Melbourne Writers Festival- Design Matters.

Design and the business of communication, was discussed yesterday at the Melbourne Writer's Festival in a conversation with Debbie Millman, an American writer and designer and Stuart Harrison, an architect and freelance design writer, both of whom run radio podcasts about design, and appreciate the candidness of conversation. 

The crux of the entire discussion was design's purpose in our contemporary world. 

This topic was perhaps one of the most interesting ones I have seen discussed at MWF because as a textile design student, I constantly ponder over the purpose of design and whether it is actually beneficial or if it is just a waste of resources? - Does it actually improve our quality of life? Does aesthetic matter? What is its direct effect on society?

I was so glad to witness two leading advocates of design answer the questions I have wondered over the last few years.  Millman and Harrison talked about how "the condition of design reflects the condition of our culture" as they discussed branding, sustainability, arts influence on design aesthetic and the ultimate subjectivity of design. 

My favourite moment of the lecture was when someone from the audience asked "Is design important?" a question for me that is not dissimilar to "what is the meaning of life?" as I think this is the question so many designers and artists ask themselves, and I think Millman answered it perfectly when she said that design is "the language that we use to understand the visual reality of the world" as it is ultimately "shorthand for reality, experience and humanity."

Thinking about it further, design started at the same time as civilisation, it is something we as humans do naturally, to survive and to improve life for ourselves and others, so inevitably it must be a reflection of our civilisation. 

As the talk came to an end my eye wondered around Deakins Edge, the lecture theatre that I have been lucky enough to sit in for many of the MWF talks. As the natural light filled the theatre, Deakins Edge seemed to contribute to the debate, as Harrison pointed out that as we had sat there, having a conversation about design and its effect on society, people walked past, allowing our thoughts to not be held in that room alone but rather with the world beyond it.

Because that is what design concerns itself with, the natural and the human world.

-A

*Mosaik does not take credit for any of the images used in this article

"Near Enough is Good Enough".

Most big revelations I have stem from conversations with my mother that leave me thinking. Most recently, a 'big revelation' that has been buzzing around in my mind is the concept that -as mum puts it,  'near enough is good enough'.

Being someone who is always looking towards self adjustment and improvement, I have lately been focussed on changing the way I act as a 'perfectionist' which I feel over the years has allowed for a lot of reward and success but as of late, is causing more grief than good. I have always been that person in a group assignment who takes on double the workload just so that the majority of it can be the way I want it and often think of how much better it could have been if I had just done it alone. Self confidence is great, but to a point. When you are always thinking that your skill set and ideas are better than all those around you, you can encounter serious problems. I could be getting this completely wrong but in my mind I was the person that people used to do an internal fist pump over getting paired with, not because I was a great person providing great company, but because I was that girl who would do most of the work and hardly delegate anything. Thankfully, this trait gave way to laziness in the later years of high school but many of my fussy ways have remained and are wrecking havoc on my personal life. Enough is enough!! 

Let me paint you a picture:
Recently on a trip interstate with friends for several days, the girls (me included) decided to delegate the task of cooking to the boys as we had taken time out to do the meal planning and shopping. Sound fair enough? I agree. However, it soon started to become apparent that delegation was easier said than done. 
Instead of retreating to the rooms and having a drink and a laugh, I and a few of the girls remained standing around the communal kitchen. I found myself literally hovering over one of the poor boys shoulders wincing as I watched him cut a carrot in a way that was wildly different to how I would have gone about it. This escalated to the point where he actually stepped away and asked if I wanted to take over -which I obviously did. 

After a while of cutting away happily and getting the preparation complete in record time I looked around to see that all the boys had left and it was just a few of us girls left in the kitchen.  At first I let out a sigh and made a laughing comment to my friend about the fact that it was supposed to be the boys doing the cooking but "of course we get stuck with it"... then I suddenly took a step back realised that I had forced myself to be stuck with it! Of course the boys weren't going to complain about us taking over the dinner making because frankly, who would. They had lucked out. And we had no reason to whine about having to do all the work because in an effort to get it done the way we wanted, we had completely taken over. 

This transfers to my job as a nanny in the way I often 'help' the kids zip up their jackets because really they are just taking too long or open their muesli bars before I give it to them because I know it'll be a five minute ordeal if they did it themselves.  I like to think I am being helpful and making life easier for them but really I am just creating more work for myself and inhibiting their opportunity to learn how to do those little things themselves. Sometimes it is beneficial to be lazy and let people do things for themselves.

Growing up, my mum and dad let me make my lunches to my liking and have the kitchen to myself in my 'cooking phase' and redecorate my room every second weekend because I felt like something new. Whether this was because they wanted to let me learn for myself or really just couldn't be bothered helping really didn't matter too much because in the end, endless burnt baking sessions later, I can essentially do everything for myself or at least have the confidence to give it a go. 

