Wee Birdy

Wee Christmas finds: Trims for gift wrapping

Here's a wee Sydney secret shop find: Fenners in Mona Vale. This relatively unassuming haberdashery and fabric store on Waratah Street in Mona Vale stocks a good range of reasonably priced fabrics, as well as an impressive collection of ribbons, trims and braids. Just look out for the Australiana tea-towels of galahs and lorikeets out the front.

I pounced on these glorious trims from Thailand and picked out six sweet shop hues in miniature tinsels, braids and cords (including a fabulously fluffy white one), which work beautifully with my white vintage Christmas tree, glossy white wrapping paper and Wee Birdy gift cards. The spools range from 2.75m to 4.5m in length, and are priced around AU$3 per spool.

Fenners
11 Waratah Street
Mona Vale NSW 2130
Tel. 02 9999 2299

Sydney shopping: Finders Keepers market

Phew. I'm a bit puffed. We moved into our new place last weekend and I've been trying to conquer the seemingly expanding mountain of boxes (I think they're breeding) while dealing with a 27-week baby bump and an ever-growing list of utterly mad pregnancy maladies.

But I was so delighted to take a break on the weekend and finally delve into some Australian independent design, in the form of the brilliant Finders Keepers market at Eveleigh's CarriageWorks.

It was my first visit to CarriageWorks and my first real foray into Australian independent design since returning from London. And after covering so many design markets in London (including Bust) and seeing the best of UK talent, I wasn't really sure what to expect. After all, when I left Sydney in February 2007, there wasn't an awful lot happening with local design and craft, but the scene has really taken off since then.

And joy, oh joy, Finders Keepers was an absolute treat! I was not only impressed by the high standard of work but also the diverse and beautifully collated line-up of 75 exhibitors, spanning furniture, fashion, ceramics, textiles, jewellery and stationery. The carefully considered mix of designers offered a new surprise at every turn (my head was just about spinning), neatly avoiding the trap of 'samey-ness' that can sometimes plague design markets.

CarriageWorks itself is a wonderfully cavernous and light-filled industrial location to hold a busy Christmas design market on a humid Sydney weekend, complete with an excellent bar and cafe.

Here are some of my Finders Keepers highlights, with more posts to come over the week. Overseas readers can also purchase some great Australian design by clicking on the websites, which link through to contact details, blogs and online stores.


Super-sweet rabbit characters adorn The Storybook Rabbit's collection of vintage plates.


Loved the 'Noice' biscuit tea-towel at Materialistic's stall.


Sophisticated simplicity from Mr & Mrs White's range of homewares and furniture.


Charming handprinted stationery at Write to Me features adorable vintage motifs.




Cory Child's beautifully pleated fabric necklaces.


Loving Bride and Wolfe's Scandi-inspired circle wall shelves - perfect for collectables and displaying children's figurines.


Vintage fabric and a whimsical timber panel illustration combine to make a gorgeous and unique handbag at Oktoberdee.


The Missing Piece's handcrafted stools feature beautiful organic design and unexpected pops of colour.


The most splendid pre-loved vintage books have been repurposed as journals, photo albums, diaries and sketchbooks at Rebound Books.


'Scratchie' cards, advent calendars and beautiful graphics at TMOD.

Adorable handcrafted creatures (think pugs, owls and foxes) and whimsical embroidery at Cat Rabbit. (Nice website, too.)




Lox+Savvy's brilliant installation of a paper metropolis and eye-popping collection of stationery.

Finders Keepers markets are bi-annual events in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Visit their website (and check out their brilliant blog) for more information about the next event.

For more photos, click here for my Flickr set.

Wee Christmas finds: Top 3 stockings (and a grizzle at David Jones)

Did I tell you that I visited David Jones' Christmas shop last week? (David Jones' is a major Australian department store, kind of like John Lewis in the UK). I know it's unfair to compare DJs to Liberty's magnificent Christmas shop floor, but I couldn't help but be disappointed by the sad and overpriced stock on offer. Who is doing DJ's buying??? And whose great idea was it to hide the Christmas shop in a dim little room at the back of the fourth floor of the men's store? And where's the magic??? Any chance DJ's can entice Yasmin Sewell back to Sydney? She did a superb job at Liberty. Gawd, even I'd put my hand up for the job.

