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?

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.....

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!

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.

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

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.....

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.

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.

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'.

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.

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.

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.

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.