I always loved pottering in Daiso in Japan, so I'm very excited that there's a branch in Sydney now. Masses of ridiculously cute (and some surpisingly useful) Japanese stuff for $2.80 a piece. Just quietly, this is going to be my go-to place for kids party bags from now on - there are lots of sweet stationery and craft items and toys, and pretty cellophane bags.
vintage clothes vs. fast fashion
I went to hear Kelly Doust speak about her new book, Minxy Vintage last night. Kelly is a very good advertisment for pre-loved clothing, she is extremely glamorous, and I loved looking at some of the adapted pieces that she had brought along. The book has lots of information on vintage fashion, and how to adapt and repair old clothes so they look modern and fabulous rather than moth-eaten or costumey. One of the things she said that really resonated with me was how much better made vintage pieces are, as many of them were hand sewn, made to last and use natural fibres, rather than the contemporary things that are made cheaply and viewed as semi-disposable.
I used to wear a lot of vintage (or, more accurately, second hand) clothes. As a teenager I shopped at Glebe Markets and Vinnies all the time. I used to find old denim jeans, and jackets and lace skirts and silk Chinese blouses. When we lived in London I went to the shops and stalls on Portobello Road. But in Japan I stopped - it was harder to find things that fit. And since I've had children shopping time has become limited and I tend to go hunting for a particular item that I need, rather than having time to browse for possibilities. The only vintage thing I've bought in recent years is this haori jacket.
What Kelly was saying reminded me of another book I have read recently, "To Die For: Is Fashion Wearing Out the World" by Lucy Siegle, which is a frankly disturbing investigation of the way that cheap (and not so cheap) clothes are made by big corporations. I don't often buy really cheap clothes because I hate the way they disintergrate, but every so often I succumb. When we were in the UK in July I bought a jumper at Mango for £10. I knew it probably wouldn't be very well made, but I really liked the shape and colour. Sure enough, I've worn it maybe 10 times and the stitching is coming apart (which is fixable) and the material has gone all strange and ball-y (which is not). So even though it was cheap, the all important cost-per-wear is higner than it would have been if I had bought a proper jumper. And the sheer waste of it really annoys me.
Reading To Die For (I first heard about it from Kate) and hearing Kelly speak has made me think about looking for good quality second hand clothes again. Partly because they are a more ecological option, and also because they have more character and charm than a mass produced garment. And I do really love browsing through markets and vintage shops when I have time for it. Anyway, whether I start wearing vintage or not, I won't be buying anymore Mango jumpers.
photios brothers
I visited Photios Bros for the first time this week, and can't believe it has taken me so long. The company was founded in the 1920s and has been in the current premises on Druitt Street (just downhill from the QVB) since the 1950s. The stock is stored in a multitude of brown craft paper boxes, piled up to the ceiling on shelves around the room; you stand at a counter, pick what you want from displays, and a member of staff takes your order down in a notebook and then disappears to find it. They stock feathers, beads, sparkles and necklaces - all kinds of things for making costumes and hats. This time we bought feathers for making headbands, and some strings of beads for the dress up box.
You can read a bit more about the history of Photios Bros here.
thinking about maps
I love maps. I've been looking for one to hang up in Ali's room; since we've moved his furniture around he has space on the wall for a biggish poster, and a map is something he won't grow out of too soon, and he'll hopefully enjoy since he has a fixation with his atlas right now*.
I finally chose this one from L'Affiche Moderne because I like the illustration style, the colours suit Ali's room and the shipping was reasonable (always a consideration when you live in Australia... I've wanted to buy this print forever, but the shipping is nearly as much as the print), but here are some other beauties I found on my search.
Papercut Map from Famille Summerbelle.
Beautiful modern hand screen-printed map from These are Things (this one comes in 4 colour ways)
Not so suitable for toddlers, but how cool are these customisable scratch maps? You rub off countries or cities as you visit them.
And I saw this beautiful coloured one at The Future Mapping Company when we were in London - they also do lovely London maps.
I can't wait til the print arrives and I can get it framed and hung on the wall! It's a standard size too, so framing should be quick and easy.
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*Mark has accused me of decorating Ali's room with all the things I would really like to have in my own room but know he won't tolerate, like Flensted mobiles and Componibili bedside tables. He may have a point.
surprise fleamarket
We were staying in the Marais, on the corner of Rue Bretagne. Not only was it close enough to La Fougasse that we could stop by each morning for croissants, but on the Friday we woke up to find a fleamarket in full swing, full of treasures. Unfortunately most of them were too fragile or big to bring back with us, but it was so much fun to browse. On the weekend we went up to the big fleamarket at Porte de Clignancourt, but I think I liked the Rue Bretagne stalls better... they were more haphazard and full of surprises. All the kinds of things I lust over in David Met Nicole, Newspaper Taxi and on eBay, but much cheaper.
columbia road
While it's fabulous to go back to a familiar city and visit favourite places, it's even more exciting to discover new favourites. One of the best days we had in London was when we headed to the Columbia Road flower markets on a Sunday morning. I only discovered them by chance, led there by Rob Ryan. I've admired his amazing paper cuts and tiles for ages, and his little shop Ryantown is on Columbia Road, and the longest opening hours are on Sunday. We were staying in Mayfair, and I don't know East London well, having always lived out near the Westway, so I wasn't sure if it was worth trekking all the way out there for one shop. But then I discovered the Columbia Road website and which lists all the shops around the market.
