It's got nothing to do with flying...

Mrs Woo is so completely thrilled to share the incredible work of a few of her favourite makers and craftspeople with a special series of 'pop-in' stores within her stunning Oxford Street Paddington space! ^_^

Something we all have in common is the love of creating, learning, sharing stories and meeting people from all walks of life. We are all trying to make a living doing what we love (even though sometimes it feels absolutely impossible!). On those days, we have to remind ourselves of how lucky we are to have had the chance to meet such incredible, talented and thoughtful people...

Introducing the lovely Emily Wright from Nancybird, whose beautifully illustrated collection of leather and fabric bags, wallets, scarves and cushions grace our store for the next few weeks...

 

- How did the name Nancybird come about?

I like the name Nancy, and Nancyboy is a funny old name for a feminine guy, so I kind of twisted that around…

(it's got nothing to do with Nancy Bird-Walton!)

- Have you always been a "bag lady"?

Hmm, actually no! I think my steps into making bags and the like came out of my dislike of the offerings out there at the time. I wanted something in great materials that wasn't overly girly or sporty or boring… Twas hard to find! So I guess making my own filled that gap.

- How did you come to know the artists that you are working in collaboration with?

This last couple of seasons I've worked with four artist/designers. I studied Printmaking at RMIT with Anna Corbett and Jess Irvin, and through them I met Clare James, who I think studied painting at the VCA. They all have do some beautiful watercolours which we've translated into digital prints for our scarves, cushions and bags. Sarah Strickland did work experience with us and did a great Grevillea design that we screenprinted for the current range. And she's now our Design Assistant!

- What is your dream project / or most memorable project?

We've done some great and interesting collaborations, including a collaboration with the National Gallery of Victoria for their 150th year anniversary last year…

I'd like to continue working with my little team, there's some things in the works, but too early to spill the beans!

I kind of think I'm already doing my dream project. I would love it if some of our more expensive and kooky ideas could come to life, but I'm ok with the realities of the smaller Australian market most of the time.

- How would you describe your design style and has this / how has this changed over time?

It evolves every season. In some ways, I like more simple design than I used to. Bag shapes with simple, uncomplicated lines appeal to me more than previously. I think I'm more fussy with the materials I use now - love linen and silk a little too much…

 

- What is your favourite customer story?

There has been a few pretty amazing stories that people have passed onto us… Lovely husbands that have hunted down some vintage Nancybird that I've thought was long sold out, surprises for Mother's Day, a cherished Nancybird piece from years past inspiring someone to write to us to say thanks.

There's one story that is particularly amazing.

A friend's mum has one of our really old Stitch Bags. They lived in Marysville here in Victoria, and during Black Saturday, they lost their house in the fire and literally everything but the clothes that they were wearing and her Nancybird bag. In all of the chaos afterwards, she managed to pass onto me that she was really happy that something remained from her old life, that her trusty bag was still by her side. Amazing huh! They've since rebuilt their house and by all accounts are doing really well.

- What are you looking forward to in the year ahead?

I'm lucky this year to have some great things, both in the business and personally, to look forward to. We're about to move into our house that's been renovated with lots of recycled wood, going to a traditional Indonesian wedding near Yogjakarta in June, and celebrating my dad's 65th birthday with family in Italy in August. A pretty ace and unusual run of things, I'm a little excited!

At Nancybird, we've got a great little team that I'm looking forward to doing lots of new and fun things with this year! I am really appreciating having help in areas that I've always juggled on my own in the past. And being able to get to that list marked "Non-urgent but necessary". Love that!

- What’s the best thing about what you do?

Being able to create something from sketch to finished product. We design EVERYTHING here - no picking designs off the shelf! I love thinking of something, designing it and then seeing it being worn in the street! Never gets boring that one.

- Where would we find you on a Saturday morning? or - How do you unwind?

Saturdays I'm either out of Melbourne - camping, or hanging out at my parents olive grove in Gippsland, or in Melbourne, pottering around at Preston Market or breaky at Julio's or just sitting up in bed with a cup of Earl Grey and the iPad reading the papers…

- Who, that inspires you, would you invite to dinner and what would you cook? or - If you could have dinner with any person who inspires you (dead or alive) who would it be and why?

My god, I'm a bit shy, so asking me to meet an inspiration PLUS cook for them already gives me a little anxiety! But, in saying that, many of the people that inspire me have that really great combination of incredible talent, with a humble, calm and kind manner.

- What is your most treasured possession? or - What do you most treasure?

I treasure my cats - Ullie and Hollis, and my partner Rob. I seem to like collecting clothes on my travels, which have special meaning to me, I know I'll never ever throw them away….

- What is a valuable pearl of wisdom you can share with us?

I've been lucky in that I'm doing what I love, and I guess my advice in that area is to stick at it. I've been at many a crossroad and thought - do I want to continue on with this? And I have just pushed on through. So glad I did - persistence and determination really do pay off in the end!

- What are some of your favourite blogs or websites?

I read Design Sponge and The Design Files, and a bunch of other design related blogs, but to be honest I need some recommendations! I don't have a heap of time to trawl, but it is nice stumbling on a beautiful blog. Not that I'm techno savvy enough to actually bookmark it or whatever the hell I'm supposed to do to find it again! I need a 20 year old to get me up to speed.

- What is your favourite local spot? or - What is your local area's best kept secret?

I love my street - there's established eucalypts lining it, just beautiful especially in the afternoon sun.

Hmm, secrets in Northcote are hard to come by! We do love drinking pear cider at Kitty Somerset in Thornbury, I love walking along the Yarra at Fairfield, the toasted sangas at The Breakfast Club are a serious indulgence…

- A

It takes three to Tango... really.

