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Post Industrial Design

Images of a vanishing suburbia

Westography by Warren Kirk is photographic book that documents images of a vanishing suburbia. Helen Garner eloquently provides a introduction to this amazing documentation of the western suburbs of Melbourne. This book however transcends postcodes. It could be anywhere. It is a snapshot in time. An important historical documentation of Australia's suburban fringe.

"Warren Kirk is drawn to forgotten things, to the old, the neglected, the left behind. He loves a bricked-up corner shop, a crumbling factory whose function is no longer evident, a locked weatherboard cottage so decrepit that it is holding itself above the abyss of collapse." Helen Garner.  Westography, images of a forgotten Suburbia

Warren Kirk held his first solo exhibition here at Post Industrial Design in 2012 Documenting his beloved western suburbs Warren Kirk finds beauty in the ordinary. Many of the images  that were in the exhibition are now in this beautifully bound hard cover book. 

For many living in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne including Footscray, West Footscray, Seddon, Yarraville, Altona and beyond, this is a must have book. Many faces and buildings will be familiar.  The gentrification of our suburbs sadly mean these places and people are quickly disappearing.

The book launch is fittingly being held at the Masonic Hall in Yarraville on Friday the 1st of July at 6pm. It is a free event so come along 

Westography Images of a vanishing suburbia is a hardcover book will 160 pages of full color images and is available for purchase in-store or online. 

'I dig art in a cemetery'

 

Last week was the official launch of Jos Van Hulsen's sculpture and I just can't help but skite a little. Well it's not really skiting on my behalf . . . . it was Jos's work after all, and me being his biggest fan, makes it ok - no?

The launch was held at Fawkner Cemetery where the work is now permanently housed. It was purchased by Greater Metropolitan Cemetery Trust and is now the gateway sculptural piece for the cemetery.

For years I have had a little love affair with cemeteries. And I can't think of a more fitting home for Jos's work. Chrysalis is about the process of metamorphosis, change and rebirth. It is a work concerned with transformation and the need to care and guard what is precious until it is fully formed.

Cemeteries, to me, are exquisite spaces! I think I first fully fell in love with them in my early 20's. Living in Prahran, with a bunch of Muso's, who practiced ALL THE TIME (yes - you know who you are!) To find quiet, I would sneak over to the Prahran cemetery, armed with a book. Often I would ditch the book and wander the cemetery marveling at the beautiful old headstones and imagining who these people were and the lives they lived. This for me was a place of tranquility. A snapshot. A historical document marking the passing of time.

But this is not about ME. Chrysalis is now in the public realm. A sculpture for people to enjoy, love, hate or show indifference.  We would like to think that if you do visit the cemetery, you will get a little joy from the work, but at the end of the day it is all subjective.

To end on a great quote by US author Jarod Kintz . . . “I dig art. With a shovel. In the cemetery.”

Dianne Rule (Chair) and Catherine Brown (former Chair) of GMCT, unveiling the plaque

Chrysalis by Jos Van Hulsen at Montalto Winery 2015

Father's day

I am sitting here, looking at a bleeping curser, wondering how to bleeping start this blog. You see - I'm in a dilemma: On one hand I own a shop and (evil me) would like to convert father's day sentiment into sales. On the other hand, I am well aware that fathers day is largely a capitalist construct - designed to sell shit to people they really don't need or want. How to come to terms with this? Perhaps I could start all gushy and explain the true sentiment behind fathers day, get you all warm and fuzzy . . . and THEN sell you shit you don't need or want. The point of difference however is we don't sell just shit . . . we sell GREAT shit! Whew. Dilemma solved!

So here we go . . . . warm and fuzzy, warm and fuzzy. Errrr um, bugger it, I'm just going to jump into the GREAT shit bit . . . because after all . . .  it is, by definition, GREAT!

Stupid yet funny . . . 

 

Slick daddy . . . 

 

Cycling Daddy . . . 

Heaps of great stuff in store . . . Oh and if you really have run out of time and your dad lives far away you can always do a gift voucher. These are redeemable online as well as here at the shop.

