She began her love of photography at an early age when her Grandmother gave her an old film camera (my grandma just gave me three desserts!). She quickly became engulfed in the art, using her cousins as models to start, before studying photography at high school and then university.

Inspired by the masters like Alexander Rodchenko and Man Ray, she uses a variety of modern and vintage cameras she’s collected over the years. Her photography is based on the people around her, and she loves taking pictures of people which show their personality and individuality. She’s currently showing off some of her work in the QANTAS SOYA 365 (Spirit of Youth Awards) program, and she’s still up for a “People’s Choice Award”. So, get along to her page (click here) and start “liking”.

If all that creativity isn’t enough, she’s also an interior stylist & collector of art (and all things interesting). She’s just launched her gorgeous online store – Hunting Hue – showing off wares she’s collected on her travels. If you’re after an individual, unique item – be it chairs vases, home wares or something else – give it a try. I’ve got my eye on the world globe, so be quick.

There aren’t enough creative people in the world, so it’s nice to recognise people actually doing things we all wish we could be doing. Who knows, maybe she’ll even give me those photography lessons I’ve been putting off all these years.

Rebecca Collinson-Smith – Hunting Hue – SOYA

Hello FBi Social!

Running in conjunction with FBi Radio – a not for profit, community station operating out of Sydney – FBi Social is based on Level 2 of the Kings Cross Hotel. Operating mostly between Wednesday-Saturday each week, it’s been an incredible support to up and coming musicians in a ridiculously competitive industry. It was recently crowned as Time Out Sydney’s “Best Entertainment Bar 2012“, before it’s first full year in operation! We spoke to Venue Manager Kimberley Galceran about what makes FBi Social such a good night out.

What are the overall goals of FBi Social, and how does  it differ from regular venues?

FBi Social represents FBi Radio so we try to program the same kind of music and cultural events we support on-air. It’s a small room which means we can support newer bands, sit-down shows and when we do get packed it’s still got a really good vibe.

I guess what makes us different from a lot of other venues are outside broadcasts (like Lunch Break every Wednesday where a band plays a set live-to-air) but we also incorporate stand-up comedy nights, theatre, debates, information panels, film screenings and art events. We want to represent the wider Sydney community which offers more than just music.

What have been some of the best gigs/moments there?

The FBi Radio 9^th Birthday party in August was massive. We ran it over three floors, and tickets sold out with over 500 people having a great time. The music was varied to represent everything that we play at FBi Radio – electronic beats, indie, garage, dance. Dappled Cities were our secret headliner, and it was a very magical moment when they finally took to the stage.

We also ran a great debate with Time Out Magazine about the future of Kings Cross which had a huge turn-out and hopefully brought up a lot of positive ideas and opinions on how things can be improved in the area.

Describe your role at FBi, and the major challenges you face with running the venue?

I’m the Venue Manager at FBi Social, I manage the staff, most of the bookings, promotion of the venue. I basically connect all the dots between bands/promoters, and the venue including event promotion, worksheets, sound and set-up requests; overseeing the website and media releases, reporting. Some shows I organise from scratch, including the Birthday Party and our upcoming Halloween Party. I spend a lot of time on the emails coordinating things! Luckily we have amazing door, bar and sound staff who make the event-running aspect a breeze.

No major challenges apart from the pressure on Kings Cross at the moment to shape up. The Kings Cross Hotel and many others run a tight ship but still face the same threats as the shadier venues; plus the truth is the problems mainly happen on the street with people travelling in already drunk and looking to cause problems. FBi Social is great because it has it’s own entrance and feels really tucked away and safe; though I’ve known Kings Cross for a long time and it definitely seems safer now than ever in the past. It’s time to change people’s mentality towards the Cross, it really is a vibrant area with a bad wrap.

What’s coming up?

We have our Halloween Party on the 27th, then The Kings Cross Festival where we’ll be running events from the 21st – 24th November. We also have a bunch of excellent Christmas specials scheduled, plus the return of our monthly comedy night. Bascially, keep an eye on fbisocial.com for upcoming shows, and follow them on facebook for updates.

While you’re at it, sign up to become an FBi Supporter – if not to help out this great radio station,  do it for the 10% discount on drinks you get at FBi Social gigs.

Website – Facebook – Twitter

    Guilty.

