what an amazing long weekend in melbourne. time just seamed to disappear, running around exploring the city and it's surroundings and the state of design exhibition. and the songlines bag prototype handled rain, shine and being dragged around perfectly! and it also got compliments for being cool and really well made at the state of design exhibit ..
if you are looking for a nice hotel in melbourne - the olsen in south yarra had cool rooms, great service and the perfect position to go shopping in chapel street or head into town (and thank you travelzoo for an awesome deal ;-)).
the state of design:made exhibition in the royal exhibition hall was truely inspirational. as there were signs in quite a few spots 'not' to take pictures, i only had the chance to make mental notes. have a look at their website to see some pics. my favorites:
- the paper plane academy - how awesome is that! i was tempted to join in the fun .. then my 'i'm a grownup' got in the way. now i'm building paper planes secretely at home ;-)
- beautiful reusable porcelein takeaway coffee cups from ingrid tufts
- well crafted bags by matt, who just moved into the nicholas building, one of my favorite quirky creative buildings in melbourne. mr r. could hardly get his fingers of the latest mattt prototype of a 'man'bag and backpack in one. i think it is already on his xmas wishlist ..
great coffee, cool design and all of that with a good conscience - head to kinfolk near the southern cross station. everybody working there is a volunteer and they redistribute all their profits between four selected development projects. you can also take some lovely word leaves by bronwyn lovell for inspiration.
i had some amazing italian food, looked at heaps of cool little stores and spend hours (!!!) in men's shoe shops looking for the perfect boots for mr. r. next time there will be more shopping for me!
crafted from re-used australian materials, songlines' products inspire you to explore their past and create their future ... bags with a story. the start of the journey.