Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 116 - Nov/Dec 2023 i frankie Magazine

I’m perched in a snug little café, sipping on a cappuccino and sawing off hunks of thick, sticky fruit toast. I’m seated against the street-facing window – the perfect spot to watch the endless stream of passersby (broken up by the occasional leisurely pigeon) who are out grabbing coffee, running errands, walking their puffy cavoodles and lanky whippets. I’d argue that people-watching (and pet-watching) is one of life’s greatest, simplest pleasures. As Samantha Allemann explains on page 72, there’s a bit of science behind that pleasure – along with a healthy dose of nosiness, of course. I’ll be heading to the footy later today, where I’ll likely be surrounded by thousands of meat pies. I normally wouldn’t give the AFL’s traditional cuisine a second thought, but today, I’ll no doubt…

creative people A harsh red light fills the studio space. The black bedsheets flung across the centre of the floor take on a deep crimson hue. A woman appears. There’s a spiked halo crown nestled into her long hair. As she walks, flickering candles frame her path to the clearing. Finally, she reaches the sheets and lets her robe drop to the floor. It’s a Tuesday evening in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley. A group of curious minds have gathered together not for a séance or an interactive theatre performance, but for a life-drawing class. Frances Powell and Rhianna Phillips, the best friends behind Studio Maverik, have managed to make their life-drawing session more cinematic than when Jack sketches Rose in Titanic. Instead of drawing the models as if they were one…

creative people Isabelle Cameron wasn’t the only one who picked up crochet in lockdown, but she’s taken her newfound hobby far beyond the simple granny square. No stranger to making things with her hands, having dabbled in needlepoint and held flower-arranging workshops in her hometown of Brisbane, Bella found crochet spoke to her on another level. “I’ve always been into a maximalist aesthetic, and crochet goes hand in hand with being completely over the top – in my world anyway,” says Bella, aka Colourpuffgirl. “With crochet I’m able to express my inner world the most easily in the outer world. If I want to make a big, crazy rocking chair covered with flowers, I can do that.” Crocheting didn’t come super easy at first, but she persevered, diligently following YouTube…

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Please tell us about yourself. I am a Thai-born Australian artist, currently residing and creating in Naarm/Melbourne on the ancestral lands of the Bunurong people, belonging to the Kulin Nation. I’ve been fortunate to call this incredible country my home for nearly 30 years. I share my life with two brilliant Burmese cats who love to go for walks and sometimes play fetch. Your ceramics are full of colour, detail and joy. What inspires them? I make works in series. Each series has a different theme and ideas behind it. Sometimes it is about my cats (well… my works are often about my cats), gardening, love, and sometimes about the change of culture or spiritual meaning. I like making work that is accessible, uplifting and beautiful. How does your Thai…

We all know the importance of self-care, but lots of us forget to prioritise looking after ourselves until a gift voucher appears and we eventually get around to redeeming it. We get it… life is busy, which is why it’s super important to find ways to practice self-care when and where we can. But will a DIY spa treatment be complicated or expensive, and do we have to be surrounded by scattered frangipanis? (No, no, and only if you really want to, respectively.) We spoke with an expert from endota for the best tips on how to recreate a spa day in our own cosy casas. Light a candle, pop on some slippers and prepare for some bliss. START SMALL, SIMPLE, OR BOTH If creating a ‘regime’ sounds like work,…

“at the start of the inca trail, there’s another village we stayed in. there, i got to meet and hang out with these awesome little girls.” When did you take this trip to Peru? About eight years ago, which is kind of crazy. We were there for two-and-a-half weeks all up. Through the photos, I can tell that I was clearly having a ball and shot so much. It was really nice looking back through them. How did you end up there? I was doing a trip around South America that started in Patagonia. My partner Chris, who’s also a photographer, and I were making our way up north and eventually made our way to the States. But I was so excited about Peru. I’d always wanted to go to…

