Small Details Matter

I love my roll of hemp twine.  I use it to cut and thread through hang tags to safety-pin onto our products. It's not easy being green as this is very time-consuming and using a tagging gun which I did in a previous not-so-environmentally-responsible life was much faster.

The little details do make a difference though and I think they look pretty good and much nicer than those ugly plastic tag holders. Our hang-tags are also printed on recycled paper, saving those extra trees from the mill.

The order that goes with these tags is our Autumn/Winter fashion collection going to Bliss Ecowear today.

We will also be showing some new hand-printed organic fashions at Artisan at a Mother's Day charity breakfast on Tuesday, May 5th. More details to follow but please keep the morning free if you are in Brisbane. The Artisan breakfasts are always lovely events and raise funds for a worthy cause, in this case the Royal Brisbane Childrens' Hospital.

Desert Pychedelic

Artisan invites you to attend the opening of Desert Psychedelic, an exhibition celebrating the achievements of Jimmy Pike, acknowledging his position as not only one of the great Indigenous artists, but also one of the greatest Australian textile designers of the 20th century.


Wednesday April 8 2009
6:00pm - 8:00pm


The exhibition will be opened by Her Excellency the Governor of Queensland, Ms Penelope Wensley, AO. Not to be missed, an opening night fashion performance of the wild celebratory garments of the late eighties by Desert Designs, styled by designer, Christine Thorley.

Artisan is located on the corner of Ivory and Brunswick Streets in Fortitude Valley (Brisbane). Their exhibitions are always good fun (free wine) and I love the Mart store that stocks Australian hand-made goodies including Thea & Sami hand-printed tea-towels and tablecloths. Thank you Denise, Andrea and Shannon for selling so many lately!

Premier Skirt

Thank you to all of you who sent me messages telling me that the Premier of Queensland was televised wearing my hand-printed Brisbane (Skyline) Skirt on Brisbane television on Sunday night. Premier Anna Bligh was also photographed in the Courier Mail on Monday, 16th February.

I had visited the Premier last July for a fitting so it was nice to see that she chose to wear the skirt for the launch of her new website. Ms. Bligh looked every bit the Queenslander in pink linen and even coordinated her look with pink sandals; far more stylish than your average politician!

The Thea & Sami Brisbane Skirt had won a Memento Award in 2007. These awards recognise quality Australian designed and crafted tourist gifts.

The skirt is available through Artisan M(art) in Brisbane, Eimai in Melbourne and the unlined, organic linen version from Bliss Ecowear in Paddington, Brisbane.

Otherwise, please contact me directly as we make-to-order the skirt to your colour preferences.

July 2011 Update: The Brisbane Skirt is no longer available but you may purchase the print to frame as a screen-printed panel of Brisbane City. Other links in this post are also now non-existent.

Weird but Cool

On the lighter side of things, I visited Artisan (formerly Craft Queensland) last Thursday night for the opening of their first 2009 exhibition, suitably named "Hand Made Strange". The show focuses on graduate and emerging arists who use their abilities to create strange objects from otherwise familiar ones.



I was particularly fascinated by this "Tip of the Icing Berg" piece by Elizabeth Willing, made of marzipan icing and artificial fingernails (image courtesy of the artist).

I also like Hannah Cripp's "Office Virus" (image courtesy of USQ). Look carefully and you will see the virus constructed from various office items. Very clever girls!



Other artists included in the show are Shane Brazier, Helen Rogers, Catherine Sagin, Mila Vasikic.  The exhibition runs until April 4th so if you are in Brisbane, try to make it to Artisan and their cool gift store of hand-made objects, M(art).