So, in light of this revelation, I am setting myself a goal to stop myself in situations and think "Near Enough is Good Enough". To stop trying to get everything right and stop condescendingly fixing things that others have done and stop telling people how to do it my way. Not only will this make me less of a pain to be around but spending less time fussing over things will allow me to be much more efficient and get on with things. In situations like the pasta making fiasco, I have to remain in the rooms while the cooking is going on, not go check to see 'how it's going', pour myself a drink and eat the pasta smiling while chucking a complement to those who had made it- even if the carrot pieces are the size of hockey pucks and they haven't cooked them right through and the pasta isn't 'al dente' and they haven't added enough salt and there is not enough onion and it really could have used some meat and this is not the way nonna does it...

- B

Melbourne Writers Festival - Reading Fashion.

This weekend I had the privilege of attending the Reading Fashion event at Melbourne Writers Festival. Based on the NGV exhibition Fashion Detective, the panel comprised of three women - exhibition curator Danielle Whitfield, conservator Bronwyn Cosgrove, and author Sulari Gentill. The discussion covered topics related to forensics and fiction; how preserved clothing can tell people so much about a certain period in time, a historical figure, a society, or a significant event. 

What seemed like a ping-pong match of panel members bouncing off one another's comments, the Reading Fashion conversation was so intriguing to witness. Whitfield's overwhelming knowledge on the preservation of garments, teamed with Cosgrove's humorous recollections of the laboratory work that is involved in dissecting and researching the materials, made the conversation informative, but not too much to take in. 

Listening to author Sulari Gentill speak was perhaps my favourite part of the conversation. Her blatant honesty about writing organically - 'solving the mystery as [she goes] along' - and her ties to Australian crime writing made her such a valuable presence in the room. The thing that I thought was so beautiful was when - during question time at the end of the conversation - an audience member asked Gentill how she gains inspiration for the vivid descriptions of clothing she provides in her stories. The audience assumed that Gentill visited museums and researched images, but our assumptions were incorrect. Gentill explained that her descriptions come from the mind. She continued to explain that every individual reader would imagine a different garment to the next person as a result of personal experiences and prior knowledge; and that's the beauty of writing. 

***

“Fakes and forgeries, poisonous dyes, concealed clues, mysterious marks and missing persons, NGV exhibition Fashion Detective looks to the collection as a body of ‘material’ evidence." - National Gallery of Victoria.

Unlike your usual exhibition, Fashion Detective combines both fact and fiction to present a fascinating and chilling journey of fashion through time, and the mystery behind seemingly unassuming garments. Four of Australia's best crime writers worked on speculating the evidence at-hand, introducing plots and characters to reveal fashion's substance and context. 

The Fashion Detective exhibition is running at the National Gallery of Victoria until Sunday 31st August, and is open all days, except Mondays, from 10am-5pm. It’s free entry, and there is a 'parlour' room for the little ones to play in, too! Get in quick - you won't regret it. 

-N

The Victorine Blog owns this photo 

To Hot or Not owns this photo

To Hot or Not owns this photo

Melbourne Writers Festival- Hannah Kent: Burial Rights

I have never loved someone like I have loved Hannah Kent. 

(well, that came off a bit more creepy then expected, but let me explain before you all start judging.) 

I first got introduced to the genius of Hannah Kent when I was completing Year 12 literature, my teacher (another incredibly intellectual and wonderful woman) and I would recommend books and movies to each other, and one day she recommended Burial Rites, a book she had recently read by an author she saw featured on the ABC show Australian Story. After her recommendation I got online and watched the episode on Hannah Kent to see if the book was really worth reading, and that is when the love began. 

Kent was so articulate and well spoken as she told the interviewer how Burial Rites, a "speculative biography" about Agnes Magnúsdóttir, the last women to be executed in Iceland, came to be her debut novel and an international bestseller. 

The Australian Story episode gave you the story behind the story, and it was incredible. The little coincidences and events that occurred in aid of this novel made it seem as if Kent was meant to write this book, to provide a just interpretation of a woman who's story was told throughout Iceland, but perhaps never told justly in her time. 

Kent was first introduced to the story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir when she travelled as a teenager to Iceland on a Rotary Exchange.

So yes I fell in love with Kent. However, after watching the Australian Story I had no desire to actually read Burial Rites because I didn't think Agnes could be any where near as great as Hannah. 

So with the excuse of year 12 exams approaching I never read Burial Rites, until earlier this year when my mum (yet another wonderful woman) was given the book in her book club and I watched her as she spent every free moment reading it - every time I started a conversation with her she would only look up momentarily from the book. She eventually finished it and then begged me to read it. I was still not convinced. 