If reading is your cosy pastime of choice, you’ve probably thought about starting your own book club. Perhaps you’ve been inspired by famous bookworms like Emma Roberts, Reese Witherspoon or Oprah Winfrey and their celebrity book clubs. Or perhaps, like me, your desire to start a book club has been driven by the idea that the experience will surely be a wholesome endeavour filled with warm conversations and eager readers. What you might not expect are harrowing hangovers, derailing discussions and ruptured ligaments. (Yes – you read that correctly. Injuries have been sustained.) If you thought starting a book club would be as easy as getting a few of your pals together to discuss the latest reads, I’m here to tell you it’s more complicated (and dangerous) than you think.…

You were born in Rimini, Italy, which you’ve described as “a town of painters”. How did growing up there influence your love of art? It’s very active in a cultural way. We have a lot of festivals and street art, and lots of local artists and shows. I’ve been exposed to art since I was very young. And not only big names or big exhibitions, but lots of experimental art and things like the festival of flowers, the festival of beer. You start looking at things from a different perspective, because anything can be the subject of a beautiful festival or a beautiful event. Anything can be turned into a celebration. How were you exposed to fish there? Well, I ate fish, especially sardines and mackerels – the small blue…

01 Marcus Allison Bunker, Brisbane Tell us about this spot. Bunker is a concrete shelter just 3m wide and 5m deep. We understand it was built sometime in the 1940s. It has been completely overgrown by a creeping fig, which does from time to time bear fruit (though my research tells me they should only be eaten by the birds and not with chevre and honey as I hoped). The facade is a retaining wall 118 for the front yard of the old Queenslander behind it. I’ve always opted for no signage as I think the beauty of the space is signage enough. What made you want to open up a coffee shop here? I set up my first business in 2008 which started out as a hot chocolate stall…

when i was 20-something if there was anything i could change, it would be to actually listen to my own gut instincts about what was making me happy, and what was making me uncomfortable or uneasy. In my 20s, I was doing a media degree at Sydney Uni, and a couple of days a week I was a volunteer at FBi community radio. As I graduated uni, I went into full-time radio at triple j. I started DJing and I started a band, so I was very immersed in the music world. My early 20s was the first time I ever really found my people. I had a core group of three girl friends that had been my best friends all through high school and uni. We started a band,…

rant When I was 13, my grandparents presented me with a hyper-realistic cake made of soap for dessert. I didn’t understand the gesture was for shits and giggles and went along with it for longer than expected. It was the end of the day and I was tired, accustomed to my grandmother presenting a new (edible) dessert each time I slept over. So only when my fork collected foul-tasting soapy shavings did I twig what their belly laughs were about. I was a literal-thinking, sensory-seeking kid. Food became my main source of routine, predictability and escapism from the stresses of a world built for neurotypical people. I took what was for dinner extremely seriously, castigating my mother on the drive home from school if the answer wasn’t up to snuff.…

As a traveller who’d spent seven years living on the road, taking in a rescue cat felt like a tether to a settled life I didn’t want. But when Joe showed up on my doorstep, I couldn’t turn him away. It’s funny how fate has a way of giving you what you need, even if you can’t see it at the time. While I was no stranger to fate – I’d even let a coin flip bring me to Australia – I hadn’t imagined that same coin flip would lead me to find a partner, a home, or a new road-trip buddy. And I definitely didn’t expect that road-trip buddy to be a ginger-and-white cat named Joe. Our journey began when the Perth cat-rescue centre I’d been volunteering for called…

Hiya Rhea! Can you please introduce yourself? Hello! My name is Rhea Mack and I’m an artist living in Western Massachusetts. How did you get started making art? I started painting in high school and joined the art club, which was a huge source of support. Both of my parents are artists in their own right and would take me to museums, and it just felt like a world I wanted to belong to. How has your art evolved over the years? When I first started drawing, I started with pastels and there were no definite lines. Figures were vague and the drawings were sparse. As I have continued to draw, the figures have become more detailed and the backgrounds and landscapes are now more defined. I feel much more…

