Enchanting Portugal

Have you ever been to Portugal? It is the most beautiful place.

I was lucky enough to visit Portugal for five days a couple of years ago, and the experience has really stayed with me. I spent most of my time in Lisbon, with a couple of day trips to Sintra and Cais Cais.

Portugal isn't a big tourist destination, so even in summer I didn't see too many tourists around. I enjoyed just wandering up and down the cobble streets, exploring the old city of Alfama, taking in the colours, sounds, textures and smells. Portuguese people are friendly. The food is excellent. All in all, it is a great place to visit.

In the afternoons locals gather in squares or outside cafes, talking, watching, or eating cream pastries dusted with cinnamon. As night falls they gather in restaurants for roast chicken or barbecued fish, or are entertained by fado singers who sing mournful songs about longing for the homeland, beautiful Lisbon, or jaunty folk tunes that the audience joins in with.

Sintra is truly a fairy tale. As you walk down to the town from the train station, turrets and follies peep out from the thick green forest. The Palacio de Pena is the most sumptuous, embellished palace high up in the hills, surrounded by a park filled with statues, grottoes and luminous green trees and moss.

All in all I had a wonderful time in beautiful, enchanting Portugal. Obrigada, Portugal, e adeus!

Melbourne Flower and Garden Show 2012

Recently I had the opportunity to help my mum set up the Floral Art Society stand for the Flower and Garden Show (above), which won a silver medal. The flower and garden show is interesting - the part outside is dedicated to gardens, which as I see it is mostly suggested designs for your outdoor area, and tips for how to look after your roses, camellias etc. Inside the building is the flower section, but it's not just flowers, it is living sculpture.

It is so interesting to see florists at work. The demands of the medium - flowers and plant material - dictate the kinds of things that can be done. They must have access to water. Delicate petals and stems can't take too much pressure. They might only come in a limited range of colours. And yet so many amazing things can be created.

Working with living flowers and delicate plant material means that structure is really important. Florists will spend much time developing and sculpting the structure that goes underneath the arrangement - or living sculpture - before the flowers and plant material are inserted.

One stand by Michael Strownix took a deconstructed approach to the flowers, setting thousands of carnations in bands in a surreal display inspired by Hong Kong.

This ikebana arrangement (below) by Emily Karanikolopoulos had white branches cradling bowls of lilies, seemingly suspended in space.

RMIT fashion students also had an opportunity to create fashion pieces for the flower show. As a contrast, many of them treated the flowers and plant material as types of fabric, or beads, buttons and sequins. In one, the fine skins of garlic were glued to a fabric train extending behind the mannequin, while the bulbs of garlic were attached to the front. In another, seeds and other materials were glued in intricate patterns to make a fitted garment.

I find that the limitations of materials pushes us in new directions and makes us more creative. I only hope us textiles students will get a chance to do a project as fun and challenging as this in the future!

Flowers, flowers, everywhere

Living with a florist is amazingly inspiring. My mother has been a florist for more than ten years, working on wedding and large display arrangements, running workshops and exhibiting as far away as Singapore.

Recently I had the opportunity to photograph her flowers for a wedding - and to help her deliver them. The wedding was on the outskirts of Melbourne, in a farming community. First the flowers were ordered from the supplier:

Once the arrangements had all been done, it was time to package them up to deliver:

We then began the long journey to deliver the flowers. First, we went to the wedding venue, exposed on a hill with an amazing view of the surrounding area:

It was blowing a gale, so we held our breath for the flowers!

Then we delivered the table arrangements to the reception:

What a day! The bride was delighted with her flowers, and we hope they had a lovely wedding.

If you're looking for a florist for a wedding or other event, or you're just interested in seeing more of Janet's flowers, you can check out Tiger Flowers.

When it rains

I wish it would stop raining. These kind of comments usually get me into trouble. 'But what about the farmers?' people say. 'At least it's good for the garden,' they say. It's all true, of course. I'm aware that we need the rain and blah blah blah. But I am a sun worshipper. I love the feeling of waking up when the sky is all blue and a bit golden around the edges. I love it when the air feels crisp and dry.

The colours look different. Have you noticed how dark the trees look when it's raining? The ground and sky are one, an endless pool of grey. I know that a lot of creative people come from countries not known for their fine weather, which makes me wonder - do they create in spite of their surroundings or inspired by them? Is there something of beauty I can take from this wet weather? Maybe rain isn't so bad after all.

But I really wouldn't mind if we had a sunny day, or five...

(photo is from http://caseyinpictures.blogspot.com.au/2011/02/i-cant-stand-rain-against-my-window.html)

simoneandginko workshop in Melbourne!

