Perth

"Love is the only fuel you need..."
Prime Mover is a new Australian film directed by David Caesar (Mullet, Dirty Deeds), which will embark on a road trip throughout regional NSW this Thursday. The two week exclusive 'country' preview season is believed to be a first, and celebrates the communities and locations where Prime Mover was filmed.

The film opens nationally on November 12, and Transmission Films has generously given us 10 in-season double passes for indie art & design to giveaway! Check that you can make it to one of the cinemas where Prime Mover will be screening (listed below), and comment on this post by Friday 6th November to enter! (Why not tell us your favourite mode of transport... truck, motorbike, sedan, bicycle, bus, hot-hatch, 4WD, caravan, tangara, combi van, mini, ute, scooter, your first car, your new car, by foot?)

Starring an ensemble cast of Australian actors, including Michael Dorman, Emily Barclay, Ben Mendelsohn and William McInnes, Prime Mover is a diesel charged romance about ambition, pressure, responsibility and the love shared by a man, a woman and his truck. It is a bitter sweet crowd pleaser with action, some singing and a little bit of dance.

Dorman plays a talented truck pinstriper in Prime Mover, and there is a special section on the web site devoted to the various trucks and other vehicles that star in the film! The web site itself is really impressive, with a truckin' interface & an oversized load of pics...

"A funny and moving slice of everyday life mixed with a smattering of magic realism, Prime Mover offers a whole new perspective on the Australian trucking way of life." Melbourne International Film Festival

The Prime Mover Soundtrack features Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson, Michael Dorman and Abbe May with the original score by Paul Healy.

Prime Mover opens nationally on 12th November 2009 at the following cinemas:

NSW: Palace Verona, Dendy Newtown
VIC: Carlton Nova, Village Rivoli
QLD: Dendy Portside
ACT: Dendy Canberra
WA: Luna Leederville

If you can make it to one of those locations, make sure to comment on this post and enter our draw for one of 10 double passes!

Extra Long Ribbed Slouch Fingerless Mittens - Dusty Pink (left, USD $35) and Nozy Nose Warmer (right, USD $5) by melpdesigns crochet

These handmade accessories by melpdesigns crochet are almost too cute. For only USD $5 you can keep your nose toasty warm AND confuse your cat to no end! (Those kitties are easily confused!) Designer Mel Paton is a full-time school teacher and crochet designer from Perth. She loves the hobby which brings her so much "enjoyment and respite from the stresses of everyday life and my day job".

Feather Soft Chunky Beanie Hats - Pistacio with Gray Flower (left, USD $18) and Charcoal Gray with Flower (right, USD $18) by melpdesigns crochet

Sweet colour combos and details such as vintage buttons bring a warmth to Mel's designs as well as the people who wear them. These chunky beanie hats each have their own personalities. Mel is passionate about making, buying & selling handmade goods & believes that "buying ethically can really make a difference in the world". I'm sure we all agree with that!

Owl Beanie - Babies, Kids & Adult Sizes (left, USD $24) and Fingerless Mittens - Grey with Wrist Strap and Recycled Buttons (right, USD $23) by melpdesigns crochet

This wide-eyed Owl Beanie comes in both kids' and adults' sizes so all you need is to be young at heart... melpdesigns crochet is available from Mel's Etsy store, www.melpdesigns.etsy.com, and you can find her blog at www.melpdesigns.blogspot.com. By the way, Happy Birthday Mel!

I hope you all had a wonderful break over the holidays! We took some time off over Christmas followed by a camping holiday at Depot Beach (near Bateman's Bay, NSW). As you can imagine, we've returned feeling much refreshed and a little over-excited once again about all things indie...

Guess who has launched a shiny new online store? The well-known & much loved Ruck Rover General Store! Ruck Rover began in 2006 when sisters Claire & Isabelle decided it was time to work for themselves doing what they wanted, playing any music they liked and buying everything they loved.

Well.. they've spent the last two years selling all those things they love, supporting small, independent designers from Australia and all over the world, and making quite a name for themselves in the process.

Outskirts Opulent tee (left) & Broken Eyes tee (right), AUD $69 each.

Ruck Rover General Store has offered the folk of Perth a truly unique shopping experience, and now they've made it a whole lot easier for the rest of us to join in... and look at what I found! The illustrations of Melbourne's Dylan Martorell are incredible, and featured on the Outskirts t-shirts pictured above and below.

Outskirts Fox tee (left, AUD $69) & Ruck Rover Hearts top (right, AUD $20)

My pick of the girls' fashion is the Ruck Rover summer lovin' top (above right), which just happens to be an absolute steal at the moment - reduced from AUD $88 to only $20! Plenty of love there...

Moe Moe earrings, L to R: Flight earrings, Ruck Rover Bird earrings, Tricycle earrings - AUD $29.95 each pair.

Moe Moe earrings are always a favourite, and if you're wondering about those birdies - YES, they are the Ruck Rover signature chirpers.

Sunday Morning Old Map and Plants exercise books, AUD $15 each.

More Dylan Martorell illustrations on these Sunday Morning exercise books containing graph paper pages. I really want some of these for myself, and at AUD $15, they definitely won't break the budget.