And then the Melbourne Writers Festival released its events and looking down the list I found Hannah Kent: In Conversation and I squealed and went online and bought the ticket before realising how completely stupid I was because I hadn't even read her book so I got myself a copy of Burial Rites (a copy I now keep on my bookshelf amongst my favourite novels)

I read Burial Rites at any moment I could, in uni breaks, before dancing, after homework.

Why was I so compelled by this book?!?! 

I knew what was inevitably going to happen, didn't I?!?!

I was discussing the book with a woman in my course who had just finished it when I realised how truly invested I was in this story. We were talking about Kent and all her brilliance when Gemma pointed out how grim the book is and yet there is still a ray of hope throughout it despite knowing how sad the ending is going to be. You read it so quickly because it is so beautifully organic and yet at the same time the prose makes you want to read it slower and reflect on every beautiful phrase Kent has managed to compose. 

The book has the ultimate spoiler and yet it makes you want to read it more.

I finished the book and then this weekend went to see Kent talk at Deakin's Edge with the brilliant Bethanie Blanchard.

I made my way into the empty lecture hall and took a seat in the second row because I was way too intimidated to sit in the front. 

The magic that Hannah carries was instantly realised as another beautiful coincidence was brought to the attention of the audience once she announced in the commencement of the interview that Deakin's Edge is where she first came up with the name Burial Rites  for her manuscript, as she herself sat in a Melbourne Writers Festival talk, and so it seemed she had come full circle.  

Hannah talked in the same way she wrote; you wanted her to continue but you also wanted time to reflect on what she  had just said. 

Kent talked about the excitement of getting closer to the ghosts of the past and the appreciation she held for her mentor Geraldine Brooks. She tentatively discussed the fact that her book will soon be turned into a movie starring  the Academy Award Winning Actress Jennifer Lawrence and then less humbly hoped the film would feature the harsh and beautiful terrain of Iceland, before finally expressing her nervousness of the book being released in Icelandic later this year. 

The interview was truly thrilling and I was glad to see the passion for the story was still alive in her as she continued to push herself up in the seat every time she got the chance to talk about Agnes, and it was then that I realised, she was in love with Agnes in the same way I was in love with her: it was an admiration for an extraordinary woman. 

-A

*Mosaik does not take any credit for the images used in this article

Melbourne Writers Festival - Molly Oldfield: Secret Museum

Molly Oldfield, affectionately referred to as QI's Original Elf, has worked as a writer and researcher for the BBC show QI since its inception in 2002. As she casually name drops 'Stephen' and 'Alan' you can't help but be jealous of what must be one of the coolest jobs in the world. With a degree in Modern History from Oxford University, the aptly named Oldfield's in depth knowledge and passion for the quirky and bizarre has taken her on an incredible, cross-continental, two year project. A journey, explored in conversation with David Astle - the word wiz from Letters and Numbers - and shared with their audience at the Melbourne Writers Festival.

Delving into the archives of some of the world's largest and most interesting museums, Oldfield discovers that what is normally on display is usually only 5% of the museums actual collection. Guided by experts in their specific fields and curators of these museums, Molly has acquired a collection herself, a collection of the world's treasures; while once hidden in storage units and protective casings, these items are brought to life to be marvelled at in her debut book The Secret Museum.

Opening the book feels as though you are indeed opening a treasure chest, or a cabinet of artefacts that have been forgotten in the passing of time, as unfortunately, many things are. Accompanied by beautiful illustrations the book delves into the most peculiar of collections, including Vladimir Nabokov's Butterfly Genitalia Cabinet, the tools that belonged to Queen Victoria's Dentist and Van Gough's sketch books that have never been exhibited due to their fragility.   

It is ultimately a book that encourages adventure and discovery, it is truly exciting and difficult to put down, like the feeling you get when you are reading a Tin-Tin book or Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days. If you get a chance we recommend picking up your own copy and allowing yourself to be transported into the secret collections of the worlds museums and galleries. We also encourage you to attend the Melbourne Writers Festival yourself over the next two weeks and see some amazing authors in conversation. 

-A&M

 *Mosaik does not take credit for any of the images displayed in this article

People Profile: Juliana Barillaro

 

Photo by: Desiree Cremona 

Each of us here at Mosaik have had the pleasure of hearing this talented singer perform. Whether it be at a school production, or community festival; Juliana’s soulful, chill evoking voice, entrances her audience everytime. Moving forward in leaps and bounds, she’s recorded overseas and is about to release her debut music video; all while completing her VCE. I caught up with Juliana to talk about her current work, inspirations and where she sees her music heading. 

- Miriam

Year 12 is such a hectic time, how do you find that balance between your music and study?

