry, and Paperock bench tops. There is an element of co-housing in the design.

Turning the Soil

Residents share certain facilities such as productive gardens, an outdoor kitchen, and a laundry. Holistic spatial planning considers individual and social wellbeing by facilitating interactions with nature and developing community connections. Nightingale Fremantle will be neighbour to Baugruppe at WGV— another design-driven, ownershipbased development already underway just to the north. At the core, these buildings are about people and values, not architectural form. They are symbolic of an ideological shift about

how we could, should, or want to live together, creating a new framework for medium-density housing with an altered economic, social, and spatial logic. As warehouses and workshops are converted to new forms for living, working, and socialising across the Knutsford precinct, like minds will gravitate to the area, transforming White Gum Valley in to home for a growing number of people who consider themselves humanitarians, environmentalists, urbanists, and activists.

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Worker Beats

Words and photographs by Traianos Pakioufakis

I was put on to one of my most-played albums of 2019, Denzel Curry’s ZUU, by my friend, producer and songwriter, Jesse Shatkin. Despite us hanging out and talking in depth about music over the years, either in his hometown of LA or my hometown Perth, it was the first recommendation he ever made to me. ZUU sat somewhere between our shared passions for underground hip hop and pop music, the extreme ends of which Jesse knows particularly well. Having started out creating beats for rappers as a teenager in LA, Jesse is now a Grammy-nominated producer and songwriter for his work with Australian artist and songwriter Sia. We met through his Perthborn wife, Anna, and we usually find ourselves on a beach or in my parents’ backyard drinking raki over the summer holidays on the ‘other west coast.’ Back in Sydney, another producer friend (shout out Utility) asked me if I personally knew FnZ, a music production duo from Perth who had worked on the recent Kanye West album, Jesus Is King. Somewhat surprisingly, it turns out that not all Perth people know each other as it was the first time I’d come across the names Michael “Finatik” Mulé and Isaac “Zac” DeBoni (FnZ). And, for a moment, it seemed not much was known about FnZ at all. There’s an Instagram account with their location — Perth, Australia — and a link to a Wikipedia entry. Scrolling down Finatik and Zac’s Wiki, past the recent Kanye and Jaden Smith work, I was delighted to see that the duo had created almost all of Denzel Curry’s incredible ZUU album. Scrolling further — past many collaborations with names such as A$AP Rocky and Wiz Khalifa — I soon came to the end of the entry. It quickly occurred to me that FnZ were focussed solely on making music.

Worker Beats

I was able to bring FnZ and Jesse Shatkin together over lunch in Fremantle to discuss cities, beat production, and starting out, whilst all were in town for the summer holidays. F

Finatik / Michael Mulé, one half of FnZ

Zac / Isaac DeBoni, one half of FnZ

Jesse Shatkin

T Traianos Pakioufakis

T Straight up — have you tried to keep a low profile?

Yeah, I started as a DJ in Perth as a kid, which

led to producing. But I came from DJing and battling and DMC World Championships, that sort of stuff. I

Z Not really, it just kind of happened. We just didn’t

travelled to Melbourne and Sydney many times and then

focus on social media stuff.

to Malaysia. I got over it by the time I was 16 — kind of an early retirement — and started making music.

F I think we were just too focussed on making music

and working with the best artists we could. We only set up our FnZ Instagram account last year.

I ask because a lot of DJs get a following, in the

States at least, through Vegas residencies and stuff like J

that. That really raises your profile.

I think the industry has its own social network

where artists you’re working with will talk about you to other artists. When I’m working with artists or writers

We’ve gotten where we are today from our

we’re talking about who we’ve been working with,

relationships with people and going out on a limb trying

what we’ve been doing. A lot of people who come highly

to meet new people, that sort of thing. Not from hitting

recommended to me are people who are just coming up.

people up on socials, but by actually being out. One

I feel like I hear about what’s happening without ever

person will link us with someone else and it just happens

going on social media.

like that.

Z Exactly.

When you get the opportunity to meet someone

and then you get in the studio with them, you give it your best.

J Did you guys do any DJing or performing?

Issue 8

FnZ

Zac (left) and Finatik

J How did you guys link up with Denzel Curry?

going and just add stuff from two separate computers. But recently for the stuff we’ve been working on, it’s just

We shared the same manager early on. We were

been easier to work off the one laptop and chip away.

living in Florida at the time, around 2014, and our J I could never [work like that]!

manager had been working with Denzel since he was like 15. They had basically put the Imperial album together

F What’s your setup?

with Ronny J and they got us in to finish it, polish it up. In the two years following that, we all moved to LA and it

J I have my studio. I work by myself generally and I

just kept going. It’s a little family now.

have an engineer but I don’t let him touch my computer. I J

Do you guys have separate rooms in your studio,

can’t watch anyone else record anything because they’ll

or do you work side-by-side?

be too slow for me, no one will edit as fast, that sorta thing. It’s because I used to be an engineer, but your

We have a control room, a lounge room, and a

system would be really hard for me.

vocal booth, but recently when we’ve been making beats F Yeah, it’s a different system. Like I’ll get stuck and

we’ve been using one laptop.

he’ll jump in and take over. Often we’ll pull up a sample F We just tag team. One of us will do something and

or whatever and he’ll be sitting behind me, waiting to

the other will just jump on and work on it. And it goes

get on [the laptop] — we’ll both be antsy with new ideas

like that, back and forth. Before that we would typically

[to try]. It’s funny, we always troll each other, like, “You

make the same beat on two laptops, have the same loop

done yet?”

Worker Beats

But you’ve got to give space to experiment.

We have different skills as well, so it’s easy to

switch out.

Sometimes crazy things happen and I’m glad I was patient and didn’t say anything earlier, you know?

F Yeah, Zac plays keys really well, much better than J When I was an engineer, I had to not say anything

me. Drums, we’re equally as good at that — same thing

for years. Just sat there wondering how they were going

with finding loops and manipulating them until they’re

to work it out. And most of the time I was like, wow, I

unrecognisable. Recently with the Kanye stuff, Zac

would never have gotten to that.

did a lot of melodies, like singing on the track and then sampling and re-recording it, manipulating it.

We just have fun and keep a positive vibe in the

studio. At the end of the day, we’re all making music for a

We do whatever we have to. We both know if an

idea is good or if it isn’t.

living and surviving. What better job is there than that? T How long have you been working together as FnZ?

J So what were you doing in Miami?

F Something like 13 years actually.

F The reason we moved to Miami is because we both

got signed to Jim Jonsin. This was around the time he was Z

up for Grammys with Beyonce and TI and everything.

But the single laptop thing only started in recent

We got signed to him and moved to Miami in 2009.

months, maybe 6-7 months ago.

J How did you get signed?

F If we have a session with, say, A$AP Rocky, we’re

typically both on laptops with headphones working on ideas, and then we’ll pull them up separately. Same thing

When we were both working in Perth our friend

with Denzel Curry: with the ZUU album, I’ll be making

Joel was doing a radio show on GrooveFM. He interviewed

a beat and have an idea in my headphones and Zac will

a lot of hip hop producers from the States, and Jim was

be making a different beat on his laptop and we’ll pull

one of them. At the end of the interview Joel asked Jim if

it up and see which one works or doesn’t, and then start

he could send him some of our beats. Jim said he was into

working on the speakers. Artists don’t have patience to

it. Listening back to the beats now they sound horrible,

hear how things start from scratch so we need to have

but they caught his ear at the time and he wanted to sign

the crazy idea in the headphones first.

us to his production company he was just starting. This was, like, Myspace era, like, 2007. We started talking to him, but after 18 months we’d never met him and

J And do you start that idea when the session starts?

felt the relationship was kinda dying. He was obviously F A lot of the time, yeah. ZUU was done like that. A

really busy and eventually we figured let’s fly to Miami

lot of the time Denzel would be in the room playing songs

and not tell him until we get there. We called him when

on YouTube or whatever—through the speakers—and

we arrived and he was so surprised we had come all the

we’d be making shit on headphones really loudly trying

way from Perth. He invited us out to go get a bite to eat

to drown out the things going on in the room.

and then took us straight to a Pitbull video shoot and to

Issue 8

T You can also work from anywhere, any city.

his studio. It was crazy. We worked for three months and then eventually had to sort out visas.

F Yeah, whilst we’re in town over summer we’ve set J

up downstairs in my Mum’s place in East Freo. We have

And you just knew it was the best decision you

to turn the sub down when she goes to bed — it’s just like

ever made?

the old days. F

Totally. That one trip led to it all. It took about T I love that, despite living and working in LA, you

three years of waiting and working hard before we finally

still have Perth as your location on Instagram. It really

got to work with ASAP Rocky.

stands out. J Was there ever a time where you tired of waiting? Z Z

We get messages all the time from people saying

“it’s amazing you’re from Perth, we now know it’s

Nah man. We were thankful for the position we

possible to work in the States”, stuff like that. Growing

were in, thankful to be there.

up here, as you know, it’s so far from everything. J What was the Kanye experience like?

Kanye reached out to our friend Ronny J and

they worked together in Chicago. At that time, we were sending folders of beats to Ronny, and, literally within a week, he told us Kayne had recorded to our stuff. Ronny said it was going well and he just asked us to keep sending more stuff. Fast forward two weeks — Kanye’s Yandhi album was supposed to come out and we had three songs on the album. But of course the album got pushed back or whatever, and now one of those songs appears on the recent album, Jesus Is King. J Were you vibing in the room together, or ...

Nah, it has all been remote. Even from here in

Perth we’ve been working on lots of different things and sending them through to different artists. It’s a crazy time for artists, where you can work together without being in the same room. Obviously the best thing is being in the studio with an artist, but we’ve found we’re actually more productive without being around anyone. We can knock out so many more ideas following our own instinct, like hundreds and hundreds of ideas.

Jesse Shatkin

I find it a positive influence. I don’t think it’s a

coincidence a lot of great things continue to come out of Perth, and Australia, in general. I wonder how it differs for you, Jesse, in LA, with the industry literally on your doorstep. Does it seem easily accessible do you think? J

I guess being in the entertainment industry

But even being in other cities in the US can

always seemed viable. For example, my two best friends;

make you feel out of it, like being in Miami felt like that

one’s a producer and one’s a DJ. We all grew up in LA and

somehow. Everything happens in LA.

it all seemed possible. But I wonder ... despite the fact J I was in New York for a long time and that felt like

I’ve always worked extremely hard, I think being from

the place, and then everybody left.

LA you take it for granted a little ... F

T Did you find that you always wanted to move from

... because it’s right there.

LA to New York for work? J

Yeah, because you think, oh, I’ll walk down the

street and run into so-and-so, give them a beat CD.

Well yeah, mostly because of hip hop. LA has

amazing hip hop but New York is the home of hip hop. That’s why I moved there in the beginning, to soak that

F And it actually can happen like that.

up. And I worked at Electric Lady recording studio when I I wonder — and I’m just imagining — if you feel

got there. So after college I did that for a few years, and it

you have to work harder or be better coming from Perth.

was another kinda quintessential New York studio thing.

Well yeah, because before anything you have to

Now that’s changing, they’re all closing except

the big ones. Did you ever go to Chung King studios?

have a good beat to even get noticed. Even then, once you’re in Miami or LA, you have to just work as hard as possible and make the best work you can that’s better

Yeah, I used to run tapes between the studios on

the subway, carrying around 2-inch tapes.

than everyone else’s. You’re constantly in competition. Z You’re making a sacrifice in being away from your

That’s crazy! A totally different time. What was

your start in the beginning, what led you to production?

family so you gotta give it that purpose.

