I'm shocked that I'm writing this post, as I never thought I could get soooooooooo........ excited about a butcher shop, especially as I don't eat meat. Who would have thought a butcher shop could have WOW factor!!! Recently at the 2010 Australian Interior Design Awards, the Premier Award for Interior Design Excellence and Innovation went to Dreamtime Australia Design (link) for their boutique butcher shop, Victor Churchill est.1876 in Queen Street Woollahra, Sydney. (click on both links to see fantastic photos of the shop!) The list of design features in this shop just goes on and on and on, but I'll list a few so you get the idea.

Custom-made "sausage" handles cast in solid copper from the original real 'Vic's meat sausage'

All displays of meat on stunning custom-made copper and glass shelving

Produce also featured on an illuminated ice display

Timber panelling everywhere

Sandstone feature wall behind 3 huge cutting blocks, butchers show case their skills on a "stage" behind floor-to-ceiling glass, customers can happily observe them at work

NOW FOR MY 3 FAVOURITES!!!!!!

The backdrop for the hanging meats is a Himalayan rock salt brick wall that infuses the meat with flavour and sterilizes the air. YOU ARE KIDDING?!!!!!

This next feature was inspired by a Louis Vuitton fall 2008 window display, multiple video cameras all positioned and focused onto the daily special which is displayed inside a glass dome on a pedestal. YEP!!!!!!

NOW, for my absolute favourite, the whole floor of the shop is an Italian Calacatta marble slab that has been sliced into mosaic tiles and re-laid back into it's original form, all marble veins lining up, like a massive jig-saw puzzle!!!!! This was an Australian first, never done before!

This seems so over the top, but I love it, how can a butcher shop visually be so appealing? Come on, lets face it, seeing multiples of carcases isn't a pretty sight! These designers are extremely clever and obviously having a huge budget helped. I can't believe I'm going to say this but I'm hoping to get up to Sydney at some stage and know my sister will be gobsmacked when I tell her I have to visit a butcher shop!!! And you know what, I might even buy some meat in honour of these great designers! Make sure you have a quick look at video below, it doesn't go for very long, thought it would be nice to actually see some video footage to really appreciate how amazing this shop is. X

The other day I bought a book called 'Portraits' by Steve McCurry (link), obviously the book is full of portraits and WOW they are stunning!!!! You may recognise the front cover? McCurry is a National Geographic photographer, these beautiful photos are from India, Afghanistan, Philippines, Chad, Nepal, China, Mali, Tibet, and a little from Los Angeles. Children seems to be a subject McCurry is drawn to. The photos have no descriptions or wording which I LOVE as it leaves me to interpret these faces through my imagination. The only text in the book is the first page where McCurry writes. While reading his words I certainly get the impression he is an extremely calm and patient gentleman!!!!!!

"In Portraits I look for the unguarded moment, the essential soul peeking out, experience etched on a person's face....... When I find the right person or subject, I may come back once or twice, or half a dozen times, always waiting for that right moment. Unlike the writer, once I pack my bags, there is no chance for another draft- either I have the shot or I don't. This is what drives and haunts the professional photographer, the gnawing sense that 'this it it'."

Honestly, looking into their eyes I want to know their story, I wonder what they are thinking or what they have been through! I found this book while searching one of my favourite blogs "The Sartorialist" (link), Scott Schuman writes he found inspiration from this book, as he to likes to find that something special in his street style portraits. I find inspiration the way these cultures display colour, it seems so bright and cheery, yet their lives maybe the opposite?! If you are lost for ideas for a present, I definitely recommend it, fabulous coffee table book!!!! You can buy it on this site Book depository very cheap and speedy delivery! (Thanks Jane!) X

David Bromley would be pretty close to being an Australian household name. His paintings are every where. You can't open a house magazine or weekend real estate spread without seeing a Bromley in the background. I even noticed his work in three shops in Melbourne recently! But what I didn't know was he has people working for him, painting his paintings. In the recent Adelaide Review, Peter Drew writes:

"We say 'studio' because David Bromley is an artist but the term 'factory' is perhaps a better description of the production line of workers who do the majority of Bromley's actual painting. If you're lucky the artist himself might have flicked the switch on the projector and traced out the actual design of any given nude but why should he even bother? With such a mechanical process why not just pay someone else to do the actual work? Warhol did it so why can't Bromley?"

"In this sense, mass-produced art has nothing to do with self-expression. Knowing this, why would any artist choose to treat their art like a commodity? There is only one answer: MONEY."

This article is extremely confronting for Bromley! (click on photo and zoom in on article to read) It certainly answered a few questions I've always wondered. Well, now I have to own up!!! We do have a Bromley, but fortunately not in the mass-produced style we all know, my father bought it for me about 7 years ago for my birthday, we went to an exhibition and the gentleman who was holding it knows Bromley and had some of his ink drawings unframed. I think with my graphics background this drawing appealed to me more then his other paintings! I think I might have been on to something!!!! Anyway it will be interesting to see what Bromley does and whether he can re-invent himself, I hope he does! X

During my recent trip to Melbourne I some how found the courage to drive right in the middle of peak hour traffic on a FRIDAY NIGHT!!! Think I had two mild anxiety attacks, "go left, go left, shit shit, I have no choice, I'm going left!!!" I had this plan, if I stayed in the far far left lane and I got into trouble, I'd just duck down a side street, take a few deep breathes, get myself together and go back out there for another attempt!!!! Right in the middle of this trauma, I was stuck in traffic laughing to Hamish and Andy, gazing into shops on beautiful High St and I saw a window with two stunning rugs!! I'm not into rugs at all, I'm really not, but these were gorgeous. It got me thinking how a vintage rug that looks a little worn, seems to give a room so much warmth, not just in the temperature terms, but warmth in the way a home is loved!! I don't know, a sense of history. The shop was called LOOM click on link and have a look, as their site quotes "A beautiful rug, is at the heart of a beautiful room (home)" I've added the word home, as I think these rugs would definitely turn any house into a HOME! Make sure you click on images and see the detail of these beauties! X

I'm back from Melbourne my trip went way to quick! The weather was pretty miserable, so didn't seem to find that many photo ops! I did get to Mark Tuckey to pick up my EGG CUP and here it is, sitting very happy in it's new home, I think it makes this corner of our room quite inviting. It was very funny when I picked it up as I didn't realise it weighed 23kgs, and my sisters' responses were "it's a freaken LOG"!!! It took two of us to carry it to the car, our car looked like it was dragging it's bottom the whole way home!! I'm very very happy, thank you Mr Tuckey, I think it's a beautiful piece, even if the majority see it as a LOG, I'll love it no matter what!!!!! X

I'm very excited!!!!!! I'm off to Melbourne tomorrow for the weekend, ahhhhhhhh, can't wait to sit down to coffee, juice and breakfast at my on leisurely pace! Then, first stop, I'm off to Mark Tuckey in Fitzroy, you may remember in an earlier post, about his sugarpine EGG CUP stools. Well, I've been saving (plus some lovely people put in for one for my birthday!!!) I'm actually using it as a side table, to place next to my husband's grandfathers old leather reading chair. When I'm home, I'll post a photo of it. I'm hoping to come home bursting with inspiration and some good snap shots would be nice as well. I'm on the prowl for my next painting, I'm still building up the confidence to post some photos of them??? (Kate, I promise I will soon!!!) XX