All posts filed under: Events

Day Two – Genius At Work

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Things I learned from the second day at We Can Create. Chris Graham Film director, New Zealand From Chris Graham, I learned that as a director (or a designer) you need to assert your vision. Even if you are working with big names and you are no-one. People will respect you for it. He also reiterated a concept about portfolios I’ve feel strongly about: If you present the kinds of work you want to do, you won’t have to pitch to do it later. Look at your portfolio as a pitching tool. Engin Celikbas from Kesselskramer Advertising, Amsterdam Companies are changing and becoming multi-disciplinary. Hype and a different perspective will make your project memorable. Eric Rodenback from Stamen Design Data visualisation, San Fransisco Eric Rodenback from Stamen Design brought together data with interesting ways to present it. It sounds geeky and it is geeky, but it’s wildly entertaining, beautiful and educational. He works with graphs, maps, diagrams like you have never seen them before. One thing that I found interesting: To protect their hard work, …

Day One – Inspired

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I’m officially a fan of Auckland’s new creative symposium We Can Create. Symposium is a pretty fancy word for conference. But conference isn’t the right word for my last 2 days at Aotea Centre. Hosted by Te Radar, who has hosted many Semi-Permanent events over the years. Te Radar always gives great anecdotes that aren’t particularly relevant, but always educational, entertaining and New Zealand inspired. Here are some photos I took as well as stuff I learned from each of the speakers. Te Radar Presents: I was in great spirits after the first 2 speakers. I go gaga over typography and illustration so kiwi typographer Kris Sowersby and New York illustrator Sara Blake just blew me away. Kris Sowersby Typography, New Zealand Who even knew that we had a typography designer here in NZ? I didn’t. Sara Blake Illustration, New York I was amazed that Sara was a freelancer on top of her day job. Freelancing hours being 8pm to 4am. Her thoughts on fucking up and having the freedom to make ugly stuff was inspirational. …

Bitch and Wine

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Here are the tasting notes from Saturday’s cheese and wine tasting party. The budget was $15 which is a common budget for all the drinkers in the group and I asked my guests to buy a wine that they had never tasted before. There were 6 wines and they were all reds. I really enjoyed being able to taste the reds side by side and there was no shame about trying one and then another and then going back to the first one just to “make sure”. Drinking wine helps the creative review process. Whether it is a valid opinion is…up to you to decide. Disclaimer! The following are the drunken opinion of a group of 11 amateur wine tasters. These notes do not reflect the feelings of this blog or of sober adults. Right to creative license reserved. In alphabetical order… 1. Durbanville Hills Pinotage South Africa, 2009 “Gives me grabby hands” Looks like Purplish Smells like Food A petrol station on fire with a terminator walking slowly from the flames Kind of gritty, …

Cheese and Wine Tasting Party

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Yussss. Got to cross off something from my to do list by throwing a cheese and wine tasting party. I suddenly had a free weekend so got together a few friends for a party on short notice. My geekiness was met with understanding and all the tasters were great sports at sharing their opinions on the cheese and wines. It’s not surprising that the opinions got more colourful as the bottles of wine emptied out. Rules Bring a cheese or a wine that you have not tried before Budget $15 Some guests brought both cheese and wine and we ended up with 8 kinds of cheese, 6 kinds of wine as well as plenty of breads, crackers, antipasto and oils to share between 11 of us. I had a box of backup wine in case we ran out. Can’t have guests going thirsty! We gathered around the dining table with wine glasses in hand and rotated around the table tasting each item until there was pretty much nothing left. We tasted everything once, going back …

1 week countdown

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Just a week to go until We Can Create’s first ever edition. It seems like yesterday when they announced Frank Kozik as a speaker and I bought myself an earlybird ticket. Like a true geek, I usually take copious “cool stuff to look up later” notes when I go to see creative people talk. There’s so much cool stuff to absorb you can’t possibly remember it all. The WCC website has info an all the speakers as well as a handy little box where you can pose questions to any of them I’ve asked Frank Kozik a simple 2 word question: Why rabbits? Speakers are: Hort Morag Myerscough KesselsKramer The Rumpus Room Sara Blake Stamen Design Kris Sowersby Rafaël Rozendaal Chris Graham Imaginary Forces Frank Kozik Patrick Reynolds I’m also looking forward to seeing Sara Blake. Her gorgeous illustrations will make you weep. It’s not too late to buy or win tickets. I don’t have any to give away, but there are a few places online offering the chance.