J I was a DJ as a kid, until high school when I started

F LA feels more like home than Miami too.

making beats for the rappers at school. And then in New York I was doing that and a lot of those people started

J LA’s like Perth.

doing stuff, like underground Def Jux-era stuff. People around me were signed to that label and that introduced

F Totally! Silverlake and Echo Park feel like

me to that whole underground.

Leederville sometimes, it’s crazy.

Issue 8

So how did that lead to you working with Sia and

people like that?

Did you think when you were into underground

hip hop, the Def Jux label kinda stuff, that you would ever be working on pop music?

J So, I started working at Electric Lady around the

same time, but I was also doing music for TV shows, ads,

J I thought that maybe I would do RnB as well as hip

and trailers, whilst also doing all the hip hop stuff. So it

hop because I had been working with some underground

was the confluence of those three things. I had to learn

singers. But I figured if an RnB singer can write to my

chords to do the jingles and the trailers because it has to

tracks then it’s not a huge transition to doing pop music

be original music.

because it’s chord driven. But I took music lessons, watched Greg work, and I’m still learning all the time.

Yeah, sampling other people’s music in

advertisements sounds complicated.

What was, individually, your turning point

toward more popular music production? J Exactly. And a lot of the labels I was working with

asked if I was willing to make myself culpable for the

sample clearance, which obviously I wasn’t. I was just 20

I just went from playing piano to making beats

on a laptop with [audio software] Fruity Loops.

years old and couldn’t take that on. So I had to learn to make beats without samples.

I just became more open after DJing and all the

DMC stuff as a kid. I was listening to a lot of soul and jazz F That’s cool though, it pushed you.

because that’s where all the samples came from for Gang Starr and Pete Rock and all that, and it kinda opened my

Yeah, and I learned audio engineering whilst at

mind up. I started loving songs on the radio, and despite

Electric Lady. And eventually, once I stopped working

it being super popular it could make me feel happy or sad

there, I was just licensing my tracks to TV shows and

or whatever — just being more open.

made money that way. I had been in New York for ten years at that point and I had nieces and nephews popping

J That’s what I love about pop music at its best, it can

up in LA. I was like, it’s time to move back.

incorporate anything you want it to. It can be chordal, it can any sort of sound. People can be surprisingly

T Was it a smooth transition?

open-minded if you bring something in that sounds like nothing else.

Even though I hadn’t worked as an engineer at

Electric Lady — only as an assistant — a friend put me in touch with producer Greg Kurstin, who needed an

@fnz_ @jesse_belief

engineer. Despite all my experience, I still felt like I knew nothing. So I learned a lot with Greg, got work with great artists, and that’s how I met Sia.

HATCHED NATIONAL•GRADUATE {20\SHOW\20} Ohni Blu (NSW) L.A.K.R.M. Bruce (NSW) Ella Callander (QLD) Olivia Davies (VIC) Saleheh Gholami (WA) Rory Gillen (ACT) Alexandra Hobba (VIC) Emma Rani Hodges (ACT)

Annie Huang (WA) Emma Hutton (QLD) Alexandra Jonscher (NSW) Nina Juniper (WA) Daniel Kristjansson (WA) Luci Lee (NT) Patrick McDavitt (NSW) Brooke Mitchell (SA)

Philip Sulidae (TAS) Jody Rallah (QLD) Siahne Rogers (WA) Rachel AV Sherwood (NSW) Tina Stefanou (VIC) Truc Truong (SA) Michelle Vine (QLD) Keemon Williams (QLD)

2 May–12 July

PICA

Opening Night

Friday 1 May, 6.30pm Major Exhibitions Partner

Perth Cultural Centre | 51 James St Northbridge | (08) 9228 6300 pica.org.au Image: Ohni Blu, If the Body Was Open Source, 2019. Photo: Aaron Christopher Rees

Government Partners

Shenberg Art Fellowship Partner

Community Engagement Partner

Weaving Culture

Words and photographs by Emma Pegrum

Weaving Culture

A collaborative arts project is building connections between Mirrabooka’s newest community members and its oldest culture.

In the Mirrabooka shopping complex where I go to

serve unmet needs predominantly within the Centre’s

visit the Edmund Rice Centre, the storefronts reflect

immediate northern suburbs community. This covers

the diversity of the suburb’s community. Directly across

everything from English programs, computer studies,

from the Centre, a store façade painted yellow, green,

and driver education, to specialist housing and

and red reads King of Bling to promote the reggae and

settlement assistance, women’s support groups, and

Rastafarian products to be found inside. Next door,

youth leadership programs; no small undertaking for a

Adrian’s Continental Small Goods beckons with hand-

team of only thirteen full-time staff.

drawn imagery of halved hams and sausages hanging

In a 2014 report conducted in partial conjunction

from a rod. Funnily enough it also claims the title of

with the Centre, it was found that Mirrabooka residents

King—of German sausages. As one of the country’s

displayed a “strong perception of tensions between

most diverse suburbs, Mirrabooka demonstrates the

different

value that Australia places on a multicultural society,

refugee groups and Indigenous Australian residents.”

but the community isn’t without its challenges. For those

Developed in response to the report, Weaving Culture

working at the Edmund Rice Centre, foremost among

is an example of the Centre’s arts-based approach to

these challenges is that of bridging the relationship

building cultural cohesion in an increasingly diverse

between Mirrabooka’s Aboriginal community and

community. Despite it originally being conceived for

its community members with migrant and refugee

young adults, the program is now open to all ages and

backgrounds. In response they’ve developed a new

invites Aboriginal Elders — many of whom are from the

cross-cultural arts program using traditional weaving

Stolen Generations — to share their stories.

minority

groups,

particularly

between

as a vehicle for conversation between Aboriginal women

One of the program’s coordinators and an artist

and migrant women. The culmination of this will be an

herself, Balladong-Wadjak woman Kylie Graham says

exhibition of the resulting works.

that a key focus of Weaving Culture is simply to provide

Founded in 1998, Western Australia’s Edmund Rice

opportunities for real interaction between different

Centre works to address the need for greater education-

community groups.

based services both for people with refugee and migrant

“It is really important that newer members of

backgrounds, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

our community understand Aboriginal history and

people. Their grassroots services are designed to

culture,” says Graham. “There are a lot of people who 42

Weaving Culture

“In one of the sessions about culture and family life I found that Peruvian culture has a lot of similarities with Aboriginal culture. So these kinds of opportunities are so, so important.” Rocio Uculmana

Weaving Culture

are really scared of the Aboriginal community, but

“My family see [that] others [are] given the wrong

they don’t actually know any Aboriginal people. They

information about us, and unfortunately some people

only see what they are told to see. Coming here, people

do make assumptions,” says Mohamed. “We know

are actually meeting and sharing, and they hear real

what it’s like, so we know not to believe those things

individuals’ stories.”

when they’re said about other groups. I’ve had to do my

The program’s nine weekly workshops vary in

own research about Indigenous resilience, [and] I’ve

subject matter. First: the basics of weaving, and an

learned that despite all of the past policies, they still

introduction to local Aboriginal culture with artist and

have the power to overcome [obstacles]. Education is

community leader Marcelle Riley. This is followed by

so important, and cultural awareness can help bring us

guest speakers on bush medicine and traditional stories,

together and drive positive change. If you don’t know

and ‘Collecting on Country,’ in which participants learn

anything about other people, how can you relate?”

about and collect plant life to be eco-dyed and stitched

Another participant, Rocio Uculmana, originally

in subsequent workshops. These latter workshops are

of Lima, Peru, reiterates Mohamed’s point that there is

run by Graham’s fellow program coordinator, Balladong

little accurate information made available to newcomers

woman Esther Yabini Kickett, a mixed-media artist who

in Australia about Aboriginal peoples and cultures.

— I learnt when I joined ‘Collecting on Country’ — can

“I think this is the first time I have heard of a

rattle off the scientific names of fungi, orchid, and native

program that is specifically about bringing together

wattle types like she had palm cards. She also brought

Aboriginal people and people from other countries,” says

along a seemingly bottomless bag of personal creations

Uculmana, who has lived in Perth for more than eight

that contained everything from feathered necklaces

years. “In one of the sessions about culture and family

and hand-preserved snakeskins to dresses with animal

life I found that Peruvian culture has a lot of similarities

skulls stitched on. Everyone looked on in awe together

with Aboriginal culture. So these kinds of opportunities

as she trawled through the bag’s contents, each piece

are so, so important.”

revealing a unique and tactile story about her life.

Graham tells me that such realisations are common,

For the migrant women coming along to these

and that Weaving Culture was established in the

workshops, gaining an understanding of Aboriginal

knowledge that cross-cultural similarities could be built

cultures and histories is central to their civic lives in

on to strengthen the Mirrabooka community.

Australia. Twenty-four year old Ayan Mohamed was

“Some of the stories that have come out of this

born in Kenya and moved to Australia aged nine. When

group are sad, and you can see the similarities between

I spoke to her at week five’s workshop, ‘Weaving with

their cultures and experiences,” says Graham. “Sitting

Marcelle Riley,’ she had just completed her Bachelor of

around the table, everybody weaving – we’re all building

Arts in Community Development. She tells me the story

this vessel, and all these stories being shared are going

of her Somalian mother who spent twenty-one years in

into that vessel. I want people to take away an awareness

a Kenyan refugee camp after war broke out in her home

of Aboriginal culture and how beautiful it is, all the

country in 1991. She says that, being Muslim, her family

stories and knowledge. I want people to embrace that.

know the damaging effects of misinformation. This

Mirrabooka is such a diverse suburb, if everyone came

drives her, she says, to seek her own information about

together and actually saw how similar all of our cultures

Australia’s first peoples.

really are, we could find strength in that.”

Issue 8

Looking around the room at the week five workshop,

The Weaving Culture exhibition will take place

the items being woven are as diverse as the individuals

throughout April at Cool Change Contemporary in Perth

weaving them. Some items are rough and organically

City. Specific dates are yet to be confirmed. Free entry.

shaped, others neat and precise; some are finished,

The Weaving Culture project is funded by a Fostering

others abandoned; some with clear utility, others

Integration Grant through the Australian Government,

beautifully useless. When the workshops come to an end

Department of Home Affairs.

the resulting items will be displayed in an exhibition

Esther Yabini Kickett will host an exhibition of her

during Harmony Week at Cool Change Contemporary.

personal work at Cool Change Contemporary in March.

But the real results are less visible and lie in what

Specific date yet to be confirmed.

Graham and others at the Edmund Rice Centre hope

For exhibition updates visit coolchange.net.au and

prove to be long-lasting cross-cultural relationships that

ercwa.org.au(.)

will come to shape the broader Mirrabooka community and beyond.

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The Reed House

Words by Kate FitzGerald Photographs by Ben Hosking

The Reed House

On a tree-lined street in Subiaco stands a residence once known to the locals as ‘the lilac house.’ Built in 1908, it has been home to many families. While it may have lost its purple paint, the stories it holds, as if stashed under the floorboards, lay in wait to be discovered by its current owners: a doctor, a full-time mum who practiced as an archeologist, and their four young girls. Having played the role of beloved aunt in the girls’ lives, it seemed only natural that architect and academic Beth George—the girls just call her ‘Boo’— would be commissioned to craft a new home for the Reed family by extending the original structure. Despite its importance to the streetscape, the 1908 house wasn’t heritage listed. Fortunately for the character of the area, the design approach was reverent of the existing structure, and its presence has been strengthened by the creation of the new extension. Beth and her sister say they “conceived it as a two hundred year project with the two components collectively considered — and we hoped to counter the short lifespan of many suburban dwellings. Maintaining the original house was important to the project in terms of the building’s cultural value, as well as in terms of its embodied energy.”