There are lots of quirky stores and boutiques, but the thing that really convinced me was that Sharon Elphick has a shop there too. When we very first moved to London I bought a poster of one of her works from Habitat, and then met her and was blown away by her original work at the Chelsea Craft Fair in 2002. And then saw more at the Great Western Studios open day the next year, and loved it. We still have her poster on the wall, 8 years and many houses later, so when I saw that she has a store selling her own work and other things she loves I was there.
I had so much fun pottering around. Mark and I bought a foil print by Kim Jenkins from Elphicks, and some lovely cards, I got more cards from Ryantown and loved looking in Bob and Blossom which has the cutest baby things, and Ali was entranced by Suck and Chew - he'd never been to an old-style lolly shop before, and had fun choosing a couple of things to put in a striped paper bag.
I didn't buy anything from Beyond Fabrics, it was packed and we were hungry, but I'd love to go back some time and have a proper look around - it looked like they had a great range of fabrics and other crafty kits and notions.
All the restaurants and cafes on Columbia Road were pretty busy, so we walked five minutes away to The Albion which I'd read about in the Decor8 London Guide (thanks so much for forwarding the link, Belinda!) It was perfect - nice and spacious, with great coffee and pastries and room for the stroller.
It always seems that right after you hear about something for the first time you keep bumping in to other references to it, and that's definitely happened with Columbia Road. There was a spread about Brick Lane & Columbia Rd in Marie Claire Idées (scan here), and a mention of The Albion in an article on Affordable London in the latest Gourmet Traveller magazine. Anyway, Columbia Road on a Sunday is well worth a visit - preferably without a stroller and energetic toddler because it's packed and there is so much to see that it would be nice to browse leisurely. If I had more time I would have dropped in to Caravan and Squint, which are also in the neighbourhood & were recommended in the Decor8 guide. But really there was more than enough to look at just in the shops around the market and, of course, the amazing flowers.
loot
Some people seem blessed by the second-hand gods, and usually I am not one of them. I visit shops where others have found gold, and discover only manky t-shirts and broken junk. But on the weekend a friend and I did a dawn jumble sale raid and found so many good things. A pretty German coffee set, lots of vintage buttons, Golden Books and a threading toy for Ali. My favourite thing is the orange floral thermos... it was $2, AND has fabulous lurid flowers, AND we tested it and it kept the water hot enough to make tea for 9 hours. Fabulous. Also found but not photographed: some little Japanese melamine dishes and a sterling silver photo frame. And then we ate jam and cream on scones with a view of the harbour. The gods were definitely smiling.
all the way from france
Bonjour Mon Coussin has been saved in my Bookmarks (under "cool french cushions") for the longest time - at least since 2007. Every now and then I'd go back and browse, but I finally stopped procrastinating and ordered a cover a few weeks ago. The $A is really strong right now, so it seemed like a good time. I chose this one because we have a teal rug in the living room, and because it shows the spot in Paris where Mark proposed.
And, because the postage charge seemed less outrageous if it was for two things instead of just one, I was forced to buy a bag as well. It's very cute, and the perfect size for keys + wallet + phone + lipstick + diary.
new teatowels
New tea towels from Pata Pri. I ordered these because all my old ones were looking manky, and the $A has recovered enough for me to think about buying things on Etsy again. But now they've arrived they seem almost too pretty to use.
adventures at the supermarket
When I first moved to Japan I used to think of my grocery shopping missions as supermarket roulette. I couldn't read Japanese, so I was entirely reliant on packaging to guess what I was buying. This led to many amusing (in retrospect) mistakes, like the time I bought something that came in a carton with a cow on it, assuming it was milk, and poured it in my coffee only to discover that it was drinking yoghurt. My illiteracy encouraged total brand loyalty, because if I bought something once and it turned out to be the thing that I hoped it was (like milk!), I would continue to buy the same brand religiously.
When buying eggs I always chose the most expensive sort, because I thought that would ensure that they were free range. Then Mark (who speaks good Japanese) came to the supermarket with me and noticed that they were actually special eggs with extra-yellow yolks, designed for dipping sukiyaki and shabu-shabu meat into. After that I bought the second most expensive eggs, which had a picture of a happy chicken on them.
Sometimes not being 100% certain what I was buying was frustrating, but it definitely made supermarket shopping much more interesting, and it was ridiculously satisfying when I came home with everything I wanted. As I slowly learned more Japanese some of the mystery evaporated, so I began to buy one new thing each time I was at the supermarket - something I hadn't tried before, or that I didn't recognise. It was fun to pick up a new kind of sweet (there can never be too many kinds of mochi, as far as I'm concerned) or an unfamiliar seasonal vegetable, and then try to work out what to do with it when I got home. I ended up stumbling on some really tasty things, like myouga and dried persimmons and chocolate tofu.
Back in Sydney, being able to read all the labels has taken all the surprises out of supermarket shopping. But there are still plenty of things that I haven't cooked or eaten before, so I try and pick up something new every now and again. Last week's experiment was tapioca.
I used it to make a dairy-free lemon pudding from this recipe. I imagine that the frogspawny texture wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, but I liked it and so did Ali. Next I want to try this pudding, which looks like the perfect comfort food for cold weather. This recipe for Indonesian style sago (sago gula melaka) looks delicious too.
My next mystery item: pomegranate. Any suggestions?
