I COLLECT...SEA SHELLS

Some of my earliest, most fond childhood memories are of summer time spent at Mimiwhangata beach, at the top of the North Island of New Zealand. It is a long vastly untouched shoreline with incredible white sand and the clearest, bluest water I’ve ever seen. As a child I was fascinated by the tiny colourful shells which stood out like jewels in the white sand. I stumbled across my treasures when I was packing away my things in preparation to move to Australia. I love the kina (sea egg), paua and mussel shells and when I was laying out the uniquely coloured fan shells I began to think of textile designs for our 2010 Meridian collection…watch this space!

THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

For my birthday, everyone chipped in and got me The Baking Bible - knowing full well that they would get their money back in the form of baked goods. This is the first recipe I have tried from the book, a Greek Yogurt and Hazlenut cake. I baked this one especially so that our resident celiac (Bethany) could have some too...

INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE NATURAL FIBRE

Yes, that's right! 2009 is the United Nations International Year of the Natural Fibre. I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't know this until I read it in View Magazine (a very cool textile/fashion magazine). So I have put together a little Mokum tribute to natural fibres.

Bruges Lace - 100% Cotton

Maddha Plain - 100% Silk

Saba - 100% Linen

Aalto - 69% Jute, 27% Cotton, 4% Polyamide. Okay this one is not 100% natural,but I thought It was pretty cool that it has Jute in it.

Sateen - 90% Enviro Wool, 10% Enviro Nylon. Again, not 100% natural,
but its so nice and soft...

I have to admit that I thought it was a little bit strange to have an International Year of Natural Fibres, but it is aiming to stimulate demand for natural fibres and create more sustainable production practices. It is also hoping that by stimulating demand for natural fibres, the incomes of the farmers will be sustained, many of whom live in developing nations.

I COLLECT... THINGS THAT SMELL GOOD

Perfumes!!!
To me a scent is not just a nice fragrance, it’s memories. Each one of my perfumes has it’s own little story, whenever I apply the chosen fragrance of the day that story comes flooding back to me. My favorite perfume is my Penhaligons Ellenisia, it’s classic yet fresh, sweet and young, if I had a signature fragrance it would be my Ellenisia. I bought this one while I was in Paris, so as you can imagine the memories that go with it are lovely, full of fantastic restaurants, amazing fashion boutiques and quality time with my family.

AUSTRALIA BY TEA TOWEL

For some reason I looked on eBay a few weeks ago and found loads of Australiana tea towels, which I then found myself buying. I have to admit that I have a bit of a love for kitsch souvenir items. I am planning on making something from them... Check back to find out what!

SYDNEY WEATHER

While we haven't had the temperatures of Victoria and South Australia in the past few weeks, the weather hasn't been that great here either. The Good Vibrations festival was on at the weekend in Centennial Park - and it was POURING!!! I think that most shops in Sydney sold out of gumboots... I have to say that this is my first wet festival experience. I prefer sun.

GLOBAL TRIBE ARTWORK

We thought this was a good opportunity to share some of the artwork that happens here on a daily basis. Above you can see some of the artwork for the new Loop collection called Global Tribe. The collection was inspired by the commonalities that can be seen in primitive art from around the globe. From top to bottom you'll see the artwork for Iroquois and Eora (designed by Tandarra), and Innu Stripe (designed by Cathy Brown who has left us to go back to the USA - boo hoo Cathy we miss you!). If you go to the 'New Releases' section of the Loop website you can see the finished product.

JOLIE HOLLAND

Steph went and saw Texas and now New York's Jolie Holland perform at The Basement this week. The venue is a famous jazz bar in the city, not far from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House. She was absolutely amazing and has such a unique, rich sound. It was great to see her in such an intimate venue. If you like tales of heartbreak and a sound that combines Americana, folk and New Orleans blues then I highly recommend you give her a listen.

MRS PRESS

Bethany has lent her talents to her friend Clare Press, designer of Mrs. Press... You can see the results of their collaboration in the beautiful print that Beth designed for her Magnolia Grand dress and also the packaging designs for Clare's soaps and candles. The new Mrs. Press collection arrives mid March.

FIREWHEEL

One of the most popular designs in our Meridian Australian Botanicals collection is Firewheel Sheer. I can't believe that I have been living in the same flat for over 2 years and I have never noticed that there is a Firewheel tree just a few metres down the road from my front door! I have never actually seen one before (well I would have if I had been paying attention) but they are really amazing and unusual flowers. And I am not much of a 'flower' girl at all! We loved the design so much we put it in as a print and a sheer...

VICTORIAN BUSHFIRES

Our thoughts are with all those affected by the devastating bushfires which swept through Victoria this weekend. Over 100 people are dead and more than 700 houses were destroyed, making this worse than Ash Wednesday. My family lives in country Victoria and while they have been lucky so far, there is always the threat of disaster for them. I can only imagine how awful it must be for those who have lost homes and loved ones.

The 2009 Victorian bushfire Fund, to assist individuals and communities affected by the bushfires in Victoria, has been launched by the Victorian Premier John Brumby in partnership with Red Cross and the Federal Government. A number of corporate organisations including NAB, ANZ, CBA and Wesfarmers have also contributed to the fund.

Red Cross Donations can be made using their secure online donations form.

WELCOME TO MOKUM'S DESIGN STUDIO BLOG

Our studio is located at 98 Barcom Ave, Rushcutters Bay, Sydney, Australia. We design beautiful textiles for Mokum, Meridian and Loop and have just launched our blog to give you an insight into our weekly creativity! Keep in touch as we will be updating it regularly!

Watch our video

Meet our designers

Bethany
Dorit
Ngahuia
Stephanie
Tandarra

COLOUR BOARDS

Since all the designers in the studio design for all our brands (Mokum, Meridian and Loop), we have to ensure that we are all on the same page. For colour work, we find images that we think have interesting colours and match them to yarns and fabric swatches as a way of creating consistent colour stories within a collection. Not all of the colour stories will make it into a collection – these are some of the stories that Beth created for the Dauphine collection that didn’t get used. But they are pretty to look at anyway!

CARAMEL SLICE

Studio98, and the entire Sydney Mokum team is obsessed with sweet treats. This works well, because I love baking, but don't really think its a good thing for me to eat an entire tray of Caramel Slice, which is my all-time favorite. I brought in a batch, and they were gone in minutes!

Base
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
125g melted butter

Caramel
2 x 400g tins of sweetened condensed milk
125g melted butter
1/3 cup golden syrup

Chocolate Topping
200g dark chocolate
2tsp vegetable oil

To make the base, mix all the ingredients together and press into the base of a 20 x 30cm tin that has been lined with baking paper. Put in a 180 degree C oven and bake for 15 minutes or until golden. While the base is in the oven, mix together the caramel ingredients in a small saucepan and stir constantly over low heat until the caramel has thickened slightly. Once the base has come out of the oven, pour over the hot caramel and put it back into the oven. Bake it for 20 minutes or until golden. Take out of the oven and let it cool.

Once it has cooled, melt the chocolate and mix it with the vegetable oil, and pour over the top. Put it in the fridge until it has set. I like to use dark chocolate for this as I think it offsets the sweetness of the caramel, but you could easily use milk chocolate. When you are ready to cut the slice into squares, remove it from the fridge and let it warm up a bit, otherwise it will crack when you cut it.

Then bring it into work and share it around so you don't eat it all yourself!