Pop over to www.ruckrover.com.au & choose your own favourites from Ruck Rover's selection of womens, mens & babies fashion and accessories, stationery and homewares. Or if you live in Perth, drop by in person to
Shop 4, 595 Beaufort St, Mt Lawley, WA, 6050.

Phone: (08) 9228 3502.

Ravishing Vintage Neckpiece by Anna Vedelago, exhibitor at Perth Upmarket

Christmas is fast approaching and over the next few weeks, there are a multitude of handmade markets to provide pressie potential, including:

• Sat 22.11.2008 Canberra: Handmade Market
• Sat 22.11.2008 Melbourne: Market3031
• Thu 4.12.2008 Perth: Unwrapped: Subiaco
• Fri-Sat 5-6.12.2008 Sydney: The Finders Keepers
• Sun 14.12.2008 Perth: Perth Upmarket

I've included a little information on each of these events below, starting with the soonest - the first two are being held TOMORROW!

THIS WEEKEND sees the launch of Canberra's Handmade Market. If the web site design pictured above looks a familiar, that's because the founder of the Handmade Market, Julie Nichols worked with Justine Barsley during the launch of Perth's Upmarket earlier this year. She was inspired to bring a similar event to Canberra, and introduce locals to the amazing wealth of talent within their own city - so the Handmade Market is 'Canberra's Upmarket'... The Handmade Market will be held this Saturday from 10am - 6pm at Canberra's Albert Hall. There has been a great response from local designers - you can see profiles on the stallholders here, and already, a second event has been planned for February 2009! All the best for the launch Julie - and to our indies from Canberra - make sure to get along & show your support!

Left, jewellery by Sinead Buckney, and right, ceramic piece by Joanne Searle & Lia Tajcnar. (Exhibitors at Canberra's Handmade Market.)

ALSO THIS WEEKEND... the Melbourne suburbs of Flemington and Kensington will host Market3031. 3031 is, of course, the suburbs' postcode, but the event is sure to draw in handmade fans from much further afield... The first Market3031 was held in November 2007 as an artists' market designed to profile and showcase local people's work. There are lots of lovely pictures on their Flickr site - do have a look!

Handmade by Lauren Williams - exhibitor at Market3031.

Unwrapped: the marketplace was the first of the designer markets to appear on the Perth indie scene. Conceived in 2006 and launched in March 2007, the third Unwrapped event is about to take place. Unwrapped: Subiaco will be held as part of the Subiaco Street Festival on Thursday, 4th December. Rather than being a regular market with the same stall holders each time, Unwrapped: the marketplace aims to provide emerging designers with a platform to gain brand awareness and secure retail stockists... The designer lineup changes with each event so there is always something new to look out for!

Flyer for The Finders Keepers designer markets at the CarriageWorks in Sydney in December. Recognise the dreamy artwork?! Of course, it's by indie fave, Kareena Zerefos!

Fans of Sydney's Hope Street Markets will be delighted to discover The Finders Keepers - a new identity for the vibrant event. The new name is based on the simple joy of discovery, and reflects the move to working in association with the CarriageWorks. Under this banner, the team also plan to expand the markets into other areas of Australia. The first Finders Keepers markets will be held over two days, from Friday 5th to Saturday 6th December. (I'm personally rather pleased The Finders Keepers is now within easy walking distance of my house!)

December also sees the return of Perth Upmarket. Building upon the success of September's debut, founder Justine Barsley has expanded the event to include over 65 stalls. The market is located at the historical Perth Town Hall which is apparently Australia's only medieval style town hall (built during the Victorian Gothic revival movement in the nineteenth century). For those of you who are curious, you can check out the pics here. Perth indies are in for a treat, with Perth Upmarket now a quarterly event - this as well as the Made on the Left markets (which were held last weekend) and Unwrapped (described above).

Silver Princess Pods by Eucalypt Homewares, exhibitor at Perth Upmarket

So, if you live in Canberra, Melbourne, Perth or Sydney, mark these dates in your calendars! If you live in other areas and know of a handmade market coming up before Christmas - please leave a comment & let us all know. Happy handmade shopping everyone!

The first Perth Upmarket is on TODAY from 12pm - 5pm, so if you're an indie living in Perth, get down there quick!! You certainly don't want to miss out on over 50 labels displaying their wares!

We introduced you to Perth Upmarket back in early August, and some fantastic labels have jumped on board since then. For the full list, visit Perth Upmarket's retailers including the lovely labels pictured here... MAC Flameworked Beads, Jasmin Jones Jewellery, Bellymoo, Margie Oldfield, Hemd, Stuffaduck + many more.

Perth Upmarket is on today: Sunday 14 September 2008 from 12-5pm at the Perth Town Hall, cnr Barrack Street and Hay St Perth. Excitingly, it will become a quarterly event, so Perth indies will never have too long to wait for their favourite designers to emerge into the publich realm again!

Local Perth designers will be making their mark this year with the launch of two exciting new designer markets: Made On The Left (which is on this weekend!), and Perth Upmarket (being held in September).