We twisted and tangled our dear friends Julio Braslavsky and Jessika Schaad to Tango for us at the Newcastle City Council for International Women’s Day event.

I was just thinking about how lovely it was, this Tango they performed under the magnificently huge Earth Ball installation at the Newcastle Museum, and how beautifully they danced to Sentimiento Gaucho - a piece of tango music sung by Argentinean Nelly Omar.

At her 100th birthday last year, Nelly Omar was still on stage, singing, strong as ever.
Such an amazing woman, full of attitude and energy for life - we are so inspired.

Jess looked stunning in the Madness with the Bliss dress with her incredibly high copper-coloured Tango stilettos, and Julio was gorgeous as always in his usual handsome style.

- R

Biggest flower in the world.

[A: Travel Blog from Malaysia]

These past few days have been filled with familiar sights, vivid colours, old textures and vast contrasts of smells and sounds.

With the arrival of the weekend came the opportunity for a trip to the Cameron Highlands, an area known for growing tea and vegetables. However, it isn't food we're after this time (although definitely a bonus!), rather a mission to search out the rare and giant Rafflesia flower.

Saturday - as the car climbed the winding road, guided through the hairpins and slower traffic by a calm and collected Uncle Eric, the hot sun slowly gave way to mist and clouds, and then heavy rain. The weekend excursion was being arranged by a friend, and we met up with the group of hikers at the hotel, the Equatorial, which is at the summit of the local slopes. With the rain still falling we tucked in for an afternoon nap, resting eyes and bellies before an evening meal at the Golden Phoenix restaurant - a deluxe steamboat banquet with soooo much to choose from! This steamboat was out of the ordinary, with a special 'BBQ frying' area where the chefs would fry your choice of meat, seafood, veggies and noodles with your choice of sauce!

We nanna-napped REALLY well in the cool of 14 degrees. Less than half the temperature down in KL!

Sunday - the day for trekking. We gathered in a group of 17 people at 6.30am for the short drive to the village of the local indigenous people, the 'orang asli', where 2 of them had agreed to guide us to the area where the Rafflesia flowers bloom. We were presented with leaf wreaths and off we went into the jungle.

The walk was about 3 hours in, and only 2 hours out back down the hill. Setting out early meant the weather was nice and cool, the sun still hidden behind morning clouds. Slowly, slowly, the group wound its way up the hill and into the forest, getting ever closer to the flowers.

Along the way, we discovered the beautiful and the exotic.

In contrast to the Australian bush, the soil here was rich and orange, firm and dried out from the heat of the sun. Some muddy parts were clay -  great for pottery! The uphill climbs were steep, the mosquitoes behaved (mostly) but it was the humid jungle heat that made it seem a tougher trek than it actually was.

We saw towering bamboo, growing tall and strong… you could definitely build houses with this stuff!

And bracket fungi galore!

And cute bugs…

And the longest millipede I've ever seen! It was twice the length of my hand! Eek!

Such lovely shapes in nature…

And a rare find - black orchid. It grows a white beard - stunning! Quite spectacular just blooming there to the side of the trail...

And then came the absolute highlight of our trek, making this sweaty effort worthwhile.

To our great delight and fortune, we were able to see two Rafflesia flowers!

They take 18 months to grow from a small bud into a full flower. They only bloom for 8 days after which they dry up and shrivel into a black mangled mess. So we were extremely lucky to have the opportunity to see a 3 day old and 4 day old bloom.

The Rafflesia is actually a parasite which grows on tree roots. They are known to be the biggest flower in the world. They release a smell to attract flies and insects to carry pollen to them.The smell is described as 'rotting flesh' but luckily it wasn't so pungent when we saw them, just slightly unusual smelling but definitely covered in flies! The petals looked to be made of leather, tough and rubbery, the insides with spikes and hair and the most spectacular oval shaped spots which allowed the sunlight to shine within. Magical. The Rafflesia must definitely have inspired many an alien sci-fi film featuring stinky human-eating creatures!

The 3 day old Rafflesia was a warm orange colour whereas the 4 day old was larger but a darker maroon shade of orange. It was quite spellbinding to say the least, we spent an hour photographing these unusual beauties.

In absolute awe of nature...

- A

The devil is in the details.

Autumn harvest is well under way.

The fruits of our labour freshly picked, stalks trimmed, produce well-packaged and ready to take to market! Without a doubt the madness’s in the method, the devil’s in the the details - the smallest feature makes the biggest difference in growing good-looking, good tasting goodness :)


Beautiful ingredients, better produce.

Extra stitching, better preserve.

Clean and trim, no loose ends.

     

Wrap up, too good to eat :)

*Thank you to the wonderfully cloudy Kylie Johnson for being our sweetly silver lining for this season's produce xxx

And as 'Sure as rain’, our harvest continues...

  - A

New season harvest, Autumn collection.

Autumn is nearly here :)

We’ve been busy preparing, making, growing our next seasonal crop of clothing for some time now. It’s time to harvest - we are bringing the first batch of these fresh fineries into our stores next week.

All good things take time.

Following from our last series All of my own, When the day is done continues the journey on a desert shore where land and water meet… wayfaring to the beautiful sounds of Nick Drake.

It was a cold, windy, rainy, sunny day at Stockton sand dunes, that day we shot our story. It couldn’t have been more (im)perfect :)

The landscape swept us up and away…

*Thank you to our model - the wonderful, beautiful and talented actress Nadine Barry, for helping us tell this tale xxx