What do you do for a living? I design and create clothing for my sustainable fashion label, Bilboa. Describe the house you live in. I live in a two-storey white timber Queenslander with my partner Nate and our one-year-old baby boy. It was originally the Bangalow Creative Arts Centre and was brought to Byron on the back of a truck, then rebuilt with a couple of extra rooms and decks added. Nate’s mum, Miranda, was a DIY queen, so she added lots of gorgeous details like stained glass windows, reclaimed doors and even tiled counters! The rooms are odd sizes and are laid out quite differently to those of regular houses, but it’s all part of the charm. The kitchen floors are checked blue and yellow and every corner of…

How did Stupid Vintage start? Warwick Nowicki: Georgia and I met in 2018. We were both working in vintage at the time and connected. We knew that the south side of Melbourne, particularly Chapel Street, had a lack of vintage so we decided to sink our feet into the area. We first created a Sunday flea market, which developed into a brick-and-mortar store, Stupid Vintage. In 2020 we took a leap of faith and moved to our current store in Green Street, Windsor. What kinds of clothes do you stock? Georgia Geraghty: Anything from the ’80s, ’90s and early ’00s, and vintage designer items. We aim for versatility when sourcing stock to make sure we have something to offer for everyone. Along with our brand, we house 14 other vintage…

pots and pans PORK & PICKLE TOASTIE Serves 4 INGREDIENTS – 2 cups shredded red cabbage– 2 tsp olive oil– 8 slices dark rye bread or wholegrain sourdough– 1/4 cup wholegrain mustard– 4 slices (200g) sliced seasoned roast pork– 8 pickle slices– 120g shaved Swiss cheese METHOD Heat sandwich press. Place cabbage and olive oil in a bowl. Toss to coat. Cook cabbage on flat plate of sandwich press for 2 minutes, or until cabbage slightly softens. Remove from heat. Place bread on work surface. Spread half the bread slices with the mustard. Top with cabbage, pork, pickle slices and cheese. Top with remaining bread slices. Spray with olive oil. Cook sandwiches in sandwich press for 3 minutes, or until they're golden and warmed through. Serve immediately. CHEESY MUSHROOM, SPINACH…

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MEET OUR COVER ARTIST, SALLI SWINDELL Where do you live and what do you make? I live in a small town south of Cleveland, Ohio, where the long, chilly, dark winters make it super easy to cosy up and draw. I create all sorts of colourful illustrations – meditative abstract landscapes, yummy food illustrations, wherever my mind takes me on any given day. How’d your career start? Although I graduated with a degree in Fashion Illustration, it didn’t feel like the right fit. When I was hired as a line designer at American Greetings (one of the world’s largest greeting card companies) I felt I had finally found a place where I could learn and grow. I worked there for 10 wonderful years. My career as a freelance illustrator began…

my project Please introduce yourself. Hello, I’m Ben Geier. I am based in Batavia, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. I have a hard time saying that I specialise in one particular type of photography; I have a lot of interests (abandoned places, architecture, landscapes, Americana, roadside attractions) and always want to document all of them. Tell us about the location that features in this series, Leroy W. Leroy W’s house was in rural Illinois, but has since been demolished. A young couple bought the property to build a new house. I have a great group of friends that I drive around with and we hunt for abandoned houses on a regular basis. So, a buddy of mine found it and then we all went back the next day to…

There’s been a shift in Angie McMahon’s songwriting recently. Where once she used music as a way to speak to other people – usually those who had hurt or harmed her – or for the situations where she couldn’t quite find the right words to say, lately, it’s been a way to talk to herself. “I think really going inward in this last chapter, the songwriting became a way to heal myself,” Angie says. “I was learning from meditations that I was listening to a lot in my period of low health, the Brené Brown audiobooks that I was listening to, and the information I was absorbing about our internal monologue. I was learning how to speak more gently to myself.” Angie’s new album, Light, Dark, Light Again, is full…

our project You might have noticed that the Western world has been experiencing a bit of a honky-tonk resurgence for a hot minute, and it doesn’t look like we’ll be hanging up our cowboy hats anytime soon. The aesthetic of the wild Wild West has been thriving in fashion and pop culture internationally these past couple of years, but closer to home, the bootscooting ladies at Melbourne’s own Country Club are making it their mission to transform Australia into a hoedown haven. Nestled in the heart of Thornbury, Country Club is a grassroots project run by four kickass women – Alice Glenn, Kitty Wursthorn, Luisa Burgoyne and Abigail Varney – who met playing basketball together. Unable to play sport during the pandemic, the gang began bonding over their shared love…