 

Michel Le Tellier - Surfboard art

Art and surfing seem unusual bedfellows, yet young artist Michel Le Tellier has managed to merge both for his upcoming exhibition ‘Sailmaker’. Michel handcrafts his surfboards, which he uses as a blank canvas for his art. The exhibition opens on August 2nd from 6- 8pm here at Post Industrial Design. Exhibition runs till Aug 15th.

 A keen surfer himself, Michel was keen to merge his two passions; fine art and surfing. At 15 Michel knew what he wanted to do. It took Michel a year to work and save up enough money to travel to Queensland to complete a surfboard-shaping course with the acclaimed board shaper, Richard Harvey. Richard had been shaping surfboards since 1967 and Michel was keen to learn all that he could. He then went on to learn glassing skills at The Surfboard Studio run by Zac Koniaris.

 Hand shaping surfboards is a dying craft. The market is flooded with cheap generic product. There is still however a niche of surfers who value customised boards. Each board presents a unique surfing experience and this is what Michel wanted to explore.

"When you are out on the water its just you and the board that exist in that moment. The board becomes an extension of the surfer. I want my board art to allow surfers to connect more with the craft they are riding and enhance the surfing experience", explained Michel.

Following his passion for drawing and the fine arts, each of Michel’s boards is hand painted with his own unique designs.

Normally we would not take on such a young inexperienced artist, however every now and again a young person crosses our path who stops us in our tracks. To see someone who found their passion at 15 and has methodically worked towards it is pure inspiration. At 18 he is very much at the start of his career. We feel very honoured to play some small part in the start of his journey.

Work Experience At Post Industrial Design

Since about grade five I’ve known what interest me and what I can see myself doing once I’ve finished school. You see, I love buildings, floor plans, layouts, houses and the feeling of a good space once you’re in one. I have thought a lot about what career choice I might take up and it became clear to me that I wanted to become an architect! Architecture is a mixture of many aspects and doesn’t mean just building buildings. Landscape, planning, designing and creating is all part of the process of building something beautiful. I feel the job could be a good fit for me because of the amount of hard work, mathematics and solution making as well as the imagination, creativity and inspiration the job takes! So when my teachers first introduced the idea of work experience for all the year tens at my school back in Wangaratta, I was excited and nervous about the thought of working in an actual work environment. Of course coming from Wangartta it had its challenges in the variety of jobs available. I was looking at furniture stores, real estate agencies as well as show homes for any type of work experience having to do with design or homes. Then one weekend when my family and I came down to Melbourne to stay with my grandma, who lives in the suburb of West Footscray, and we past this unusual shop with an old gas pump, a cool carpet and plenty of other nic nacs in the window on display. Post Industrial Design was the name of the shop. Shortly after I came inside and had a good look around at all the quirky, unusual products and creations. I knew right away that I would be more than happy to spend a good week working at this shop! Although the shop doesn’t have anything to do straight up with architecture there were quite a few factors that contributed to the area like design, creation, art, color and the use of space. So of course before starting I was anxious and a bit nervous, as you would be. I was expecting the usual shop work like dusting, cleaning, shelving and greeting customers. I soon meet Mary who owns and works at Post Industrial Design and she was very kind! The day I started was very hot and there weren’t very many costumers at all, which made the space very quite. I did end up doing chores around the shop such as dusting, opening boxes and putting stock on shelves.  The second day I got to meet Mary’s partner Jos who makes a lot of the crazy unique welding pieces in the store. I was helping him with a delivery that day, but I found the time was really great! We were both talking about different forms of art, styles of music as well as the amount of effort that goes into a piece. It really got me inspired to give my own work a go! One bonus of working at the shop on this particular week was the exhibit on show by the well-known street artist Baby Guerrilla. Part of the shop was turned into a gallery to showcase the works of art and many costumers were interested in the artist famous wall art adhesives. On the Thursday night a group of ladies called ‘Women of the West’ put on a ladies night in the store and the artwork made by Baby Geurrilla was on display. I met lots of really great ladies who came out for a good night to mingle and I had a good night myself. I was applying temporary tattoos on the women of the wall art shown in the gallery. The whole four days that I have spent at Post Industrial Design have been great! I have learnt basic store skills like displaying and the business side, I have observed how to have good relations and connections between you and your costumer, I’ve met loads of wonderful people who are faithful to the store, I’ve been shown how to make art out of anything by using recycled materials, I’ve even learnt not to take your job too seriously and do what you love and are passionate about! I love that Post Industrial Design is a new face in the community that can take so much good from this business and really bring out the true hidden character of this part of town. Where ever I end up down the track I can always use the skills I have learnt here and take all the inspiration I have collected in my head through out the week and maybe start a little something of my own. Who Knows!

