Bird lovers,

As a customer once said, the best of stories have unexpected endings. And so, as 10 days celebrating our 10 year anniversary come to a close, this seems a fitting moment to tell you that it is time to close the doors at Bird. 

I have been invited to work with the peak body for the arts and cultural sector, in my region. Flying the flag for the creative industries. Helping to make more brands, like Bird, more easily accessible to lovely customers like you. And so, with a happy sad heart, I have decided to spread my wings and fly.

It's been a massive 10 years, and I am very grateful for the many lessons learnt along the way. I'm also very grateful to all of you, who have so generously supported our work at Bird. Great things have happened since I took up the banner to promote sustainable design all those years ago, and I am tremendously proud of all we have achieved.

Which brings me to my team. I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the efforts of all who have been part of the Bird team over the years. These are just a few of the fabulous folk who have given so generously of their time and helped to bring Bird to you. I couldn’t have done it without them.

Our final ever CLOSING SALE starts today at 11am and runs until midnight on Saturday 8th September only. All remaining product and fabric is on sale at 70% off.

The first 100 CLOSING SALE purchases with a value over $100 (sale price exc freight), will receive 10 buttons, a brooch, and a Bird craft kit FREE in our massive closing giveaway.

This is your last ever chance to purchase Bird, and the remaining stock is limited, so go to our webshop now and place your final order while there is still stock available. Please be patient if the webshop system is busy in the first few hours.

There have been so many kind words over the years and I will always be grateful for your encouragement and support.

Thank you again for being part of a remarkable journey.
Together we did a great thing.

Mama bird x

It’s official. This week we are celebrating 10 years at Bird! We will be looking back at highlights from the last 10 years at Bird, this is our last daily $200 prize draw, but we will be having a huge giveaway tomorrow, Wednesday 5th September, so stay tuned!

The story continues........and so with Bird’s newly built nest feathered, and the brand thriving, the time felt right to take a moment to focus on family. In October 2010 a very special little bird was born, under a starry sky, at Rachel’s home in Byron Bay. And life changed forever.

During late 2010, and early 2011, Rachel took some time out to spend with her baby daughter, Quincy. Inspired by her little girl, later that year she launched a sub-brand for kids called Little Bird, Little Bird featuring a boutique range of bespoke children’s organic wear.

Click on read more to see more images from 10 years at Bird.

Email info@birdtextile.com  with the two fabric colours we make our Little Bird, Little Bird pinafores in to go in today’s draw to win $200 of Bird product. Write ‘Day 9 Draw’ in the header of your email.

It’s official. This week we are celebrating 10 years at Bird! We will be looking back at highlights from the last 10 years at Bird, there are daily $200 prize draws, and a huge giveaway on Wednesday 5th September, so stay tuned!

The story continues........ 2010 was a year of consolidation for the brand. A $50,000 grant from OzIndustry enabled a restructure, redesign, and new online wholesale and retail website, and  streamlined fashion, homewares, and gift ranges. The popular resurgence of indi-craft reinforced our decision to launch a new craft range.

An invite to show at London Fashion Weeks dedicated eco-fashion platform, Estethica, opened up new markets in Europe, and we had fun with our Spring Summer fashion range themed around Playful Perfection.

Fashion Group International awarded Bird as winner of the Sustainable Product category of the FGI Sydney Awards for Excellence, and somewhere in the middle of all this Rachel finished building her sustainable straw bale home!    

Click on read more to see more images from 10 years at Bird.

Email info@birdtextile.com  with the names of our three do it yourself craft kits to go in today’s draw to win $200 of Bird product. Write ‘Day 8 Draw’ in the header of your email.

It’s official. This week we are celebrating 10 years at Bird! We will be looking back at highlights from the last 10 years at Bird, there are daily $200 prize draws, and a huge giveaway on Wednesday 5th September, so stay tuned!

The story continues.......the theme of this 2009 fashion shoot was Reaching Nirvana, and in many ways this was the year that Bird reached its Nirvana. It was a year of reaffirmation and education.

Rachel was invited to be a panel member of ‘Eco Young Guns’ at Eat Green Design, Powerhouse Museum part of Sydney Design Festival, and chose to put time and energy into education and sustainable design, by guest speaking at the TCF Forum for Tafe NSW, a Fashioning Now Industry Symposium at UTS, Sydney, and encouraging school kids at a ‘Fashion Less Waste’ competition through the Australian Museum.

Click on read more to see more images from 10 years at Bird.

Email info@birdtextile.com  with the answer to.....Which brand did we collaborate with to create the products featured in our shop window at Bird Textiles Emporium? (see images) ..... to go in today’s draw to win $200 of Bird product. Write ‘Day 7 Draw’ in the header of your email.

It’s official. This week we are celebrating 10 years at Bird! We will be looking back at highlights from the last 10 years at Bird, there are daily $200 prize draws, and a huge giveaway on Wednesday 5th September, so stay tuned!

The story continues.......2008 was a big year for the brand. With over 100 retailers and a global online retail store, we finally had the buying power to commission our own organic cotton base fabric to be woven in tens of thousands of metres from India, thereby making it financially viable to use organic base fabrics for our entire range. This meant we were able to offer the triple sustainability whammy of organic fair-trade fabric, 100% renewable energy in production and 100% climate neutral business practice.

That same year we opened our flagship store in the heart of Sydney’s design district, Surry Hills in one of Sydney’s oldest buildings. And launched our giftware range.

To top the year off, Bird was recognized as Fabric Designer of the Year by House and Garden Magazine.

Click on read more to see more images from 10 years at Bird.

Email info@birdtextile.com with the answer to.....What type of shop had Bird Textiles Emporium been before we took it on?, ..... to go in today’s draw to win $200 of Bird product. Write ‘Day 6 Draw’ in the header of your email.

It’s official. This week we are celebrating 10 years at Bird! We will be looking back at highlights from the last 10 years at Bird, there will be daily $200 prize draws, and a huge giveaway on Wednesday 5th September, so stay tuned!

The story continues........ in 2007 Bird was selected by Austrade to represent Australia in New York at G’Day USA, and awarded a stand at the new ‘green’ section of Designers and Agents fashion tradefair in Los Angeles, so launched Bird in the U.S. It was also the year we launched the homewares range in Australia, exposing our brand to a whole new market.

In the same year Time Magazine featured Bird as one of three significant sustainable fashion brands in Australasia. The brand was featured in ‘Cool Hunting Green’ book, published internationally, and curators at the Powerhouse Museum nominated Rachel for a Powerhouse Wizard Award, recognizing emerging leaders in Australian innovation and achievement.

The year was all about new markets, travel and innovation, and the year’s winter fashion shoot reflected this, inspired by leaving on a jetplane on a ‘journey to the world of tomorrow’.

Click on read more to see more images from 10 years at Bird. 

Email info@birdtextile.com with the name of one of the fabric prints featured in the 'Journey To the World of Tomorrow' photoshoot at Bird Textiles, to go in today’s draw to win $200 of Bird product. Write ‘Day 5 Draw’ in the header of your email.

It’s official. This week we are celebrating 10 years at Bird! We will be looking back at highlights from the last 10 years at Bird, there will be daily $200 prize draws, and a huge giveaway on Wednesday 5th September, so stay tuned!

The story continues.......

Bird showed the first fashion range using our own hand printed fabrics at a trade fair in Sydney and signed up 20 shops on the spot. It was time to start scaling up production. The Bird team grew over night and the new premises in Byron Bay was kitted out to manage demand for this new fashion range.

The brand was recognised as Australia’s FIRST climate neutral business by undertaking a life cycle analysis of the carbon costs for the entire business and purchasing renewable energy - in wind farms and UV solar plants.

And the Powerhouse Museum interviewed Rachel and initiated procurement of garments from both Slingfings and Bird Textiles for the permanent collections at the museum.

Click on read more to see more images from 10 years at Bird. 

Email info@birdtextile.com with the name of the book which inspired this winter photo shoot at Bird Textiles, to go in today’s draw to win $200 of Bird product. Write ‘Day 4 Draw’ in the header of your email.

It’s official. This week we are celebrating 10 years at Bird! We will be looking back at highlights from the last 10 years at Bird, there will be daily $200 prize draws, and a huge giveaway on Wednesday 5th September, so stay tuned!

The story continues.......

The growth of Slingfings left Rachel with a new problem. How to find the quantities of vintage fabric required to continue to fulfil all the orders she was receiving. It occurred to her that the only way to really grow was to be able to access fabrics in larger quantities.

With vintage fabrics becoming more difficult to find, and the limitations of having to create all one off pieces, Rachel looked to her training and roots in textile design and decided her best approach would be to design her own range of fabrics. Using the hundreds of different vintage prints she had handled as inspiration, she designed her own range of fabrics, and launched the new brand ‘Bird Textiles’.

Click on read more to see more images from 10 years at Bird. 

Email info@birdtextile.com with the name of one of the dress styles from the first fashion season at Bird Textiles, to go in today’s draw to win $200 of Bird product. Write ‘Day 3 Draw’ in the header of your email.

It’s official. This week we are celebrating 10 years at Bird! We will be looking back at highlights from the last 10 years at Bird, there will be daily $200 prize draws, and a huge giveaway on Wednesday 5th September, so stay tuned!

The story continues.....

During the first couple of years Rachel travelled up and down the East Coast searching op shops for vintage fabrics, and selling the Slingfings bags at markets and festivals. Every Saturday, she would get up at 4am to drive to the Valley markets in Brisbane, and then drive home and get up at 6am the following day to do one of the Byron Bay or Bellingen markets. The rest of the week was all about cutting and sewing which was done from the spare room of her home.

It wasn’t long before Rachel started to get requests to expand the range, and so she employed her first solar sewer, and developed a small fashion range, using the recycled and reclaimed vintage fabrics. Enlisting the help of friends and family, Rachel pulled together her first photo shoots on the smell of an oily rag and started to build her brand.

Click on read more to see more images from 10 years at Bird.

Email info@birdtextile.com with the name of one of the dress styles from the Slingfings original fashion range, to go in today’s draw to win $200 of Bird product. Write ‘Day 2 Draw’ in the header of your email.

It’s official. This week we are celebrating 10 years at Bird! Over the next 10 days we will be looking back at highlights from the last 10 years at Bird, there will be daily $200 prize draws, and a huge giveaway on Wednesday 5th September so stay tuned!

The brand started in August 2002, as its first incarnation Slingfings. It was Rachel’s first year living in Australia, on a remote intentional community near Bellingen on the East Coast of Australia. She lived in a simple shack made from canvas, doors and windows, learnt about living sustainably,  off the grid, on a stunning 800 acre property, made up of pristine beach and literal rainforest, where 200 people had chosen to live lightly on the planet. She grew her own food, studied permaculture, and had a dream to start a small business using the principles she was living by, and her passion for textiles.

Slingfings first collection were bag designs made from recycled and reclaimed vintage fabrics. The bags were sewn at Rachel’s little shack, using solar power, and sold at the local markets.

Click on read more to see more images from the early years.

Email info@birdtextile.com with the name of one of the bag styles from the Slingfings original bag range, to go in today’s draw to win $200 of Bird product. Write ‘Day 1 Draw’ in the header of your email.

Some of you may have recognised our lovely bird logo as the work of author and artist, Emma Magenta. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, Emma is the author of a series of adult picture books; The Peril of Magnificent Love, A Gorgeous Sense of Hope, The Origin of Lament and The Gradual Demise of Phillipa Finch. Her books have resonated with thousands of women around the globe.

Her most recent creation; The Gradual Demise of Phillipa Finch is Emma’s first foray into the world of animation and follows the emotional journey of Emma’s alter-ego Phillipa Finch, from death to life. A sixteen episode series screened on ABC1 in 2011 that seeks to bridge the gap between human emotion and technology via an interactive website.

Phillipa is the pin up girl for the emotionally twarted. Each episode tumbles back through her past relationships, and follows her journey from the numb, torpid and stupified to the land of the emotionally fulfilled.

Emma Magenta was born in Sydney and began her career drawing and writing her thoughts down on brown paper bags while working at Berkelouw Books in Paddington. After pinning them to the front window, they accrued a cult status and a publishing deal was offered to her by Australian publishing phenomenon Bradley Trevor Grieve. The rest is history.

 ‘As I was musing on what I had long suspected (that sport and beauty were incompatible), I fell over and just sort of died. And as I lay there, pondering the great void that swam before me, I was carried away by special creatures to a place where people go when consumed by too much disappointment, or weighed down by the consequences of burying too many feelings...I always imagined that dying would liberate me from all awareness, thereby ensuring a certain freedom, but alas no. Everything pretty much goes on as before except that you have to stay in the same outfit you arrived in and you can’t find decent coffee a*n*y*w*h*e*r*e...’

Phillipa Finch has died from a broken heart. Is there anything that can bring her back..?

We hope so. Eagerly awaiting the next installment.
Love, love, love. x

Finland’s oldest glass factory is located at the Nuutajärvi Glass Village, in the south of Finland. For over 200 years, glassblowing has been the central industry for this small community. It’s most famous resident is Oiva Toikka...he of the world reknowned Toikka glass Birds for Iittala, the Finnish design company.

I made it over to Scandinavia in 2006. In search of all things on the holy grail of Scandinavian design, I had dreamt of collecting Toikka's Birds, and this was to be my first purchase. Oiva Toikka's glass birds were born in 1972, the year of my birth, so this journey felt somewhat predestined.

A small golden, green-striped bird created for a Christmas exhibition mounted by the Nuutajärvi Museum in 1979 attracted the attention of a journalist at the family magazine, "Kotiliesi", which decided to offer it to its readers instead of a print as in previous years. The bird proved to be a great success. Since the inception of his glass bird creations, Oiva Toikka has created over 500 variations of glassblown birds including the annual bird release every year since 1996.

Toikka glass birds are collected all around the world. Rarities are as eagerly tracked down and talked about as their real equivalents in the ornithological world. My small, but precious collection, sits on high in our living room, out of the reach of little hands, whilst their real equivalents fly by our windows their lungs full with the joys of song.

Love, love, love. Sigh.

I was first introduced to Rob Ryans divine paper art last year. Rob is a highly acclaimed British visual artist and illustrator who specialises in papercutting and screen printing. Widely acknowledged as the man who reinvented paper cuts, sparking a worldwide art movement, his work has been featured on Paul Smith’s catwalk, the cover of Stylist magazine, Vogue and Elle.

Ryan's first book, This Is for You, was published in 2007 and consists of a fairytale told through his paper cut-out art  and explores themes of love and loneliness. Receiving my very own ‘This is for You’ package in the mail, felt like Christmas all over again. From the handcut stamp, to the brown paper packaging, personal messages, and hand written note card. His shop, Ryantown, came about in the summer of 2008. It is top of my list for my next visit to the UK. His work, style and humour are second to none and get the big thumbs up from.