The lineup for both markets is looking great - there is a long list of designers who will have stalls this Saturday (12.7.2008) at Made On The Left and the lineup for Perth Upmarket is growing every day it seems!

Enthusiasm for handmade crafts & locally designed products is bubbling over in Perth. There are already lots of gorgeous retail boutiques, but up until now there has been a distinct lack of markets specifically for designers' products. It looks will be following hot on the heels of established design markets in other states such as Hope Street Markets (Sydney) & Rose Street Artists Market (Melbourne).

"I Dream of Boab Trees Three" by Dara Clemens, one of the driving forces behind Made On The Left

To get a feel for the market mood in Perth, I quizzed a selection of organisers & stallholders... I asked DARA CLEMENS (of Made On The Left):
"Made On The Left was founded by a number of Perth designers. How did you find each other & what motivated you to to launch the Made On The Left market?"

"The Made on the Left committee is made up of Sarah, Jacquie, Ali J, Rosanna and myself. We met on the Perth forum thread at Etsy.com and setting up a designer art and craft market along with a complimentary website came up in conversation. To make a long story short we came together to make it happen!

"Open Mines", a triptych by Dara Clemens depicting the open cut mines that are spreading like wild fire throughout WA. Each canvas measures 255×255mm and the work will be availble at Made On The Left Market for AUD $200.

Between the 5 of us we have an amazing variety of skills and have managed to do everything from the press releases (5 different local papers and hopefully a few state ones this week), poster design (Ali J and Jacquie for graphic and Jacquie put the whole thing together), administration (forms, liaison with venue etc) and promotional distribution (leg work around town plus a whole lot of emailing).

Our motivation...I guess we all feel that Perth desperately needs more avenues in which local designers, artists and crafters can display and sell their wares. And that it would be great to have a website that brought together information from around WA, an easy link between sellers and those interested in buying either as an individual or retail."

Limited edition bibs by Oli B Designs, who will have a stall at Perth Upmarket. (AUD $14.95 each)

JUSTINE BARSLEY is responsible for launching Perth Upmarket. The Market will make its debut on Sunday September 14th at the Perth Town Hall. She is looking forward to making it a regular event, so Perth shoppers are in for a treat! (You can also keep up-to-date with Upmarket happenings at their blog). Justine is also the talented work-at-home-mum behind the label Oli B Designs & makes limited edition kids wear such as the funky little bibs pictured above. I asked Justine:
"Having moved to Perth just 2 years ago, what do you think is unique about the Perth design scene? How will this be reflected in the Perth Upmarket?"

"Having only moved to Perth two years ago I have found that there are lots of creative people, but they can be a bit hard to find. What I think is unique about Perth is the diverse mix of creative people and the openness of designers to work together. Whilst there are a few quality annual events, Perth has lacked a quality market where designers can showcase their designs on a regular basis and encourage repeat business. Perth Upmarket will bring Perth's talented artists, craftspeople, designers, stylists and gourmets all under one roof."

Felt Skull Hairclips by The Tiny Little Girl (label of Perth designer Beth Wachla). Beth will have a stall at Made On The Left Market.

I also asked a few of the stallholders, "What are you most looking forward to with the launch of the new markets?"
BETH WACHLA who creates the friendly, creepy faces above & below for her label The Tiny Little Girl answered:

"I'm most looking forward to meeting fellow indie designers and sharing our hard work with the lovely people of Perth. I think the markets are a sign that Perth is moving forward in having our own identity on the Australian art scene, and that’s a really great thing."

Felt Skull Pin Cushions by The Tiny Little Girl.

You simply can't go past felt skulls when they're this cute - I feel like jumping on a flight just to grab one for myself next weekend! I'm sure there will be many, many to choose from, but my favourites from the photos above would have to be the orange skull with white moustache hairclip and the blue pin cushion with the white sad face skull. Which ones do you like the best?

Owl & Kittie Cushions by Lisa Max, (AUD $20 each). Lisa will have a stall at both Made On The Left and Perth Upmarket.

LISA MAX is a designer who will have a stall at both upcoming designer markets in Perth. She makes the gorgeous animal cushions pictured above, and answered my question as follows:

"Everything! Designing and selling things is a completely new experience for me and I am not quite sure what I'm doing yet... I'm very much looking forward to meeting other designers and craftsters to see how they work and hear about their ideas and experiences."

1" Badges by Ali J Art, (AUD $3.50 each). Ali will have a stall at both Made On The Left and Perth Upmarket.

ALI J (Alicia Rosam) is a freelance illustrator. She creates products based on her gorgeous & very distinctive illustrations of characters with red rosy cheeks & wild crazy hair. She answered my question as follows:

"This is such a difficult question as I don't have enough fingers to contain my excitement at being able to display my work at these new events. I think what I am most looking forward to is meeting new people and finding some subjects who I can use in future illustrations. I am also looking forward to being inspired and challenged by fellow designers and proud to see how much of the public will come out and support independent handmade design."

Pocket Mirrors by Ali J Art, (AUD $8 each).

Felt Skull Badges by The Tiny Little Girl. I thought these guys should have the last laugh...