Exciting news! simoneandginko will be running a special one hour introductory recycled jewelry workshop at the North Melbourne Market on Saturday 11 March as part of the L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival.

The workshop will teach you how to create beautiful pieces of contemporary jewelry from your recycled treasures. Details are as follows:

Saturday 11 March, 10am – 11am

Lithuanian Club, Errrol St, North Melbourne

Bring $5 for materials, plus old beads, broken jewelry and/or op shop finds

For bookings contact info@northmelbournemarket.com or send me an email

Book in now to secure your place!

simoneandginko will also be selling resin jewelry at the North Melbourne Market on 11 March. The market is a great place to find new and emerging fashion, jewelry and other crafty things. Drop by and say hello!

My Canberra top 10

Following my recent move back to Melbourne after nearly eight years residence in Canberra, I thought I should leave you with a few recommendations of places in our little capital town where you can get a creative fix. Here goes:

1. Have a drink on a sunny afternoon at Tilley's Cafe in Lyneham. Maroon velvet, art deco ambience and old school jazz, there's nowhere quite like it in Canberra!

2. Go for a picnic at Reconciliation Place. There's a wonderful swollen belly of a hill there, covered in thick green grass, that seems just perfect for sitting on and contemplating - or rolling down.

3. Visit the M16 art gallery. This place has a fine collection of contemporary and emerging artists, in a purpose-built space with studios for artists too.

Other favourite galleries include Gorman House, and the ANU School of Art Gallery.

4. Get a coffee and a kransky at Lonsdale Street Roasters. A little bit of Melbourne on Lonsdale St, Braddon.

5. Buy a book, or just browse, at Paperchain in Manuka. All your favourite books in all the best editions under one roof. And it's open late!

6. Get a burger at Brodburger, before it moves. This groovy little red caravan rebels wonderfully against the sedate surroundings of the national capital. Apparently it's going to be domesticated in a regular building soon...

7. Go for a swim at the Phillip pool. Outdoor, so it's only open in summer. Is there anything more delicious than a swim in the sun? Quality swimming time can be quickly followed by quality nap time on the surrounding grassed areas.

8. Have lunch at Benedict House in Queanbeyan. A lovely old house with a pretty old-world courtyard. Not quite in Canberra but close enough!

9. Find a funky new outfit at Felt. Always a good place to browse - they regularly get new stock - and to check out local listings.

10. And finally... splash out on dinner at Lanterne Rooms. One thing Canberra does well is expensive restaurants and this is one of my favourites. Great modern Malay-Chinese food in opulent, dark wood surrounds.

And there you have it. So long, Canberra!

An Indian wedding

I was lucky enough to travel to India recently for a close friend's wedding. She and I have known each other since we were fourteen, so it was really lovely to be there to see her get married. And it was a privilege to be part of an Indian wedding in the extraordinary city of Calcutta.

One part of the wedding I was particularly inspired by was the henna ceremony, or mehendi, where the bride (and in this case, several of the bride's friends) had her forearms, hands and feet covered in delicate henna patterns. The artist drew all the patterns freehand, and altered her styles depending on the person. She used the henna pen skilfully to change the pattern with thinner and thicker applications at different points.

Each part of the wedding involved the bride wearing a different sari - some more casual, some more formal, and some, like the saffron coloured sari seemed intentional for the purpose of the ceremony (a turmeric bath). My friend's relatives helpfully explained the ceremonies to the few of us foreigners attending.

The final part of the wedding began at 11:30 at night on the first day of 'wedding season'. Seven of us piled  into a car designed for a smaller number of people, and drove through the streets of Calcutta to the wedding, passing by many 'wedding houses' decorated with lights and big signs, and spotting many wedding cars decked out in flowers and ribbons. We arrived at the house around 9pm, to be fed and to visit the bride and groom, each sitting in different rooms on different levels of the house.

At around 11:30 we gathered in a room on the top floor of the house, where the groom was brought in and after sitting down with the priest, and being given a special hat for the ceremony, was guided to stand on a rather large stone. The bride was carried in by her male relatives, and carried around the groom several times (possibly seven) amidst shouting and laughter by many of the onlookers. The bride and groom then exchanged garlands, before being seated on the floor. Several ceremonies ensued, culminating in the fire - the witness to the ceremony - around which they walked seven times. Finally the bride and groom rolled a stone along seven leaves, and then vermillion was placed on the bride's forehead to signify that she was now a married woman.

I was inspired by all the colours, images and patterns used in the wedding. Everything was so heavily decorated and so many different patterns and colours were used together, something you rarely see in more austere Western style designs, and certainly Western weddings. It has given me lots of ideas!