BARE IT ALL

The talented fashion students from ECU Mt Lawley will wear their hearts on their sleeves next Saturday, January 23, when they present their graduating collections to fashion fanatics in Bare – an evening of exhibition and performance. Taking place on campus at ECU Building 5 off Bradford Street in Mt Lawley, Bare will showcase a variety of modern and eclectic styles, demonstrating the diversity of the students’ aesthetics.

Those who would like a sneak peek into the future of the West Australian fashion industry can purchase tickets to Bare from Libertine, Billie & Rose Mt Lawley and The Garment Shop by Megan Salmon in Fremantle. Doors open 6.30pm. Exhibition is free to the public from 10am to 4pm ’til Saturday, January 31.

MITCHELL & DENT

Ephemera Of Note

For those who wish to be more organised in 2010, Mitchell & Dent, self proclaimed purveyors of ‘finery, frippery and felicitous fare’, can help turn dreams into reality with their fabulous range of locally made calendars and notebooks.
Established back in January, Mitchell & Dent offer up a range of beautifully designed stationary products, emblazoned with striking artworks created by Madame Mitchell and Madame Dent, the creative alter egos of Perth ladies Angela Mitchell and Leah Dent.
“As designers who predominantly work for clients’ brands, we wanted to balance our service side with something that expresses our own personality,” shares Madame Dent. “In our day jobs, designers are often asked to take away the quirky, the emotional, the conversational and the clever things in order to communicate more plainly. We’re not so sure this is always a good idea (it certainly doesn’t happen in fashion design) and Mitchell & Dent is a reaction to unadventurous clients. It is all about us (in a good way).
“Mitchell & Dent is a new venture, not yet a year old. It has grown very quickly. We’ve been so surprised and delighted by how people have responded to our paper products. People from all over the world buy from our online store and Mitchell & Dent keeps popping up in blogs in languages we can’t read (we hope they are saying nice things),” chuckles Dent.
In addition to pocket-sized calendars, Mitchell & Dent sell notebooks, letterpress and all manner of wonderful things, which they print themselves Dent reveals, “we have an interest in vintage printing techniques and bought a 1905 Chandler & Price platen press - a big old beastie affectionately dubbed ‘Herbert’ - and pestered some retired printers to teach us how to use it, so much of our work is letterpressed.
“We create letterpress artworks,
greetings, custom stationery and invitations as befitting the most stylish of homes, celebrations and weddings. We’re all about paper, really. Don’t get us wrong, we’re big fans of the internet and social networking (yay, Facebook and Twitter) but nothing will ever beat the excitement of receiving a little hand-addressed something in your mailbox.”
Since the calendar creating ladies behind Mitchell & Dent need no help on the organisational front, one wonders what their New Year’s resolution or plans for 2010 entail…
“We’ve just begun to dip our toes into the retail world and are so fortunate to have shops like Distracted Merchants Of Fancy and Form supporting us and starting to stock our products. Although we do sell online
(www.mitchellanddent.com.au), we’d like to build relationships with more like-minded retailers.”
Those who would like to get to know Mitchell & Dent a bit better, and find out what inspires this creative duo, can head to their blog Tittle Tattle & Tales Of Terrificness at mitchellanddent.com.au/tittle-tattle.

_EMMA BERGMEIER

TRUMP CARD

Most folks love to receive presents, except of course, when they’re purchased by kind-hearted but misguided relatives. You know the type – Great Aunt Beryl who hasn’t seen you since the late ’90s and assumes that a decade on, you’re still interested in pursuing a career in the circus because that’s what you had your heart set on at age 13. Though you appreciate her effort, it’s impossible to really be that stoked about receiving juggling batons as a 20-something; if only Beryl had known about the OnWilliam gift card!

Available in any amount over $20, the OnWilliam gift card can be used at any or all of the following boutiques, galleries and venues: Red Stripe Clothing, Harry Highpants, The Butcher Shop, Brave New World, Fi & Co, Lala Orange, William Topp, Glass Candy at The Perth Markets, the Mixtape Gallery, PICA, The Moon and 399 Bar.

To find out more about the Gift Card jump online to onwilliam.com.au/giftcard.

X-Press has a $50 OnWilliam Gift Card to give-away, just email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with ‘OnWilliam’ in the subject line to go into the draw.

HE TAKES

THE CAKE

Those who shop regularly at quirky Perth boutique Pigeonhole are likely to be familiar with a friendly chap who goes by the name of Bobby Von Baker. As his name suggests, Bobby is quite the whiz in the kitchen, creating innovative Cakiepops and Cakiegems – tasty treats found only at Pigeonhole.

Bobby is no one trick pony – offering up a range of treats in addition to Cakiepops, including illustrations, short novels, jewellery design and more. This Friday, December 11, Bobby will officially launch his genre-spanning business, The Boy Genius Academy.

Ahead of the launch, Bobby reveals the story behind his moniker and sheds some light on how the much loved Cakiepops came to be.

“After a daft few years of operating in collectives, I realised that I was doing most, if not all of the work to keep whatever project we were doing active. After I started taking my writing more seriously, I realised that I had to work on my own and started working under several pseudonyms. This idea was more effort than it was worth and I figured out that I needed to become something more than just a name and at the time a few favoured friends started to refer to me as a ‘boy genius’ and I grew fond of the name.

“The Academy part came after a long thought process and in the end, I thought that it would be nice that I would be the only one ever under the name and that I’m both teaching and learning new things under the name.

“Cakiepops are the result - like most things - of an accident. I developed the cake part of the pop early on in 2006 and served it cut up thinly with tea amongst friends but the idea of it being on a stick amazed me and I did about a month of trial and error research and at the end of it, I made the first proper batch of Cakiepops in late 2007.”

In addition to Cakiepops, The Boy Genius Academy will also offer up short novels written by Bobby, starting with Bella & Grey.

“Bella & Grey is the first novella of a series that is set in the town of Quincy. Quincy in itself is an amalgamation of the towns and cities that I’ve ever experienced, with the big picture influenced heavily by French influenced Vietnam, mainly Ho Chi Minh City and the small picture influenced by modern Australia and America. It’s essentially a love story, where two significants meet and fall in love - you know, all that stuff. The binder to keep it interesting is a series of subplots that bind all the books in the series together, of which the next one Fever Sleeping will be released soon and is a love story about how two significants stay together.”

Bobby welcomes all and sundry to attend the launch of The Boy Genius Academy this Friday, from 6.30pm to 8pm, at The Mixtape Gallery (454 William Street, Northbridge), for an evening of fun and festivities including “super tasty treats such as birthday edition cakiepops (flavours to be announced on the website and facebook page on the day), various versions of cakiegems, button bobby cookies galore, paintings, illustrations and other artwork, along with several copies of the novella Bella & Grey and the anthology Amoxicillin Relationships and of course an awesome place to dance and forget about Christmas for once in December.”

_EMMA BERGMEIER