Check out Robs work here, visit his website, and watch a short youtube interview with the man himself. It made my day to know his favourite kids book was The Elves and the Shoemaker, as I still have a copy from when I was a child. My absolute favourite.

What's not to love?

Many of you will know I am the lucky owner of a 1974 Citroen DS. Otherwise known as ‘The Goddess’.  She is my pride and joy, I shine and polish and gaze lovingly at her. It is an affair of the heart. Ours is a love affair only some will understand.  I waited many years, and she was absolutely worth the wait.

With mixed feelings, I recently came across the work of photographer Peter Lippmann. Peter lives and works in Paris, France, so it was inevitable really, that a goddess would be featured in this series of photos from his latest work, Paradise Parking. Torn between the violent tug of heart strings strained at seeing a goddess in such disrepair, the joy of texture on texture (come on, I am a textile designer, and it can’t be all doom and gloom), and the divine victory of mother nature reclaimed I have spent hours admiring Lippmanns latest work.

Stunningly beautiful, haunting, simple. Lippmans old and decaying classic cars are joyful in their abandoned bliss.

Love love love.

Late last year we were approached by The Hummingbird Eco Retreat, who were undergoing a total eco refit.

The brief....to turn an old tired conference centre into a light and airy 4 star eco retreat.

Our organic fabric range was top of their list.

The refitting team, Kim Kneipp & Jen Brownscombe, and a team of painters, tradies, volunteers, family and friends undetook a total renovation in just 10 weeks, using our fabrics as the 'star' of their minimalist 'nature and the elements' themed rooms.

We think they did a magical job. :)

In honour of all things red and lovely this Valentines Day,......courtesy of the ever fabulous Dezeen archives.......

A bright red psychiatric centre in Zaragoza, Spain by Jose Javier Gallardo.
The waiting room of a health centre by architects Migue Barahona and Luis Castillo in southern Spain.
The garden of 10,000 bridges by West 8 in Xi'an, China.
Brazilian architects Metro’s red glass chocolate museum.
A bright red car showroom in Bangkok, Thailand by Supermachine Studio.
The Nanhe River Landscape Bridge in the Sichuan province, China by New York studio WXY Architecture.
A pedestrian crossing by Atelier 9.81 in Tourcoing, France.
The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion by Jean Nouvel in London.

Enjoy.

I first came across Kinfolk Magazine late last year, and fell head over heels in love.

It's a bit like the divine Dumbo Feather magazine, but with their own style, content, and format. Their magazine, like Dumbo, leaves me feeling warm, and gooey ....part of a community based on core grass roots values, good design and food!

Their Manifesto reads, ‘Kinfolk is a growing community of artists with a shared interest in small gatherings. We recognize that there is something about a table shared by friends, not just a wedding or once-a-year holiday extravaganza, that anchors our relationships and energizes us. We have come together to create Kinfolk as our collaborative way of advocating the natural approach to entertaining that we love. Every element of Kinfolk—the features, photography, and general aesthetics—are consistent with the way we feel entertaining should be: simple, uncomplicated, and less contrived. Kinfolk is the marriage of our appreciation for art and design and our love for spending time with family and friends.'

We love.

And so do others, looking at their rapidly expanding stockist list!

Now in its 6th year, the Byron Bay International Film Festival has established a reputation for dynamic programming. This reputation is built on the festivals ability to pull together a captivating, stimulating and entertaining dose of screen culture. But there two stand out genres for which both the festival, and Byron Bay, are best known. Surf/street culture, and conservation/the environment. Screening over 10 days, from 2-11 March , further programming and ticketing information will be available in the lead up to the festival at www.bbff.com.au.

Here’s our top picks from their enviro programme:

Manufacturing Stoke. Surf. No other sport is so intrinsically linked to nature. And yet, in becoming the multi-billion dollar industry it is today, a great paradox has arisen. Surfers are directly connected to the earth’s pulse and yet a majority of the materials used are environmentally toxic. Manufacturing Stoke, is an introspective look into the surfing culture’s struggle for positive environmental change. Follow this link to the movie trailer.

Miss South Pacific. What does a beauty pageant in Suva, Fiji have to do with climate change? Quite a lot, as it turns out. 'Miss South Pacific: Beauty and the Sea' is a short documentary film about the 2009-2010 Miss South Pacific Pageant that brought contestants, or Queens, from all the major Pacific Island Nations to compete in a week long pageant for the crown of Miss South Pacific. Addressing the theme of Climate Change and its impact on Pacific Island countries, the Queens eloquently and passionately implore judges, spectators, and the world at large to reduce global carbon emission lest their island homes will be lost to rising seas.Follow this link to the movie trailer.

Minds in The Water is a feature-length documentary following the quest of professional surfer Dave Rastovich and his friends to protect dolphins, whales and the oceans they all share. Through Dave's journey—a five-year adventure spanning the globe from Australia to the Galapagos, Tonga, California, Alaska and Japan—we see one surfer’s quest to activate his community to help protect the ocean and it’s inhabitants. Follow this link to the movie trailer.

The Hungry Tide. Putting a human face to the issue of Global Warming. veteran documentarian Tom Zubrycki zeroes in on the lives of the people living in Kiribati, the globe's lowest-lying nation. Each year the water rises and we're shown the villages of people desperately trying to keep the "hungry tide" from washing their homes away...follow this link to the movie trailer.

Make sure you check out the full programme in the coming weeks. Happy watching. Mama Bird. :)

As you know, we’re a sucker for funky lookin bird houses. This little selection caught our eye.

Back in 2008, around 20 international artists and designers came together to create habitats for threatened British species from recycled materials for a charity auction in London. The brief was set by environmental organisation, Adventure Ecology and auction house, Phillips de Pury & Company, as an attempt to upcycle the auction house’s waste in a creative way.

The paper, plastic and wood discarded in the process of packing, moving and installing art works and exhibitions was up-cycled to create habitats for the rapidly declining numbers of bird, bat and bee species in urban areas.

Not sure how practical they are, but we love anyway. :)

The little Chromatic Typewriter, is a conceptual art piece using a modified 1937 Underwood Standard typewriter.

According to the artist, Washington based painter Tyree Callahan, ‘it has started some great discussions on the translation of art into words and words into art. Folks with synesthesia like it too’.

For me the idea of being able to type in paint, or paint in type is genius. And the flow of the colour wheel across the keyboard is the kind of rainbow magic that makes my heart sing. Enjoy.

Hauntingly beautiful, the artworks of Steffan Dam are not all that they seem.

Originally trained as a toolmaker, Steffen has been working with glass for over 25 years. Blowing, casting, and grinding by hand, he ‘presides over chance’ and traps in perpetuity.

His artworks suggest the elusive and fragile shapes, colours, and textures of nature, specifically underwater life forms such as embryonic shellfish, jelly fish, and other invertebrates. But they are in fact an illusion, a suggestion, an otherworldly biology lab.

The artist describes his process of glass making, ‘To me, a garden is a metaphor for everything unregulated. I cultivate the garden, but then there are so many other factors – slugs, wind, frost, sun and rain. It also depends whether I sow too early, too late, or just at the right time..... The garden is under my control and out of control at the same time....... I simply preside over chance. It is just like the process of forming glass’.

This chance process involves a combination of traditional glass making techniques with a welding torch, coloured glass powder, layers of metal foil and thin layers of carbon.  Once all of the applications have been added, the object is covered in several more layers of clear glass and each one is fused together to make one Specimen Panel—consisting of 25 or more individual glass blocks.

The end result is just magical.

Steffen will be exhibiting in Palm Beach, Florida from 20-24 January. For further information on his collection ‘The End of My Garden’ please follow this link.

This weeks post from the homeland is on a stunning art installation in Cardiff, the capital of Wales.

Wales is a land of contrast. The draw of its great natural beauty, the rugged coastline, and magical mountains, moorlands and valleys, contrast with the scars left by the coal mines of the 1900’s. A nation, whose wealth was built exporting coal from the South Wales Valleys to the rest of the world, helped to power the industrial age. In his time, the Third Marquis of Bute, who owned Cardiff Bay docks, was the richest man in the world.

The regeneration of Cardiff Bay is now widely regarded as one of the most successful urban regeneration projects ever undertaken in the UK.  The area has undergone a massive transformation over the past 20 years, now hosting world class buildings like The Senedd (see my previous post) and Wales Millennium Centre, home to the Welsh National Opera.

Central to this redevelopment was the Cardiff Bay barrage. The bay had been part of the Bristol Channel which has the second largest tidal range in the world. As a result, for half of the day, the bay was empty of water, leaving large unappealing mudflats exposed. The barrage created a large freshwater lake in their place.

Whilst the outcome of the development has been mostly positive, there was strong opposition from environmental groups at the time, because the bay was an important feeding ground for birds. So it is with some sense of purpose that this latest art installation takes pride of place along the riverside.

Artist Gitta Gschwendtner has created the site specific ecological art installation, a wall, by  incorporating 1,000 nest boxes for birds and bats. The 50 metre long wall separates a residential development of 1,000 new apartments from the adjacent riverside path. It includes four types of boxes to accommodate different species of birds and bats.

There is something quite beautiful in the contrast of the deeply industrial aesthetic  of the artwork, and its deeply ecological purpose. A sadness and a joy all mixed into one, that so completely sums up the contradiction that is Wales.

It’s good to be home.

Wishing you all the best for a Happy New Year. See you back on the blog in 2012! Mama Bird x

Today my friends, is my first day at home in Wales (UK), and this will be my first Christmas here in over 13 years! But most importantly, this will be childs first Christmas in Wales, and oh what a Christmas there shall be.

As the playwright Dylan Thomas, from my hometown of Swansea, wrote in his famous poem, A Child’s Christmas in Wales,  ‘All the Christmases roll down toward the two-tongued sea, like a cold and headlong moon bundling down the sky that was our street; and they stop at the rim of the ice-edged fish-freezing waves, and I plunge my hands in the snow and bring out whatever I can find. In goes my hand into that wool-white bell-tongued ball of holidays resting at the rim of the carol-singing sea.’ Magic.

So a little bit of birdy magic for my little girl this week. Follow this link for 16 seconds of animated magic, then read on.

Bronia Sawyer describes herself as a contemporary experimental paper artist, jewellery maker and crafts woman. There is something quite magical about her work. She colours, folds, and rolls the pages of books to create these bird and flower-like plumes of colour. So simple, so beautiful, so magical. I just love them. 'Read more' for more inspiring images of her work.

Time to curl up in front of the open fire, with a hot toddy, and wish for a sprinkling of snow on the ground in the morning. I couldn’t feel more northern hemisphere Christmassy if I tried. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas wherever you are around the world.  Mama Bird x

Maverick Japanese architect Terunobu Fujimori is interested in "architecture before civilization," a time when people were more exposed to the elements. And if his Takasugi-an, or Too-High Tea House , is anything to go by you couldn’t really be more exposed.

Perched 20 feet in the air, atop two chestnut trees, accessible by only free standing ladders, the Too-High Tea House,  more of a Too-High Tree House,  is a one of a kind. As are most of his buildings.  He makes his architectural models by hacking tree stumps into abstract, sculptural shapes using a chainsaw. And when he’s completed the final drawings for a project, he invites his clients to his weekend house in Nagano for a little ceremony he’s devised. Sitting in the private Too-High Tea House, he hands them a hand-rendered version of the final plans. “If they don’t like my design, I shake the building!” he says.

We love.

Spontaneous City is a space creation experiment for birds, appearing in a number of urban green spaces across the UK over the last 18 months.

Started in London in 2010, and continuing in Norwich, Norfolk in 2011 for the Norfolk Festival, the sculptures are installed by art and architecture collective London Fieldworks.

The sculptures are made from hundreds of bespoke, wooden bird and bug boxes that create a sculptural ‘habitat’ for the birds, insects and invertebrates that occupy the gardens, providing spaces for shelter, nesting or feeding.  The design of the boxes reflects the local architecture, a metaphorical interplay between the condition of the animal and the human.

Images 1-4 are taken from three new sites in Norwich. The boxes in image 5 reflect the architecture of the nearby Worlds End housing estate in Chelsea whilst images 6-8 refelct the Georgian terrace and 1960's flats that surround the neighbourhood park.

If you are in the hood check them out. Mama Bird.

Enough with the Olympics posters, official or otherwise.....this, my friends, is priceless.

Doco maker Ceri Levy is the brains behind Ghosts of Gone Birds. Working with hip creative agency Good Pilot out of London Town, Ceri and over 120 artist, writers and muso friends and supporters, have come together to raise awareness for BirdLife International’s Preventing Extinctions programme.

Switching off now? Don’t. This campaign is brilliant.

‘We are raising a creative army for conservation through a series of multimedia exhibitions and events that will breathe artistic life back into extinct birds species’ says the team at Ghosts of Gone Birds, ‘Shedding light on front line conservation work being done around the world to prevent any more birds migrating to gone status’.

An innovative art exhibition, spoken word and music events make for a tidy creative events programme. But it is the brand identity, images and series of information posters which sell the concept and cause so brilliantly. Do read on to see the series of posters, and follow this link to their website to read the ‘Ghost Stories’ behind each image.

Ten out of ten from Mama Bird.

Love it or hate it, modern, abstract BritArt is back in the headlines this month with the launch of the 2012 London Olympic poster series. The designs are for the Games’ official commemorative posters which will be shown around the world over the next ten months.

A predictable cry of ‘infant school art’ from the UK's Daily Mail has been tempered by a more informed ‘touching idealism’ from The Guardian. Art critics are kinder, but it seems members of the public were hoping for a more ‘crowd-centric’ approach.

The twelve leading UK artists selected to design the posters, including four Turner prize-winners, have stirred up quite a storm despite following in the footsteps of art greats David Hockney, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichenstein, all of whom created posters for previous Games.

My favourite, Sir Howard Hodgkin’s blue swimming splodge is an absolute delight for the senses. Water, the pool, diving, movement. Poetry in motion.

Rachel Whiteread’s random repetitive bright circles in ‘London 2012’ appeals to the textile designer inherent in me, as does Sarah Morris’s abstract ‘Big Ben 2012’. I love the tonal elements, leaves and circles of Gary Hume’s  ‘Capital’ but don’t see it’s relevance. Others appealed less to me.

London based graphic designer, Sarah Hyndman, was one who felt she could do better, releasing ‘the alternative London 2012 posters’ to reflect ‘the everyday of living and working in London’. She plans to release a new poster on her blog, every day in the lead up to the start of the Games, using every day objects and food, arranged into groups of five to resemble the Olympic rings logo.

For me, whilst there are merits in both approaches, I’d lose the lot in favour of Sir Howards splodge.

What do you think?

A block of land in Byron Bay, slowly evolved into one couples prefect eco-house, designed to have the lightest possible footprint on the land.

Rachel Bending remembers the first time she laid eyes on the Byron Bay hinterland and the strong connection she felt to the area. ‘The Byron Shire is very similar to where I grew up in ‘Old’ South Wales in the UK’ she says. ‘Both have stunning, unspoilt beaches, rolling hills and farming land, leading to rugged, wild forests and cliffs’.

