Friday May 17 2013
We've been madly in love with Kuwaii ever since spotting Kristy Barber, Kuwaii's owner and designer, wearing her beautiful clothing around our neighbourhood, Brunswick East. With her studio literally just up the road from MHD, it wasn't long after a few brief sightings for Kuwaii to be hanging proudly on the racks of Monk House Design. It seemed ever-so fitting (and even perhaps geographically convenient) to invite Kuwaii to install a beautiful hanging display of paint-dipped pipes in the colours used throughout the Regalia range. Soft carnation pink fades into a daffodil yellow in a suspended cluster. It's a sweet, beautiful, gentle installation, not unlike the Regalia collection itself.
We've asked Kristy a few questions about Kuwaii and the new AW13 Regalia range.
When did Kuwaii come to fruition? What drove you to become a designer and how long has Kuwaii been operating?
Kuwaii started in 2008. I had recently graduated so I would say I've been a designer as long as Kuwaii has been around. My love for designing comes from a more technical interest in garments; I love how things are put together and the construction element of clothing. Also I have an ethical or moral standpoint about creating garments so I was driven to provide an option that stood against mass produced fashion
What is the most exciting aspect of running your own fashion label?
It's all very exciting and stressful! The most satisfying is perhaps seeing the whole collection come together in a photoshoot or runway. The most exiting is the new possibilities when it comes time for a new collection! The world is our oyster.
Can you tell us a little bit about your current range in store?
Regalia is our AW13 range and it's really beautiful if I do say so! We used colours daffodil, carnation and tweed, and the inspiration came from the idea of Weekend Royalty, we wanted to conjure the easy elegance of the inherently dignified, where stiff backs and rigid formality is traded in for tailored pants and tweed coats. We imagine that this is the apparel for loping walks over brambled hills and thistle-studded moors. Morning mist clings to long grass and birds twitter from shaded woods; afternoons wane to chilly evenings spent sipping brandy and discussing literature in a fire-warmed grand hall.
Who or what is your biggest creative inspiration and why?
That's very hard to pick just one!
I'm eternally inspired by colour.
I love the past.
I love great craftsmanship.
Photos by Elise Wilken
Sunday April 07 2013
After a slight hiatus between installations showcasing our new AW13 arrivals, Rittenhouse have kicked things off again with their gorgeous new collection featuring the original artwork of Swiss art duo, Husmann and Tschaeni. We couldn't have been more thrilled when Rittenhouse chose to install Husmann and Tschaeni's artwork After the great rain to celebrate the new collection in store at Monk House.
Having first collaborated with Husmann and Tschaeni in 2010, Sally McDonald and Micah Hamford from Rittenhouse have used the artwork as the key digital print for AW13, appearing on sleeves, collars, tops, scarves and waistbands throughout the range. It's an image that works brilliantly with the Rittenhouse aesthetic, adding dreamy elements and pops of bold colour to their high-end everyday pieces.
We asked Sally a few questions about Rittenhouse and their collaboration for this season.
When did RH launch its first range? What drove you to become designers and how long has RH been operating?
Our first collection was Autumn Winter 2004, it was a small men's and women's collection with a strong emphasis on cottons and hand printing. I think we both ended up in design because of our strong interests in art, music, fashion, culture and all things creative.
Can you tell us a bit about the artist collaboration for Autumn Winter 2013?
This season we have collaborated with one of our favourite art duo's from Switzerland, Husmann and Tschaeni. We loved their work from the minute we first encountered it at the Until Never Gallery in Melbourne. They have an amazing magical dreamy childlike style that is entrancing. The piece we have chosen to use this season is called "After the great rain" and it was featured in their 2007 Melbourne exhibition, it was a large work painted on the back side of perspex.
Can you tell us a little bit about your current range in store?
The Autumn Winter 2013 collection is all about textures and warmth and depth. Boucle's sit next to textured silks, chunky alpaca blend knits and speckled melanges all come together and are highlighted by the great intensity of colour in the digitally printed "After the great rain" artwork.
Who or what is your biggest creative inspiration and why?
I am constantly inspired by people I see as I go through the day: random strangers, friends and family. Yesterday, a girl riding her bike in the best ever red printed dress caught my eye and might inspire something when I sit down to work on the resort collection, in the new spring summer collection I have an ode to my good friend Sarah who had the best pair of pink pants ever and inspired me to make my own version.
Photos by Elise Wilken
Wednesday February 06 2013
Monk House Design is chuffed to be displaying new works and an amazing coralesque installation from another talented MHD shopgirl, Rhiannon Smith - the woman behind the jewellery label Two Hills. Her installation, consisting of a huge string of white spheres draped around pieces from the new collection TOKEN, is a bold and dramatic turn from Two Hills intricate and classic jewellery. Here, we have asked Rhi the five MHD questions about Two Hills and her work.
