Innholdsfortegnelse for March - April 2020 i frankie Magazine

as we’ve been putting this issue together, a large chunk of our country has been on fire. Perhaps it still is, right now as you read this. In the face of such catastrophe, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with fear, rage, despair, sadness – a sense that there’s little we can do to make things right. The bushfires are unprecedented and point to a planet in crisis. It’s bloody scary. There’s no two ways about it. But amid those emotions, we ask you not to lose hope, lovely readers. There are ways for us to get through this horrible mess, starting with kindness, for yourself and others. Acknowledging that it’s OK to feel shit about a distressing situation – you’re only human, after all – but also allowing yourself regular…

Tell us about your series, Enshroud. Enshroud is an ongoing digital collage series I began in 2018 that emphasises pattern, form and colour to represent the veil as worn in Lagos, Nigeria. The series doesn’t take a stance for or against veiling, but instead supports both a woman’s right to choose, and her religious expression. What’s your personal connection to this topic? I’ve lived in Lagos for nearly nine years. I was inspired to create the project following my daily encounters with Muslim women on the city streets – they presented a different perspective than I’d previously considered. I’m also generally interested in style and its contributions to culture and identity. What kind of presence does the hijab have in Lagos? Nearly half of Lagosians and Nigerians are Muslim, so…

Whether you’re required to wear a tie to work or just enjoy feeling a little dapper in your downtime, there are a number of ways to fasten your neckwear. The Four in Hand knot is probably the easiest of the lot – have a gander at the steps below to see for yourself. If you’re a first-time tie-wrangler, you might like to start by popping your shirt collar up for a clean, lapel-free workspace. (Pros, the decision is yours.) Loop the tie around your neck with each end in front of you – the narrower side should dangle close to your waist, and the wider side about 20 or so centimetres lower. Then, cross the wider side over the top to form an ‘X’ shape. Pass the wider side behind…

MATERIALS 1 piece of calico measuring 1m x 115cm 1 piece of floral fabric measuring 1m x 115cm scissors pins white sewing thread sewing machine masking tape 60cm of dowel HOW TO To begin, cut two pieces from your calico measuring 90cm x 55cm. Then, cut out four pieces of floral fabric measuring 20cm x 55cm (these will become your pockets). Fold each long, raw edge under by 1cm and press into place with an iron. Next, take one of your pieces of calico and position the floral pockets on top at regular intervals. Make sure they are straight! Pin the fabric to secure it, then sew the pockets into place along the bottom edges only. Keep the sides and top edges pinned for now. Use the masking tape to…

CASSETTE TAPE One of my earliest cassette-related memories from sometime in the mid-’90s involves staying up all night to tape a song that I hoped would be played on the radio. It never came on, and I finally fell asleep a little after midnight with my finger hovering over the record button. This experience is typical for cassettes: intended to be small and user-friendly, they never really lived up to their promise. Other cassette-related bungles I’ve witnessed include my mother accidentally taping over a recording of me saying some of my first words; my friend, while digging through her brother’s cassette collection, somehow unravelling a demo tape his band had made, then fruitlessly trying to re-wind it using a disposable chopstick; and the time another friend bought a cache of…

the tiffany lamp As the son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, the founder of jewellery giant Tiffany & Co., Louis Comfort Tiffany had a love of adornment in his blood. He dabbled in painting and interior decorating throughout his teens and early 20s, but it was glassmaking that ultimately caught his fancy, thanks to a visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The native New Yorker became enamoured with a display of ancient Roman glass – namely, its curious imperfections and eye-catching colours. Returning to the States, he founded his very own glass factory in 1885 (as you do): the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company. Louis was determined to make his mark on the world of stained glass. Inspired by the Roman designs, which, unlike modern glass practices, used…