With her partner, Campbell Rowe, Rachel bought a block of land in Byron Bay in 2003. To familiarise themselves with the property and see how it reacted to natures elements, such as the sun and wind, Rachel and Cam spent four years living part time on the site in a caravan, all the while commuting to Byron Bay and Sydney to run Rachel’s environmentally focused business Bird Textiles.

Read the rest of this interview, from the current November issue of Australian Womens Weekly, by clicking this 'read more' link.

‘Undertaking this kind of research enabled us to design the house with a great deal more awareness of environmental factors and, ultimately, to design a practical and energy efficient home,’ she explains.

After familiarising themselves with the land and planting the gardens with orchards, succulents, tropical ornamentals and natives, Rachel consulted Steve and Sophie Trstenjak from Blue Architects, to design her a home which was focused on minimising her family’s environmental footprint.

‘We were initially drawn to Blue Architects because they had .......a modern design aesthetic and a personal interest in sustainable design’ says Rachel.

The home was constructed using stone, strawbale, concrete and glass because of each materials unique properties, focusing on thermal mass and insulation.

The interior of the home is an eclectic mix of old and new, with thrift shop and eBay finds sitting alongside rare collectable glass and design classics. 'What ties it all together is my passion for printed surface design and inspiration from the 1950's,' says Rachel.

Find Rachels top 'eco tips' and top 'home secrets' in this months edition of Australian Womens Weekly.

Originally trading as makers of fly catching paper in the early 1920s, Japanese company Kamoi have been manufacturing various forms of industrial masking tape for over 80 years.

In the summer of 2006, three women; a gallery owner, an artist and a graphic designer, made a trip from Tokyo to the production factory. They had with them a small book of collages and patterns made using some of Kamoi’s coloured rice-paper tapes. After their visit, they were further inspired, and invited 17 of their artist friends to design patterns and prints for them. These in turn, were once again presented to Kamoi.

Kamoi saw the potential for growth into a whole new market, and realised the idea, launching the sub-brand MT, focusing on ‘sweetness and functionality’. Cleverly designed packaging and a super slick, very Japenesee marketing campaign complete the picture. The rest is history.

MT, the Japanese washi masking tape, has become a global art, craft and design phenomenon.
The kinda idea we all wished we thought of. Enjoy the piccies courtesy of Hello Sandwich. :)

Wikipedia defines the hobby of collecting to ‘include seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloguing, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector’.

Some collectors are generalists, accumulating merchandise, or stamps from all countries of the world. Others focus on a subtopic within their area of interest, perhaps 19th century postage stamps, milk bottle labels from Sussex, or Mongolian harnesses and tack.

For me, over the years, my small highly collectable, rather exclusive collection of hand blown glass birds, by reknowned Finnish glass designer Oiva Toikka has been somewhat superseded by a larger collection of birds. You see, roughly around the time my nickname became ‘Bird’ my dear friends and family took it upon themselves to start buying me bird themed presents. I should clearly state, I had no hand in this decision, it was as if a great big fluoro light went on in the collective brain of those around me. From here on in, I was going to be easy to buy presents for. And that they did. Bless them.

Bird cards, bird candleholders, bird garlic presses, bird mobiles, bird garden ornaments, bird jewellery, bird tins, bird cages ...bird...bird.....bird...... I could go on.

Much as I love my bird collection, it is my small collection of vintage cake racks which I really covet. They hang on the wall in the kitchen and I’m always on the look out for more.

I think collecting is in my bones. Collections, and how they are presented, fascinates me. So, when randomly trawling the internet, if a collection pops up, I bookmark it. Just can’t help myself.

People collect weird and wonderful things.

These are some of my favourite collections from the last couple of months. Enjoy.

We’ve been checking out the work of Rune Guneriussen in Norway. He’s got the installation in nature thing going on.

Like Andy Goldworthy (see my previous blog post earlier this year), most of his installations are temporary, and recorded for prosperity through photograph. The photograph as a medium ultimately becomes as important as the installation.

Guneriussen’s work on objects such as tables, lamps and chairs started in 2005, and has been photographed on location all over Norway. The objects are ‘cast’ in landscape scenes, as if part of a story.

As an artist he believes that his work should be ‘questioning and bewildering’.

We love his quirky compositions.

Following up our series of posts on curvy homes, I came across this stunning home in Durban, South Africa. But this one’s a double whammy.

Those of you who’ve seen our nest, will know I have a thing for curves. Curves.....ahhhh.. But I also have a thing for straw. At our house, the walls are made from strawbales, so we were able to create long ambling organic curves with the bales and a chainsaw (see my blog post on our home from last year).

What’s fabulous about the Wright house in Durban, is the way they’ve combined the straw and curves. Not strawbales, as we’ve used at our home, but straw thatch.

South Africans are renowned for their thatched roof homes, its a traditional building technique used for centuries. This take on traditional technique with a very modernist building style is highly unusual...and yet it works. The texture of the straw is divine, and works well with the smooth flowing curved structure.

Architect Elmo Swart has designed a fluid and contemporary space. Two studies, an entertainment area, and an art gallery form an annex to an existing dwelling. Extensive glazing, and outdoor bathroom features add to the design, making the most of expansive views across the countryside.

We love.

Hyper-minimalist poster designs of the classic children’s stories we’ve grown to know and love by former design gun for hire, Christian Jackson of Square Inch Design.

There are more here.

What’s not to like. :)

The 2011 London Design Festival has just come to an end, and I’ve been watching from afar, a little in awe of this years amazing programme. Now in its ninth year, it is a showcase for the best of furniture, interi¬ors, textiles, craft, graphics, fashion, and architecture. Phewi.

The V&A Museum is the Festivals main hub venue, with Tent at the Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, Shoreditch, the unofficial HQ for East London’s Design Festival.

My favourite installation from this years festival has been the V&A’s showpiece this year.

Naturally, it’s a textile installation.

Frances most accomplished design duo, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec,  in collaboration with Kvadrat, are responsible for this stunning installation in the V & A Museum, intended to provide a space to “lounge” while contemplating the surrounding Raphael Cartoons Gallery in a more relaxed setting. The textile installation is 30 meters long and 8 meters wide, and takes up over 240sqm of the floor of the famous gallery floor.

‘The Raphael Cartoons are really important pieces, but in a way they are kind of difficult to look at because they’re from such a different time,’ says Erwan Bouroullec. Offered the chance to create a design intervention almost anywhere in the V&A, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec chose the Raphael Court, built specifically to house seven enormous works by Italian painter Raphael. This remarkable gallery was built in 1865, when Raphael’s reputation as the greatest painter of all time was at its peak. As such, the space reflects the Victorian reverence for the Renaissance painter. ‘It has this quality of a church,’ says Erwan Bouroullec, ‘a really wonderful volume, but then in a way it makes you feel too small – a sense of sacré – holiness.’

Their textile field radically alters the viewers experience and perception of the artworks by offering an informal relaxing way to view them.
It is a radical interpretation of the space. We love it.

Today our new bespoke and limited edition organic childrenswear label Little Bird, Little Bird took flight. Yippee!

What’s Little Bird, Little Bird all about? Well, for years, customers have asked us to design a childrenswear range, it was on ‘the list’. The list was very long!

In October 2010 I gave birth to my first child, Quincy...or Little Miss Q, as she is known to us. There’s nothing like having a baby to focus you, and in the moments between sleeping and feeding and the general mayhem of being a new mum, I wanted to make something special for her. She is such a gorgeous little poppet. Well, two and two makes four ......Little Bird, Little Bird just kinda happened.

My greatest inspiration comes from children....seeing how switched on they are to the changes we need to make. Our future lies with the children….and they are really clued up when it comes to sustainability and taking care of this planet we live on. It made sense to make sustainable fashion for little people.

So..... Little Bird, Little Bird is our new bespoke and limited edition organic childrenswear range.

It really has been so much fun designing a range of garments for children, and that fun comes across in the designs, shapes, styles of the garments. 

Our collection of exquisitely designed organic fabrics are at the core of the collection. Fabrics are designed at our studio, and hand printed using water based dyes. It feels like the fabrics were always meant to be used for childrenswear. The detailing in the prints has a charming naivety to it, and the colours are bright and cheery, something little ones can carry off so much better than us big people.

We designed a range of playful, timeless classic childrens garments to compliment the fabrics. With frills, and ruffles and smocking and oh so cute little bird buttons, they are easy to wear.

As an additional feature, in house design and production allows us to make a bespoke service available to customers. Individually hand crafting childrens garments can be tailored using the extensive catalogue of original designs in our organic fabric range. If you are interested in this service please contact us on info@littlebirdlittlebird.com.

Little Bird, Little Bird designs will be released in small, limited edition collections, and available exclusively online through our webstore.

To be kept informed of new stock releases please ‘like’ our facebook page by following this link where we will be announcing each new release as it happens.

ODE  1. A lyric poem in the form of an address to a particular subject, often elevated in style or manner, written in varied or irregular meter and expressive of exalted or enthusiastic emotion. 2. A poem meant to be sung.

Many of you will know that I grew up in Wales. That’s Old South Wales, rather than New South Wales. The land of song.  ‘We’ll keep a welcome in the hillside, we’ll keep a welcome in the vales, this land you knew will still be singing, when you come home again to Wales....’ Sigh.

This Christmas I’ll be going home for Christmas in Wales. We are taking our daughter home to the land of song for the very first time.

So it seems kinda fitting to share a special bit of Wales with you today. To share with you a building whose structure ebbs and flows with the songs of Wales, encapsulating the heart and soul of its nation.

The election of the Welsh National Assembly, or The Senedd as it is called in Welsh, the creation of which was approved by a referendum in 1999, was a turning point in the history of Wales. For such a historical occasion, a landmark building was to be built in the docklands of Cardiff. Lord Richard Rogers stepped forward.

Lord Rogers is perhaps best known for his work on the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Lloyd's building and Millennium Dome both in London, and the European Court of Human Rights building in Strasbourg. But it is the Welsh Assembly Building with its highly progressive environmental agenda, which has brought Lord Rogers much recognition as he established new benchmarks and standards for public buildings in Britain.

The building maximises natural daylight and ventilation to reduce energy usage. It uses the ground as a heat source and wood chips or pellets for the boiler. Rainwater is also collected via the steel columns supporting the roof to supply the toilets and to wash the windows. It is said that its renewable energy systems will reduce running costs by up to half.

The National Assembly of Wales has become a symbol for so much more than Wales’ legislative independence. Lord Rogers says, ‘It is a statement of faith. Embodying democratic values of openness and participation.’.  But for me, it symbolises all that is Wales. It is an ode to a passionate nation.

Nuala O’Donovan is a young potter from Cork in Ireland.

She graduated in Three Dimensional Design from Middlesex University in 1994, and a Masters in Ceramics in 2008. She works in clay.

Her fascination with the shapes and forms in flowers, trees, snow crystals is based on an interest in fractal geometries and mathematical formulas. It is the irregular patterns in nature which she uses as a system of constraint when creating these amazing ceramic artworks. The scars, burns, wrinkles, flaw caused by unique experience.

In her artist statement she explains, ‘The evidence of a response to random events visible in patterns in nature, is testament to the ability of living organisms to recover, to respond, and to continue growing and changing. It is the imperfections in the patterns caused by a unique experience that are evidence of the life force in living organisms.’.

We love.

For those of you who haven’t as yet had the pleasure, I am about to introduce you to the amazing work of the late American modernist artist, Charley Harper.

I first came across, and fell in love with, Charleys work a number of years ago, whilst researching modernist style bird illustrations (of course).

Charley was best known for his vast collection of highly stylized wildlife prints, posters and book illustrations. During his career, he illustrated numerous books, notably The Golden Book of Biology, magazines such as Ford Times, as well as many prints, posters, and other works. He also created works for many nature-based organizations, among them the National Park Service; Cincinnati Zoo; Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania and the Everglades National Park.

In a style he called "minimal realism", Charley Harper captured the essence of his subjects with the fewest possible visual elements. When asked to describe his unique visual style, Charley responded, ‘When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don’t see the feathers in the wings, I just count the wings. I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures. I regard the picture as an ecosystem in which all the elements are interrelated, interdependent, perfectly balanced, without trimming or unutilized parts; and herein lies the lure of painting; in a world of chaos, the picture is one small rectangle in which the artist can create an ordered universe’.

And that he does. Just beautifully.

Prints of Charleys work are available from http://www.charleyharperprints.com, and I highly recommend the book ‘ An Illustrated Life’ , which catalogues hundreds of works from Charleys lengthy career, published by American Modern Books.

Next to time you’re in San Francisco, take a road trip north up the coast to Fort Bragg, and experience one of natures’ defining moments, its ability to turn trash into treasure.

In the early part of last century, Fort Bragg chose to dispose of its household waste off the cliffs above a beach near the town. With little regard for the environmental damage or pollution they were causing, its inhabitants tossed household waste, appliances, even automobiles into the sea. Eventually the beach was so seriously polluted it was nicknamed ‘The Dumps’.

In 1967 the North Coast Water Quality Board closed the area completely and initiated a series of cleanups to slowly reverse decades of pollution. But there was one thing too impossible to tackle: the millions of tiny glass shards churning in the surf.

Over time the unrelenting ocean waves have, in a sense, cleansed the beach, turning the sand into a sparkling, multicoloured bed of smooth glass stones now known as Glass Beach.  Now a popular tourist attraction, the California State Park System has even gone so far as purchasing the property and incorporating it into the surrounding MacKerricher State Park. 

Where it was once illegal to dump glass on the beach – now, it is against the law to remove it. You've gotta love the irony in this.

Such a shame life isn't this poetic when dealing with plastic bags.

Images courtesy of:
digggs, matthew high, lee rentz and kara brugman.

I was a very early bird this morning, up with the dawn chorus, tweeting and twirping, and gathering info on my favourite designer bird houses around the world.

Some of you will remember the Bird Textiles cuckoo clock, a limited edition range of clocks we released a couple of years ago, inspired by both the classic German cuckoo clock and the humble bird house. I love a good bird house.  So, here’s a few treats to tickle your fancy....plus a  special treat for those of you who don’t have a spot for a bird house.

First up, Nathan Danials amazing Burd-Haus.  Nathan says his goal is to ‘create modern shelters for our fine, feathered friends’.  His is a contemporary, tongue-in-cheek take on the humble bird house, using classic modernist shapes and fresh aesthetics. With names like ‘Mid Century Modern Birdhouse in Matte Black’ and ‘Case Study: Modern Birdhouse with Attached Pool’, these little gems get 10/10 from us. He describes the aforementioned as ‘the second addition of the modern case study series for the upper middle class modernist birds. A fully functional, water-tight pool is accessible from a side entrance of the house. There are two chill-out spots pool-side that hover above the water surface and act as a perch for the main house.’ Love it.