 

Moss Jam 2012

The 2012 Moss Jam is kicking off tomorrow and set to be a stella day for all you sk8 heads out there! Kicking off at 11am with freestyle, banks and Fossil & Grommet. 2pm is Old School Bowl Sessions and at 4pm the Rad young guns hit the bowl! 7pm is the after party with the Charity Auction where all proceeds go to the kids of Swaziland to help provide water tanks to remote areas that don't have access to fresh water. The guys behind this event (The Melbourne Old school crew) are seriously top people! They do heaps of amazing work with kids and give up a lot of their time to charity with particular focus on the Moss Water Project. If you are after a great family day head down to Mount Eliza Skate Park at Emil Madsen Reserve, Wooralla Drive in Mount Eliza Melway 105H10. Jos Van Hulsen has made up a few pieces that are being actioned off for the Charity Raffle. So if you are loving Jos's Sk8 chair go down and put in a bid . . . and enjoy all on offer while you are there!   

Trivia Night November 11

Woman of the West Trivia night is being organised by three very WEFO-cool-young-mummies,  Sarah Strybosh, Michelle Masterson and Annie Wormald! I am so loving people getting together to make things happen in our nick of the woods. As well as being set to be a fun night, money raised goes to the YMCA. Tickets are $20 and you can bring a plate or snacks on the night. Alcohol is available to purchase on the night at affordable prices (no BYO). Wining and dining for charity can be a bitch . . . but someone has to do it! If you are up for a bit of  local trivia and meeting some top chicks, you can Book thru Yasmin at the Y, Phone 93113400 or email yasmin.mckenzie@ymca.org.au Although this is not a Post Industrial Design event, we do support it in spirit  . . . . but please direct your inquiries to the contact details above.  

Grace Morrissey' work experience

For the last couple of Weeks Grace Morrissey has been doing work experience at Post Industrial Design. All the way from Camperdown college in . . . .well Camperdown. We have shopped together at Life in Style . . . as well as doing some rather boring admin work. Boring but necessary.  We managed to break this up by taking silly photos of ourselves! I am going to miss Grace . . . Who am I going to get to run down the street for my daily fix of Samosa's?!!!! As you can see it is all serious here at Post Industrial Design.

Maribyrnong Library Literary Festival - Bookalicious

Let your imagination run wild at Bookalicious on September 6th! We are excited to invite you to our upcoming event, Bookalicious, as part of the Maribyrnong Library Service Literary Festival. Come and join us for an avant-garde evening of art, roving performance, fancy dress, mystery, mayhem and literary playfulness. Come dressed as your favorite literary character and bring your most beloved book to life. Enjoy roving performances by Peat Moss, Chris Bennett, local children's theatre group DramaworX and a special mystery guest! Discover the secret langueage of flowers in an installation by local Floriographer, Christie McIntosh, and wonder at the intricate scenes created by book sculptor Chanelle Collier. Marvel at the amazing costumes of Clockwork Butterfly who dazzled us with her steampunkery at our Steamscape event earlier this year. This is a free event but numbers are limited. Click HERE to secure your booking. Thursday the 6th of September 7 - 9PM Post Industrial Design 638 Barkly Street West Footscray 

WeFo Resistance

Thanks to everyone who came on Friday to the WeFo Resistance night! Everyone got into the spirit of the evening with great outfits and amazing platters of food! Annes amazing mulled wine seemed just a tad too drinkable. Here are some pics from the evening . . . .
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