The Reed House

The original part of the Reed House sits on limestone foundations, and a key decision was made early on to excavate the dining space, which sits at the centre of the house as the meeting place of the old and the new structures. The sisters joked about creating an archaeological ‘dig’ site in the middle of the house, and wanted to expose the limestone footings internally. Finding them to be frighteningly narrow, they were instead supported with new brickwork with a dado finish, but here and there some limestone vestiges peep out. The new building steps down once in the dining area and again at the rear, tracing the ground level in section. The original house is ever-present with its floor level generating a consistent datum through steel transoms in the extension’s glazing. The original hallway axis extends out to an exterior walkway in the landscape: a visual corridor whose third ‘wall’ is completed by a curtain of native plants tumbling from an undulating concrete planter overhead. Landscape integration was an imperative of the brief and resulted in every room being paired with a garden. Christina Nicholson, landscape architect with Banksia & Lime, specified numerous drought tolerant species, and worked closely with the clients to capture different colours and textures of plants for each coupling of garden and room.

The Reed House

Beside a central courtyard a raised concrete pool — where Dad loves to swim with his kids after work — catches the setting sun. With a large family and a big garden, solar energy generation and grey water collection were imperatives. The elevated planter runs off into the garden below, and the outdoor shower flows into the pool. Perhaps as a nod to the wall’s original colouring, or possibly in response to the extensions’ role as the stalwart container for the life-force of 4 young girls, there is a pervasive pink and purple hue to the project. It’s in the soft violet drapes surrounding the master bedroom and the pennisetums in the courtyard. Pink hues are also found in the geometric planes of the skylight above the girls’ reading nook, as welll as in the serendipitous magenta light cast by the reflecting afternoon sun off a neighbouring red brick house. These soft tones accompany fearless,

expressive

concrete

forms

–

the

sculptural, suspended planter, the elevation to the first floor with a heavily-browed window, the soffit that stitches the project together, and a formed concrete ledge in the bedrooms for both girls and toys to sit on.

The Reed House

In the upstairs wing, the height of the mirror in the bathroom is designed to be adjusted over time. The house will be growing up with the girls it would seem. Beth’s hands and skills are here too. Steadfast and resolute, they are felt in every detail as an expression of a distinctly feminine combination of strength and softness, a combination to be proud of and to rely on. It’s a subtle and ever-present message to the girls, communicated through the architecture by their aunt. The Reed House is a delightful example of the richness created when we retain our built culture and heritage and use it to inform the design of new structures. It is an incredibly elegant piece of suburban architecture that is strongly influenced by the architect’s dual roles as academic and practitioner.

The

project

also

undeniably

infused with the architect’s love for this family. It is subliminally expressed in every line, junction, and detail of the Reed House.

beth-george.com

Design News

Words by Georgina Barker

BALANCED CONTRASTS

The elegant TAO table collection is a lesson in perfectly balanced contrasts with bold sculptural pedestals and slim tabletops that are pleasing to the touch. Italian designer Monica Armani has used refined concrete to give a look of elegant solidity to this dining and coffee table. The dining table has a central pedestal which supports a finely milled round tabletop. The TAO tables come in warm, natural linen, and wengé tones to create striking centrepieces for any setting.

Available at coshliving.com.au

STIRRING THE EMOTIONS

Fun, colour, and comfort are the unmistakable attributes of Saba Italia products. But the thinking isn’t quite so simple. Underpinning it all is the pursuit of relaxing design concepts, the desire to experiment without overstepping the boundary into excess, and the constant attention to quality and ergonomics. Saba Italia is a small company, but it stands out for its commitment to unique design and fabric choices. The products are technically excellent, respond to real consumer needs, and offer aesthetics to stir the emotions. The brand was chosen by Henri Living for just how different it is from Henri’s existing ranges. “Saba’s products inject a lot of fun and colour into the Henri Living stables, which we had found to be a little too monotone and serious,” says owner Lyle Henri. Designers and clientele are loving the Saba offerings. The brand was launched at Henri last April, and pieces haven’t stayed on the showroom floor for long. Despite their top-end price point, they have been snapped up, sometimes sight unseen. More are on their way, and some of these will be kept on show.

Available at henriliving.com.au

MODERN DAY UTILITY

Ross Didier’s approach to versatility and maturity in design is guided by the founding principles that the products created must have character with quality, and be functional to the user and their environment. This design approach has established Didier as one of Australia’s most successful and original designers. Fable Outside introduces the collection for exterior use with matching character in aluminium, stainless steel and sand cast seating. Each piece is hand fabricated and toughened up for braving the harshest of elements. Fable Outside includes six essential furniture elements designed to reflect a pared back approach, to bare original character but built for modern day utility. Manufacturing employed in the creation of each piece uses engineered craft techniques, with difficult fabrication details disguised within a simplified aesthetic. Fable Outside provides the aesthetic of indoor

Available at innerspacewa.com.au

furniture to outdoor spaces. Fable Outside is coated in a selection of natural and earth-tone colours and includes chairs stools and tables in a range of sizes.

LOCALLY SOURCED AND HANDCRAFTED

With the recent launch of new design store Loam comes the exciting new in-house furniture and lighting brand Oath, which champions Australian design and designers. Inspired by the bold force and raw natural beauty of the Australian landscape, Oath seeks to elevate expectations of Australian design. Honest, beautiful, and practical, these products are for those who appreciate quality in design and execution. WA furniture designers Jack Flanagan and Nathan Day are among a select group of Australian designers who have been commissioned to create custom pieces for Oath. Nathan Day is known for his thoughtfully-designed

“I have two main ways that inform my designs,”

and beautifully-handcrafted solid timber furniture.

says Jack. “One is exploring a manufacturing process

His designs are minimal and elegant, but technical in

and trying to achieve an outcome that is different to the

their construction, and require a high level of skill and

common use of that process. The second is conception of

patience to produce.

a desired form and then working out a way to achieve that

“We use modern machinery and power tools,” says

in a refined manufacturing process.” The result is the

Nathan, “but they are operated by actual craftsmen

creation of beautiful pieces that are artistic yet timeless.

who have honed their skills over many years and have

Loam owner David Hillam says the story of Oath

a complete understanding of timber and its unique

and the pieces in the collection have really resonated

properties. We produce pieces of value, where every

with people. “More people are wanting to invest in

detail has been considered and every surface finely

quality craftsmanship and know the face and story

sanded. The time and care that we put into the furniture

behind the piece they are purchasing. It builds an

we design and make ensures it will be used and loved for

emotional connection that can be passed down through

generations.”

Jack Flanagan embraces ancient and traditional techniques and materials, as well as the latest manufacturing technology and materials designed for industrial scale. His industrial background results in

Available at

much of his work featuring clever fittings or methods

loam.com.au

of assembly. As for a style, he doesn’t really have one. Instead, he lets inspiration and experimentation lead him down new paths that others haven’t been, continually pushing the boundaries. 69

Design News

MID-CENTURY

Jens Risom is considered to be one of the masters

PERIODICAL

behind the Danish modernist movement, and he went on to popularise Scandinavian design throughout the United States. Risom believed that the key to good design lies in comfort, an elegant appearance, and the warmth of natural wood. Originally designed by Risom in 1949, The Magazine Table is a striking example of mid-century modernism. With soft lines and carefully crafted cutouts, it is not only visually pleasing but also highly practical. A number of iconic Risom designs, including The Magazine Table, have recently been brought back to life by Danish design house Fredericia, and we couldn’t be happier! Available in lacquered or black-lacquered oak through designFARM.

Available at designfarm.com.au

EXPRESSIVE AND LONG-LASTING ELEGANCE

Design, functionality, and quality are the hallmarks

comfort are the focus; and public settings, where the

of Wendelbo’s upholstered furniture, produced with the

emphasis might be on a strong and striking signature,

conviction that a long-lasting aesthetic is the best path

an international expression, and long-lasting solutions. Öopenspace owner Aaron Teo talks about

to sustainability. Over the course of six decades, three generations

Wendelbo bringing a revitalised urban-Scandinavian

of a Danish family have nurtured a Scandinavian

sensibility to furniture design and a level of affordability

craftsmanship tradition while growing Wendelbo

and approachability that is open to all. The full

from a small furniture workshop into an international

launch from the latest Wendelbo collection arrives at

furniture and design company.

Öopenspace in April.

Today, a modern selection of designs from a broad spectrum of international designers makes up the poised and elegant Wendelbo collection.

Available at

With its expressive and comprehensive product

oopenspace.com.au

palette, the collection caters for all kinds of interior settings – private homes, where style, function, and

Design News

LUXE LIVING

Cattelan Italia combines innovation with quality

“As Ultimo has grown over the past 20 years, our

materials and state-of-the-art design to cater for luxe

design service has expanded in order for us to source

living. It’s about the sense of living in and furnishing

and procure designs that fit the brief and budget of

a home as something precious and spontaneous.

our architects, designers, and residential clients

Products that make a strong visual impact, yet offer

alike,” says Andrew.

design longevity.

“From Javanese resort-style homes, to Hamptons

The family business launched in 1979 with its

interpretations and luxury apartments, the diversity

forte in superbly made dining chairs and marble tables.

of Cattelan’s collection allows us to offer solutions from

Moving forwards, the new generation of the Cattelan

small extendable tables for bijoux apartment living, to

family sought out new designers and new materials to

dining tables up to four metres long for conferencing

expand the reach of its collections. Today, the brand is

or large-scale formal dining. Whilst there is a definite

synonymous with state-of-the-art ceramic tabletops,

Cattelan look, the range of sizes and finishes gives us

brushed bronze finishing details, and the latest digital

a versatility we cherish when satisfying our clients’

glass printing.

desires for their living spaces.”

Ultimo creative director Andrew Thornton Hick, who has been sourcing from Cattelan Italia for the past 20 years, says it has been a joy to watch the brand evolve and place its work in some incredible projects around

Available at

the world.

ultimo.com.au

CLEVER AND BEAUTIFUL CONCEPT

Beautifully-designed

spaces,

the

latest

European trends and products, an exciting and inviting atmosphere, and multi-disciplinary designers on hand, it’s all there in the new showrooms of European Concepts which, together with European Ceramics and Euro Contracting, is becoming known nationally and internationally as a one-of-a-kind retail and service destination. The three companies work simultaneously to provide an overall solution for clients, designers, builders, and architects, from concept to completion. And European Concepts is the unique showroom that brings it all together. European Concepts specialises in collaborating with clients, architects and designers to ensure it presents the best products and designs based on the clients’ needs. The showroom boasts a wide variety of kitchens, wardrobes, and furniture that can be customised to suit each client and budget. The

There’s also Team 7, a solid wood furniture

experienced design team guides the client through the

manufacturer from Austria that uses the highest

styles, materials, configurations and functionality of

standards in aesthetics and innovation

each product, using samples and 3D imagery.

stunning pieces underpinned by real values, all under

There’s also the Collective and Gallery, which

to produce

the slogan: “It’s a tree story.”

give local designers and creatives a place to gather,

Team 7 grows its own trees on 74 hectares,

collaborate, inspire, learn, and exhibit. And helping

pointing out that the starting point for sensible use

create an energetic and enticing atmosphere that wafts

of resources is a sustainably-managed forest, which

through the showrooms is the Casa Nostra Caffe.

regrows continuously under the power of the sun. Team

The European Concepts brand list reads as a

7’s beautiful, sustainable pieces for all areas of the

who’s who of European design. It includes kitchen

home – glued without using formaldehyde and finished

manufacturers Doimo Cucine, Pedini, and one of

with natural oil and nothing else – are also investment

the world’s top three luxury kitchen manufacturers,

pieces that will last for generations.