Second, Tamar Mogendorff. Well known for her fantastical creatures, swans, bears, mushrooms, and of course her bird houses.....all hand sewn from fabric and thread in her Brooklyn, New York studio. I first spotted these gems a few years ago, but they are still a firm favourite. More of an indoor pretty kind of birdhouse than an outdoor practical variety but divine all the same.

Third up, the Egg Bird Houses by J Svhatz, also in New York. Available in eight retro colours, you may wish to give birds a home, and a place to hatch their young, with these colourful and durable handcrafted ceramic Egg Bird Houses. Simple, sexy, stylish. Definitely suit your uber chic kinda bird.

Fourth up, these 100%  recycled cardboard birdhouses from the guys at Boutique Cascades. Catering for our more grass roots earthy homegrown Bird varieties, at an amazing $8.50 each (!) they are an absolute bargain.  Made from NorShield cardboard which renders it water-repellent, thus protecting it against bad weather and extending its life, these little birdhouses are more sturdy than they look. Easy to assemble, no need for glue or twine, and we love that the kids get to colour them in. Chuck it in the compost at the end of the season.

And finally, for those of you without a spot for a bird house, why not have a whole wall of them with this super cool wallpaper from Studio Ditte in the Netherlands. Available to purchase from The Collection in Paris.

Have a great week. :)

We've been blessed with a bumper crop of lemons this year, here at Bird HQ in Byron Bay. Homegrown, organic lemons. 478 so far, to be exact. From one little tree! And still counting. Eek.

It's something to do with all that nutritious chook poo mulch our little chooks have been scratching down the hill towards it me thinks. And lots of love and sunshine too.

Lucky for us, the chooks have been laying lots of eggs too lately, so we had in mind something we could make with all our eggs and lemons. Even luckier for me, my very handy helper Little Miss Q,offered to help harvest the lemons off the tree. And even luckier still, my mum, aka Granny Ang, is a bit of a dab hand at old fashioned lemon curd.

Dare I say it, but after 30 years in the Womens Institute (the British version of the CWA) Granny Ang has got the humble sponge and the mighty preserve (and quite a few other little gems) down pat. She's been keeping us busy sending over all her award winning recipes. We've been cooking up a storm in the kitchen of Bird HQ, and the fruit of our labours is going down a treat with friends and family. If you'd like a very special recipe from Granny Ang's recipe file read on......

Theres quite a stash of lemon and grapefruit curd, lemon marmalade, lemon cordial and preserved lemons in our pantry right now. So be warned.....if you are passing through Bird HQ sometime soon, you'll most likely be given a jar of something sweet and sticky to take home with you.

So, for those of you wandering what to do with your own over abundance....and after many requests from those who have tasted already.....here it is:

My Mums Award Winning Lemon Curd.....the bestest topping in the world for for hot hot toast, or cold cold icecream. :)

You'll need:

1.2 litres of freshly squeezed lemon juice, 860g slightly salted butter, 2.8kg sugar and 2 dozen beaten fresh eggs.

Take a fine zest off the lemons. Juice lemons and add to zest.

Set up a double boiler over simmering water. Put butter in bowl with lemon juice, zest and sugar and simmer until butter has melted. Take off heat and allow to cool slightly.

Lightly beat eggs, strain and then stir into butter and lemon. Put back on to the simmering heat and stir continuously until mixture is slightly thickened and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Do not overcook as it will curdle. (You can place over a bowl of ice to stop the mixture cooking, once it starts thickening if you like).

Pot into small jars, and cover with cellophane or lid. Keeps in fridge for about 5 weeks. Can be frozen without losing quality, as long as defrosted slowly in fridge.

Makes 5 litres.

Treasure this recipe, It will bring much joy to your world. Happy make and baking. Mama Bird. :)

DeKalb Market opened last weekend, in downtown Brooklyn, New York.

Another inner city artist market? Well, maybe. But the thinking behind DeKalb has a little bit more to it.

Its fair to say Urban Space have been reinventing spaces for over 30 years now, both in the U.S and in the UK. Camden Lock, begun by Urban Space in 1978, is the fourth busiest visitor destination in Greater London. In the 90's it was my local weekend haunt. Many businesses I know, found their feet in Camden markets. Not least, The Body Shop founded by one of my all time greats, the late Anita Roddick. So, knowing Urban Space, in conjunction with local designers Young Woo & Associates are behind this initiative, is as good a place as any to start.

Brooklyn is known for its history in manufacturing, ship building, and as a commercial port, so it's only fitting that its latest community destination is made up of a collection of salvaged shipping containers.

Bringing together Brooklyns finest young entrepeneurs, its makers, artists, farmers and chefs, the DeKalb Market is much more than a market, and will, as it grows, include an incubator farm, food market, onsite community radio, events and a performance venue, serving as a local community centre and showcasing Brooklyns finest talents.

The who's who of eco/community organisations putting energy into the incubator farm gets my big thumbs up. From organisations like The Brooklyn Grange, who operate the largest rooftop farm in the U.S. in Long Island City, to the Malcolm X Grassroots Movements, distributing crops throughout Brooklyn, the South Bronx and Harlem, and Family Cook a NFP educational program for high school students.

I love how 'farm', and even 'farmer' are cool these days.

For now, its the collection of eateries and work/sell studio spaces made from shipping containers which are stealing the show. Creativity meets improv with sustainability at its heart.

Definitely worth a visit if you're in that part of the world.

For those of you who missed out seeing this beautiful collaborative series the “Wallpaper Mandala” in 2010, a collection by body artist and photographer Emma Hack, and the team at Signature Prints, using Florence Broadhursts original designs.

Emma is a fine artist who has seamlessly applied her art to the body as a skin illustrator. In this series, painted nudes stand in front of Broadhurst wallpapers, the artwork flowing seamlessly between the two as if drawn by the same hand.

Here’s a look at  some of my favourites.... along with a fascinating short behind the scenes documentary video showing Emma at work, and interviews with David and Helen Lennie from Signature Prints studios in Sydney.

Just gorgeous.  A match made in heaven.

Call me sentimental, but I have been drooling over vintage Teardrop campers for years now....and having finally purchased my dream 1974 Citroen DS last year, I’m saving up for a Teardrop to go with it. I’ll be lucky to find one in pristine condition like this 1937 Gypsy Caravan Company original but my eyes are peeled and fingers crossed.

For those of you who haven’t seen them before, the Teardrop is the quirky hand made little brother of the flash Airstream trailer. First made in the U.S. in the 1930's, their popularity soared after World War II when family vacationing, with dads and husbands freshly back from the war, was all the rage.

The do-it-yourself kit Teardrop was easily achievable and affordable using salvaged backyard materials, and this added to its popularity. The "Popular Mechanics" and “Popular Homecraft” magazines published teardrop trailer plans enabling DIY enthusiasts on masse to have a go, and some of the most exciting mint condition vintage models still seen today were made in this way.  

The Teardrop camper's popularity started to dwindle after the 1950's as people started wanting campers that were "bigger and better,"  ....silly silly......and by the mid-1970's, there were very few manufacturers of teardrop trailers left.

Check out some of the 50’s interiors in these Teardrops. Sigh.

A vintage Teardrop is at the very top of my wishlist. Otherwise maybe we’ll have to have a go at making our own special Bird Teardrop. Watch this space. :)

Those of you who’ve seen this mama birds nest, will know I have a thing for curves. At my house, the walls are made from strawbales, so we were able to create long ambling organic curves with the bales and a chainsaw (see my blog post on our home from last year).

But the bottom line is....curves just do it for me. I think being a curvy kinda girl gave me a head start on appreciation for the non straight line. But when you put curves with architecture and a northern European aesthetic, well.... it’s enough to make me think I’ve died and am on my way to curvalicious heaven.

Enter Mecanoo. That’s Mecanoo the prominent Dutch architectural practice, not Meccano the children’s model construction system...although there are parallels across both brands. Both have a joyful approach to building. Both are the complete opposite of cool, abstract and minimalism. Maximalist might be a more appropriate term for their approach to building. But it’s creating that warm fuzzy feeling that both brands really have down pat.

Designing sustainable buildings is in Mecanoo’s DNA. From its founding in 1984, Mecanoo has designed buildings in recognition that sustainability is a social responsibility. In their minds, ‘Sustainability goes beyond the use of solar collectors, heat pumps and a green roof......Sustainability is about lasting through time, identity, a rich morphology, materialization and how the space is experienced. The buildings must inspire their users to be socially and ecologically responsible.'

Inspire they do.

Villa Nefkens is a private home situated in Wageningen, the Netherlands, where the border of the Veluwe, the Gelderse Vallei and the Rhine River meet one another. Large terraces elevate the house to just above grade, making the house appear as if it is floating. The villa’s transition from interior to exterior is gradual and a canopy surrounding the whole house provides beautifully framed views while allowing the outdoor spaces to be enjoyed in the summer and autumn.

But it’s the curves....oh the curves, sigh...that delight the senses and give this amazing property its character. The juxtaposition of form on form, the flow into the natural landscape. Magical. Ten out of ten for this one.

They’ve done some other less curvy but equally fabulous stuff, all over the place. These were a couple of my favourites.
La Llotja theatre and conference centre in Lleida, Spain and the National Heritage Museum in Arnhem, Netherlands. Enjoy.

Their strapline reads “War on Terra, seedboms are friendly bombs exploding with flower power for responsible rebels in the war against weary wastelands”. .....and eco vandals around the world are soaking and shaking with covert rebellion.

Following the growing movement in guerrilla gardening, these funky little seedboms are handmade in the UK from reclaimed and recycled materials such as post consumer paper and used egg cartons. They also contain organic peat free compost, organic fertiliser and a selection of easy to grow flower seeds. The seedboms breakdown over time and biodegrade into the environment leaving only flowers behind.

The concept struck a chord with Selfridges new concept store in the UK, ‘Grow’ , and so in collaboration with Selfridges and Guerillagardening.org , Seedbom were given the enviable opportunity of creating a Selfridges window display with their product, in Selfridges main windows Oxford Street, London.

Seedboms quirky marketing campaign and brand image have struck a chord with the British media. Support from Gwyneth Paltrow, a series of high profile events and awards across the UK, most notably a presence at the London Festival of Architecture and awards from The Scottish Sustainable Development Forum have given the brand kudos, and they are definitely making their mark .

Available online, or better still, make your own using local ingredients. Top stuff.

'We wrote philosophies, built faiths and took every kind of comfort from trees. They gave language to our existence as we put down roots, stretched our limbs, budded in infancy and were felled in old age.

They were mute companions to our lives and worshipped beyond themselves as the better part of balance and aspiration.

They offered steadiness and long patience even as we failed in those.

They offered an image of completion, which was an illusion, but it was enough.

Theirs was a whisper in the wind to the human ear both tragic and hopeful. Civilisation grew from exploiting, destroying, venerating, and looking back on them.

Trees led us to ourselves and we stood against them, trunk to trunk, arms upon branches, our thoughts tangled in the stars.'

Words from 'The Tree in Changing Light' by Roger McDonald. Published by KNOPF

Images from www.thecoolhunter.net

Russia’s leading industrial, graphic and web design studio Art. Lebedev has come up with a new concept for the flash drive USB stick. The Flashkus.

Purchased in magazine sheets, and detached along perforations as needed, the bulk of the packaging can be composted, with the electronics all contained in the tip of a detachable cardboard module. The recycled cardboard material is easy to write on directly, negating the need for stickers or additional packaging.

Alternatively, the cardboard can be custom branded or use feature graphics. Maybe a Bird Flashkus?

Art. Levebdev Studio’s Constitution is worth a glance.  I particularly like points 11 & 20.

As are the portraits of its art directors.

Enjoy.

I’ve always been an ideas girl..... an ongoing stream of glowing lightbulbs are constantly popping on and off in my head one after another, day in day out. And, Bird Textiles, as a vehicle for change, has afforded me the opportunity to bring many of these ideas to fruition.

For a lot of people, getting from the lightbulb to the fruit tree stage is where they hit a stumbling block. Sometimes there isn’t the money to pursue the project..... or they don’t have the expertise, understanding or experience needed to make their idea happen. Often, it’s just too much of a push outside their comfort zone, and they shelf the dream and settle comfortably back into their day to day routine.

Well, imagine a platform devoted entirely to talking about your idea, and helping you make it happen. Offering up the support, community networking and information needed to make a dream come true.

PlanBig.  Community projects, environmental change, music, arts, science , sports, education, business.....it’s all going on through the PlanBig platform. Check out their little promo vid which explains how it works.

There’s some pretty magical success stories on PlanBig, not least Ethikl, which created an online market place dedicated to ethical organic sustainable producers, and the inspired Urban Food Maps documenting where food is grown on publicly accessible land, and fostering community interaction through this.

But amongst our favourites is Jennifer Sandos long running campaign ‘I want to take a portrait of Eddie Vedder’ which was picked up as by Frankie Magazine and saw her eventually realising her dream.

The plan can be as big or small as you like. Global or local in nature, some of the most inspiring are community groups coming together to create playgrounds or mens sheds. It’s all about realising the idea at the end of the day.

We love it.

Oh and we really love their promo vid, so make sure you check it out.

It’s hard to believe, but these divine glitter sized shape forms are actually tiny microphotovoltaic cells. Did you ever think solar could be this cool?

I know I’m a textile designer, and random repeat patterns rock my boat, but truly......it’s a beautiful thing.

The ability of light to produce electrons, and thus electricity, has been known for more than a hundred years, but these little snowflakes take solar to a new level. Each cell is formed on silicon wafers, etched and then released  in hexagonal shapes.

They could revolutionize the way solar energy is used, in textiles and clothing, turning a person into a walking solar battery charger. From 14 to 20 micrometers thick (a human hair is approximately 70 micrometers thick), they are 10 times thinner than conventional 6-inch-by-6-inch brick-sized cells using 100 times less material to generate the same amount of electricity as standard solar cells.

All this, and soooooooooooo beautiful. Ten out of ten from Mama Bird.

If you haven’t had the good fortune to come across Andy Goldsworthy’s work......then be prepared to be amazed.

I first found out about Goldsworthy whilst I was studying textile design in Glasgow in 1991. He had already been creating his amazing art pieces for fourteen years, and my flatmate, a sculptor, was completely obsessed with his work. It wasn’t long before I was too. Twenty years on, with a vast catalogue of site specific sculptures to his name, he is still, without doubt, my top pick.

Goldsworthy is a British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist producing  sculptures and land art around the world. He works almost exclusively with the materials he finds in the outdoor environment. He is the grandmaster of wrapping, filling, shaping and balancing. Snow, ice, maple leaves, dandelion heads, twigs, pebbles -  wherever he is, Goldsworthy uses whatever happens to be  around him. Much of his work is ephemeral and he records his creations in colour photographs, many of which, with the accompanying text, form an integral part of his work.

