Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 114 - Jul/Aug 2023 i frankie Magazine

How did this dreamy series, Mellownoon, begin? The easiest way to put it into words is to divide this project into two visual elements: the surface of calm water and the still life of picnics. Water has always played a vital role in my life, as I grew up by Lake Balaton in a small town. The time spent by the lakeside was a firm point in my childhood. The reflection of colours and light from sunsets on the surface of the water, and the visual play created by the waving motion of the water, have always enchanted me. My attention to still-life scenes and picnics started during the pandemic, at the beginning of the first lockdown. I moved away from Budapest for a short time and spent this period…

What are your artistic backgrounds? Gijs Frieling: Our backgrounds are quite different. Job comes from graphic design and typography and I come from fine art and painting. We always say: Job was a designer looking for autonomy and I was a painter looking for purpose, and we met in the middle. How did you first start collaborating? GF: The designer Sebastian Wrong was working on a series of prints with Job and he asked, “Did you ever think about painting furniture?” Job answered, “Gijs and I have been thinking and talking about it since we met.” And that’s the truth: we’ve always been looking at decorated furniture and interiors from Egypt and Pompeii, at Josef Hoffmann and Alessandro Mendini’s work. We can walk for hours in the Egyptian or applied-art…

ALCOHOL If you’re recovering from a big night out and condemning all the grog you drank as one big mistake, you’re probably not that far off. According to ‘beer nerd’ Horst Dornbusch, we only have beer because our ancestors mucked up their bread. Dornbusch’s theory goes that as early as the 6th century BC, some ancient Sumerians were making bread outdoors when it started to rain and they fled. By the time they returned to their dough a day or so later, it would have fermented. But beer is far from the only boozy boo-boo: France’s earliest champagnes were considered manufacturing mistakes (the bubbles were caused by unintentional second fermentations), while brandy was initially distilled by the Dutch to make transportation easier, never intended to be drunk straight without first…

Like understanding taxes and knowing how long cooked chicken stays fresh (I have no idea), setting boundaries is an important life skill. But if you’re a big ol’ people pleaser, the idea of having an uncomfortable conversation or asserting yourself is scary – downright spooky, even! Take it from me, a gold-star people pleaser: I let my boss mispronounce my name for a year because correcting her felt awkward. I’ve paid salons for services they forgot to do. I’ve eaten food I didn’t order and am intolerant to, instead of mentioning the error. I could go on but it would feel like I’m publicly pulling my pants down. Here’s the bottom (sorry) line: any discomfort felt while setting a boundary is inevitably less than the discomfort caused by people breaching…

HEINZ – CREAMY CHICKEN AND MUSHROOM SOUP The serving suggestions on the back of tinned soups delight me. This one says “Scatter with torn continental parsley and sautéed mushrooms.” Mmm, know your place. Your place is the back of the cupboard, where I venture to only when the most desperate of occasions arise (extreme illness aligning with the suspension of all food-delivery services and also a recession). And if I were a woman on death’s door with NOTHING to eat except you, a tin of soup, you better understand that I do not have fresh mushrooms available to cook, nor a sprig of parsley (which I rarely use as garnish on actual meals I’m proud of, let alone you, a tin of soup). And if I did, I’d make something…

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My university years in downtown Tehran were filled to the brim with the best and absolute worst street foods found in the neighbourhood around Enghelab Street. One of my greatest disappointments came one afternoon when I bought a loaf of sheermal. I was craving something bready and a little sweet for the journey home, and felt nostalgic for the buttery, soft and fragrant sheermal my grandmother baked when I was a child. But ladies and gentlemen, that dry, plasticky, flavourless thing that was sold to me was not by any account a proper sheermal. So, I decided to bake my own at home. INGREDIENTS Makes 2 loaves – 1 cup (250ml) milk– 2 tsp (7g) dried yeast– 1/4 cup (50g) sugar– 100g butter, melted– 2 cups (300g) plain all-purpose flour,…

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How did this photo series begin? I just really love animals (I have seven of my own!) and thought it would be a fun project where I get to hang out with some furry friends for an afternoon. Animals are everywhere in London, even though it’s a big city you don’t associate with nature. I wanted to capture both working and domestic relationships people have with animals, and the bonds between them. How did you meet these pet owners? I approached finding subjects in a variety of ways. I am shy but, conversely, I also like to chat to strangers – and I find talking about animals to be a great conversation starter. So, there were a few people I chatted to on the street and found out they had…

ESHA When I was 16, I was dating Grace’s son. I would go over to their house and talk to her, but I wasn’t always confiding in her at the start. I imagine she heard from her son about how difficult my family life was – the family violence that was happening. It culminated in an incident where my mum punched me in the head. Grace just said, “I’m picking you up tomorrow. You can stay here if you’re OK with it.” It all happened really quickly. I moved out of my family’s house and into Grace’s right before my 17th birthday. There were difficulties with my family not wanting me to stay with Grace. But ultimately her house was really safe. When you live the way I did, you…