Arclinea, exclusively designed by Antonio Citterio. For furniture, cellar and wardrobe solutions, accessories, barbecues, soft furnishings, and rugs it’s Dessie, Gandia Blasco, Miniforms, Giellesse, Mercantini,

Available from

Sachi, Vibieffe and Gan Rugs.

europeanceramics.com.au

Design News

EMBRACING CLASSIC AND MODERN

Tonin Casa is distinguished for the high technological and qualitative value of its lifestyle products – all with 100 per cent ‘Made in Italy’ materials and assembly. With a will to produce furnishings designed and manufactured today but destined to last through time, Tonin Casa uses a vast range of precious materials that require complex and varied workmanship. Ultimo’s Andrew Thornton Hick says Tonin Casa is a brand to watch over the next few years as it grows into new markets. It has already grown from a small

Available at

northern Italian production house and entered the big

ultimo.com.au

league of Italian lifestyle collections. “In the early noughties there was a marked trend for manufacturers with a range of products to evolve into lifestyle houses with an answer for every room of the home and every furniture typology,” says Andrew. “With mixed success, some brands highlighted their core strengths and others diluted theirs with products that did not come up to par.” “Tonin Casa navigated this sea change with prowess and now has two very different collections, the modern and the classic, with a stable of in-house and global designers working to bring a unique collection together seamlessly.” Particularly in the past two years, the breadth of the collection and the development of style cues has seen many Tonin Casa pieces garnished with awards and design praise. The sustainable and innovative use of timber remains a strong point for Tonin Casa: dining tables with butterfly legs, solid walnut pendants, timber raindrops falling down the face of cabinetry, and floating shelving. Tonin Casa offers designs that are like nothing else.

OUTDOOR TALENT

With a goal to be the best outdoor furniture brand in the world, family-owned outdoor living brand Talenti has a focus on quality that is second to none. Innovation and authenticity are equally important. So is passion. The result is beautiful and functional furniture and accessories, authentic shapes that reflect a minimal and elegant style, and materials that both interact with and withstand the environment. Talenti’s designers – Ludovica and Roberto Palomba, Ramón Esteve, Karim Rashid, Cristian Visentin, Marco Acerbis, and Roberto Serio – were selected for their genius, creativity, and style. They share a great openness of mind, an insatiable curiosity, and a talent out of the ordinary. Redesigning the rules of outdoor living, Talenti brings a refined elegance to outdoor furniture and accessories – exclusive, original, and always capable of surprising. Henri Living owner Lyle Henri describes Talenti’s designs as mouth-wateringly good. “Unique design and exceptional Italian-made quality,” says Lyle. “In my opinion, Talenti produces the very best outdoor products in the world.” As for Talenti’s place at Henri Living – the exclusive dealer for Talenti Australia-wide – the brand was chosen for the fun and colour it could inject into the otherwise fairly conservative product range.

Available at henrilving.com.au

Words by Lily Yeang

The Natural Choice

Photographs by James Whineray

A foray into lo-fi wine leads a Swan Valley winemaker on a new adventure with family and friends in tow.

Issue 8

It’s late Thursday afternoon, and there’s a dry breeze blowing through the vines that line Dalgety Road in the Swan Valley. I’m three glasses into a fourbottle private wine tasting with Old Mate Wine’s Sam Jorgensen; the tray of Sam’s ute and a wine cooler bag full of his minimal intervention wines comprise a makeshift cellar door perfect for the great outdoors.

Sam’s just wrapped up his day job at Bella Ridge

Sam tells me that in conventional winemaking the

Estate, only a little down the way. After work, the

ethyl acetate smell is perceived as a fault. Needless to

winemaker/viticulturalist experiments with natural

say, he was a little worried.

winemaking techniques and bottles up the results under

“I was like, ‘Fuck. … Is this going to be locked into the

the label Old Mate Wine.

wine? Is that all it’s going to smell like? Is this normal?’”

We’re at his newly leased vineyard in Middle Swan,

After a few frantic phone calls to Paul and another

sipping on his latest release, Into the Wayside – a 2018

lo-fi winemaker friend, he decided to put his trust in the

Frankland River Riesling that’s intense on the palate,

natural process. The result? An incredibly approachable

oh-so-spicy, and would complement a flaming beef

red that’s really chewy, mouth-coating, and moreish.

vindaloo perfectly.

“I’m lucky that I haven’t had anything that’s been

“This wine, I think, is my favourite,” Sam says.

completely fucked because it’s entirely possible making

“This is the first zero/zero wine that I made. No adds, the

wine this way,” Sam posits, as he pours me a drop of de

vineyard managed organically, no sulphur before bottling.

la GOAT. “I can’t ever have a consistent line with any of

It’s really intense and I just love the colour, as well.”

these wines, but that’s one of the joys of natural wine.”

A rich amber nectar swirls around in my glass, a

Natural, lo-fi, or minimal intervention wine isn’t

tinge not normally associated with Riesling, but owed

new, but compared to conventional methods it’s a

to grapes – skin and stalks ‘n’ all – left to ferment and

relatively nascent practice within Western Australia.

age in a terracotta amphora for 10 months.

“There’s no set definition of natural wine,” Sam

The amphora, also known as a qvevri, was one of

explains, “but I think one of the fairly consistent,

a few imported from country Georgia in 2016 by Swan

agreed-upon tenets of it is that the fruit comes from

Valley Wines’ Paul Hoffman, a winemaker who has

vineyards that have been farmed either organically or

heavily influenced the natural wine scene in the Swan

biodynamically.”

Valley. A friend and mentor of Sam’s, Paul had offered

Sam will be the first to admit he’s not a staunch

him the vessel.

minimal interventionalist.

“I made Domaine de la GOAT in the qvevri that

“I’d be hesitant to call my 2016 and 2017 Rieslings

year,” Sam says. “It was pretty terrifying because I

or the Shiraz ‘natural’,” he says. “The grapes came from

didn’t know what to expect. When I put the Shiraz in the

conventionally managed vineyards where synthetic

qvevri I didn’t inoculate it, so for the first few days the

fungicides were used, however the winemaking style

ferment hadn’t kicked off and it developed this really

was minimal – natural ferment, no sulphur, no adds,

intense nail polish remover smell.”

no filtering.”

The Natural Choice

Issue 8

The Natural Choice

“People have a lot of different definitions ranging

copper content in wines. What’s more, it can also be

from zero/zero to no adds in the winery, but I’m not

detrimental to the health of workers in vineyards.”

dogmatic about it. For me, it’s all about trying to find

“My aim isn’t necessarily to avoid spraying

out what works and what is most healthy for the land.”

altogether but to have a minimal spray regime that

Sam walks me through rows of lush green trellises.

is integrated in to a holistic approach to vineyard

The stumps of each vine have grown thick, gnarled, and

management that allows the vines to build up a natural

twisted, a sight common throughout the Swan Valley,

defence against disease.”

the second oldest grape-growing region in Australia.

It’s a process that, although long and potentially

“This vineyard is still owned by a second-

risky, is something he knows is possible thanks to Paul.

generation grower,” Sam says. “His dad owns Vino

“Paul has been one of my main inspirations,” Sam

Italia, just over there.”

says. “He’s been making lo-fi, natural wine for a long

It’s a family affair that Sam, his dad and, a couple of

time. I really admire his courage for having done that

friends plan on continuing with a new venture focused

when nobody else was; persisting with managing

on minimal intervention from the vine to the bottle.

his vineyard with very little input. He manages his

“A lot of the families in the Swan Valley have

organically without being certified. It’s gotten to the

managed their vineyards the same way for a long time,”

point now where he’s making wines without sulphur,

Sam says. “We want to do things a little differently.”

which, for me, is where I’d like to reach.”

Some details still need ironing out – like a name,

Eventually, Sam says he’d like to stop using any

what they’ll be making, and a processing facility – but

sulphur or copper and instead work with alternative

one thing’s for sure: it’ll be as natural as possible, albeit

forms of disease management such as organic sprays

in the not-too-distant future.

that are currently in experimental stages, shoot-

“This vineyard was conventionally managed

thinning, and hedging to manage foliage.

before,” Sam says. “We sprayed sulphur and copper

“I want to make wine and grow grapes naturally

on the vines this year because we didn’t want to just

because I want to make it sustainable going forward,”

turn them from conventionally managed directly to

he says. “Not only is the wine market changing but the

organically managed without a lead-in time. It would

environment’s changing as well. If we don’t change

shock the plants a little bit.”

with it, I’m unsure as to the future of this region in 40,

And while sulphur and copper are allowed when it

50 years.”

comes to organic management, Sam says he’d still like

Surrounded by beautiful green vines that stretch

to minimise the chemicals’ use where possible.

for miles, the rays of a setting sun and a generous glass

“Heavy metal build-up in the soil (sulphur and

of lo-fi wine in hand, I can understand why Sam’s trying

copper) can lead to soil toxicity,” he explains. “Large

to preserve it.

copper residue in the soil can also lead to higher

@oldmatewine

No Reservations Stay a while at these local hotspots, renowned for their quintessential West Aussie atmosphere and tasty coastal eats. Walk-ins welcome, no bookings necessary.

Words by Lily Yeang

CHICHO GELATO

180 William Street, Northbridge

You’d be mistaken for thinking there’s an event on at Northbridge’s Chicho Gelato every night. A line outside this specialty gelateria is a regular occurrence, after all. But don’t be dissuaded. The queue moves quickly, and we promise it’s worth the short wait. Since its humble gelato cart beginnings, Chicho has been growing a strong fanbase who can’t get enough of the store’s twist on traditional gelati. Although made the old-fashioned way – using fresh dairy, real fruit, and raw ingredients – Chicho’s constantly changing range of Nuova Era (new era) ice creams and sorbets are daring, experimental, and wild. Hiding under Italian pozzetti — ornate metal canisters used to keep gelati fresh — are fig and walnut in smoked gelato, sour blood plum sorbet, and crème fraîche blueberry gelato. Burnt butter popcorn was a thing, as was violet lemon meringue and cheezels. Expect a change in menu and at least a few new flavour sensations each season, plus guest collaborations with other West Aussie businesses like North Street Store (North Street delivered the milk buns, Chicho Gelato filled them with gelato). And if that isn’t enough to tickle your curiosity, the Belgian couverture chocolate that pours out of a tap on Chicho’s countertop might.

@chichogelato

Photograph by Danica Zuks

CANTEEN PIZZA

110 Marine Parade, Cottesloe

Pizza, wine, and a real good time. It sounds simple,

It’s not just Canteen’s pizzas that makes it a local

but it works. Canteen Pizza is proof. As its motto

foodie hotspot. Its pesce menu showcases the very

suggests, Canteen is a Neapolitan-style, beachside

best of local seafood at a very reasonable price. While

pizza joint with an ever-evolving list of natural wines,

working on the concept menu the owners realised that in

and friendly staff that create a feel-good ambience.

almost all of Perth’s top establishments fish is served by

Repurposed wooden tables and white café chairs invite

the fillet (rather than whole) at a disproportionate cost

visitors to sit and stay a while, while decent tunes make

to the portion size. Canteen decided to focus on value for

it a great place for those who like to linger.

money and sustainability instead.