The artist’s intention is not to ‘make his mark’ on the landscape, but to work with it instinctively, so that his creations manifest a sympathetic contact with the natural world. He says, "Movement, change, light, growth and decay are the lifeblood of nature, the energies that I try to tap through my work. We often forget that we are nature. Nature is not something separate from us. So when we say that we have lost our connection to nature. We’ve lost our connection to ourselves."

In 2000 he was awarded an OBE for his efforts (Order of the British Empire).

I highly recommend the DVD ‘Rivers and Tides’ which charts several of his projects and is an intimate portrait of the artist at work.
Images all the artists own, taken from Andy Goldworthy - Andy Goldworthy, published in 1990, and Andy Goldworthy – Passage, published in 2004.

The work of two artists is creatively, and literally, filling gaps at locations all around the world.

You’ll remember our previous post on Pothole Gardens. These guys are patching holes with two completely different materials.

Jan Vormann’s material of choice is lego....which he uses to fill in damaged or decaying brick or stone walls. The visual effect is rather surreal...theres something quite odd but strangly captivating about the finished ‘artworks’. Dispatchwork is an ongoing global project with roots in Bocchigano, Italy. With a growing following and requests for participation, he has broadened the concept to dispatchers worldwide, and the phenomonen has already spread to over 35 countries.

Juliana Santacruz Herrera is a girl after my own heart, working with colourful yarns and braids to repair ugly potholes on the streets of Paris. Once again, the effect is quite surreal but beautiful, with splashes of colour bringing streetscapes to life.

I love these random street art concepts. They make me want to rush out and splash around some colour chaos.
Follow our links for further info and images from these two artists.

Next week a look at the work of my favourite sculptor ..... the grandmaster of wrapping and filling.

Derek Jarman’s (1942-1994) public image is that of a filmmaker, who dwelled on themes of sexuality  and violence. He was best known for his films Sebastiane, Jubilee and Caravaggio. He was outspoken about homosexuality and his never ending public fight for gay rights, most notably he was a leading campaigner against Clause 28 in the UK. He also broke new ground in creating and expanding the fledgling form of ‘pop video’.

In 1986 Jarman was diagnosed as HIV positive, and was one of a handful of public figures who discussed HIV publically at that time. By the time of his 1993 film ‘Blue’, in which Jarman describes his life and vision, he was losing his sight and dying of AIDS related complications.

He was in fact, a very private man, and chose to live out the remainder of his life at a tiny fishermans cottage called ‘Prospect Cottage’ in Kent, on the south coast of England. The solitude and silence attracted him to what was in all reality one of the most harsh and barren landscapes possible ....within a stones throw of Dungeness nuclear power station.

Out of this desolate expanse grew Derek Jarmans Garden. His book, of the same name, is his own record of how the garden evolved from its earliest beginnings to the last year of his life. The images featured on todays blog are from this book. Photographs taken by Howard Sooley.

Whilst living in London in 1998, I took a day trip down to visit the garden, and it remains, to this day, one of my favourite gardens. It inspired me to make a very special reclaimed garden on the banks of the holy river, the Ganga, in Rishikesh, in the Himalayas, India whilst living there in 2000 and continues to inspire me to this day.

Derek Jarmans garden lives on, and I urge you to visit it if you ever have the chance.

What is there not to like about Stuart Haygarths work?

With a project portfolio that reads like a dream.......The Design Museum, Vogue Nippon, Habitat, Selfridges, Sculpt the Future.......Haygarth is clearly appreciated in his home country, the UK.  Giving recycling the bling treatment, his artworks and designs are eerily beautiful.

Haygarth’s work comprises a series of design projects using collections of found waste objects. The objects are collected in large quantities categorized and assembled in a way that transforms their meaning. His work is about giving banal and overlooked objects a new significance. The finished piece of work takes various forms such as chandeliers, installations, functional and sculptural objects, but it is the chandeliers that are to die for.

His longest ongoing project, is based on collections of tidal debris from the coast of South East England, namely the area of Dungeness in Kent. (More of Dungeness next week...from a  visit nearly 20 years ago, to the home of another very inspiring artist/gardener/filmmaker, Derrick Jarman, who lived in a little shack in Dungeness in the 1990’s.)

Haygarth collects and sorts the manmade debris into categories, from which to make a new artwork. ‘Tide’ as seen in images 1 & 2, was created in 2004, and is part of a larger body of work using clear and translucent objects, mainly plastics, found in the tidal wash. The sphere of the chandelier “is an analogy for the moon which effects the tides, which in turn wash up the debris.”

Other pieces, like ‘Optical’ are created from mass repeats of used objects. In this case, 4500 prescription spectacle glasses.  ‘Light is refracted through the many layers of glass lenses. A magical explosion of light is created.’  Just divine.

Check out his website for more info on products and projects.

Thank you to The Jealous Curator for pointing me in Stuarts direction.

Sustainable communication......street art.......green graffiti. Call it what you will. A new style of communication has hit the streets and the corporate world is sitting up and taking note.

An early pioneer of the movement is Englishman Paul Curtis, better known as ‘Moose’. No paint, no defacing, Moose takes his cue from the ‘wash me’ messages on the back of trucks. He works in sooty tunnels and on dirty road sidings, by inscribing images, slogans and tags in the dirt. He has been commissioned by a number of brands, such as Smirnoff, who want to convey a sense of “clean” in an innovative way.

Other artists have used snow, chalk and sand in the same way.

Leading the way internationally is Dutch new media and communication agency Greengraffiti. Working in the public, government and not for profit sectors, their messages are clean and strong. In their words, ‘using our business as a tool for social and environmental improvement, we aim to be the world market leader in sustainable communication.’

Their first campaign won them a media following and a nomination for a Young Sustainability Award. Their first licensee partner was in Canada, and 9 others followed soon after. Their campaign for Dominos made Fox News, and the associated website got 29 million internet impressions. Their Biodiversity campaign, for the European Union, became their first international campaign, running in 6 countries, receiving massive exposure through an article in the New York Times, and lead to work with brands like Sony, ING, Starbucks and Renault.

I guess one of my all time firm favourite sculptors, Andy Goldworthy, has been working in this way, using impermanent materials to inspire a feeling for over 20 years now. Less political, and more ethereal he has used snow, water, ice, leaves and rocks to convey a message.

Whether art for arts sake, or media slogan there’s definitely something in this movement, and I’ll be watching closely as the trend develops.

We're going a bit off topic this week, but being a mama bird just does that to you sometimes....

......and I just can't resist sharing this creative snippit with you.

In June 2010 Adele Enersen, a copywriter and concept designer in Helsinki, Finland, embarked on a new creative project. Like most new mum and dads, she started taking photos of her newborn baby, Mila.

While her daughter was sound asleep. she created a fantasy world around her, from whatever she could find lying around the house. Taking just a few minutes to create each photo, Mila's Daydreams grew into a series of creative photographs.

These photos were posted to a blog for friends and family to see. Then the world discovered them.

When My Baby Dreams will be published by Harper Collins in January 2012.

In the meantime you may wish to check out Adeles blog or see a selection of the photos by clicking on 'Read More'.

Oooh...how we all love a bit of vintage.....my house is full of classic treasures found during the good old days when I drove up and down the coast touring op shops looking for vintage fabric for Slingfings.

But it seems I'm not the only one who loves an old classic. A bit of mid century magic.

Finding quaility mid century classic furniture pieces has become an art in itself...knowing where to look, knowing what to look for. ...and then choosing the right fabric to reupholster with.

Having repeatedly been asked to sell the reupholstered vintage 50's Parker chairs we use in our Sydney store, we thought it was time to try and find some special pieces to reupholster just for you.

We came up with these little beauties, a set of four late 50's Parker-esque day chairs, and three divine early 60's Fleur swivel loungers. We will sell them as singles, in the Bird fabric of your choice, pairs, or as sets of three/four.

All sales or media enquiries should be directed to Bird Textiles Emporium on 02 8006 4522. The chairs can be shipped nationwide.

How cool are these shots of fields in Leiden, south of Amsterdam in Holland. Pieced together like your nanas finest patchwork quilt, the flowers sprawl across the landscape in mass colour plantings. The colour stripes are made up of millions of different tulip bulbs.

The history of Hollands’ romance with the tulip charts back to the 1600’s, when a horticulturist Carolus Clusius started cultivating tulips in the university grounds. Tulipmania was sweeping the globe and a huge variety of specimens were developed and changed hands for large sums of money.

For a city of only 117,000 people, it’s remarkable to think that 10,000 hectares of prime Leiden agricultural land is devoted to the cultivation of tulips..... resulting in a harvest of an extraordinary 3 billion tulips each year, mostly for the German and U.S. markets.

Planted in October and November, and harvested in the European Spring, the colourful fields revert to a more ordinary offseason planting of vegetables once the season is over.

I’m loving the Birds eye view of the fields, the overlay of vibrant colours, and the impermanence of the whole landscape. Sounds like another good reason to visit Europe next Spring. We'll see you there. :)

Ten out of ten for Matt W Moore’s scrumptious seed packaging which I happened across yesterday whilst surfin, duckin and diving the net. I am gonna ooze and rave about them because they really do embody just about all that I love about well designed sustainable product/packaging.

I’m seriously diggin the combination of illustration and typography....could it be possible to get this much pleasure from a play on shape and colour. Love love love.

With a ridiculously impressive client list, Matt of MWM Graphics considers custom typography his lifes work...and it shows. Based in Portland, Maine, in the U.S., Matt works across several different disciplines. His style is really unique. Colourful digital illustrations and commercial projects, all sit comfortably next to a growing list of Fine Art gallery commissions and exhibitions around the world.

These seed packets were designed for CaseMate who were interested in working with an upcycling concept around seeds. The goal of upcycling is to prevent wasting potentially useful materials by making use of existing ones.  Each product comes in a break apart package that becomes a windowsill plant box. Included inside are various seed packs and a soil disk.

What they have ended up with was is a useful, energetic, educational product in beautifully designed upcyclable packaging. Although I have to say, with such divine typographic artwork on the outside of the packaging it would break my heart to let these little beauties go soggy on the windowsill.

Also featured are recent digital illustrative work ‘The New Black’ for Urban Outfitter, and pages from the Computer Arts Projects magazine.

To see more of Matts work follow the link to his website. Make sure you check out some of his custom typography and his large scale installations.

So while we’re on the subject of top birds, comfy nests, and chook eggs.....do we talk about anything else?.....we thought you might like a sneak peak of this new offering from German furniture company Dedon.

Dedons take on it is an oversized birds nest, but I’m thinking it looks more like a wild bee hive. Either way, this hanging pod looks tres comf, very cosy cuddly, just the thing for a super chilled lazy Sunday arvo.

Loving the natural fibre and feel. And their emu shot is classic.

I'm thinking I might ditch my bed, and get one of these instead. All top birds need a super comfy nest to sleep in.

Designed by two of Paris’s most intriguing design talents, Daniel Pouzet and Fred Frety.

Nestrest.

Bring it on.

In January 2010 we became the proud mama and papa of eight (yes eight!) baby girls.

Crikey I can hear you cry!  Eight? Yes. Eight darling lickle chooks.

Our new lickle family, Queenie, Blacky, Glynis, Dorothy, Sharon and M’Lady all lived in a lickle house, under some trees in our orchard on the edge of the rainforest.

They loved the home we had made for them. Sharon, the Silky, thought her new home was nearly as dapper as her hair do. 

The girls thought this was a pretty cool place to live. Glynis liked hanging out on her perch. There were mangos dripping off the trees. Citrus. Lychees. Bananas. Figs.

Queenie and Dorothy had a little natter and decided they were on to a good thing at Rach and Cams nest. And because they were on to such a good thing they laid beautiful fresh golden eggs for our breakfast every morning.

But, you know, M’Lady ...well M’Lady had an eye for detail. She was a cut above the rest. She yearned for a home, with a little bit more style. Panache. She wanted to nest down in something a little more stylin.

Luckily for her, a fabulous idea was hatching all the way over on the other side of the world. The Nogg, was just a twinkle in the eyes of furniture designer and engineer, Matthew Hayward, and Creative Director, Nadia Turan. But a twinkle it was, a twinkle sparked by a debate as to why chook houses should be so goddamn ugly....

In September 2010, the Nogg became a reality and its prototype was launched at Tent, London as part of the London Design Festival.
It wouldn’t be quite big enough for our eight girls, as its designed to house 2-4 chooks, so appeals to the stylin urban type chook.

Its shaped like an egg, and made by hand from cedar wood, which is fresh scented, naturally antibacterial and will weather beautifully with age. It sits on a concrete base fastened with stainless steel rings that keeps it damp proof and stable. Stainless steel trimming, locks & fasteners and the elevated glass dome gives the nogg a stylin design and feel. You don’t get much more stylin in chook houses than this one.

We looooooooooooove it. I’d happily have multiple Noggs popped all over the place.

M’Lady has gone on laying strike til one arrives from the UK.

Hopin Matthew and Nadia get to take it past prototype.
Watch this space.

The following excerpts were taken from an exclusive interview with Lui Bolin, for Yatzer.

Chinese artist Lui Bolin, known by the international media as the ‘Invisible Man’, explores the ideas behind his ‘Hiding in the City’ project (HITC), his political stance on Chinese society and culture and his artistic practices.  The ‘Invisible Man’, in his own fascinating way, comments and reflects on China’s rapid development and its meaning in today’s modern artistic expressions.

Lui Bolin, holds a B.A. from Shandong University of Arts, and an M.F.A. from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and he currently lives and works in Beijing.

What is the inspiration behind your work ‘Hiding In the City’? How did it first emerge?
The fuse of the work was ignited on the November the 16th in 2005 at Suojia Village, which was the biggest living area for artists in Asia. It was forced into demolition by the government. I was there at that time, so I started the series in opposition to the government’s atrocity. I wanted to use my work to show the artists’ state in society and that their living places had not been protected.

Why do you choose specific city surroundings and what do they mean to you as an artist?
In Chinese society’s communistic dream, there must be majuscules (capital letters / big words) to tell and to cleanse the public’s brain. This is a way to fool the public. The people who benefited a lot were those who created these slogans. My body chose to be covered or to disappear. That’s not the relationship between the wall and me. It is rather the relationship between myself, as an individual in the society, and those slogans. In China, we get used to these slogans. We never feel surprised when we see them, so I wanted to use my work to remind people that they have to think more about the environment where we live in.

How do you feel being a blank canvas your self?
When we shoot the photo, I need to stand still, and my assistants will help me apply the paint on my body. They are trying their best to paint me in the same color as the background. Then we use the camera to record this process. I need strong willpower to steady myself and keep working on the performance. During the preparation of the HITC series, I enjoyed the process. In those moments, I felt like I was fighting against my nature, fighting with life, and I had to stand in stillness for my faith and ideals.