It had never occurred to me that anyone was taking notice (let alone monitoring) my clicks in the stalk book realm. Immediately on the defensive, I began verbal vomiting my reasoning’s for over indulging in social media. “You see I just ah… “ WAIT!… What do I have to explain? It’s my (read mine and Mark Zuckerburg’s) page. Secondly, I have a perfectly just reason; a small (questionable) percentage of mankind are insistent, and increasingly I might add, on making public their inner most mundane thoughts.  As a consequence,  my ‘news’ feed is now home to a plethora of emotionally unhinged grammatical catastrophe’s. Don’t get me wrong, there was once too a time when I to could have been condemned like one of King Henry VIII wives to social execution for my cyber faux pas. I was twenty-one and in the midst of a break up, cryptic public proclamations of a broken heart on facebook seemed like the only rational course of action.  I can now safely say all future relationships debacles were and are kept safely where they should be, in “private” messages.

It was about a year ago I started my “liking” rampage. Determined to rid myself of the prosaic facebook statuses and emotional rants, I began seeking out content that would fill my news feed void. To give you a little behind the scenes taste of what inspires our Awkward Collective (and also what keeps me from culling my “friends” list) here are some of my favorite online frolics…Go forth and like.

Willow & Blake.

These guys are nothing short of amazing. The way they paint with words still astounds me.

Follow them on FB here - Read more of our thoughts on W&B here

I fucking love science.

Clever “lol’s” for the win.

Follow them on FB here

acid stag.

This clever duo provide me with a digitised mix tape (among other content) every Friday – men after my own heart.

Follow them on FB here - Read more of our thoughts on acid stag here

Design you trust.

For visual innovation that provides a little stimulation (keep it clean) these kids seem to roll with a ‘first to find’ type ethos.

Follow them on FB here

During the following two weeks, other festival events will include an art exhibition, sprints, and a number of rides (including a Halloween-themed outing on October 24!).

The Festival is held in conjunction with the annual Bicycle Film Festival, held in over twenty cities around the world. Back in 2001, Brendt Barbur was hit by a bus while riding his bike in New York City, and spurred on by his accident, he decided that he needed to do something to celebrate and raise awareness of bicycle culture. From this spawned a festival which also encompasses fashion and music worldwide.

In Sydney, this year’s films will be held as you’ve never seen before – under the stars in Cathedral Square (College St).  From 25^th-27^th October, a collection of short and feature length cycling stories from around the world will be shown on the big screen in a unique outdoor site. Aside from the films, there will be a custom bike bar, popcorn, bike valet parking, and a Waffle Food Truck. Let’s hope for some good weather!

Here’s a compilation of this year’s films.

Cost: $15 / program or $75 / Festival Pass through eventbrite (www.bffsydney.eventbrite.com.au)

For a full listing of the Festival events, visit the Spokes People website here.

Surry Hills charity The Girls & Boys Brigade has been operating for over 125 years, providing assistance to inner city youngsters not as fortunate as most. They offer a range of services which include child care, youth development, education and adventure camps, all designed to help young people become better equipped to deal positively with life’s many challenges. The Centre records around 17,000 visits per year, and has over 300 children and youth enrolled from over 20 cultural backgrounds.

This marvellous charity will be hosting the first ever WONDER100! Village Fete this Saturday (October 13), held at their premises on Riley Street, Surry Hills. Designed to raise funds and support for the local disadvantaged youth, it will include “paraphernalia, food, fantasy, music and neighbourhood fun from a number of locally based artisans”.

Get down on Saturday to enjoy music from the likes of Bertie Blackman and Nina Las Vegas, fashion from Vanishing Elephant and Romance Was Born, and most importantly – GELATO MESSINA!

You can RSVP to the event on facebook, and check out the Girls & Boys Brigade website to find out more about their programs or become a donor to this incredible organisation.

While you’re at it, check out our recent post on our other favourite local charities here.

“Under New Management is a space for ideas. It has 4 walls, one of which is glass, a wooden floor and a high, white roof. Whatever happens in-between is up to us.”

This quote describes Under New Management to a tee – it’s ever changing, ever evolving. Tucked away on the busy Oxford Street stretch (118 Oxford Street), the cultural chameleon has been in operation for the past few months under a variety of guises. I’ve been finding myself driving past just to check to see if it’s changed.

The small space (previously the Kind of – Gallery), is occupied by the creative duo of Josh Capelin and Nick Roseby (Josh operates the co-working space, Homework, while Nick is the founder/owner of design studio I Ate Your CAKE). Nick explains “Josh submitted the application to the City of Sydney as a part of their Cultural and Creative Spaces program. The shop came up for lease and I was the one to trick him into going ahead with it”.

Its first transformation was the Le Tour Lounge, a café which ran for the entirety of this year’s Tour De France – showing race highlights, serving coffees, and even offering French classes. Sydney City’s Lord Mayor Clover Moore (also a renowned bike lover) gave the shop the thumbs up, saying “Under New Management is another example of creative people moving onto Oxford Street with great new ideas. Offering affordable rent for projects like this gives creative start-ups a chance to try out new ideas – injecting colour and life into the local economy and attracting more people to the Oxford Street strip.”