Linger I do, as I sip on a fine drop of pinot. It’s

The result? A whole fish (sourced from the markets

Monday night, which means Canteen’s Pizza & Pinot

each day) seasoned with secret herbs and spices, sealed

special: a wood-fired pizza on my plate, 50 per cent off

with Italian butter in a hot pan, and then finished off in

pinot, and a DJ on the decks. It’s what casual weeknights

the oven. Served straight out of the oven with fresh dill,

out should be – easy, fun, and cheap.

garlic chilli, and parsley oil – it’s one of Canteen’s very satisfying feeds. And satisfied is just how I feel every

Of course it’s also ridiculously tasty. This week my

time I leave.

choice is the funghi: a swiss and portobello mushroomtopped pizza with gooey chunks of fior di latte and gorgonzola. It disappears from the table in an instant. Last time I was here, I opted for Canteen’s weekly special:

@canteenpizza

its standard, 30cm handmade pizza base covered in mozzarella, Shark Bay prawns, zucchini crema, fennel, and chilli. Bellissimo. 86

No Reservations

TAYLOR STREET QUARTERS

Taylor Street, Esperance

A 1920s Federation building sits on the banks of Esperance Bay, a relic imbued in West Australian history. Originally a hospital in Perth, the structure was loaded on to a ship and sailed to the coastal town of Esperance, it’s home for the next century. At first it was the Esperance Hospital, then it became the nurses’ quarters before being moved to the

Then there are Wood’s experiments with cuisine

site where it stands today. Since then it’s seen a number

classics like the “grown up” fish finger sambo: a

of transformations – from tearooms and a café, to a bar

crumbed, local grouper sanga served with a generous

and restaurant that’s now the town’s favourite local

amount of tartare sauce. It’s plenty of fun. Cakes baked

haunt, Taylor St Quarters.

by Wood’s partner Sophie are much-loved by the locals,

It’s easy to see why Taylor St is the favoured

and worth a bite if you’ve got room.

place to eat along the bay. A relaxed beachside setting invites visitors through its doors, while a contemporary Australian menu showcasing locally-sourced produce

@taylorstquarters

keeps them staying all day and night long. Live music makes this the go-to for an easy, laidback Sunday session, best enjoyed from the venue’s undercover front porch or stretched out on a picnic blanket on the lawn. If you’re feeling peckish but don’t fancy dining in, the team accommodate with delicious street-style eats served straight out of their very own food van. In the restaurant, chef Dean Wood concocts vibrant dishes that pair wondrously with Taylor’s ocean view. Along with the aesthetic, his fresh flavour combos have me snagged — hook, line and sinker. The chargrilled occy is equal parts tangy and spicy, while the Esperance scallop ceviche is light and fresh like a sea breeze. 87

No Reservations

JESSIE’S (AT THE BEACH)

1 Freeman Loop, North Fremantle

It’s not often I notice people’s feet, but it’s hard to

With a seaside setting (located right opposite

ignore the thong and flip flop army that’s hanging out at

Leighton Beach) and laidback vibe, Jessie’s is relaxed

Jessie’s (at the beach). Toes sandy from an early morning

coastal dining at its best. Open for breakfast, lunch, and

beach walk, a row of punters sit cross-legged in front of

the occasional Friday sundowner, it’s easy to roll into the

the restaurant and coffee shop, a mug of the barista’s

restaurant after the beach, or rock up for a walk-in feast. Seafood is the clear hero of this North Fremantle

first brew in each person’s hand.

eatery, which is the latest instalment from the team behind Mo Espresso, Max and Sons, and Arlo by Mo. For breakfast, salmon cured in single origin coffee – a beautiful balance between sweetness and bitterness – graces my plate, along with a sous vide egg, potato rosti, and house-made, citric mustard sauce. Jessie’s ode to the Maccas Fillet-O-Fish is my choice for lunchtime eats. Think sweet, flaky saddletail snapper, finely shredded lettuce, swiss cheese, and housemade tartare layered between lightly toasted Japanese white bread. And a generous serving of hand-cut, celery salted chips. It comes as no surprise that Jessie’s food and drinks menu was concocted by executive chef Henrik Swenson, who is renowned for his Swedish-inspired dishes, and two-time Western Region Barista Champ Ziggy Varamulia – both from Arlo by Mo. Also from Arlo: a focus on transparency, traceability, and sustainability, evident in the team’s choice of working with local seafood suppliers Fins Seafood and opting for a wine list made up of natural and minimal intervention wines. It’s a tried and tested recipe that’s worked well for Arlo and is doing even better at Jessie’s. Just look at the droves of hungry beach goers who have dusted off their toes and are heading across the road.

@jessies_at_thebeach Photograph by Valentine Girardot

MEELUP FARMHOUSE

54 Sheens Road, Naturaliste

Some

places

food,

others

atmosphere.

Occasionally, you stumble across one that does both. Meelup Farmhouse – the newest establishment by The Little Bay and Little h owners Mark and Liz Ahearn – is one of those places. The Ahearns know how to create beautifully inviting spaces, which I discover as I head towards Meelup’s restaurant door. To my left stands what I assume is the Ahearn family home – a cottagestyle residence suited to the pages of a Country Style magazine. To my right, two cane egg chairs hang from the ceiling of a large open-air gazebo. Jute cushions and mats line the floor, encouraging guests to take a seat and relax at their own leisure. Behind the gazebo, a gabled chooks’ pen houses the fluffiest little chickens you ever did see. With mascots like these (plus a Highland cow called Lizzie), it’s a wonder that anyone makes it to the restaurant at all. A predominantly alfresco dining affair, the restaurant features white walls, plenty of natural timber, and the occasional tan chair. Every nook and cranny is styled to Instagrammable perfection, evident in the droves of people walking around snapping photos On another occasion, my partner and I settle in

on their phones — first of the décor, then of the food.

under a leafy olive tree with a picnic hamper full of South

Open for brunch, lunch, and dinner, Meelup Farmhouse

offers

modern

Australian

West goodies (like Plantagenet pork and pistachio

dining

terrine and Eagle Bay Olives) put together for us by the

experience designed for all-day grazing. I lap up

Meelup team.

tangy spiced labne from my plate, the remanence of

We decide we could spend all day here, which is just

the Turkish poached-eggs dish I chose for brunch. A

what the Ahearns intended.

delightful combination of rosemary, honey, and crisp prosciutto top my guest’s buttermilk pancakes, a sweet and savoury treat. I come back to try the sweet potato flat bread and baked Margaret River brie, then spend all

@meelupfarmhouse_

day lounging (mimosa in hand, because they do those) on one of the comfy bamboo couches positioned on the lawn outside. 89

Photograph by Merlyn Moon

GARRISON

7 Forts Road, Mount Clarence, Albany Views in Albany aren’t hard to come by, but

chilli okra with ponzu dipping sauce; tempeh boa buns

nothing quite compares to the one you get at Garrison.

with bang bang sauce; Marakesh lamb meat balls with

Perched on top of Albany’s historical Mt Clarence, and

Baharat hummus; and beef cheeks with Asian salad and

with sweeping panoramas of King George Sound and

confit duck.

Princess Royal Harbour, this café/restaurant/bar is all

The Jerusalem artichokes are heaven on a plate.

about awe and atmosphere.

The hearts are drizzled with local honey, a rich truffle

You’ll find Garrison located opposite the National

oil, and creamy feta. It’s sweet, sticky and, delicious.

Anzac Centre – a state-of-the-art interpretive centre

The housemade labneh is easy to lap up, infused with

that reflects on Australia’s military history. Set inside

fresh mint, coriander, sumac, and za’tar.

a renovated shed and a large, glass window extension,

The lamb with white bean puree, is tender, succulent,

the eatery is frequented by locals and visitors alike

and oh-so-mouth-watering. It pairs perfectly with the

thanks to a lip-smacking seasonal menu and stunning

striking view I have of Albany from a table positioned

ocean outlook.

next to the restaurant’s harbour-facing windows.

Owner and chef John Saville Wright has worked

While the food is designed for sharing, the cocktails

hard to create a space that’s breath-taking yet warm

are made for easy drinking. After dinner I kick back by

and inviting. There are European-style wall lamps,

the bar where I sip on a Hot Tuaca Apple Pie topped

rustic wooden tables, festoon lights hanging from the

with fluffy whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

ceiling, and cushions donning the Union Jack (an ode to

Warmed by the restaurant’s fire (and my tasty drink),

the area’s past). Together, they evoke that feeling you

I feel that metaphorical blanket start to wrap tightly

get when you wrap yourself up in a thick blanket on a

around me.

cold winter’s day. The site is impressive, and so is the food. As John

@garrisonalbany

describes, the menu offers a mixing bowl of cultures and flavours. In essence, it’s 100 per cent Australian. There’s 90

No Reservations

THE COLOURPATCH

98 Albany Terrace, Augusta

When I was a child, family trips to Augusta

The dine-in menu is simple, allowing the local

consisted of two things: exploring the town’s rugged

seafood to shine. Augusta Ocean Grown Abalone is

coast (be it snorkelling, fishing, or hiking), and visiting

thinly sliced, sprinkled with the tiny beads of a finger

The Colourpatch – the local fish and chip shop.

lime, and served in a glimmering abalone shell. The

Mum and Dad would order a family-sized

fritto misto, a selection of fried local fish and whitebait,

fisherman’s basket, a pineapple fritter for me, and an

is wonderfully crunchy. The market fish, baked whole

ice cream for my brother. When our takeaway number

with capers, olives, and fennel, easily feeds more than

was called, my brother and I would collect a giant

my two-person party.

white paper parcel from the counter and deliver it to

As I relish on South West seafood and the

our favourite table under the shop’s outdoor verandah.

impeccable view, I realise I’m sitting in the exact same

We’d devour chunky pieces of battered fish and a pile of

spot my family used to all those years ago. And it warms

vinegar-drenched potato chips, all the while admiring

me knowing that if I head to The Colourpatch’s takeaway

the sweeping views of the Blackwood River.

nook, I can still get fish and chips and an ice cream to go.

Fast forward a few (or more) years and the same magical view still exists, as does the fish and chips. The shop, however, has undergone a significant

@thecolourpatchaugusta

transformation. Originally built in 1947 by Dorothy and John Webster, The Patch, as I fondly called it, wasn’t the most inspiring of buildings. Enter Carol and Stephen Wall, a couple who had, like my family, been longterm Augusta frequenters. In 2015 they were given the opportunity to take over The Patch before embarking on a renovation project that would bring the old shop into the 21st century. A nautical theme flows through the newly refurbished venue, now split into three distinct spaces – a licensed restaurant and bar, casual outdoor alfresco area, and fish and chips takeaway nook. There are large glass windows that frame the Blackwood River, portholes on doors, a navigation chart on one of the walls, and a wooden yacht serving as The Colourpatch’s main bar.

ROHO BURE

226 Carr Place, Leederville and 322A South Terrace, South Fremantle

Creamy, sweet, and decadent are just a few words

Roho has grown a huge vegan following, and

that come to mind when describing a lick of Roho Bure’s

unsurprisingly everyone else has followed. Perhaps

cashew cream and honeycomb ice cream: a blend of

it’s the guilt-free feeling you get when you indulge in

chicory root-steeped cashews and coconut mixed with

a sweet treat that’s made as naturally and consciously

chunks of gooey house-made honeycomb. A long-held

as possible. More likely, it’s their ability to persuade an

fan favourite, it, like all of Roho Bure’s ice creams, is

avid dairy lover to ditch the milk. It just tastes so damn

made using natural, organic, dairy free, and gluten-

good without it.

free ingredients. Roho Bure’s owner, Georgina Terrana, first started making and selling her healthy and environmentally conscious ice cream out of her South Fremantle garage. @roho_bure_vegan_icecream

Her mission: to provide an inclusive ice cream product that everyone can enjoy. It’s a mission she’s certainly achieved, evident in the opening of a second store in Leederville, and the expansion into other desserts like ice cream sandwiches and ice cream-filled doughnuts.