By James Shackell You’ve waited the requisite week or two. You arrive on camels bearing gifts of frankincense and beef casserole. Your friend opens the door and – after examining your whooping cough vaccination certificates – ushers you reverently into the nursery. And there, cooing softly in the cradle, is… gah, DEMON, demon child, spawn of Satan, Lovecraftian horror from the abyss! From hell’s heart I stab at thee! You: “Aww mate, she’s adorable. What a little angel.” Friend (with a sort of insincere, self-deprecating chuckle): “Hah, yeah she’s pretty cute.” OK, I’ll say it, your baby is ugly. I won’t say it to your face, obviously, because that would be rude, but I’ll definitely say it to my wife in the car ride home. And that’s OK, because one…

JAPANESE CHASEN Resembling a brittle and beautiful wooden flower, the Japanese chasen is a whisk that has been used to prepare delicious matcha in Japan since the 15th century. The meticulous art of chasen-making is pretty mind-blowing: each of the whisk’s bristles (known as tines) are individually carved from a single piece of bamboo, with most chasens containing between 80 and 120 tines. The first record of the chasen goes back to the Muromachi period, when Murata Jukō, founder of the Japanese tea ceremony, requested the artisan tea tool from the village of Takayama. He thought the whisks were so neat that he presented them to Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado. Since then, the art of chasen-making has been passed down through generations – though there are now reportedly fewer than 20 chasen…

Melbourne-based best friends and digital creators Ginger and Carman are two of the most fashionable folks on TikTok. Scroll through the fun-loving duo’s irreverent viral videos and you’ll stumble upon comments like “I want to be you when I grow up,” “us in the future,” “can’t wait to get older,” and simply “slay.” Sure – bopping along to music in colourful duds and oversized sunnies at 60 years old is something we can all aspire to, but if the ladies’ spirited approach to style has taught us anything, it’s that the time to have fun with your clothing is now. Discovering the secret recipe to your authentic personal style can be a complex conundrum, though – especially when reflecting on supposed fashion faux pas from the past. (We’re looking at…

mind your business rant I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I’m kind of a cinephile . I studied film at uni. I collect VHS tapes. I’ve watched many a classic black and white film. What’s my favourite genre, you ask? Thank you for inquiring. It’s neo-noir, and Dogme 95 comes in at a close second. At least, that’s what I tell other film fanatics. Today, though, I’m coming clean. My favourite genre is horror. And not just any horror, but run-of-the-mill, cliché-filled horror. Give me the most generic horror film in existence and I’ll rate it 10 out of 10. If a five-year-old couldn’t predict the plot, I predict that I won’t watch it. Does the title of the film have the word ‘shark’, ‘possession’, ‘exorcist’…

Please introduce your label. Pristine is for girls who have a clean conscience and a dirty mind. We create sexy, playful, luxurious clothes that have also been made with environmental and social awareness. How did your love of fashion start? I was one of those clichéd kids who ran around with hands full of Barbies and told everyone I was going to be a fashion designer. Getting into alternative subculture stuff as a teenager led me to learn to sew as I couldn’t find anything local that suited my style. I was also a pretty early adopter of buying clothes online. It was really satisfying having pieces that were different to everyone around me. Who are your style muses? Jayne Mansfield, Miss Piggy, Claudia Schiffer – all the iconic blondes!…

I feel such a sense of joy as winter gives way to spring and buds start to burst. Colours explode back onto the scene, and while the weather fluctuates and is unpredictable, I forgive everything for sweet blossoms. My books often get put back on the shelf in spring as I venture outside to explore and have the garden inspire me in the flesh. My creative habits shift again with this new season, and my ritual evolves into making tea to sip while wandering around the garden before getting to work. Ten minutes of noticing the new growth and celebrating the bravery of hardy plants pushing through the still cold and often frosty soil into the sun... it is a triumph that humbles me deeply. I sometimes snip a few…