QT life

Bicycle taxidermy

one’s wood-filled study. Or it’s weird and creepy, with the sad beady eyes of animals that have been conquered or have passed away always looking on. But in a less frightful, more inventive approach to taxidermy, which is also a good show of recycling, comes bicycle taxidermy. With examples of these repurposed works adorning the [...]

Design

The man bike

Though highly practical, a wicker basket fastened to the front of a bicycle can err on the side of the feminine. A slightly more discreet yet laddish option is the Bicycle Seat Barrel Bag from Walnut Studiolo. With a design that fuses the aesthetics of an antique steamer trunk with the practicality of a St [...]

Design

Retro dreamer – Cecil Beaton

“Be daring, be different, be impractical” With the QT Fashion Week and Awards Gold Coast just around the corner we are loving everything fashion, photographic and unique. This week we’re taking a closer look at the iconic Cecil Beaton. There were many feathers to Cecil Beaton’s cap (including careers as an illustrator, painter, Academy Award-winning [...]

Design

He’s as mad as a hatter

Stephen Jones is known for eccentricity. Born in Cheshire, England, and a former student of the elite Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, Jones burst on to the London fashion scene during its explosion of street style in the late 70s. He has been one of the worlds most radical and prolific milliners [...]

Design

If the shoe fits

Shoe Obsession, co-authored by Valerie Steele and Colleen Hill, is a fabulously illustrated book that explores western culture’s fascination with extravagant and fashionable shoes. Over the past decade, shoe design has become increasingly central to fashion, with fashion companies paying ever more attention to shoes and other accessories. High-heeled shoes, in particular, have become the fashion [...]

Design

Oldskool Chatterbox

Remember these? The hours spent in class deciding your classmates fortune or challenging them to the dreaded ‘truth or dare’. These paper Chatterboxes are one of the simplest origami tricks to master and we’ve included some easy refresher tips so that you can relive the glory days: Materials: 1 sheet of paper Coloured pencils Pen [...]

Art

Gothic Glamour

The aroma is overpowering but deeply sensuous – like being hit in the face with a velvet pillow stuffed with rose petals. Surely the scent of every flower imaginable is here, infused with the heady essence of darker, musky fragrances my untrained nose refuses to identify. That’s my first impression upon entering Damask Perfumery – [...]

Design

CAST YOUR EYES THIS WAY

By Benjamen Judd You make the decision not to wear sunglasses in Sydney at your own peril. They serve multiple purposes, not in the least to help prevent you getting unnecessary crows feet from constantly squinting in the Australian sun. They also make sure that no-one can tell you’re not listening to them when they talk [...]

Design

Who framed Bambi?

By Benjamen Judd We have a soft spot for cute things. They make spaces more fun and they tend to lighten the mood of a room up and we’re also incredibly juvenile at heart so anything even slightly whimsical makes us happy. The Bambi frame came from a collaboration between designer Fukutoshi Ueno and Australian [...]

Design

Wall heads

By Benjamen Judd What do a hippo, a giraffe, a walrus and an egret have in common? Their heads could be hanging from your wall in the very near future. Before you go all Bridgette Bardot and call PETA on our butts, we don’t actually mean real animal heads. We mean some super cool papier-mache [...]

Design

JORDAN ASKILL DESIGNS

By Benjamen Judd Jordan’s CV reads like a dream. Or nightmare, if you are a competing designer. Before launching his own avant garde range of jewellery, Jordan worked at the infamous Sydney-based Kusbi, during which time he also launched his own ready to wear line. Following that, Jordan then took his already impeccable skills off [...]

Design

Comfort outdoors

By Benjamen Judd You may not feel like it right now (what idiot decided that 45 degrees was an appropriate temperature?) but in a month or two when it finally feels like we’re no longer living on Mercury, there is nothing better than some ice-cold mojitos in the backyard. Or the balcony. Or the rooftop. [...]

Design

Get Smart meets Bond with a new GPS shoe.

Great for finding your way home after a long night at the local bar, these GPS shoes will point you in the right direction. London-based Dominic Wilcox has developed prototype shoes that utilize GPS location to guide a person to their next destination. Developed with the help of Northampton shoe maker Stamp Shoes and a technology expert named Becky [...]

Design