*Pictured above 'Treasury Red'

The Revival Collection The perfect blend of old and new. Available in 5 unique colour blends

brikmakers.com info@brikmakers.com

1300 360 344 @brikmakers

Words by Georgina Baker

Feeling Grounded

in the Vodka Palace Photographs by Dion Robeson

Issue 8

It’s hard to imagine a home feeling like a “secure and loving, masculine embrace.” But on spending time in the Vodka Palace, there’s a sense of what the owner is describing in her new home. Vodka Palace is a luxurious, yet low-maintenance, concrete cave – industrial, yet oozing a warm and moody ambience. It’s just what the client asked for. “A cave-lake ambience with an industrial, low-maintenance edge designed for seclusion and reclusion, yet at a moment’s notice opens up into an entertaining haven.” Indeed, it is all of this and more. The home casts a strong, masculine presence in the streetscape, standing out from the more conventional surrounding building stock. Off-form concrete is the main material, both internally and externally, minimising the need for applied finishes beyond sealing. As is turns out, it also minimises the need to hang art on the walls. “The house is like a piece of art itself,” says the owner. “The walls talk to you.” And so her art collection remains in storage. Contextually, the concrete resonates with the coastal location by reflecting the concrete kiosks and amenities typical of many Perth beaches. These can be strong, almost brutalist, forms. Vodka Palace tempers this with timber.

Lining fascias and eaves, and creating privacy and boundary screens, are a range of choices from the new wave of modified timbers selected for their long-term durability and dimensional stability. The fascias are sealed with black, penetrating oil while the eaves clear-sealed. The coolness of off-form concrete warmed by timber finishes and a neutral colour palette creates a moody mix that evokes a serene, ethereal experience. Augmenting this is a modern interpretation of the ancient Japanese technique of charring timber known as ‘Shou Sugi Ban’ to seal and provide additional long-term resilience to the external Accoya timber. Internally, the treatment is used aesthetically on the timber-clad steel columns, inspiring a minimalistic, Zen-like interpretation of burnt forest. Largely open-plan in nature, the ground-floor spaces flow from front to back, and outside, to allow for seasonally-adjusted uses of space, dependent on the activity or occasion. The kitchen and scullery are decked out with premium European appliances complete with a dumb waiter to the under croft to haul up groceries. A semi-hidden side access to a rear teppanyaki bar and entertaining deck caters for the delivery of cocktails

Feeling Grounded in the Vodka Palace

and food via a custom-made trolley. A Markilux retractable roofing system provides shade to this rear deck on hot days. Upstairs is a retreat for the owner and anyone who is lucky enough to be staying in the guest bedroom. Smart-wired audio and lighting systems allow the home to be a chameleon at the press of a few iPad buttons, enabling the owner to create different audio and visual lighting effects depending on the occasion and mood required. Outside the dwelling, native trees and shrubs represent the south-west region of Western Australia where the owner once owned and managed an iconic hotel. A small cabin at the rear of the property provides self-contained, private accommodation for guests, overseas friends, and family. Designed to not address the main house, ‘The Caboose’ functions as a backdrop to the rear entertaining deck to spatially define the rear courtyard. It also provides privacy from, and obstructs view lines to, adjacent rear properties, thereby accenting the landscaping. Easily accessed via a secret path along the east side, guests can come and go without having to enter the main dwelling. Vodka Palace – keeping its name from the original pitch from the architect – is the result of a very strong collaborative process between client,

architect (Marcus Browne, a close friend of the client), builder (Minchin & Sims), sub-consultants, sub-contractors, and suppliers. The collaborative spirit of the project is what brings Yallingup-based architect Marcus Browne the greatest joy and instils the most pride. “Enduring relationships have been forged, and I see the end result as not my own but the combined efforts and inspiration of everyone involved,” says Marcus. “I lay no overriding personal claim to it; I was simply a muse and graciously blessed to perform the role of architect.” And he performed his role remarkably, particularly given it was his first fully bespoke home. Vodka Palace has reignited Marcus’s passion for architecture and has kick-started Marcus Browne Architect, albeit rather late in life for Marcus. As for the owner, she says she has never felt so connected in all her life: “This home is so grounding.” The project was not without challenges. The site is long and narrow with adjoining two-storey homes close to the boundary on both sides. On the ground floor, floor-to-ceiling windows and doors allow natural light to hit the concrete interiors, while light wells over the stairs and en suite siphon light into the belly of the interiors. In addition to this, the client 98

Feeling Grounded in the Vodka Palace

required a large under croft for two cars, storage, and a work bench, which meant boundary-to-boundary excavation to a depth of 3.5 metres. Luckily, on the west side, the adjoining owners had decided to build at the same time, also with an under croft. Collaboration resulted in mutually-beneficial levels to offset the need for expensive soil stabilisation. On the east side, however, significant soil stabilisation was required for the excavation, resulting in a protracted approval process to gain neighbour and council support.

Sustainable credentials include a 24-panel photovoltaic solar system connected to a Fronius Symo hybrid inverter to supply the household with energy, and to temporarily store surplus energy from the photovoltaic system in the Fronius solar battery. The roof of the rear deck is built with recycled iron bark jetty timbers. Modified timbers used throughout the build were sustainably sourced with environmentally responsible practices or recognised and certified forest stewardship according to the manufacturers.

marcusbrowne.com.au minchinandsims.com.au tdl.com.au

100

The Alchemist Emily Rohr’s sum of parts have intermingled to formulate a vibrant life journey. A dermatologist’s daughter. A fine arts graduate and gallerist. Wife of a fourth generation chemist. Skincare brand creator. And a true believer in the power of the Australian bush.

Words by Jessica Rule

102

103

The Alchemist

104

Issue 8

Fat raindrops pelted the velvety red dirt, sending

The simple and stylish collection of eight products

a damp petrichor scent up from the earth where the

includes Kakadu Plum Vitamin C Face Serum, Lilly Pilly

Bungle Bungles climb from the ancient Australian

and Omega 3 Face Moisturiser, Rosalina Face Cleanser,

landscape. Camping at the formation’s edge, Emily Rohr

Gumbi Gumbi Lip Balm, Desert Lime Body Moisturiser,

eavesdropped on a snake hunting bats in the deep, dark

Australian Wildflower Deodorant, Honey Myrtle Body

night. When the sun rose, she emerged from her dreams

Wash, and Boab and Rosehip with Vitamin E oil.

to find a vivid green python wrapped sinuously around

Emily’s father also did a lot of work in regional

a tree, leaving her unable to shake an almost palpable

Australia within remote communities, so perhaps it

sense that something mysterious had been afoot the

comes as no surprise that she eventually found herself

night before. “I mentioned it to the old ladies in Warmun

drawn to the more rugged landscapes of our continent,

the next day who told me that I was pregnant and would

and indigenous culture too. Growing up in Perth, the

have a frog dreaming baby,” Emily recalls. “When I gave

fine arts graduate said her dreams were of working with

birth, my son was born in his caul like a frog, so I have

artists in New York. Indeed, when she was studying

always believed he is of that magical place.”

she admits her interest in indigenous art was, at best,

Thanks to such occurrences, Emily has become

diluted. Somehow life lead her to develop an interest

acclimatised to the notion that nothing in this world is

in the cultures of Indigenous Australians, and this

as solid as it seems, and that life can be far more unusual

became the springboard for her career diversion from

than she could ever have imagined growing up in Perth.

arts to beauty.

“These old people know things that they shouldn’t –

“Life presents things you least expect, but it’s those

especially about the line between life and death, which

things that have proven to be the most rewarding,”

is not as defined as the west treats it,” she says. “I have

Emily says. “As they say, the best plans of mice and

so much respect for spirituality and believe we all need

men… but it is also what makes life so much fun.”

to nurture more of it and care for our physical selves.”

Arriving in Broome fresh from the Sydney rat race,

Self-nurture is a sentiment imbued in her skincare

she began working for the Aboriginal Medical Services

line, Rohr Remedy, which is founded on ideals from

and was offered some sage advice. “A wise woman said,

natural bush medicine. While the beauty industry wasn’t

‘Emily, you need to slow down, girl, I think you need

always written in the stars for Emily, it is almost, as if

at least 10 years under a tree’,” Emily says. “There’s a

through osmosis, she absorbed the skincare profession

Broome word, Liyan – which is our true selves between

over time. The blonde, curly haired, and befreckled Aussie

the head, heart, and spirit – and I think all city people

is the daughter of an award-winning Perth dermatologist

need to find their Liyan and spend some time in the

and the wife of a fourth-generation chemist.

bush under a tree to discover the true meaning of being

“Dad has contributed invaluably to the development

the land.”

of the products, and his knowledge and passion for

She set up the renowned Short Street Art Gallery,

skin was nurtured in me from a very young age,” she

which became the studio for the Mangala and Yulparitja

says.“He always had a no-nonsense approach, believing

Elders – the last people to walk out of the desert in the

effective skin care kept it simple, and we adapted dad’s

1960s and ’70s. While their unique art was defining

philosophy into a clean, elegant, and effective range.”

and inspiring, Emily absorbed the elder womens’ bush

105

The Alchemist

medicine practices. She learnt when to pick plants

and his father and grandfather were apothecarists and

and how to prepare them for a variety of uses: from

chemists,” she says. “Family recipes passed through

extending the life of fresh food, to making medicine for

generations offered us tried and true formulas, and we

cold and flu, to great bush food.

partnered with a PhD cosmetic chemist who specialises

“WA is so diverse and beautiful, our plants unique,

in natural formulations to develop genuinely unique

and deserts rich in minerals, with an exterior that

qualities.”

masks a deep ancient land full of contradictions and

Ultimately, it makes perfect sense to utilise native

rare beauty,” she says. “It is an honour to be from

ingredients to protect our skin from the environment

this landscape, and I feel we need to use the gifts and

that both these species, and we, exist within. Rohr

knowledge of our country or we will lose it.”

Remedy’s primary concern has been how to harness

Paths diverged, and armed with knowledge from

these natural superpowers while keeping them as raw

Aboriginal Elders, her father, and her husband, her

as possible. “We use a proprietorial cellular extraction

skincare line was born. A community-minded family

technique that takes the plant at the optimum point

business, it is a brand committed to operating in an

in its bio-cycle and works, without macerating or

ethically responsible and environmentally sustainable

distressing it, to extract all the actives, derivatives, and

way. “Our company was founded thanks to the shared

excipients,” she says. “We call this bio-mimicry, which

knowledge and skills of the Yulparitja women and men

is quite high tech, but [the process] stabilises the actives

of Bidyadanga,” Emily says. “We now collaborate with

and heightens their effectiveness.”

different communities and small farmers who share

As to where they find such ingredients, Rohr

our passion for sustainably and ethically sourced,

Remedy’s supply chain is as satisfyingly sustainable

wild-grown, and organic uniquely Australian raw

as it gets. The company source from a number of

ingredients.”

Indigenous traditional owners and small passionate

A self-confessed Australian botanicals geek,

farmers all over Australia, from the South West of

Emily is visibly exhilarated by the unique qualities of

WA, Tasmania, Northern NSW, Queensland, Broome

native plants, which she describes as “uber-foods and

peninsula, and the Northern Territory. Emily describes

medicines.” Rohr Remedy keystones include Kakadu

it as, “people doing fair and ethical business together

plum, kunzea, honey myrtle, desert lime, boab seeds,

that is mutually beneficial.”

Lilly Pilly, Quandong, seaweed, and wildflowers.