A sobering thought, care of some insomnia-induced googling: I will most likely be dead by the year 2059. If this is true – and the Australian Bureau of Statistics assures me it is – I have just four decades left to leave a mark on this planet. I don’t like my chances of leaving a big one; I’m prolifically lazy and there is a lot of Instagram to scroll through. But even if I somehow manage to turn my life around and become a wildly successful writer (or hell, a moderately successful anything), I already know how the first line of my obituary will read: Chris Harrigan, who once went viral for a tweet about seagulls, has passed away. I know this because I’ve done the maths. In Australia, a…

bridget allen + elise mackie ELISE (R): Eight years ago, I bought a one-way ticket to London. I’d just started teaching and realised how full-on it was, so I decided to go see the world. I’d never been overseas before and had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t pack any clothes and had a briefcase as carry-on. I remember seeing Bridget before I got on the flight and she looked like a serious traveller. We started talking because we had the same stopover in Seoul – she was really friendly and helpful – and we ended up having dinner at the airport together (a dirty old fruit salad). It was pretty polite conversation at that point. When we got off the plane at Heathrow, we exchanged Hotmail addresses,…

What inspired you to begin your label? I’d been working as a stylist for 10 years when I got pregnant with my first son. I really wanted a change, so I decided to take some time off. While pregnant, I started knitting, and Misha & Puff came out of that. It was making things for my baby son that inspired me to start. Describe the Misha & Puff aesthetic in five words. Creative, cosy, colourful, unexpected, nostalgic. Tell us about this collection and how it came to be. I’m always listening and looking. I find inspiration everywhere, and I travel a lot. I’m a bit of a collector – of images, fabric, books, ideas – so when it comes time to design, I always have lots to draw upon. This…

PORTUGAL // The Translator’s Bride by Joao Reis Maybe it’s a little bit meta, but this slim Portuguese novel about a troubled translator will have you hooked. We join the nameless 30-something as he grapples with his wife leaving him, and spends time walking around his city, studying the characters around him and thinking up a way to rebuild his life. Much of the story takes place inside the translator’s frenzied mind as he sharply observes the world unfolding in his midst. Fast-paced and blackly funny, this is one rip-roaring pocket rocket of a read. BURUNDI, AFRICA // Small Country by Gaël Faye If you like your novels interspersed with a bit of real-life history, check this one out. A coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of civil war, Small…

Ask anyone who’s ever lived in a sharehouse, and chances are they’ve got a few stories to tell. Brace yourself, because they won’t all be good – in fact, some of them are bound to be odd or slightly worrying or just plain gross. But there’s none of that in the Camp Hill sharehouse where Mollie, Kiah, Maddy and Richard have been living since mid-last year. The four creatives and full-time students genuinely like each other and enjoy spending time together, both at home and in the outside world. They all met through flatmates.com.au at some point or another, and it was Mollie and Kiah who found the house in Camp Hill, a quiet suburb just six kilometres from the centre of Brisbane. The place is a bright and airy…

This image is part of my ongoing series, Old Friends, which is all about blurring the line between young and old through scenes of nostalgia, colour and symmetry. The title is inspired by the Simon & Garfunkel song of the same name. Because older people who are willing to model can be hard to find, I’m always putting casting calls on social media, asking for leads. Someone messaged me saying their neighbours are an adorable couple who would probably be keen to do a shoot, so I reached out to them and we set a date! I decided to pose the couple like this to mimic the architecture behind them, and also emphasise the connection between them. The fun driveway and garage belong to one of many unique houses in…

Hi Athena! Who are you and what do you do? I’m a mixed-media collage artist and fine art photographer living in central Vermont, USA. I create works on paper using found vintage portrait photography, and collect and reconfigure cabinet card photos from the late 19th to early 20th centuries. Tell us about this series, Faces & Figures. Faces & Figures is a meditation on the human spirit and a celebration of The Divine Feminine. A running theme in my work is the idea of transformation. By reinventing the portrait, I aim to disconnect my subjects from an antiquated identity, allowing them to transcend the constraints of time and place. What materials do you use to make the pieces? For my figurative work, I use reproductions of vintage photography from books…

nancybird Let us all raise a juicy, lamb-stuffed shawarma and a refreshing mint lemonade to Nancybird’s spring/summer 2020 collection, inspired by the richness of Melbourne’s multicultural communities, and the fertile kitchen gardens, well-kept yards and abundant spirit within them. Its pops of warm colour and boxy shapes have us itching to prune the rose bushes and set up a backyard spit. nancybird.com sock it to me Socks! We just can’t get enough! Roll them over our toes and keep our tootsies nice and snug! Slather them in eye-catching prints so we can show the world we’re a bunch of fun! Yeah, socks! Should you feel the same level of unbridled excitement when it comes to vibrant foot-covers, have a looksee at these ace ones from Taiwanese brand Yu Square –…