Thank you so much for collaborating with us on
this installation!
Thank YOU! It’s been a pleasure.
When did Two Hills launch its first range? What
drove you to become a jewellery designer and how long has Two Hills been
operating?
Two Hills was unintentionally launched
midway through 2011 with the Elemental range. Some simple sketches were turned into a small number of
pieces for the Nicholas Building open nights, which is where I have my studio. The pieces received such a good
response and people kept asking about them so I decided to start a website and
things sort of snowballed from there.
I don’t really consider myself a designer
but most of what I make comes directly from playing with materials or from my
incomprehensible doodles! I had my
first introduction to contemporary jewellery nearly 10 years ago through a Fine
Art degree and have been developing my skills ever since. I guess jewellery is just something I’ve
always loved tinkering away at.
Can you tell us a bit about what has inspired
your display?
The installation is based on a number of
ideas that are explored in my new series TOKEN. The spherical forms that are repeated throughout the
collection were the jumping point and things quite
literally grew from there.
Why have you chosen these particular elements?
All the metalwork I do is quite small and
delicate so for this project I really just wanted to let loose and go
large! It was a lot of fun and a
little challenging to work in such a grand scale – well, grand for me anyway.
I was also really excited about using my favorite
image from the photo shoot for this collection, it was taken by my good friend
Jacinta Moore who I worked with on the Elemental shoot. I just love it and think it perfectly
sums up the inspiration for the work.
Can you tell us a little bit about your current
range in store?
TOKEN plays with lots of little ideas centering around representation and exchange, in particular the use of defaced coins as
‘love tokens’. Visually they’re
inspired by things that have what I interpret as a kind of beguiling
awkwardness, such as Australian native flora and the embossing on ancient coins.
The collection consists of rings, earrings,
bracelets, bangles and necklaces all handmade in my studio. At present they’re made in sterling
silver but I’m hoping to make a few solid gold items soon too!
Who/what is your biggest creative inspiration
and why?
There’s so many! I guess for me it’s the little things,
the unexpected everyday things that grab your attention and make you stop for a
moment, like a great texture or an interesting shadow, these are the things I
find most inspiring. I’m also very
lucky to be surrounded by creative people who are doing really interesting
stuff… it’s kind of infectious and being able to join forces with others makes
for a lot of fun!
Tuesday January 29 2013
The amazingly sweet Monk House shopgirls Natalie and Elise from Witu have been working overtime! We are ecstatic to have collaborated with them to create a Witu Habitat in store to coincide with the launch of their newest product the Habitat Backpack (now available online!). We're also beside ourselves to have a stunning Navy neoprene colourway in all of their products - exclusive to Monk House!!
Seeing as we have direct MHD contact with both Elise and Nat, we asked them a few questions regarding the installation and their new Habitat Tropic range.
Thank you so much for collaborating with us on this installation!
Hello! It's our pleasure.
When did Witu launch it's first range? What drove you to become designers and how long has Witu been operating?
Witu isn't really like any other fashion or accessories brand because we never realllllly launched a range. We kind of just started making and selling stuff. That being said, our Habitat Arctic and Tropic ranges were probably our first and most official- and coolest too I think. It's funny looking back on the things we made at the beginning!
Elise is a graphic designer and I am studying sculpture so we come at our collections from a design vs art background which becomes a part of our design process and we also think it shines through in our products.
Can you tell us a bit about what has inspired your display?
Our display is based on a photograph taken by our friend Jason Hamilton (aka Jayham) whilst on a trip down to the coast. He found a large pile of wood/sticks and luckily we had some witu bags on hand! We wanted to recreate the habitat in the picture within the store in a way that would make reference to the photo but also highlight our use of neoprene and of course our new backpacks.
Why have you chosen these particular elements?
The white neoprene mat circles form as a kind of 'Witu' platform for a tiny habitat - one with wood and leaves to give reference to the photo and one with our new products! The photo on the window is the reference, taken by Jayham.
Can you tell us a little bit about your current range in store?
We broke our 'Habitat' range into two; Arctic for the winter stock and Tropics for the summer stock. It is all based around Neoprene accessories like backpacks, tote bags, camera straps (that double as belts) and necklaces. They are hardy accessories designed to last with a touch of colour!
Who/what is your biggest creative inspiration and why?
I think both Elise and I are super inspired by Australian's kicking ass! It's so nice to see people who I guess are just like us, going out into the world and making a name for themselves in what they love doing. Whether it be artists, designers, musicians, that for us is pretty exciting. I think its because one day we hope that we can be like that too.
Photos by Elise Wilken