Indigenous friends and family—who, due to land

“Millions of years of evolution in harsh environments

rights, are looking to develop industry—farm the

means Australian botanicals have learnt to closely hold

native flora. And so Rohr Remedy gains from working

on to any nutrients by developing interestingly complex

with the best wild harvesters while managing the

systems to keep the most vital ingredients stable, which

sustainability of the bush. “Indigenous countrymen

heightens their properties,” she says. “For example,

are very attuned to optimal harvesting times and hold

where an orange has about 50mg of vitamin C per 100g,

so much knowledge about the land – which has been

the Kakadu plum has up to 5400mg per 100g.”

passed down for generations ,” Emily explains. “This

For someone who purports in some bona fide bush

expertise is well worth paying for.”

mysticism, Rohr Remedy is all about statistics on

While her line has enjoyed commercial success,

paper, being meticulously researched, and chemically

Emily is resistant to participating in the mainstream

effective. “My husband is a fourth-generation chemist

beauty industry. Rather, she sees her place as an 106

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The Alchemist

instigator of kindness and acceptance in a ruthless game. “I actually hate the beauty industry, it represents everything that I feel is false in the world,” she explains. “What I love about making products is the idea of them nurturing our physical being, which will then allow us to share kindness, compassion, and love with others.” Emily ensures her personal values are reflected in her brand, with a recent campaign featuring naturally beautiful, bare-faced models. She seeks to be the antithesis of what she dubs “extreme beauty” – cosmetically and surgically enhanced beauty and the celebrity culture perpetuating it. “I liken the celebrity cosmetic culture to McDonalds, who have to bribe kids with toys to eat bad food,” she says. “Bad cosmetic brands need to pay big celebrities to endorse them because that is what they are selling – the marketing – not good products.” Remote Australia appears to have well and truly arrested Emily who, when dreaming of New York all those years ago, must never have considered spending 20 years of her life in remote Broome. However, it has become the place where she had her own children and eventually welcomed her Indigenous grandchildren. Emily has clearly opened her mind to life’s intricacies more than many thanks to the wonderful wilds of rural Australia, but even she says she has so much left to discover. “I am so blessed to work with people who are informed from such an ancient culture, and who truly understand the nature of humanity and being Australian,” Emily says. “[All] of us born here [are] part of the land and we all share more than [what] we have that is different, so maybe we need to focus on the commonality of existence rather than our differences… because that is really the most interesting thing of all.”

rohrremedy.com @rohrremedy

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Annual sale offering high-end designer labels, menswear, vintage and Op Shop clothing & more

The 2020 Bindaring Clothing Sale Claremont Showgrounds Saturday May 16 from 9am—3pm bindaringclothingsale.com.au

Words by Claire Millett

Empire Rose

Photographs by Jillian McHugh

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Empire Rose

She’s the flame-haired fashion doyenne who has celebrated the highs and waded through the lows of the retail industry for an incredible 22 years, holding rank amongst the sector’s elite.

While exuding a sense of selfassuredness that is utterly enviable, the woman behind West Australian label Empire Rose certainly doesn’t take herself too seriously, giving her 12K-plus Instagram following front row seats as she models her collections. Moonwalking into the camera’s frame in hot pink heeled boots and shimmying to her audience in one of her divine sequined creations is not an uncommon occurrence for Kathryn Cizeika. And just like that, she feels like the ubercool sister or bestie you didn’t realise you were missing. But not only does she have the looks and the smarts, we’ve fast come to learn that Kathryn puts a whole lot of heart into every piece she designs. Her distinctive style includes handwritten slogans across each

collection that are famous for stirring up a bit of controversy – something that Kathryn admittedly doesn’t mind at all. Every piece is proudly designed, produced, and retailed in her North Fremantle studio and shop, marking it as one of the few labels in the West Australian fashion industry that continues to ethically produce 100 per cent of garments in house. “I have always believed in slow, sustainable fashion, and I’m passionately committed to designing and producing my label ethically here in Australia to support and sustain the local fashion industry,” says Kathryn. “It’s an ethos that has paid dividends by endearing a loyal following both here and overseas.” And since we’re on the topic, it would be remiss to omit the fact that this following includes the

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likes of Beyonce, Roberta Flack, Yoko Ono, and Michelle Williams. Not that we’re name-dropping… Yet it wasn’t an instant rise to the top of the fashion food chain for Kathryn as she got her start in the industry in retail – a position she insists was a fantastic training ground. It was here she learnt what it means to dress a woman - to really listen to her unique likes and dislikes. The birth of Empire Rose was simply a response to a niche that wasn’t being met at the time. To design pants that fit and made women

of different shapes, sizes, ages, and aesthetics was, and still is, what makes the brand a cult favourite. Never forgetting those early days in the industry, Kathryn has been providing jobs and rare on-site training and mentorship opportunities to fashion and design students for the best part of 20 years. “There’s a young woman on our team at the moment who has been with us every year since doing work experience in Year 10, through to tertiary studies, and now as an employee,” says Kathryn.

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Empire Rose

“I’ve employed many of the students that have come through the system and I’m such a strong advocate for the introduction of apprenticeships that do not currently exist in this industry.” Needless to say, the Empire Rose studio is a daily hive of activity, combining the expertise of artisan pattern makers and seamstresses with the fresh perspective and enthusiasm of students on the precipice of their fashion careers. Inspired by other mediums, people watching, social media, travel, art, film, and music, Kathryn jumps at the opportunity to join forces with other creatives. Her most recent collaborator? A local graffiti artist who has been commissioned to do work in Berlin. “We are in a moment in time where individuality is celebrated and sought after; the possibilities are endless, exciting, and the result is an explosion of creative forces around us,” she says. “For the past couple of years I’ve been noticing the move. People are more ready to take chances with their own looks, exploring their personalities through their wardrobe and in the way in which they present themselves.” The latest collection to hit the Empire Rose racks is inspired by 18th century exoticism and Chinoiserie, with a heady 70’s glam-rock spin. “Most of

my collections are inspired in some way by musicians and what they may have worn in their heydays,” says Kathryn. Hero pieces include luxe linen in dusty pastel tartans shown in relaxed oversized suiting styles, while the label’s signature black-based floral is back with a custom-developed oriental print. “It suits everyone and I’m all for that.” Lush velvet and sequins are seen in 70’s sportswear-inspired separates and vintage kimono shapes, while those much-loved handwritten slogans (previous collections included “Not your baby,” “What would J Bish do?” “Ghosting you,” and “Not here to fuck spiders.”) will continue to showcase Kathryn’s love for tapping into the cultural zeitgeist and keeping things fresh. “Anything to get the conversation going is fine in my book!”

empirerose.com.au @empirerose_

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The Laughing Heart

Words by Emma Pegrum

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From world-touring opera singer to restaurateur: Charlie Mellor’s natural wine bar and restaurant on London’s Hackney Road comes straight from the heart.

Eight years ago, Charlie Mellor was touring the

“The Laughing Heart sounded like the name of the

world as a classical singer, performing in operas. Now

pub at the end of the universe,” says Mellor over dinner

he’s the sole owner-operator of one of London’s most well-

at the restaurant on his night off. “And it’s how I want

known natural wine restaurants, The Laughing Heart.

people to feel when they’re here.”

A late-night restaurant, bar, and off-licence

Born in Adelaide, Mellor arrived in Perth as a

serving head chef Tom Anglesea’s take on British

teenager in 2000. He studied music at the Western

cuisine (his “Lost souls in a fish bowl,” a beloved dish

Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA)

of scallop, wasabi and dashi, featured on BBC Two’s

from 2005 to 2008 and began studying in London at The

popular show, Great British Menu) and natural wines,

Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2009. He was

The Laughing Heart is a Hackney Road staple. Its

23. Throughout university Mellor worked as a waiter

dark and understated exterior opens into a warm and

and, at just 18, he earned his Level One Sommelier

inviting loft-like dining room; a cellar full of coveted

qualification. After making his professional debut as

natural wines painstakingly collected by Mellor below.

a classical singer in Australia in 2006, he performed

Taking its name from the famed Charles Bukowski

regularly until 2012, living across Australia, the UK,

poem, The Laughing Heart is a place where Mellor’s

and the USA.

parallel experiences as a stage performer, a sommelier,

“When I moved to London I didn’t know exactly

and a person of great heart and creativity converge.

where I would end up,” says Mellor. “But I was 117

The Laughing Heart

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Issue 8

determined to make my career in classical music.

other passion that felt safer - I worked as a waiter and a

Returning to Australia would be a last resort. I wanted

sommelier again.”

to have a career in the major markets of the northern

Mellor’s CV prior to The Laughing Heart includes

hemisphere. I wanted Paris, New York, culture, artistry,

Perth’s Il Lido, Balthazar, and Rockpool Bar & Grill, and

adventure, passion, romance, success.”

such London natural wine icons as Noble Fine Liquor, P

By any measure, Mellor did achieve success as a

Franco, and Brawn. When he finally decided to open his

performer. Still in his early twenties, he was touring the

own restaurant in 2016 – at just 30 years of age, with no

world with major production companies. But success

financial partners – his cousin’s memory came to form

came with, as he puts it, “mixed emotions”; his life

its heart. Another cousin had read the Bukowski poem

at the time was a balancing act of a deeply emotional

at James’ funeral, and, already a lifelong lover of words

vocation and the increasing vulnerability and anxiety

and poetry, it had moved something in Mellor.

that accompanied it.

“I had no idea at the time of James’ passing, when

“It was a time in my life where I started to realise

my cousin Will so beautifully recited the poem, that I

and explore the great beauty of life,” Mellor says. “Being

would be opening a venue four years later,” says Mellor.

a student of classical music, of singing, stagecraft and

But it stayed with him. From the restaurant’s slightly

poetry helped me see how I could put a craft around and

“off-piste” approach to dining, to its consistent appeal

harness all that beauty, understand it more and share

as a late-night drinking destination for pleasure-

it with the world. This was wonderful. But I felt wildly

seeking Londoners, Mellor’s story, and Bukowski’s

unprepared to be doing the work I was doing as a singer.

words – your life is your life / don’t let it be clubbed into

I wasn’t technically, physically, or mentally ready to

dank submission – feel steeped in to the place.

achieve what I expected of myself. And, despite the

As we drink and talk, Mellor is intermittently

industry’s façade of support and development, there

drawn away to speak to guests or assist staff. I notice

was no system in place to help you when you asked for

that every time he gets up from the table he performs

it. It’s messed up.”

the same routine. He stands and buttons his always-

In 2012, after a difficult contract with a major

on blazer. Taking his glass of wine in his left hand,

company turned sour, Mellor returned to Australia to

he places his right hand in his pant pocket, swiping

deal with the pivotal loss of a close cousin to pancreatic

aside the blazer’s lower edge in the process. He swirls

cancer. Unbeknownst to him at the time, these events

his glass delicately, with the stem between thumb and

would lead to Mellor’s return to hospitality and,

forefinger and the other three fingers at ease. He does a

eventually, to The Laughing Heart.

little two- step with his feet, prompting a slight wiggle

“We were close,” Mellor says of his cousin, James.

of the hips, his robust upper body shifting toward you

“It was heartbreaking for me to see him go so slowly and

almost cheekily. He says something quippy – a final

painfully. I couldn’t begin to have imagined how much it

contribution to the topic at hand, or something to think

would rock me to the core. Not just me, but also seeing

about while he’s away from the table – then takes a swig

how it affected all the people I loved at the same time. I

of wine and walks away. He’s captivating. He’s a natural

didn’t know what I wanted anymore. I did know that I

host. He’s fun.

wasn’t capable of continuing as a singer immediately. I

“I realised a while ago that my enthusiasm for

needed to be with my family, to be less exposed. I went

things was quite contagious, which was a realisation

to ground and when I resurfaced I fell back into my

that made me happy,” Mellor tells me a month later,

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over email. I wanted to know if he agreed that there’s

creative identities.” He also relishes in engagement with

a certain performance aspect to his hospitality, maybe

guests. When he’s choosing you a wine, or suggesting a

infused by his opera days. “I know that I can scale that

pairing, you can see the fibre of his being at work. It

using my presence, vocal inflection, gesticulation, to

excites him.

have it read to a large group. I do that on the floor [at The

“I believe there is a golden thread that runs

Laughing Heart], and it is definitely a performance, but

through all things creative, anything that you can

one which reflects my honest inner feelings on what we

put your passion into” he says. “The way in which we

may be talking about. It is a technique I have cultivated

weave this thread differs with every practice.” With

for myself using things I have learned throughout my

singing, it was the unique choices he’d have to make to

life, including from my time as a stage performer.”

form sound and “add detail and colour.” Things at The

In a way, The Laughing Heart started as a place

Laughing Heart – not just a bar, but a culmination of

of refuge for Mellor, but it’s also designed to serve that

Mellor’s felt experiences – also involve unique choices,

purpose for his staff and guests. With his negative

and he makes those choices with just as much vigour;

experiences in the music industry as a backdrop,

just as much hopefulness.