Food Show – pics and picks

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I had a good time at the Food Show in the weekend and I bought much more than last year’s show. This year felt less busy than last year. I don’t know if it was just more spread out or if there were less visitors/exhibitors. There were lots of new things to taste and we got wine glasses around our necks for easy boozing. My picks of the day… Best looking display: All Good Bananas and Pam’s. Meat tasting of the day: Heller’s brand new fresh chorizo sausage (not yet available in stores) Wine of the day: Coopers Creek “The Clays” Huapai Malbec 2008. Cheese of the day: So many excellent cheeses. Too hard to call. I bought a peppered havarti though which is unusual for me. But it’s creamy peppery bite was pretty special. Interesting foodie concept: Kapuka Pork’s Adopt A Pig scheme. Adopt a pig, get updates on your free-range pig at the farm and when it is ready, it will be processed, packaged and sent to you. Interesting products: Namida Wasabi Spirit. Tastes like wasabi …

Anticipating Food Show

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It’s Food Show time here in Auckland! Wahoooo! Last year we went for Miss C’s birthday and this year will be no different. Super food bargains and plenty of samples here we come! Many exhibitors invited me into their stalls to get better photos of their products. My SLR must say “legitimate photographer”. Hey, I guess I could say I’m from the press.Wordpress that is… Here are some of my photographs from last year’s show. There are lots of interesesting cheeses at the food show and lots of bargains to be had. We had just been to a cheese factory before last year’s food show so we missed out on the Food Show cheese. I swore that I would go on a cheese famine before this year’s show. Mega fail. I currently have 3 kinds of cheese in my fridge at home. Is there room for more? Maybe just 1 or 2? This year it is $22.50 and you can buy tickets and find out more info on their website here. Last year’s Food Show Tips …

NZFF rolls round again

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New Zealand Film Festival time again! Every year we flick through the guide and brain bookmark all the films we would see if we had all the time and money in the world. It’s often too hard to choose so wsually, we don’t go and see anything. I hope to see a couple of movies this year although the only tickets is for A Matter of Taste. It’s a food documentary by Kiwi director Sally Rowe about a young, controversial chef called Paul Liebrandt. I’m going with my little sister on Monday after work.   The other food documentary I’d love to see is Jiro Dreams of Sushi. I’ve read that this movie should not be watched on an empty stomach.   Bourdain’s account of Jiro’s sushi makes my mouth water. Watching this video makes want sushi now even though I’ve already eaten. What are your picks of the NZFF this year?

Junk Food Day

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This drawing was partially inspired by Tofu the bunny. We don’t feed our rabbit chips, but this one time, he found a single nacho under the table. I heard him crunching, went to investigate and he was enjoying it so much (as in LOVING IT) I didn’t have the heart to take it from him. I mean, he found it fair and square. I’m not huge on junk food, as I prefer cooked meals rather than packaged snacks. But once in a while, junk food gives me a little wink. Some celebratory ideas: Have a junk food shared lunch or picnic Junk food quickfire challenge (cook/prepare something using junk food as ingredients) Invent a new junk food Junk up a healthy dish (bacon and potato chip salad) Make a home made version of junk food for dinner (burger, pizza, fried chicken, potato chips etc) A Junk Food inspired menu Starter (inspired by fried chicken and potato chips) Waitoa free range, Karaage (Japanese style deep fried) chicken with potato chip crust, wasabi mayo and fresh daikon. …

French food and truffles

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I had a lovely foodie day yesterday celebrating Bastille Day.  I adore French cuisine (who doesn’t) and it is a dream of mine to one day eat French food in France. Yesterday, some of us at work dressed up in French inspired garb and we had an incredible feast for morning tea. Morning tea is a big deal at my work. Because we have a lot of early starters, not everyone is around for afternoon tea so morning is the only time we can get everyone together. Our French inspired morning tea consisted of: Baguette Croissants Pain au chocolat Chicken and cranberry pâté Mushroom and brandy pâté Cheese Cream cheese Ham Cake Pickles It was so delicious and a lot of fun assembling your own bite sized morsels of goodness. I forgot how much I love pâté. We ate as much as we could and there was plenty left over. If only the French had siesta I could crawl under my desk and have a nap. Sabato Field Trip A couple of hours later, I gathered …

Frank Kozik is coming to NZ speak to me.

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…and some other people…in August. Since Semi-Permanent has postponed their event until 2012, We Can Create will be the only big design event this year. What a relief! I was torn on whether to go to SP or WCC and after they announced a batch of amazing speakers, I quickly bought an earlybird ticket. The real attraction for me is Frank Kozik. Kozik’s client list includes MTV, Nike, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Melvins, The Offspring and Butthole Surfers. His lowbrow illustrative style is distinctive and has been imitated once or twice. Kozik is an illustrator/graphic designer/toy designer. He deals with bunnies among other things. The Koala bought Kozik’s Happy Labbit toy for me as a gift once upon a time. Here is the Happy Labbit hanging out with Sharmi a few years ago. The Koala painted the Labbit to look like Tofu and the Labbit attended our wedding in Christchurch in place of Tofu. The Labbit sat at the head of the table right in front of  The Koala and …

Semi-Permanent and We Can Create

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For the past 8 years, Semi-Permanent has been THE design conference to go to if you live in Auckland. Originating from Australia, it’s been going strong since I was a first year design student all those years ago and I’ve been to so many I’ve lost count. I know I’ve missed at least one but it was with a very reluctant, heavy heart. SP began as a one day event of creative industry speakers from around the world, but now it’s ballooned into a two day event with a myriad of side events (art exhibitions, after parties, subtle mobs) running alongside the conference. It’s a super inspiring event and one that no creative should miss. I swear I come home super charged and ready to explode with things to explore/make/research. This year, the New Zealand organisers of SP, The Church have branched off from SP to do their own conference called We Can Create. The two design conferences are 2 weeks apart. SP is 12-13 August and WCC is 26-27 August. With limited WCC earlybird …

We have a winner!