How many hours do you need in order to perfect the photographic shot, and the painting of your body. How much help do you need?
To finish one work, it takes 3-4 hours. All the painting and all the photographic work are finished by my assistants. My work is to just stand still there. I choose which site we should use, and which assistant helps me to do the painting, or the shot.

What are the messages you want to convey through your art?
It’s very easy for people to get edified by their environments, and my works want to show that kind of helpless and alienated feeling, because people cannot think independently and they cannot control their own lives. All of my works talk about this theme: How can people find their real selves?

How do you feel being a political artist?
Because the environment where I live in is politically charged, it is inevitably influenced by it in this sense. I agree with those who say art can have a positive impact on the development of a society. The aim of art, through its meditations and doubts, is to emphasize the situation we live in.

How do you see China’s development today?
The recovery of the Chinese economy won the recognition and respect of the world. But during this period, there have also been some developments, which have proved to be negative such as polarization between the rich and the poor, environmental pollution, etc.  And people worship money blindly… no matter what, as long as China is developing, and there are some occurring problems that are seen as acceptable. The doubts and meditations in our work try to make society more open and reasonable.

Liu Bolins work will be featured as a solo exhibition at Eli Klein Fine Art Gallery in New York from 29 June to 28 August 2011.

Many hotels around the world offer guests the chance to get closer to nature, but only this one, in the forests of Swedish Lapland, lets them disappear within it.

Treehotel is an eco based boutique design hotel located just outside Harads, a small town just 60km from the Arctic Circle.

Think abstract luxury tree house.

Drawn by Sweden’s best architects, a series of unique rooms including a giant birds nest, a mirror cube and a UFO sit high above the ground as a series of suspended sculptures. Each tree house is unique and there are plans to build another 20 over the next five years.

The mirrorcube tree house is designed to render the lodging practically invisible in the trees.  Its facades are a constantly changing reflection of forest and skies. The cube can disappear completely from view one minute and reappear the next as the sun moves out from behind the clouds.

The Bird’s Nest is also concealed in the forest canopy, but using a different technique. Circular and clad on the outside with branches foraged from the forest floor, it is designed as a cocoon.  Access is another novelty – an electronic ladder operated by remote control that can be withdrawn completely once the guests are inside. From below, only the branches of the nest’s base are visible, the way in is concealed.

The inspiration came from the documentary film “Trädälskaren” (Treelover) by Jonas Selberg Augustsen. It is the story of three men from the urban environment who look to get back to their roots by building a tree house together. It is a philosophical film about what “the tree” means to us humans, both historically and culturally.

In addition to the photographs below, we recommend you use this link to check out some stunning shots from the Italian photographer Mauro Puccini for Italian Vanity Fair.

Oh...and if you are feeling a bit city bound and wanna feel the love just go to their website and press ‘start’. ;)

For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver
- Martin Luther King

In my mid twenties I learnt to fly. I know, it kinda makes sense, being top mama bird an‘ all.....but truly, it was something I’d always wanted to do......to soar through the skies, free as a bird, with the wind in my face and my feathers ruffled. No machinery, no noise, just me and an inflatable wing.

So the opportunity arose, whilst I was travelling in India in 2000, to tandem paraglide in the hills west of Pune. Spiralling in the lift bands of rising air at the edge of the range, as the sun set. I was hooked. Instantly. Just magical.

Later that year I learned to fly solo, and on arriving in Australia, I retrained to get my Australian paragliding pilots license. For a few years I travelled around to flying sites along the east coast in my spare time. The highlight, and my longest solo flight was near Manila in rural NSW, where I flew up to 6000ft above the earth, and with just the power of nature flew 30km’s across the countryside. I shared a good part of the journey with a wedgetail eagle. It flew in the slipstream created by my paraglider and terrified the living daylight out of me....its claws a constant threat to deflating my wing.

The earth looks so very different up there. You get a whole new perspective on the lay of the land.

So when I saw these divine aerial photographs by Dutch photographer Gerco de Ruijter it brought back lots of lovely birdy flying high memories.

Baumschule , the series, features 32 photographs.

The artist set out to discover "how abstract can a landscape become while remaining a landscape?" Ruijter says ‘I tried to find the answer to this question during extended travels, by searching for a fully natural landscape, not manmade, and lacking any cultural presence’. His search eventually brought him home, to the hyper-artificial landscapes of tree farms and nurseries in the Netherlands.

"All of these objects arranged to form rows create a new form of abstraction, not because of the image’s emptiness but, to the contrary, because of the presence of so many 'things,' and their patterns and rhythms," as if we could farm and harvest barcodes directly from the ground’’says Ruijter.

Indeed, "I found an enormous variety of visual elements," he adds. "They show up not just because of the different seasons, but also through the stratification of the land. Trees, soil, holes. The combination of a tight grid and the camera’s central perspective results in a distinct depth, while on a cloudy day fore and background may slide into each other."

To take these photos, de Ruijter used both kite photography and even "a long fishing rod." He describes how the process worked: "On top of this rod is a 2.5" x 2.5" camera with a wide-angle lens. A self-timer is adjusted to give me enough time to telescope the rod and manoeuver the camera above the subject. The frame of the image begins in front of my own shoes and measures roughly 30' x 30'."

In doing so, we get a birds eye view of the landscapes, and a real taste of the abstract. Maybe not at 6000 feet, but the sense of time and space...... and with the eye of a textile designer, the beauty of the repeat patterns in nature........all are truly magical.

Gerco de Ruijter's Baumschule series is currently on display in its entirety at the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, in the Netherlands, where it opened last week. It closes on April 10.

Slim striped eggplant, fat purple eggplant, green tomatoes, flares of bright yellow sunflower, corn coming into cob and kale... what has happened to Sydney's Town Hall Square?

To put it simply, the farm has come to town... or the garden, at least. Where there was once only paving, passers-by glance, realise that this is no ordinary garden, then stop to look at the edibles that have invaded the Square.

Over the coming weeks fresh produce will ripen before city workers’ eyes, including tomatoes, eggplants, capsicums, sunflowers, lettuce and silver beet.

The display is part of this season's City of Sydney Living Colour display which can be seen in the city's squares. Themed ‘green living’, the display celebrates community gardens and embraces new ideas to help residents and businesses adopt sustainable practices by reducing carbon emissions, water and energy used when delivering food from growers to shoppers. In Australia, the food supply chain produces 23 percent of Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions - that includes direct emissions from agriculture and emissions generated from energy, transport, food production, processing and distribution.

There are 15 community gardens in the City of Sydney area which are run by the local community to grow herbs, flowers, vegetables and conserve rare plants and seeds. The City is also planning for a new City Farm which could be a hub for food production and sustainable living in the heart of the city.

The City’s latest Living Colour display includes 30,000 individual plants - a flourishing mix of vegetables, herbs, fruit trees and colourful annuals - most of which are edible. The Town Hall Square display includes vegetables, herbs and flowers useful for insect pest management, and smaller displays off to each side planted to culinary and pest management herbs.

The display will be in place for 6-10 weeks and following that will be replanted in community gardens, schools and parks across the city.

The City is not encouraging people to actually eat the vegetables on display; this is a live demonstration of how fresh produce can be successfully grown in pots in inner-city conditions. It is anticipated, though not encouraged, that the odd eggplant and tomato will disappear into briefcases and end up on the dinner plate. Then there's the question of whether flocks of passing cockatoos will realise that those big yellow sunflowers are packed tight with crunchy, tasty seeds.

Town Hall Square may not be so edible for some time to come.

Other Live Green, Living Colour installation themes around the city include: community gardens, rooftop gardens, vertical gardens, ethical shopping, composting, worm farming, waterwise plants, reuse & recycle, saving water, grow veggies, food waste, grow fruit trees.

NEW BABY BIRD RANGE

Things have been pretty busy round here recently...mostly because I've become a very happy Mama Bird, to our divine baby girl, Quincy, who is 10 weeks old today.

Quincy was born, at home, with the early sounds of the dawn chorus to greet her, on October 5th. She is the best thing since sliced bread and we love her to bits. :)

Over the years lots of you have requested a baby bird range...and now then, don't get too excited, are you still keen as mustard?.....our very own little poppet looks so cute in her homemade baby bird we thought you might like some too.

If you would, then please email info@birdtextile.com marked in the subject 'we love baby bird', with any comments, special requests, or feedback on a baby bird range. No promises as yet, but we will see.....

Bringing eco style to the Christmas Hamper.....limited edition Bird organic Christmas gift boxes.

Ohhh...how could you resist. :) There are three types to choose from....

'Everything But The Girl' Organic Giftbox....

'Sweet Smell of...' Organic Giftbox.....

'You Crafty Minx' Organic Giftbox.....

....all at just $99 each. Be sure to read on for further details, and scroll down for 18 fabulous variations.

For the girly girl in you.....

'Everything But The Girl' Organic Giftbox (Worth $164) Boxes 1-6 - 1 Head Scarf, 1 x Bird Purse, 1 x Hoop Bag and 1 x Brooch

For mums and aunties and any one who loves smelly stuff...

'Sweet Smell Of.....' Organic Giftbox (Worth $112) Boxes 7-12 - 1 x handmade Dressed Soap, 1 x Lavender Eye Pillow,
1 x Soap Flakes, 2 x handmade Naked Soaps.

For you crafty creative homemakers......'You Crafty Minx' Organic Giftbox (Worth $110) Boxes 13-18
- 1 x Patchwork Kit, 1 x Fat Quarter Star, 2 x 2mtrs of bias binding, 6 x Buttons.

Detailed information on individual products included in the giftboxes is available at our online shop.
Giftboxes are sealed with a box lid, ribbon and gift tag.

Giftboxes can be ordered by calling +61 2 8399 0230 between 10am-6pm Tu-Fri and posted anywhere in Australia.
Please place orders by phone before 10th December to ensure delivery before Christmas.
Limited stock so be sure to order early.

Just make a note of your favourite variation and give us a call.
Happy shopping!

On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me..... one cheeky chook doorstop......two fat quarter stars......three petticoat skirts.......four feather filled cushions.........five beach umbrellas......six  shoulder tie dresses.........seven sausage dogs.......eight bird purses...... nine tennis dresses......ten dressed soaps......eleven tube lampshades..... twelve lavender eye pillows....

All made from certified organic cotton and handprinted here in Australia. How fabulous is my true love? :)                 

25% off all products shown in the Xmas tree, for the month of October.  

There are 12 weeks left til Christmas...so why not kick off your Christmas and Summer shopping with a one off special offer from Bird. Shop online at www.birdtextile.com using the code CHRISTREE,  at our Surry Hills, Sydney Emporium, or by calling +61 2 8399 0230  

**Selected lines only. Minimum spend $100. Offer ends 30/10/2010

45-year-old carpenter, Dalton J. Paul Getty has been turning ordinary pencils into incredible miniature sculptures for 25 years....without using a magnifying glass.

“When I was a schoolboy,' says Dalton, 'I made gifts for my friends, carving out their names on pencils. Later, I decided to try sculpture, and after a long search the choice fell on a pencil lead.” Dalton uses blades, sewing needles and special knives for the sculptures. However, the material is extremely fragile and there are many mistakes: at home Mr. Getty has more than 100 unfinished or broken sculptures. “At first I had a few broken figures, later I decided to keep them all in memory. I call this my “cemetery collection”: they are all dear to me, because I spent a few months alone with them.”

The artist could spend many months working on one sculpture. For the creation miniature alphabet Dalton spent 2.5 years. “My patience is simply amazing to people, because nowadays everyone wants to be quicker, faster and faster.”

It's a beautiful thing.

An astounding living library built from 40,000 reclaimed books has sprouted in the middle of the forest as part of the 11th International Garden Festival in Métis, Quebec. Designed by Thilo Folkerts and Rodney Latourelle, Jardin de la Connaisance, or the Garden of Knowledge, is a unique outdoor library that features living books sown with several varieties of mushrooms. Playing off the theme of paradise and the Tree of Knowledge, the temporary garden brings the books back to their roots in a natural setting.

The colourful discarded books were stacked to create garden walls, benches and carpets that are integrated within the site and structure of the forest. In an amazing example of book architecture, the books are stacked like bricks, while open volumes form cushioned carpets on the forest floor. Latourelle worked in collaboration with Folkerts of 100Landschaftarchitecktur to design the ‘utopian’ garden as a compelling new way to experience the forest — as an information platform as well as a return to nature.

The temporary garden centers around the festival's theme of paradise and specifically the tree of knowledge, which was located in the center of the Garden of Eden. The garden brings the books back to their birthplace in the forest while providing visitors with a new way to experience nature. The garden of knowledge acts more like a temporary library and reading room, offering visitors a quiet place to reflect and read.

The 40,000 discarded books  are used to form walls, benches and even a carpet. The carpet is created by burying the books in soft sand, leaving the spines exposed. Cultivated edible mushrooms are inserted into the pages of the books, where they will grow and root deeper over time. The mushrooms enhance the temporary qualities of the garden -- they work to deconstruct the structure of the installation as they grow.

The books were gathered from libraries and other storehouses that hoped to sell the books if the price of pulp rose enough. The pulp price never rose, so they sat in storage. Now the 40,000 books form the temporary garden for visitors to enjoy, browse, learn, and reflect upon. Colorful wooden plates act as bookmarks in the stacks of books, helping to support the structure and tie the books together.

The International Garden Festival in Métis opened on June 26th. The 21 temporary gardens will be open to visitors until October 3rd, 2010.

For those of you who didn’t see the recent SBS doco, The 1000 Journals Project is an ongoing collaborative experiment attempting to follow 1000 journals throughout their travels. The goal is to provide a method for interaction and shared creativity among friends and strangers.

The project officially launched in August of 2000, with the release of the first 100 journals in San Francisco. It was started by ‘some guy’ who gave them to friends, and left them at bars, cafes, and on park benches. Shortly thereafter, people began emailing him, asking if they could participate. So he started sending journals to folks, allowing them to share with friends, or strangers.

Those who find the journals add something to them. A story, drawing, photograph, anything really. Then they pass the journal along, to a friend or stranger, and the adventure continues.

Unfortunately, you've got a better chance of winning the lottery, then of getting a hold of a journal. That's the problem when there are only 1000 of them. So, in response to the ever growing experiment ‘some guy’ launched a 1001 journals offering individuals/groups the opportunity to start their own journal, be it ‘personal’ (their own), ‘travelling’ (sent by mail, globally, to a list of signed up participants) or ‘location’ (based in one public location only, eg. a coffee shop or bookstore.

Along the journey, pages of the journal are scanned into the 1001journals website, and shared with a global audience.

Bird has started a journal, and would love all our creative tweets around the world to contribute to this Bird journal. I’m interested in sharing info, ideas and inspiration on the theme of sustainable design. I LOVE how 1000 and 1001 journals are all about global community and interconnectiveness …. but in a way that combines both current social media, and old skool methodologies.

I’m fascinated to know your thoughts and ideas.

If you would like to receive, and add to the Bird journal please sign up here. :)

How's this for a wicked idea.