Since then, it’s been:

A rainforest, complete with fake grass, stolen woodchips, campers and mulled wine. “The space totally transformed – with the smell of the trees, to the feel of the grass – it was a really interesting snapshot of how people could really escape from the craziness of Oxford street.”

The Mumford and Sons General Store, promoting their new album Babel and the band’s upcoming Australian tour – Live music and movie screenings by night, free coffee and board games by day. The Awkward Collective were invited along to the opening night, and were treated to a delicious whisky tasting.

It was also fitted out as a retail and design pop-up store for musician and artist, Young Cairo, who we spoke to last month.

Of course, being situated in the “more interesting” section of Oxford Street, there were bound to be a few quirky visitors. The boys have a few regulars, including one who rocked up at the Le Tour Lounge every day. “First day he was well-dressed and well-spoken, but as the days progressed we witnessed a slow evolution. The final peak was a bright fluro wig, dress sub-boob level (exposed chest), “cleaning up” the dregs of left over bottles in the store and spruiking the footpath for customers. Entertainment to say the least!”

They’ve become masters of tight budgets, ridiculous time frames and unbelievable transformations, and are enjoying how the store is taking shape organically. “We’ve got a number of ideas in the pipeline and we’re still not sure if this is a good thing or a curse. Our pal Michael from the 24-hour Kebab joint next door said recently – You boys, you boys!!! You’re heading down a path you don’t know where it’s heading – I love it.”

If you’re in the area, make sure you pop along and check out whatever’s on that particular week. Concepts like Under New Management deserve your love.

Website – Tumblr – Facebook

Part of the much-loved Sydney band Kid Confucius, he’s spent the past two years since the band’s split travelling the globe. Not just content with making music, George is also a talented graphic artist, having graphically aided the likes of Bluejuice and Andy Bull. These two talents have been combined, and under the guise Young Cairo, the project was launched at a pop-up shop (held in the Under New Management space on Sydney’s Oxford Street) a couple of weeks back to coincide with the release of his first single and video, “Ghosts”.

Understandably, we had a few questions for him, and he was kind enough to fill us in on what inspires Young Cairo.

How was the opening of brand Young Cairo?

It was perfect. Exactly how I’d imagined, although the whole not-sleeping-for-a-few-days-beforehand part was less than ideal. But that’s the sort of thing that goes hand in hand with independent creative projects I guess and, in a strange sort of way, adds to the sense of achievement. It’s all about the bags under the eyes! Whatever tiredness I felt though was accounted for in bucket loads by the buzz of the people in the room; the way they interacted with the ‘goods’ and the love they poured out at me while I was performing.

Where did your love of design start?

I think it started in kindergarten, when I was 4. I drew a picture (read: scribble) that was selected for use as a print on jumpers to be given out to all the kids. Obviously at the time I didn’t think ‘holy shit, I’m gonna a graphic designer!’ but it was the first moment in my childhood that I realised that there was a thing called a creative process and that artistic skill was a valued thing. I think little sparks like that can account for entire lifetimes of creative endeavour; you’re always chasing the feeling of that first sense of reward.

How do music and design relate to you?

They’re like brothers or sisters. So, not EXACTLY the same, but made up of the same genes, if that analogy makes sense at all?! Another way to put it is that music is made better with good design, and vice versa. And I mean design in both a graphic and a production sense. A lot of great albums have equally great artwork and aesthetics (not all!) and there have been great artists, the likes of Bowie, Michael, Radiohead, etc., whose visual presence and branding is of the same importance as the music itself. Ultimately, any musical act is a brand, so not fully tying design into the act is like a company that does no branding. How do people remember you or attach themselves to you?

Your music style has changed from the Kid Confucius days, what are some of your musical influences?

Well, the funny thing about the 9+ year Kid Confucius ‘era’ is that  the soul & funk sound of the band and the songs I wrote is not the sort of music that I grew up on or actually listen to that much anymore. In fact, pre-Kid C I didn’t listen to soul, funk or hip-hop either. I’m more of a rock and pop person at heart – The Beatles, Prince, Michael Jackson, and more recently, The Shins, Vampire Weekend, Phoenix, Fleet Foxes, etc. but I do still have a great love for the soul greats and take a lot from them – Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, or anything Motown – and also modern-day legends like D’Angelo, Jay-Z and Pharrell.

What’s next for Young Cairo?

It feels strange to talk about what’s next when things are really only just starting. I’m trying to keep focused on the present and ensuring that I and my ‘crack team’ of music biz legends tick all the boxes at this stage to get ‘Ghosts’ and the name Young Cairo out to as many people as possible. So it’s really just all about the first single ‘Ghosts’ right now and for the next little while, but there is a second music video in the pipeline for the next single and, slowly but surely, I’m starting to think about the live show and pull together all the pieces needed to get myself stage-ready and stage-worthy.