Anyway, it took me all of three minutes to do my rounds of the DJ's Christmas shop (good Christmas shops usually have me lingering in their magical wonderlands for at least half an hour), and it left me kinda cold and uninspired. So I headed back to the safety of my favourite shops online in search of Christmas stockings and found these three beauties:

UK designer Donna Wilson is white-hot at the moment, isn't she? She's featured quite a few times in my gift guides, and her homewares range is spot-in, with genuine hand-made charm, gorgeous colour palettes, and just the right kind of kookiness. Her hand-knitted Christmas stockings, above, are AU$40 from Third Draw Down.

Ahhh yes, you can trust good old Fortnum & Mason to deliver on the luxe goods, with this sumptuous velvet stocking hand-stitched with silver balls and a soft white cuff. It's pricey but it looks it. And it will last forever. £85 from Fortnum & Mason (ships internationally).

Toast: now that's a UK store that knows what it's doing. This knitted Fair Isle stocking (above and top of the post) is made with organic wool. Best of all, it's £9.50 (ships internationally).

Have you seen any other gorgeous stockings? Tell me about them in the comments.
Australian readers, what do you think of DJ's Christmas stuff this year?

Sydney shopping: Bird Textile Emporium

In the first of my Sydney shop reviews, I decided to head back to my old stomping ground of Surry Hills, where we lived for three happy years before we moved to London. It’s changed a wee bit since then – most significantly, we can’t afford to live there any more. And like Shoreditch in London, this inner-city suburb has not only ushered in a new class of residents, but a new direction in retail with the likes of posh grocers and upmarket butchers lining Crown Street.
 
But head down to Cleveland Street and you’ll find a bit of the grit from days gone by, even if the retail scene has vastly improved. In fact, the line-up of unique and eclectic shops, cafes and restaurants call themselves The Cleveland Cluster, and include the likes of David Met Nicole (review coming soon), Dinosaur Designs Extinct and Garden Life.

I couldn’t go past Bird Textile Emporium for my very first Sydney shop review (not with a name like that, anyway). The brainchild of creative director Rachel Bending, Bird produces a range of hand-printed organic fabrics, which have been developed into over fifty product ranges spanning fashion, homewares and craft. The whole business has solid eco credentials with a commitment to sustainable design.

Housed in a heritage-listed former pharmacy dating from the 1890s, the shop is a delightful space and rare example of Sydney’s retail history, featuring old Australian tiles, the original cabinetry and fittings. It’s a fitting platform for Bird’s range of retro-inspired textiles, which are influenced by mid-century Scandinavian and Japanese design.

Fabric is sold by the metre in three different weights, and there is also an in-house upholstery and curtain-making service. The fashion range has been recently pared down to a tidy capsule collection of five classic designs, which are available in a host of fabrics.

But it’s the homewares and crafty ranges that are the main attraction, with made-to-order lampshades (starting at AU$220) amongst the store’s best-sellers. Equally popular is the chook doorstop (AU$75), packets of buttons and fabric remnants at $25 each.

Crafty girls can pick up an organic patchwork kit for $30, and a DIY chook doorstep kit for $35 . Don’t miss the sales catalogue online for updated reductions in fabric, homewares and fashion.

Bird Textile Emporium 
380 Cleveland Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010
Tel. 02 8399 0230

Opening hours:
Tuesday to Friday 10am-6pm
Saturday 10.30am-5.30pm

Refuel at Tea Parlour
Take tea and nibble on dainty scones and sandwiches. Prices are very reasonable, too.
579 Elizabeth St
Redfern NSW 2016
Open Thursday to Sunday 1pm-8pm
Tel. 0414 335 224

Photography by Lucas Boyd Photography.
Click here to view the full gallery.