It’s OK to not know heaps about wine. To never have considered that a glass of vino could be ‘cheeky’, ‘flamboyant’ or ‘chewy’. Don’t let the glass-sniffers and bucket-spitters make you feel inferior! But if you’d like to know more about choosing a good drop, and think ‘terroir’ is a type of small dog, this article is for you: our ultimate no-fuckwittery guide to wine appreciation. WHAT IS WINE, ANYWAY? Let’s start at the beginning. (You’ve got to crawl before you can spit.) Wine is normally made from fermented grapes, although technically, you can make rice wine, plum wine, cherry wine and pomegranate wine, too – any old fruit will do. There are more than 1300 different grape varieties used in commercial wine production, but the most-planted grape in the…

“Change is coming, whether you like it or not.” This quote changed the world in 2019 and school kids just like you stood up for the environment. So, what are you going to do in 2020? To make a start, you might want to know what your clothes are made of. Is it a natural, renewable and biodegradable fibre? If you happen to be a school student with a predilection for protecting the environment, check out the 2020 Wool4School competition. Register and you’ll go in the running to win some ace opportunities and prizes – find all the relevant info at wool4school.com…

MAKE YOUR BED If you make your bed every morning, you’ve already accomplished one task for the day. High five! Now keep that momentum going, if you can, by tidying up the rest of your space. Small successes motivate us to keep achieving and getting shit done – plus, clean house, clear mind, as they say. DOMINATE YOUR INBOX Look: you (probably) wouldn’t let unopened paper mail pile up on your kitchen counter until it numbered in the hundreds, so treat your electronic post with the same sense of urgency. Set aside 30 minutes or less each day to attend to your inbox – filing, replying and unsubscribing from spammy mailing lists. With regular care, you’ll be at inbox zero in no time. STOCK UP ON SNACKS It’s easy to…

INGREDIENTS cooking oil rind of 1 lemon rind of 1 orange 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice 2 tbsp fresh orange juice 3 cups caster sugar 1 1/2 cups water 2 tbsp edible gelatine 2/3 cup cornflour cochineal food colouring 1 tsp rosewater 2/3 cup icing sugar HOW TO Line a 20cm square tin with foil, leaving the edges hanging out. Brush the foil lightly with cooking oil. Using a sharp knife or vegetable peeler, slice the rind off the lemon and orange, being careful not to include the white pith. Place the rinds, juices, caster sugar and 1/2 a cup of water in a pan over a medium heat, and stir (without boiling) until the sugar has completely dissolved. Next, bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat…

PHONE CALLS ARE NO GOOD BY ELEANOR ROBERTSON I hate the phone. I yearn for the day that talking on the phone, at least for pleasure, is considered a quaint Victorian hobby along the lines of croquet and tightlaced corseting. It was only necessary before we invented texting; now there’s really no reason to call someone unless you’re trying to collect a debt from them. In my average week, I probably make two or three phone calls: one to confirm an appointment, one to call ahead and check something’s at a shop before I actually visit in person, and one to tell someone my precise physical location when a screenshot of my GPS dot on a map isn’t accurate enough. “I’m next to the chemist, round the corner from the…

By Kate Stanton I was 11 when I decided that several years of (mostly) good behaviour had ultimately proven unsatisfactory. What did I have, besides a loving family and a roof over my head? NOTHING. For a few months – a lifetime in kid-years – I’d been denied the thing I wanted most; the one thing that would bring joy and purpose to my dull, insignificant life. It was time to carpe diem and unshackle myself from the draconian constraints of my household. It was time to get a pet. My family moved around a lot, and the party line was that we couldn’t have a dog, cat, or even a gerbil when we were constantly leaving the country for god knows where. It might sound glamorous, but the thing…