Young Cairo

Website – Facebook – Twitter

The idea for Secret Walls  (formerly Secret Wars) was born back in 2006 in a small, intimate bar in East London, where founder Terry Guy had a vision that the dark dingy space could be much more than a local booze bank. So, what is this idea that originated in the depths of an English watering hole?  The Secret Walls concept is centralised around promoting and offering young artists the chance to showcase their talents through world premier live art battles. Don’t be fooled, these battles – although of an artistic nature – are not for the faint hearted . Secret Walls can best be described as an artist’s version of Fight Club, spread through word of mouth (social media) and battled in dark understated places stumbled on by only those who seek creative fulfilment.

So how does it work? There are certain yet simple rules the artistically inclined warriors must adhere to. Challengers have ninety minutes to create their own unique masterpiece. Black medium on white canvas are the set tools for curating said masterpiece – really, with the level of talent, it is all they need.  A victor is crowned based on the score from two judges and the roar of the crowd. So, ladies throw your bras, men your tighty whiteys and get all up in your favourite artist’s face.

With Secret Walls 2012 still in the initial rounds, there are still plenty of opportunities to get involved and witness these incredible live art battles for yourself. Tickets for Round four of the Sydney battles at Oxford Art Factory are now on sale through Moshtix.

To see just what all my hoo-ha is about – get your click on below.

Website - Facebook

Then, I checked out his employment details.

Mind blown

Giles is the Producer and Co-Founder at production collective, Stitchthat. Created with three other friends, Bob, Martyn and Tim, they’ve now been going for five years. Over this time, they’ve put together productions for an amazing list of musicians (including Lykke Li, Mark Ronson and Michael Kiwanuka) and brands like Bulmers, Red Bull and Alexa Chung.

Stitchthat pride themselves in their total control over the process – creative, production, cameras, lights, editing – “the whole shebang!” Essentially Stitchthat are a bunch of friends (now with assistance from a bunch of friendly freelancers) who have turned their love of production into a successful business. “We never set out for it to be like this, the whole thing grew slowly and steadily through hard times in the music industry and it’s all working out quite nicely!”

As far as standouts go, Giles was quick to state “We organised an entire secret gig for Michael Kiwanuka (check it out here) – we pulled off that whole event with polydor records and he’s such a nice and talented bloke, it was a special night. We also made a series of films for Lykke Li where we had a lot of fun putting her in a TV studio on the moon. We turned the whole thing round in a matter of weeks which was a challenge, but that always makes things fun! We all fell a little bit in love with her that day as well.”

Going forward, Stitchthat are planning to continue their organic growth – “We’re just going to keep doing what we do – we never planned to grow as much as we have already so we will continue taking each job as it comes and striving to make it better than the one before!” Wise words.

I’m pretty proud of my cousin, even though he still doesn’t want to be pen pals with me. Check out Stitchthat’s videos and follow their various social media here:

Website - Facebook – Twitter – Vimeo

Andable .com

The gorgeous designer duo form Oxford St Design Store (read more here) have recently opened online store andable.com. The Andable ethos is about supporting independent businesses on a global scale through their connections with the amazing charitable initiative Kiva . Every sale they make will contribute to helping and sustaining a small business in a developing country.

Like them here.

3 things.org

Since 2008 3things  (an initiative of Oxfam Australia) has been challenging the perception that youth live by the ‘all about me’ ethos. People care, no matter how self involved or self indulgent their facebook rants may seem.  3 things is dedicated to bridging the resource gap by providing relevant opportunities for people to get involved in their own unique way – “what are 3 things you can do to help change the world?”

A recent extension of this innovative initiative is Design for Change.  The Design for Change program connects young Australians to issues of injustice and the significance of aid and development by giving them opportunity to utilise their skills and respond to live briefs that Oxfam presents as part of their university course. Whether it is a communication strategy for 3things, a design plan for a campaign about worker’s rights, the project enables students to develop their response to the brief and then deliver it to Oxfam at the end of the semester.

Like them here.

soulproject.com

The Cool kids over at soulproject.com are a group of visionary entrepreneurs, artists and designers  that have collaborated to launch a simple and innovative apparel company that holds “socially conscious capitalism” as a core cultural value. As Co-founder Summer Meek said “the success of the company is driven by the desire to make positive contribution to the world.” Designers are sourced both locally and globally so that assistance and donations can be provided to all Nations. How does it work? Well let’s just say these guys know they the ‘power of a dollar.’ One dollar of every purchase is donated to help a grass roots cause in the region where the piece of apparel was inspired or sourced.

Like them here.