ESTHER SANDLER FROM TOGETHERNESS What inspired your design? I love being inspired by everyday items around my house and wanted to capture the look of a vase with flowers and transform it into something soft and cuddly. What was involved in making it and what materials did you use? I used a few techniques to make this hot water bottle cover – appliqué, quilting, sewing and ironing – and it was a great excuse to experiment with these ways of making. First of all, I drew up a template for the design and used this to cut various shapes out of fabric and iron on flocking vinyl. Once the image of the vase and flowers was built up, I made a sandwich out of my design with some batting and…

I began collecting erasers for myself and my best mate Nicole from around age five. At that age I loved anything cute and little, and miniature things that resembled real ‘grown-up stuff’ (not much has changed). Collecting was such a big part of our world as kids of the ’80s, whether it was stickers, cards, figurines or giant pencils. Rubbers, as we still fondly refer to them, were the pinnacle. Little, bright, cheap and, above all: scented. The artificial smells of grape, strawberry, cola and bubblegum still flow from our rubber cases even after all these years. Nicole and I got quite competitive, so there was a time when we would add anything to get our numbers up. At one stage, this involved including Cabbage Patch figurines and convincing each…

You visited Tibet five times in 2021 to make this series. What prompted your first trip and what kept you coming back? A womenswear brand in China that uses yak wool in their products sent me to Tibet to get pictures of the people who work with yak wool. That was a short trip, but it really got me falling in love with the place. I saw the four different regions in Tibet: the Tibetan kingdom, and the three other autonomous regions that have different Tibetan languages and religions. When I got back to Shanghai, I started talking to Norlha Atelier – a yak wool production factory in Ritoma Village – and asked if I could come and spend time with them. They really loved my work and welcomed me…

mind your business Where is it? 2/167 Beavers Road, Northcote, Victoria. How did Bisque Studios begin? I began my foray into ceramics around six years ago and found a lot of customers asking if I ran classes. At that stage I was working out of my home studio and dreamt of purchasing my first kiln. I was aware the size of my kiln would require industrial power and, in turn, a warehouse. Before long, I stumbled across the bright and beautiful blue-floored warehouse that we now know as Bisque Studios. What happens here on an average day? Bisque has grown to become a buzzing ceramics hub. We host daily ceramic classes in both wheel-throwing and hand-building, as well as bespoke workshops. When visiting, you can expect to see some dirty…

yevu For the past decade, Australian-Ghanaian label YEVU has been empowering women and single mothers in Ghana by providing them with fair and sustainable jobs that pay above the living wage. It all started when Aussie-born Anna Robertson and Ghanaian-born Felicia Adwubi met in the country’s capital, Accra. Together, they founded YEVU with the goal of supporting local women who face little financial security or independence. How’s that for a good story? The brand’s swish garms feature vibrant wax prints that are handmade by YEVU’s seamstresses in Ghana. Spy their offerings at yevuclothing.com or head to frankie.com.au/win for a chance to score a $250 voucher. daisy delight Channel your inner retro mod girl by toting this delightful daisy-shaped bag around town. It’s $250 a pop from Melbourne label flora, and…

my project amber cowan Describe your work in a sentence. I make ornate organic assemblages and dioramas using flame-worked recycled glass that’s blended with antique centrepieces. What first drew you to working with glass? I have loved glass since I was a child and knew from a young age that I wanted to work with the material. I love glass because it is a constant and perpetual challenge. It takes a massive amount of practice and skill to make what you want, but no matter how long I have been working with the material, it still surprises, frustrates and amazes me. Where does a piece start for you? It begins with both colour and the antique objects I find in that colour. I start by sourcing the raw material, which…

Tell us about young Kelsey. What artistic things was she doing? My first real artistic love was photography. When I was 12, I got a camera and started learning to edit my pictures, and that became my focus for the next 10 years. I briefly attended art school as a photo major, but the more I dabbled in photography on a professional level – weddings and babies and the like – the more unfulfilled I felt creatively. How did you come to collage? I’m a solitary creature and photography is much more of a collaborative art – it requires you to leave the house, basically. That was a problem for me. I’ve dealt with debilitating panic attacks throughout my life, and I wanted to make art that was more introspective,…

music talks Imagine Kylie Minogue coming round to your house to have dinner with you and your mum after she’s been casually chased by the paparazzi on the way. She’s wearing a neon pink dress, you share a lovely fish meal, and she plays you her new music. Then you write a song together – no big deal. It might sound like a fever dream, but for Jessie Ware, it really happened. “We had a little dance in my mum’s conservatory, and then I slipped it to her when she was leaving – I was like, ‘If you ever wanted to write together…’ and she was like, ‘That sounds great,’” she remembers, beaming. The result was a song called “Kiss of Life” and Jessie still can’t quite believe it happened.…

By Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen Growing up, my older sister and I couldn’t have been more different. She was a typical eldest sibling, clinging tightly to rules and order; I was a chaotic middle-child stereotype, pushing the boundaries whenever I could. We were both closer to our youngest sister than we were to one another – through her, we got along, but when it was just the two of us, we were more like forced housemates than anything. As we got older, our worldviews proved very different, too, in ways that sometimes frustrated me. We didn’t understand each other at all. But then we parted ways: I moved from Sydney to Melbourne when I was 23, and she moved to Vancouver a few years later. We didn’t talk much outside of…