Recently I commissioned my friend Lucy Allen to create some of her quirky botanical drawings. Two as a gift for my boyfriend, two for me. Each plant has an animal lurking in it. Try and spot the squid, fish or squawking birds. I had them framed in pairs in dark wood, floating about an inch off the back.
IS./WET is a new collaboration between photographer Ted O’Donnell and artist Vicki Lee. This it the first time the couple have worked together.
Their photographs of brilliant flowers dripping in hyper colour paint are intriguing but it’s the stop motion film directed and edited by Patrick de Teliga which I really like.
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If you’re free tonight pop down to Sun Studios from 6pm to check out the exhibition.
My friend Lisa was in South Africa recently to spend some time with her boyfriend’s family.
Her travel snaps are adorable and I particularly liked these two. The first is taken at Babylonstoren Garden and the second while on safari.
Lisa is a stylist living in New York and her boyfriend Neil is a photographer. You can see some of their work on together over at Hunger TV. Above photographs by Neil Francis Dawson.
I have now added the Babylonstoren Garden to my list of places to visit when I head to South Africa (hopefully) next year. You can stay in one of their adjoining guesthouses, use the spa, visit their delicatessen, eat at the restaurant or just wander the garden.
Images from the Babylonstoren blog.
I visited Morocco a few years back. We caught the ferry from Tarifa across the Strait of Gilbrator to Tangiers. The ocean is incredibly luminescent and the sun so strong. We only spent a day in Tangiers before heading to Essaouira, but I remember winding, steep, dusty streets looking out onto that incredible view of the Mediterranean. It’s a rough, mysterious, and beautiful town filled with creative expats including the world renowned garden designer Madison Cox.
Ten or so years ago Cox bought a run down house perched on the cliffs of Tangiers. A lot of care and thought has gone into the renovation of the house and bringing alive of the garden. The one and a half acre garden is long and narrow and has a high white masonry wall on one side and cliff edge on the other. Within the garden he has a free standing library, swimming pool, guesthouse, chicken coop, stone paths, terraces, and flower and vegetable beds. It’s a relaxed design, and looks like a total pleasure to be amongst.
Photographs by Oberto Gili for the NY Times.
My sister was also in Morocco a couple of weeks ago. Her pictures are lovely so I thought I’d include some here.
Photographs by Olivia Kaplan and Pierre Voirin.
Kitchen gardens are popping up all over Sydney. Here are two I have visited, but for a bigger list check out this SMH article.
Chiswick Restaurant is set in a surrounds of Chiswick Gardens, Woollahra and hosts a 150 square metre kitchen garden.
Photograph one from Chiswick, photograph two and three by Sophia Kaplan.
The Grounds is a yummy cafe in an old warehouse in Alexandria and their garden is based on a sustainable permiculture approach. It also plays host to a brood of chickens and a newly acquired piglet.
Photographs of The Grounds by Katie Quinn Davies from What Katie Ate.
My best mate and a bunch of her friends live in a beautiful old terrace in Redfern. Their house has three meandering levels, and the garden is surrounded by leaf covered brick walls. They’ve only been there less than a year but already it feels so homely.
Thanks to Jane, Maya, Blake, Caitlin and Will for letting me photograph their home.
Miss Moss put me onto the great blog that is Old Chum. It’s actually a mix of old and new, but the images are always intriguing.
Image one: from Converted into Houses by Charles A. Fracchia & Jeremiah O. Bragstad, image two: Susan Worsham, images three & five: Ganna Walska, image four: La Clef de Verre by René Magritte.
Little Flowers is a new Sydney-based endeavour with a great concept I wish I’d thought of.
They deliver smaller, simpler flower arrangements for $25 including delivery. Each morning they post a pic on their website of what they have picked up from the market so you know what you’re getting.
They arrive wrapped in hessian and tied with twine. Again simple, but very cute. At the moment they deliver to most of Sydney’s Eastern suburbs and city areas.
Check out their website here.
Jardin des Fleurs is a Tokyo florist owned by floral artist Makoto Azuma and Shunsuke Shiinoki. Azuma creates incredibly unique floral sculptures for his clients along with weird and wonderful natural art installations.
The two partners released a beautiful book last year titled Encylopedia of Flowers (2012). It’s a jungle of colour and texture and features over 2000 different species of flowers.
The book is available through Lars Müeller Publishers for €58.
Check out their shop here and an interview with Azuma from The Glass Magazine here.
All photographs by Shunsuke Shiinoki.
And thanks to Alicia for putting me onto this amazing man!
The Secret Garden 