Mellor’s restaurant has an inbuilt focus on the health

“I want us to continue to grow and change as our

and development of young hospitality professionals.

idea of what is most important evolves,” he says. “I want

This is reflected, he says, in the comparitively generous

the best wine cellar, the finest produce, and the happiest

work-life-balance and pay level offered to staff, and the

staff and guests in the land. I want The Laughing Heart

amount of vocational development he seeks to provide -

to be a place that inspires and supports people to help

“a core philosophy,” Mellor says, “is promoting talent,

share the beauty that they see in the world.”

nurturing it, and allowing people to discover their own

thelaughingheartlondon.com @thelaughingheart_london

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Quiet Corners

Words and photographs by Emma Pegrum

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In Barcelona’s quiet corners, contemporary Catalan culture emerges.

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Quiet Corners

Among the architectural works that Barcelona is known for, Parc Güell is something of an exemplification. In 1904, a man named Eusebi Güell bought a tract of land on the side of Muntanya Pelada, looking over the coastal plain on which Barcelona sits. His plan for the property was to have celebrated modernist architect Antoni Gaudí design a community of sixty houses. Only two houses were ever built, but the grounds were completed, boasting snaking paths, elaborate staircases, and – the pièce de résistance – a fountain in the form of a lizard, its skin a mosaic of blue and yellow. The development was sold to the city in 1922, four years after Güell’s death, and quickly became a well-utilised public park. By 2013, the park was receiving around nine million annual visitors – mostly tourists – and the city was forced to take action in mitigating damage and crowding. They introduced a fee to access the park’s “monumental core” — which includes Guadí’s famous bifurcated staircase, the lizard, and the “Nature Square,” modelled from a Greek theatre, and sitting atop eighty-six stone columns. Today, eight hundred tickets are sold per hour to access this zone: it is, like many of the city’s cultural landmarks, a “tourist place.”

My first visit to Barcelona was in the summer of that pivotal year, 2013. I remember sitting out on the balconette of my Airbnb, waving to an old lady who, standing with folded arms rested on her window sill just across the narrow Barrio Gótico street, seemed almost close enough to greet with a handshake. She waved back. The following summer, after the aforementioned legislation was seen to have little effect, locals would find themselves fed up with mass tourism, with protests staged in the beachfront neighbourhood of La Barceloneta. Residents there were experiencing the ‘Molotov cocktail’ of urban gentrification: increased public nuisance from tourists coupled with an uptick in rental prices due to exponential growth in the city’s shortstay accommodation market. Slogans like “Tourists go home” were graffitied along streets near tourist landmarks across the city, and local papers coined the term “el turismo de borrachera” – binge-drinking tourism. In 2019, the year of my most recent visit, it was reported that in Barrio Gótico, where I’d formed such a memorable impression of Barcelona six years earlier, the resident population had declined by forty-five percent in twelve years. I avoided the area this time, but I presume that the

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Quiet Corners

few locals who are left probably don’t wave to short-stay accommodated tourists anymore. While the city itself dates back to Neolithic times, Barcelona is relatively new as a tourist destination. Spaniards spent most of the 20th century living in depression, Civil War, and the subsequent Francoist dictatorship, with democracy only being reinstated upon the infamous ruler’s death in 1975 – less than fifty years ago. Of all the things that have come to define contemporary Barcelona – the modernist works of the city’s foremost artists including Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, and Salvador Dali; the architectural wonders of Antoni Guadí; the maroon and navy-striped jerseys of FC Barcelona – it was the 1992 Summer Olympics that truly heralded its future as a cosmopolitan hub. Barcelona was transformed to host the Games. The city’s old Port Vell and then-derelict waterfront at La Barceloneta was modernised, and sand was brought in to create the now-famous – and touristswamped – Barceloneta Beach. The decade that followed saw an exponential increase in Barcelona’s visitor numbers; in 2017, the city of just one point six million hosted an estimated thirty-two million tourists.

The other side of this increasingly grubby coin is that the rise of tourism in Barcelona has coincided with – or rather, inspired – a resurgence of Catalan culture. Herein lies the appeal of a visit to the Catalan capital. There is great reward in immersing oneself in Barcelona’s genuinely local corners: from third-generation-owned, holein-the-wall eateries, to the studios of emerging artists and fashion designers, to parks and plazas and convenience stores where local life still plays out. The culture here is a specific one, birthed within a socio-political landscape characterised by a perceived marginalisation of the Catalan interest – both in Spain’s national discourse, and in the face of overtourism. It permeates out from enclaves, largely hidden from the touristic eye – and you get the feeling that’s how it should stay. If Parc Güell is the epitome of Barcelona’s overtourism, the Fundació Joan Miro might be an example of the antidote; it hosts around four hundred thousand visitors per year compared to Parc Güell’s nine million annual entrants. The rationalist architecture of the Foundation, designed by architect Josep Lluis Sert to house Miro’s oeuvre, fosters genuine insight

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Quiet Corners

into some of Barcelona’s most famous artistic contributions, while also offering respite from its tiresome crowds. Centred around a communal courtyard, the Foundation’s dreamlike spaces integrate with the natural surrounds of Montjüic Mountain - itself, all green leaves and spanning vistas, one of the only public spaces of its kind in Barcelona. It’s here I see an archival display detailing the work and legacy of Antoni Gaudí. It contains a series of

photographs depicting life in Park Güell in the 1990s. Children ride their bicycles around the Nature Square, long before it was given that name and cordoned off, while adults enjoy refreshments at the surrounding tables and chairs under the shade of the park’s iconic palm trees. It’s a reminder that this Barcelonan lifestyle – an alluring combination of Mediterranean climate, vibrant arts scene, and enviable food culture all drenched in Catalan history – is well worth preserving.

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Issue 8

SHOP

STAY VISIT

during off-peak periods; Barcelona’s weather is fine all year round.

at locally-owned stores and small businesses to support the city’s creative economy.

in smaller hotels that are conscious of their impact.

El Diluvio Universal

Hotel Brummel

Carrer de les Guilleries, Gràcia

Carrer Nou de la Rambla, El Poble-Sec

La Carbonera Llibreria

Casa Bonay

Carrer de Blai, El Poble-Sec

Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, Eixample

OMG BCN

Plaça de la Llana, El Born Discos Paradiso

Carrer de Ferlandina, El Raval

EXPLORE

neighbourhoods such as El Poblenou, home to Barcelona’s emerging tech industry and its only dedicated creative district, Poblenou Urban District; Gràcia, where you’ll find the studios of emerging local artists, and; El PobleSec, a diverse and quiet neighbourhood at the foot of Montjüic offering the rhythm of local life in spades.

Be a good tourist

EAT

real Catalan food. Gresca

Carrer de Provença, Eixample

Poblenou Urban District

Morro Fi

Carrer de Pujades, El Poblenou

Carrer del Consell de Cent, Eixample La Cova Fumada

Carrer del Baluard, La Barceloneta Els Pescadors

Plaça de Prim, El Poblenou

129

LEARN some Catalan phrases and use them when interacting with locals; si us plau (not por favor).

Raw Finery

Words by Claire Millett

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Raw Finery

Inherently individual, distinctively Australian, and with the forthcoming closure of the East Kimberley Argyle Diamond mine, Vela Jewellery’s collection is oh-so veritably rare.

It’s 2016 and two of Western Australia’s award-

perhaps, is that Rohan (of Perth’s acclaimed Rohan

winning jewellery designers are in recovery mode

Jewellers) and Simon have been able to set their

(complete with sausage roll, let’s just add) after a

personally designed pieces at a price point and aesthetic

celebratory night following the five-day marathon that

that appeals to almost every budget and generation.

is the Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair. Surely, this is

The pair first met through the WorldSkills

how all ingenious business ideas are made, right? As

Competition 25 years ago, tracking each others

Rohan Milne and Simon Henderson shook off the dust

successes in the industry as Simon went on to win the

from the night before, they realised they had landed on

competition and later work for Western Australia’s

something entirely unique.

history-making Kailis Jewellery, while Rohan travelled

The pair had just been introduced to a new Argyle

the world working alongside the likes of New York’s

diamond tracking system at the Fair. Up until then,

Henry Dunay and Rome’s Giorgio Guccione, where he

no one was able to offer a Champagne diamond and

also made pieces for different orders for the Vatican as

guarantee it was an Argyle stone (which is a subject that

well as the Italian Prime Minister of the time.

absolutely deserves its own chapter). Plenty of retailers

“Because Simon and I had been friends for so long,

do “guarantee” it, but unbeknownst to the everyday

and Simon had such an expertise in pearls, I always

consumer, it’s false advertising.

thought we’d work well together,” Rohan said.

“This tracking system was just starting up and

Drawing on the landscape – both literally and

everything clicked for us,” explains Simon, ex-Kailis

figuratively – Vela exemplifies the rawness of Australia

Jewellery Head Designer of 18 years. “We’d already

completely. Rose gold and yellow gold hues, along with

been looking at some pearls and when this came to our

the iridescence of Champagne diamonds, instantly

attention we knew we should do something with it.”

conjure images of the magnificent Kimberley region.

And so Vela Jewellery was born. Celebrating the

Similarly, the Australian South Sea pearls in

natural beauty of Argyle Champagne diamonds and

the collection embody the same earthiness, with the

Australian South Sea pearls, each piece is intelligently

designers opting to not treat them.

designed using materials sourced ethically, sustainably,

“Pearls on their own are a magnificent gem, and

and locally in Western Australia. Most importantly,

when they come out of the oyster is when they look their

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Raw Finery

best,” says Simon. “People treat them to enhance the

“The world of costume jewellery is not cheap, with

lustre and hide some of the blemishes, but to me that’s

people often paying up to $1000 for it and, ultimately,

not a real product. As soon as you treat something it’s no

it’s worth zip,” says Rohan. “If you pull our pieces apart

longer what it was; it’s pretending to be something else.

(which we don’t recommend!) it’s clear they are made of

The product we’re offering is real and genuine.”

top quality, authentic Australian gems that hold their

Sourcing is key to Vela, and Rohan emphasises just

own weight in value.”

how regularly retailers will say their product comes from a certain place when it actually doesn’t.

It’s also worth noting that Vela’s materials come in different shapes and sizes. No two pieces are the same,

“We have the process in place to ensure we know

making each piece completely individual to the wearer.

that we’re selling Argyle Champagne diamonds,” Rohan

“The fact that each piece comes from Australia and

explains. “We know that fact when we sit with the pearl

is not altered or enhanced in any way… I think this is

farmer buying thousands of pearls at a time so that we

what embodies the heart and soul of Australia and, in

can produce an amazing jewellery collection at a price

turn, our collection,” says Rohan. “We are who we are.

point that I don’t think anyone else can compete with.”

We don’t put on an act.”

While Rohan and Simon are no strangers to working

Vela is available to purchase online at velajewellery.

in the highest end of bespoke jewellery, they both admit

com, or exclusively from Rohan Jewellers located in

that their pieces traditionally come at a price point that

Leederville.

is generally out of reach for most people. It’s why they feel so good about Vela; offering their clients something that is made to a high quality, that is not mass-produced, @velajewellery

and that they know is intrinsically worth something. Subtract from the equation any costs traditionally associated with a storefront, plus no surprise shipping costs upon checkout, and these spectacular pieces start from just $180.

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