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Random.org gave me the number 51, but since I didn’t have 51 comments in the virtual barrel, I counted through the entry comments twice. Comment number 51 was made by Delaney. Congratulations Delaney! The Om Nom Nom painting will be on it’s way to you one day soon. Thanks to everyone who participated and better luck next time.

Japanese Art Festival photos

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The Japanese Art Festival over the weekend was a great success with the new venue of Aotea Centre and increased publicity. On Saturday, there were speeches, nibbles and drinks as well as a half hour Taiko drumming demonstration at Aotea Square. The drumming was phenomenal and the acoustics in the square were amazing. There was a great turn out and got lots of people interested in the exhibition inside. On Sunday I took my family through the exhibition and also participated in a live art demo in the afternoon. The bunny and origami drawing I did was quite popular with the young, female audience and after a bit of a bidding war, fetched $61 for charity. Here are some photos from the festival… (click on the thumbnails for a larger view)

Japanese Art Festival starts today

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The Koala and I have been busy this last month with the lead up to the Japanese Art Festival. We’ve done all the graphic design for the festival, a 30+ page prospectus for one of the event sponsors and have been working on brand new paintings to exhibit. It has been a real work work work month. Well, the work has all paid off because the festival starts today. It’s free and it’s on from today until Sunday so if you’re in Auckland this weekend, come down to Aotea Centre and check it out. Saturday lunch-ish is the best time to go as there will be Taiko drumming and live art. There will be collection for Japanese earthquake relief and many artists will be donating full or percentage of sales. The Koala and I will be donating 50% of our sales to the Japanese earthquake relief. So please come! I leave you with a teaser from my pieces…

What’s the deal with Urbis Designday?

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Last Saturday we went to Urbis Designday where 12 showrooms collaborate with 12 designers from fashion and design industries. We had an awesome day, saw some interesting things, drank some yummy things and tasted some wonderful things. Good value at $30 per ticket (or 2 for $50). We figured we ate and drank an average of $10 each at each of the sites and including the taxis in between, we would have enjoyed $150 worth of Urbis. Here are some of my photos and a bit of a run down… 0. Media Design School / HP Future Designers at MINI Garage (HQ) This was were picked up their wristbands for the day if they hadn’t received them in the post. While this wasn’t considered one of the exhibits or a number on the circuit, this was actually one of my favourites. We spent a while here watching the Media Design School 3D projects. As you enter a big inflatable room you are given headphones and a Kapiti white chocolate and raspberry ice cream. Similar concept …

Happy Paddy’s Day!

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Traditionally a day to dig out those Irish roots and an excuse for us to have a green themed morning tea at work today. I whipped these babies up for the occasion. Spinach, cheese, spring onion and egg in puff pastry. One was sacrificed for quality control so an uneven 11 will make it to work with me. The Koala wanted to eat one but 11 quiches to feed about 20 people is difficult enough as it is. Similar recipe with bacon can be found here. Speaking of green stuff, we’ve got feijoa, macadamia nuts and a tiny scallopini creeping into our garden.

3 sleeps

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I’m sitting on a $10,000 couch carefully eating candy floss and ice cream. My hands are undeniably sticky and I wonder if I will get into trouble. Nearby, an opera diva sings in a language I don’t recognise and a grand pianist accompanies her. I’m tipsy, but I’m not hallucinating. No, it’s not a dream, it’s one of my fondest memories of Urbis Design Day. An Auckland showcase of local showrooms, fashion and design industry stars. There’s only 3 more sleeps until Urbis Design Day graces our city again. This year’s collaborators are: Halo NZ and Trelise Cooper Interiors design denmark / Sylvia Sanford Häfele / Esther Diamond Poggenpohl / Make Something Automation Associates / Matter ECC / Scrap Wall Antipodes Design Store / Luxaflex / Taylor Boutique Kohler / Salasai Essenze / NZ Design Collective (Te Rongo Kirkwood, David Trubridge, Anzac Tasker, Peter Collis and Brogen Avril) Furniture Lab / Dulux / We Love Inc Fisher & Paykel / The Alt Group Media Design School / HP Future Designers at MINI Garage Designer Rugs …