Object Gallery, and the guys who brought us the Sydney and Melbourne Design Guides, have got together to create the Audio Design Museum.

The theory is, no gallery space could ever be big enough to capture the creativity of an entire city. So, they’ve done away with the concept of a conventional design museum, and made the city the exhibition space.....with tours that guide towards hotspots of design and the stories and people behind it.

You can download the audio tours and accompanying maps, for free, direct from the Audio Design Museum website straight to your mp3 player or iphone and hear designers tell there story as you pound the pavement.

We love it!

The first precinct tour in Melbournes Gertrude Street launched this week, with Flinders Lane and Melbourne City Walk precincts launching later in August.

Sydneys Surry Hills & Darlinghurst, with Bird Textiles Emporium one of ten designers chosen to represent the precinct, and Paddington also launch in August with Brisbanes precincts launching in October.

Talk about making design accessible to the people. Too cool. :)

Bring it on.

Here’s five favourite highlights that we’re looking forward to the most......but for a full programme please go to www.sydneydesign.com.au

Young Blood Designer Markets   Way back in 2005, Bird featured in the very first Young Blood Designer Market. Offering an opportunity to buy direct from the best new design talent in the country, Young Blood features fashion, furniture, jewellery, graphics, industrial design and more. This curated market is a glimpse into the future, a critical launch pad for Australia’s talented young designers, as well as a vibrant market for the design-savvy shopper.

The Australian International Design Awards   Showcasing the best of Australian design, the 2010 Australian International Design celebrate the most revolutionary products this year. A selection of 16 finalists on display at the Museum include a lightweight wine bottle, a pocket-size ultra-sound system, new surfboard design and a gaming headset that reads brain signals and facial expressions, rather than using a joystick.

Small Stories Big Picture   Unleash the photographer within and capture a slice of Sydney on this cycling tour with a difference. Exploring the design precinct and some of the lesser-known parts of Surry Hills, you are provided with a LOMO camera, map and passport to aid in your self-guided tour, documenting your discoveries as you go along.
During the bike tour, stories are to be collected from bespoke retailers, cafes and designers, (including Bird Textiles Emporium), who, in turn, stamp passports for discounts on return visits. Selected photographs will be used to create a large photographic installation which will develop over the three weeks of Sydney Design.

Creating the Look – Benini and Fashion Photography   Capturing the beauty and style of an era, Bruno Benini is recognised as one of Australia’s leading 20th century fashion photographers. For five decades the Italian immigrant recorded the evolution of fashion. Establishing his studio in Melbourne in the mid 1950s, Benini refined his craft, working alongside famed photographers Helmut Newton and Athol Shmith. His marriage to artist Hazel led to the formation of an innovative partnership. Together, the couple produced some of Australia’s most memorable and elegant images.

Green with Envy – A sustainable design tour   Once again, Bird Textiles Emporium is featured on this walking tour in Sydney’s most vibrant design precincts, featuring innovative designers and store owners who follow sustainable principles. Discover irresistible homeware, ceramics, stationery, textiles, accessories and jewellery from Australia and overseas, all produced with impeccable green credentials. Retailers and artists responsible for this green wave of gorgeous design will discuss their passion for quality items and sustainable design, as well as giving tips on green living.

Suck it up kids, theres lots of other cool stuff on the programme to get you inspired too.

Sustainable design was given a big thumbs up in Brisbane last week at the inaugural Queensland Premier’s Design Awards.

Queensland Premier and Arts Minister Anna Bligh announced Alexander Loterzstain and Kent Gration as the winners of the inaugural awards.

Loterzstain was presented with the $40,000 Smart State Design Fellow, while Gration received the $10,000 Emerging Design Leader award.

Nice one boys. Great to see Queensland recognising its champions.

The new awards program was established this year, in order to recognise excellence in design and the importance of design to the state. The program is part of the Queensland Design Strategy 2020.

Loterzstain is the principal of derlot, a multi-discplinary design studio based in Brisbane. Throughout his remarkable design career Alex has developed products for high profile clients and has exhibited in London, Moscow, Milan, Tokyo, New York, San Fransisco and Berlin. One of his products is part of the permanent design collection at the Pompidou Museum in Paris. Alex currently collaborates with IDEE-Sputnik, Planex, Street and Garden, SIGG, COVO, Artquitect and Escofet.  Alex has won numerous awards recognising his contribution to design and his design products. He a member of the Queensland Design Council.

Bligh said Gration displayed “an unquestionable commitment to sustainable design”. Since establishing Integration Studio in 2004, Gration’s work has been exhibited in Milan, Tokyo and New York. He specialises in environmentally-aware graphic, product and furniture design, with designs including the award-winning Costello stool and Wambamboo, a range of stylish and functional bamboo furniture.

With the biennial Victoria’s Premier’s Design Awards held as part of the State of Design festival, and now the inaugural annual Queensland’s Premier’s Awards, it’s a shame not to see support for the design industry with the NSW Premier following suit. NSW seem to have tourism, training, wine, health, literary and history awards down pat, but NSW Design could do with the odd pat on the back.

Come and check it out.....Sydneys coolest festival – Winterland.

...and guess what?....Bird will be there as part of the Winterland Markets, curated by Finders Keepers. You’ll find handmade art and craft pieces, winter fashion, and traditional seasonal food to munch on while you skate the ice rink and kick back to live music. So come on down, on the 22, 23 and 24 July.

Experience all the magic of a glittering European winter in the heart of Sydney’s inner west.  Come to CarriageWorks for the first ever Winterland festival!

Throughout the festival, the beautiful foyer will transform for a winter festival boasting an dazzling indoor ice rink, live music and hot new bands, a design, arts and craft market, fabulous food stalls serving alpine cuisine, dancing, karaoke and activities for everyone to get involved in.

Admission to Winterland is free.

Ice Skating is the centrepiece of Winterland. Entry onto the ice-rink is inexpensive, and you can pre-book your skating session. Evening skating and live music is perfect night out with friends or colleagues, or the perfect date.

Thursday 22 July, 6 – 10pm
The jazz and blues of The John Hardaker Direction and Charlotte Jane will be a smooth mix of jazz-funk and soulful grooves....and its Birds birthday so we’ll be rockin at the Bird market stall. :)

Friday 23 July, 6 – 10pm
The Loin Brothers, Long John Saliva and Paradise Lost's DJ Silvio. Rumored to have been raised in the backroom of a Sydney leather club, a diet of strobe lighting and throbbing sub bass fuzzy disco guitars and exotic synthesizers make up the Loins' musical arsenal. Releasing on Future Classic, the Loin Brothers have vinyl singles out to date both with heavy international praise and big names remixes from the likes of LA disco fiend Woolfy and London based Mock & Toof.

Saturday 24 July, 1 – 5pm   
Crafternoon & Folk Music. It's craft en masse! Bring your own craft projects to work on in the company of friends. There will also be activities for people to learn, like knitting and crocheting, taught by the desperately crafty folks from Knitty Gritty and Loopy, who do clever things like make baskets out of recycled bags. They can teach you how in the free workshops and demonstrations throughout the afternoon, and at Bird we’ll be in our element with a massive selection of Craftpacks and craft projects.
Folk music from local musicians will be the backdrop to your craft ideas, featuring Portable Junk, Ngaratya, Nadeena Dixon, Melodie Nelson and Ryan Nicolussi.

Experience all the magic of a glittering European winter in the heart of Sydney’s inner west.  Come to CarriageWorks for the first ever Winterland festival!

Winterland is the newest, coolest event on Sydney’s social calendar. 
Winterland ......fun, fresh, low-cost winter activities that will keep visitors of all ages warm and fuzzy throughout July.

Danish designer Annemette Beck takes a creative new approach to textile design by utilizing an extremely inventive array of recycled materials.

Famous for her experiments with new combinations of structures and materials, her line of woven products include rugs, upholstery, fabrics, runners, blinds and even room dividers made from materials such as rubber, paper and metal.

Beck’s experimental textiles showcase materials that can be salvaged and re-used.

Beck’s materials include but are not limited to paper yarn, rubber, silver, copper, brass and stainless steel threads, lurex, crystals, coated polyester, recycled bicycle tubes, plant fibers, wool, and linen. All of the fabrics are hand-made or factory woven and are all custom-made.

Becks approach is simple and based upon Danish design principles — she celebrates the materials by removing anything that is unnecessary and leaving only what is essential. The designs tell a clear and distinct story with each independent construction.

Do check out Annemette's website for more info on her work, and a hugely impressive list of trade events and exhibitions around the world.

The C word is misunderstood.
The C word is a work of art.
The C word is cutting edge.
The C word is passed down from generation to generation.
The C word is desireable
The C word is unique.

Brilliantly talented, highly creative, ambitious for their futures..... crafts people have hung their heads in shame in the past when using the C word.

But the popular resurgence of craft over the last few years, supported by reputable organisations like Object Gallery, Craft Victoria and commercial indie craft ventures like the Finders Keepers markets have impacted on the perception of craft in Australia.

On the other side of the world, Craftscotlands progressive CEO, Emma Walker, was fresh in the job, when she had a C word epiphany.  ‘Craft, contrary to popular belief or the tired and lacklustre marketing campaigns that so often surround it, is one of the most urgent of art forms’, said Emma. ‘It demands attention. We wanted to inject confidence into the sector.’ And so ‘The C Word’ media campaign was born.

The spicy ad campaign, entitled "The C Word" has been rapturously received by the public in the UK, as it has been spread through television airings, as a trailer before movies, and of course, virally. Craftscotland is sneaking their message into as many places as possible, including placing Scottish craft onto movie sets, commercials and other unlikely (but highly visible) venues. 

The organization understands that craft has a brilliant history in Scotland, but it also occupies a significant place in contemporary culture. 

Just as gay rights activists reclaimed the "Q" word and African-Americans tried reclaiming the "N" word, craftscotland is bringing together generations of makers and a new generation of eco-conscious consumer, rallying them around "the C word".  It certainly didn't need a government organization to empower and legitimize me, but it's interesting to see the suits taking notice. 

Check it out. www.craftscotland.co.uk

Its been a bit chilly lately so we thought we'd send a ray of sunshine to brighten your day.......some special bird winter warmers to make you smile. :)

Until the end of June, on a first come first served basis, check out our sale catalogue or come into the Sydney Emporium for:

- up to 60% off selected sling and hoop bags!
- up to 75% off selected fashion garments!
- handprinted fabric for only $25 a metre!
- nothing over $100!

Better get your skates on kids .....this is the first time we've had our bags on sale.... there are some fantastic deals to be had....& they'll disappear quick.

As a Bird subscriber you get access to the sale catalogue first..... click on the link to sale catalogue and download, or go to our home page at www.birdtextile.com and scroll down to bottom left corner to find it....or come into the Sydney Emporium to grab your goodies.

Hopin our winter warmers brighten your day!
Rachel and the team at Bird. xx

Paper Artist, Mia Liu was born in 1980, in Taipei, Taiwan. She studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, followed with a Masters in Fine Art at the University of New York. She has won numerous awards for her work.

Made from reclaimed objects, her paper art is exquisitely beautiful. The artist punches holes into thousands of paper strips to form decorative patterns.

Mia remarks on the ‘Guggen Donut’, ‘This work uses Guggenheim Museum’s tickets as the creative medium, and attempts to use this medium in a journal-like documentary project. Using the ticket hole-punched method, I’ve turned my daily routine of eating donuts at the Guggenheim Museum café into the topic of my creative work. Through the process of punching holes, I’ve tried to turn the orange ink used on the tickets into the primary color on the artwork’s surface. The completed work shows an interesting reconstructed twist for the ready-made object.’

Absolutely stunning.

Founded in 1948, the Art League is one of the oldest non-profit visual arts organizations in Houston and is the first alternative art space in Texas, USA. 

But for some time, the Art League has generated relatively little interest amongst either the art crowd or the general public. Perceived (fairly or not) as more of a kaffeeklatsch for local artists of mediocre talent and ambition than as a dynamic organization with interesting programming, the Art League has, for over 30 years, quietly gone about its business of housing classes and exhibitions in a grouping of nondescript white houses in the Montrose.

Over the years, there have been many abortive attempts to tear down those houses and make a grander architectural gesture; and it seems, finally, that this most recent attempt is actually going to come to fruition. To celebrate, the oft-disregarded Art League has sponsored what is the most exciting installation in Houston in recent memory.

They asked Dan Havel and Dean Ruck to do something fun with two little houses, scheduled for demolition to make way for a big fancy new building. Havel and Ruck’s transformation, titled ‘Inversion’, takes two of the Art League’s decrepit bungalows and literally blows a hole through the houses in a gesture that seems to turn them inside out. The exterior wood siding of the houses has been torn off and placed within the void.

The result is an almost organic, funnel-shaped vortex, a wildly dynamic conversion of two otherwise completely static buildings.
Quirky street house art or architectonic installation. It looks a bit like an optical illusion, but surprisingly, what you see is 100% real.

Ben Peacock and Matt Perry from The Republic of Everyone only work on products, services and brands that do good in the world. Things that encourage recycling or save energy, initiatives that save lives, ideas that promote healthy living and get kids off the couch. They have developed a business focusing exclusively on sustainability and bringing about social change to business.

They are do-gooders who are good at doing. Win win. :)

We met them last year at Eat Green Design @ Sydney Design Week and think they are fab.

So, with the whales/japan thing in the news again we thought some creative cool to prickle peoples conscience and change their mind set was in order.

Tails for Whales is about getting people to sign a petition, but it feels like so much more than that.

It started with a symbol and a handful of photographers around Australia. Then a flickr group. Some posters. A simple TV ad. Which was posted on Vimeo and You Tube. A facebook page. Some serious blog coverage. Some new media. Celebrity Endorsement.  And an inspired jump to a global media campaign. All with a tiny budget.

The first Tails for Whales petition book was over 600 pages long and was delivered to Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, in March 2009. They will be delivering a similar book to US President , Barack Obama, in June 2010.

We think this campaign uses real strategy and real tactics to deliver hand on heart real results in one of the most simple and effective ways we’ve seen for a long time.

Ten out of ten. Make sure you post your pic. :)

If it’s true that one man’s trash in another man’s treasure, Goldsmiths (prestigious UK art school ) design graduate Oliver Bishop-Young should be an extremely wealthy man. The London-based designer repurposes rented skips under the guise of the ‘Skipwaste Project’ to create patches of communal outdoor space, challenging what we perceive as waste and wasted space.

He has transformed skips into a variety of cool outdoor spaces, including a swimming pool, a living room, a garden, a skate ramp and a campsite.  His designs aim to encourage recycling and sharing discarded objects as well as creative uses of space in a crowded city.

He looks at three main areas: exchange of waste materials, re-use of waste and making use of wasted spaces and has developed useful tools to help determine what is in a skip, including a mirror because "It can be shameful for some to be seen peering into a skip", and a blackboard to provide a catalogue of what is on offer.