 I’ve tried to maintain a balance as much as possible this year; it has been hard, but I guess I had to get used to it. I try and get the most important things done and out of the way, so that I do have spare time for myself, away from school. That’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed school this year either, I think furthering my education is really important, however, I do my best not to stress too much. I also try not to put too much pressure on myself in terms of music; I don’t ever think that it has to be ‘work’, despite how much you have to put in to get results. It gives me the opportunity to escape from any madness- even so, I don’t make it my only ‘escape’. Leaving the house every once in a while also gives me some freedom! I’m not superwoman though; I have many faults too- especially in terms of wasting time. I’ve lost count of how many TV series I’ve smashed through this year, between watching Gilmore Girls and Breaking Bad my virtual life is on a roller coaster. I admit, it does set me behind but I try my best to catch up. 

When do you feel most creative?

I never allocate specific times to make music or whatever else it might be- for me that would mean to be structured and organized; two things of which I am unable and unwilling to be. When I write, it is the complete and honest truth and usually about things I’ve experienced. If something new happens to me, or I feeling a certain way, I usually want to write about it. That’s the thing about being a songwriter, you have to tell stories and to tell these stories you need an imagination. As a songwriter, visiting this ‘creative world’ is what I love to do best, and it’s the most rewarding feeling of all. So I guess, I just try to go with the flow and if I feel inspired, I see what I can come up with and hopefully inspire others as well.

You recently went back to Los Angeles to record for a third time, what an exciting opportunity! Tell us about that.

LA is such an exciting place- it’s so lively and fun! Every second person there is somehow involved in some sort of creative field- it’s insane and I love it. The city is an eye-opener, but also a breath of fresh air … Woah… it doesn’t feel that long ago now, but I was introduced to the music scene overseas, about 3 years ago now. It all started with first ever program, ‘Hollywood Immersive’, predominantly directed by Lily Dawson, a casting agent who is now based in LA. She, with the help of vocal and performance coach, Steven Memel auditioned a bunch of kids- myself included, of course- for this program that involved, basically introducing young aspiring artists into the music industry, where they would have the opportunity to meet with many experienced people in the industry (songwriters, business owners, producers), and seek advice, regarding everything from song writing to performing. Being involved in the program granted me the opportunity to work further with Steven Memel, who is now my mentor, also based in LA. Since then, Steven and I have been working together on everything you could possibly imagine- through sessions over Skype! It lead to a second trip to the United States, where I had the privilege to record two originals and again, have several meetings with different people who gave me an insight to the business. This year was my third time going and Steven and I organized some more meetings and it was through him that I had to opportunity to work with- Richard Harris- the awesome producer who brought to life, two more of my originals! One of which will be my debut single/ upcoming video. I have to say, I’ve been so lucky! Everyone around me is extremely supportive, especially my parents- both of whom I couldn’t do this without! 

What is one piece of advice you will never forget? 

“You just have to do the work”. Everyone that I have ever spoken to has blatantly said to me that if you’re not ready to do the work, then you’re not ready at all. And it’s true. There is so much involved, people don’t realize- and I probably don’t even know half of it yet. There will be many bumps along the way, but the only choice I have to get through it, is to be determined.

You’re about to release your debut music video for your original song Waterfalls, how would you describe the experience and what inspired you to write Waterfalls?

I have had this song stored amongst my little book of songs, for such a long time now. I think I wrote it almost three years ago? I just thought there was just something really different and unique about it- it was almost precious to me and I wanted to save it for the perfect moment. In this song, I tried to capture an adventure- and actually when I first wrote it, I titled it “Adventure”. I changed the title, because I didn’t want to be too literal about it and it didn’t sing to well either but anyway ... The words waterfalls and rainbows just struck me, and I just thought they sounded so cute and quirky in their own way. After thinking about it a little more, I just that the words contained so much imagery- like a world full of life and colour. The lyrics talk about being able to find this place, like a safe haven of some sort. I hope that when people listen to it- it’s inspiring in some way and they see some kind of beauty in it, because for me, everyone has their own waterfalls and rainbows, but it’s a matter of being able to find them. It’s a little cheesy I guess, but I really liked the idea of opening a world of adventure

What have you got planned next?

The video is coming out soon which is super-duper exciting! Blake Farber, the director, Michael Latham, cinematographer and Emma Haarburger, the producer did such a great job putting it all together! The story is absolutely beautiful and of course the rest of the crew I cannot thank enough for making it look the way it did and making things run smoothly on set and everything It should be really interesting to see people’s reaction- which of course I am both nervous and excited for- but I know there will be extraordinary results. More generally however, I am going to keep having as much fun with this as possible- writing, writing and more writing is to come!

Check out Juliana's music and support her here:  

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/julianaofficialmusic?fref=ts 
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/juliana-music

 

*Mosaik does not take credit for the images used in this article