He then set up an online system so people can share the knowledge of what they found, so that skip searchers (or dumpster divers for those of you reading in the U.S.) can go get what they need instead of having to randomly search, a sort of Google Map for dumpster divers.

We think he rocks!

No matter how much the wind huffs and puffs through the hills above Byron Bay, the home of Rachel Bending, founder and creative director of leading sustainable fashion and homewares label Bird Textiles, and her partner Campbell is one house that certainly won’t blow down – despite the fact that it’s made of straw.

As someone who’s passionate about environmental responsibility, Rachel knew straw bale would be the perfect choice for the home she planned to create in the lush Byron Bay hinterland. A traditional building material with serious eco cred – it’s a renewable natural resource with exceptional thermal insulating properties – straw bale is undergoing a renaissance in dwellings. “It’s durable and, when you combine it with passive solar principles and an awareness of the site’s environmental considerations, you can design a house with significantly fewer energy requirements,” says Rachel.

Read more from this interview with Home Beautiful Magazine May 2010.....

Sitting in harmony with its bush surrounds, Rachel’s home is one of only six private properties within an 32-hectare community-titled, wildlife sanctuary that borders a state forest. Before design and building began, she lived part-time in a caravan on-site for three years. “I needed to know what the sun and the wind were doing over the four seasons so the design would be in sync with the environment,” she explains.

In order to stay hands-on, Rachel took a straw-bale building workshop and an owner-builder training course, then hired Blue Architects (now based in the UK) because “they had a similar design aesthetic to me and were interested in the challenge.” Straw-bale specialist Robert O’Keeffe of Natural Building Works was commissioned for the build.

Of course, one would expect nothing less than a totally green approach from Rachel, who is widely regarded as a pioneer in the field of eco textiles. The beautifully bold, organic fabrics in all of Bird’s ranges are designed in her Byron studio, hand-printed using water-based dyes and sewn using solar-powered machines – and Rachel’s home displays the same enchanting characteristics: a raw, organic palette punctuated by graphic bursts of pattern and colour, with a nod to nostalgia and a firm focus on natural beauty. Designs from Bird are dotted throughout the house, as are well-chosen hits of retro furniture and the occasional style statement, such as a cowhide rug. “Pieces that have caught my eye have become highlights of the house,” says Rachel. “I incorporated a vintage fridge but had a new motor put into it to make it more energy efficient. And I collect items like old egg whisks and cake racks as wall decoration.”

The home is split into two pavilions, connected by an outdoor bathroom and stepped timber deck, with the northern pavilion containing the couple’s ‘summer bedroom’, and the southern a cosy, enclosed ‘winter bedroom’, an indoor bathroom complete with a composting toilet, and a combined kitchen, dining and lounge area. “I love the natural flow between the indoor and outdoor spaces and the way it all blends with the environment,” says Rachel.

Uniting it all is a consistent commitment to planet-friendly features, such as solar heating and power, a compost toilet, a reedbed greywater system and rainwater tanks that hold 50,000 litres and provide all the home’s water. “When one understands that one can live lightly without decreasing your quality of life, there’s no going back,” says Rachel.

The Salone del Mobile is the International Furniture Fair of Milan, the largest decoration tradefair in the world. The annual show showcases the latest in furniture and design from international sources. It is considered by interior designers as a leading exposition for the display of new products by furniture manufacturers, designers , lighting concepts, and other design items.

During the fair, Milan becomes a showcase for all things design, so along with the Salone del Mobile official events, a programme ‘Fuori Salone’ (‘outside the showroom’) runs in parallel, and it seems that these satellite design events  around the city are almost more exciting than the fair itself. 

Zona Tortona is one area in the South West of Milan which has been hosting its own satellite events for many years.... originally as a way to support emerging designers, it has now become popular with some of the established brands too.  Narrow cobbled streets and oh-so-cute little courtyards, cafes and street fair add to the atmosphere.

Oh how we would have loved to be there....maybe next year....but in the meantime, heres a selection of our favourite images from Lucy @ Design Files who is lucky enough to be there right now, along with a few images from Megan Morton and Felicity Splatt who were there last year.

Dribble on kids. :)

Recent debate within the design community would suggest that sustainability is, or should now be, a fundamental consideration for all designers. Certainly, there is substantial evidence to show how design is making a positive difference in the troubled world in which we live. However, the design industry also continues to contribute to unsustainable systems of waste and excess and has played a significant role in many of the problems we now face. This is both a confronting and exciting time for designers as they make decisions about the work they do, the way they do it and the impact it has on our lives and our planet.

Object Gallery invited creative directors from five outstanding design studios – each based in New South Wales and each with a genuine track record in the area of ethical and sustainable design – to respond to this statement.

Bird Textiles was one of them.

How did we respond?

 
The NSW Education Department, in conjunction with Object, interviewed Rachel at her home and studio. The interview wil be used in schools across Australia, along with interviews with the other four design studios. Watch these two 5 minute interviews on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/10736590 and http://vimeo.com/10737047

These videos were made in conjunction with a static exhibition held at Object Gallery in Feb/March 2010. This exhibition included both visual and writtem responses to the statement from each of the design studios.

This was Rachels written response to the statement.

‘As designers, we have an opportunity, and a responsibility, to lead and encourage positive social change.
Small to medium-scale businesses generate 40% of Australia's GDP, represent 48% of the workforce and make up 96% of all businesses in Australia. On any given day every individual will have numerous interactions with these businesses. It is this point of interaction that offers one of the largest opportunities to achieve dramatic sustainability outcomes.
If business is managed from the heart, great things can happen. Bird started with two old car batteries and a solar panel. Seven years on, we are servicing a global market, but most importantly, we are continuing to educate and inform on issues relating to sustainability.
Social change. It is less about me, me, me, and more about building bridges for a future.’

Eco artist Edina Tokodi is making her mark in one of Brooklyns’ trendy suburbs. With an emphasis on the touchy feely, her moss installations challenge preconceived notions of art and graffiti.

The mossy graffiti art offers an opportunity for interaction with nature within the city boundaries, and the artist believes strongly that the reaction (or lack thereof) of passersby speaks volumes. In an article in Inhabitat Edina says, ‘City dwellers often have no relationship with animals or greenery. As a public artist I feel a sense of duty to draw attention to deficiencies in our everyday life.’
She goes on to say, ‘From the moment I put them on the street they start to have their own life. For me, the reaction of life on the street is also very important. I am curious about how people receive them, if they just leave them alone, or if they want to, take care of them or dismantle them. This is what makes my work similar to graffiti, although I am searching for a deeper social meaning. . I believe that if everyone had a garden of their own to cultivate, we would have a much more balanced relation to our territories.’

TED is a US based not-for-profit enterprise devoted to the propogation of Ideas Worth Spreading. TED started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment & Design.

In the spirit of Ideas Worth Spreading TED has created a program called TEDx, a series of local self-organised events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience.

TEDxSydney at CarriageWorks on Saturday 22 May 2010 will feature a selection of Australia's leading visionaries and storytellers showcasing their Ideas Worth Spreading LIVE to a group of thinkers ... as well as ONLINE to the world at large. At this invitation-only event, a curated group of changemakers, innovators, thinkers, creatives, cultural leaders & social pioneers will witness a back-to-back schedule of talks, performances and other multimedia surprises showcasing “Ideas Worth Spreading” from a carefully selected coterie of presenters whom the event organisers (and their networks) feel have something valuable to contribute.

Attendance at TEDxSydney will be free but by invitation only. Only a relatively small number of people can participate as members of the Bay 17 audience. To be included within this select group of 500 you will need to be nominated for inclusion by a member of the TEDxSydney Think Tank. Alternatively, you will be able to apply online via www.tedxsydney.com. Alternatively, you can apply to be a Member of the Live Bay 17 Audience by going to their website. www.tedxsydney.com. Applications opened yesterday!

TED is a US based not-for-profit enterprise devoted to the propogation of Ideas Worth Spreading. TED started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment & Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with the annual TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK, TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Program, the new TEDx community program, this year’s TEDIndia Conference and the annual TED Prize.

The annual conferences in Long Beach and Oxford bring together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives … in exactly 18 minutes. Attendees have called it “the ultimate brain spa,” “a four-day journey into the future, in the company of those creating it” or even “Davos for optimists.” The diverse audience — CEOs, scientists, creatives, philanthropists — is almost as extraordinary as the speakers, who have included Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Frank Gehry, Paul Simon, Sir Richard Branson, Philippe Starck and Bono.

On TED.com, the best talks and performances from TED and its various partner events are made available to the world … for free. More than 450 TEDTalks are now available, with more added each week. Every day hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world feast on TED and this cornucopia of ideas. All of the talks feature closed captions in English, and many feature subtitles in various languages. These videos are released under a Creative Commons License, so they can be freely shared and reposted.

Most rice fields in Japan, and throughout much of Asia, are much more than a simple place to grow food. In some cultures, whether or not a farmer owns land on which to cultivate rice is symbolic of his stature in the class system and overall social hierarchy. They spend hours of time not only in the fields, but also blessing and decorating the granaries within which they’ll store the rice once it has been harvested.

So, in true Japanese style, the art of growing rice has been taken to a new level. Crop art — created by strategically arranging and growing different colors of rice plants — can be seen in farming communities across the country. The largest and finest work is grown in the Aomori prefecture village of Inakadate, which has earned a reputation for its agricultural artistry.

In the case of Inakadate, the project originally simply came about as part of a revitalization effort designed to help enhance the beauty of their small village of only 8,700 residents. They started with simple designs, such as a picture of Mount Iwaki, but later began challenging themselves as their skills grew and they became more confident in their work. In 2007, they attempted to recreate some of the famous woodblock prints created by Katsushika Hokusai in his series known as “Fugaku Sanjurokke,” which translates to “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.”

So how do they do it? Japanese farmers commonly grow a variety of rice, called tsugaru-roman, which buds with green leaves. In order to design their crop art, they include kodaimai rice, which grows with purple and yellow leaves and provides the contrast needed to create lines and depth within the work of art.  Some farmers incorporate brown and yellow rice into their field art as well.

For once one of the multi nationals is looking to nature for the answers, and in doing so has come up with something truly beautiful. Inspired by how flowers open up to the sun to collect the suns energy, the Blossom Street Lighting by Philips transforms cityscapes from industrial to ecological featuring photovoltaic petals that open during the day to collect energy, then at night, the light closes and Led lights turn on to brighten city streets.

Designed for the Philips Simplicity Event in 2008, the Light Blossom is a light pole for outdoor use that collects its own energy from the sun and wind by transforming its appearance. Adapting to the day’s rhythms or triggered by activity, proximity motion sensing ensures that efficient LEDs beam light only when and where required.

Light Blossom’s LEDs use half of the energy of a traditional street light for the same light output, and overproduced electricity is fed back to the grid.

Guerilla Gardening is taken to a new level by quirky British artist and graphic design student Pete Dungey.

Guerilla Asphalt Gardens, a creative solution to surface imperfections. :) We love it.

Dungey has perfected the art of filling potholes with soil and flowers, undeniably enhancing the aesthetic of weather beaten roads. And, since guerilla art is often effective at capturing the attention of passersby, guerilla asphalt gardens may do the same.

Insert Coin Here, is a group exhibition curated by Nella Themelios and Kim Brockett that is part of the 2010 L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival cultural program.

Comprising vending machines strategically placed around the Melbourne CBD, Insert Coin Here explores hierarchies of value and mechanised systems of exchange.

The Insert Coin Here vending machines contain limited edition 'fashion objects' which are randomly dispensed when a member of the public inserts a $2 coin. The artworks contained in the machines have been produced by over 60 Melbourne-based artists, designers and craft practitioners.

Where can you find the machines?

Mon 1 March - Sat 6 March Craft Victoria: 31 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

Tue 8 March - Sat 13 March Captains of Industry: Level 1, 2 Somerset Place, Melbourne (off Little Bourke Street)

Sun 14 March - Sun 21 March Alice Euphemia: Shop 6, Cathedral Arcade, 37 Swanston Street, Melbourne

Mon 22 March - Wed 31 March The Thousands Shop: Level 6, Curtin House, 252 Swanston Street, Melbourne

Contributing Artists

Follow these links to see artworks by each artist in the group show.

Alexander Ouchtomsky – Amy Borrell – Andrea Eckersley – Anita Cummins – Antuong Nguyen- Beck Jobson – Ben Landau – Brittany Veitch- Carmel McKie – Caleb Shea – Chloe Vallance - Dani Maugeri – Dawn Tan – Deirdre Hoban – Dell Stewart – Dylan Martorell - Elise Sheehan – Ellie Mücke – Emily O'Brien – Emma Greenwood – Emmet O'Dwyer – Estelle Dévé - Felicity Jane Large - Gavin Bell – Gemma Patford – Genevieve Callaghan – Grant Nimmo - handmadelife – Heather Lighton – Hugo Atkins - Jake Walker – Jarrod Zlatic – Jessica McElhinney - Kalinda Vary – Katie Jacobs – Kiah GM – Kyoko Imazu - Lauren Brown – Leah Jackson – Leah Muddle – Leo Jinks – Lily Feng – Louise Dibben – Louise Ryan – Lucie Sprague - Melody Ellis – Michael Pham – Michaela Bruton - Nathan Gray – Nicholas Jones - Pip Carroll – Prudence Lansell – Prudence Rees-Lee - Ramona Barry - Sarah McNeil – Sharon Margaret – Simon MacEwan – Simon Winkler – Simon Zoric - Tim Fleming – Timothy Kendall Edser - Wolfgang, Max & Shlomo

Wasara describe their product as disposable paperware for spiritual enlightenment, and for what its worth we think they're spot on. Their collection of beautifully designed disposable tableware makes us go weak at the knees. :)

We've all had the disposable tableware dilemma....borrow in crockery for a chic backyard barby, or buy in the disposables and save on the washing up. In recent years theres been some pretty funky cornstarch alternatives on the market, (plastic hasn't cut the mustard for a long time), but this new offering from Wasara takes disposable to a new level.

Underlying the concept of the brand is the legacy of  Japanese aesthetic and values. With one of the most refined food cultures in the world and a timeless design aesthetic, this range of bowls, mugs, wine glasses, sushi plates could only of come out of Japan.

Wasara uses reed, bamboo and sugarcane waste to create the range....each product is fully biodgradable and compostable. So your backyard barby can be eco chic too. Thats if you can bring yourself to use them in the first place!

Its a beautiful thing.

It seems like people are building bigger and bigger and bigger houses. Its not really making sense to me.
I reckon some families livin in one room huts are way happier than some families living in sprawlin mcmansions.
Theres some pretty inspiring tiny homes around the world. And when we say tiny we mean tiny. These spaces can be as small as 90 sq feet.
These guys are takin tiny to a new level.
But just goes to show what you can do with a very small space.
We found just a few to show you. Check it out.