I've been neglecting this space.  But I do love it, so I'm going to do my best to update this space more frequently over the coming months.  It's going to be a big year, with lots of changes afoot, so it feels like a great time to get back into blogging.  I hope you enjoy what I share.

First up, there is a little SALE going on in the online shop over here.  We'll be wrapping this up on Friday, so take a peek and see if something takes your fancy.  There are quite a few bargains.

And also, I'm excited to be participating in this for the first time, as part of the Sustainable Living Festival.  I've cleared out my wardrobe, so you may find a bargain, and I'll have some MüCKE pieces in the suitcase too.  Let your friends know and come on down to this fantastic festival.

OPEN STUDIO saturday 18th August

2/215-219 Nicholson Street, East Brunswick 3057

Craft Cubed PART 1.

Craft Cubed launches this Thursday eve from 6-8pm.  It is Craft Victoria's annual festival with exhibitions, seminars, workshops and open studios.  Studio MüCKE is taking part in 3 events! 

Firstly, we are participating in an exhibition at eg.etal in Melbournes iconic Flinders Lane.  This is a collaborative show conceived by the talented jeweller Emma Grace.  The brief, consisting of text and 3 pieces of sterling silver jewellery, was offered to 7 Melbourne creatives.  The exhibition in short, entitled How the light gets in invited it's collaborators to share how they go about maintaining a sense of hope and a more sustainable practice in a world of environmental devastation and climate change.

The pieces Emma and I created were designed to reflect the work I make for studio MüCKE, highlighting my belief that it is only through persistent and enduring work that we can find any answers to the problems of the times we live in.  The works are titled Multiples of 1.

Here's Emma and I at work in her studio, developing work for the show.

 

How the Light gets in, runs from 6th-18th August 2012 at eg.etal in Flinders Lane Melbourne.

Shivers down the spine.

An incredible song by two incredible Swedish sisters, that is giving me shivers down the spine today.  How magical!  This motivates me to keep striving to make beautiful things to offer the world, just like these ladies do.

30% OFF for 24 hours, all day THURSDAY 31st MAY!!

After a successful Spring/Summer 2012/2013 fashion shoot, we are inspired to make room for the new stock in production. AND so to celebrate, we'd like to offer you 30% OFF for 24hours only, plus FREE shipping Australia wide.

From 12.00AM THURSDAY until 12.00AM FRIDAY(morning), we are giving you the chance to own a piece of MüCKE for a massive 30% less than you would be able to otherwise.  This only applies to pieces in the shop at present and does NOT apply to custom orders.  It's an ONLINE promotion and is limited to customers AUSTRALIA wide, for pieces currently in the online store (not custom orders).

Spread the love.  Tell you friends.  And join our facebook page or mailing list to get the code for your discount!!

xx

Future Beauty: 30 years of Japanese Fashion

This is what I'm reading at the moment, Future Beauty: 30 years of Japanese Fashion.  Slowly but surely.  The imagery is incredibly inspiring and the words give me a deeper understanding of how and why the designers go about their practice.  The book accompanies the exhibition that was held at the Barbican in London last year.

Rei Kawakubo's work for the exhibition at the Barbican, London. 

Rei Kawakubo, for Comme des Garcons

Issey Miyake's A-poc.  Photo by Lyndon Douglas.

 The video below gives further insight into the exhibition itself.  Enjoy.

In need of something to read

 

Thank you Peppermint Magazine and Leeyong, for the interview you did with me, a while back.  You can still get this in stores around the country if you'd like to read more about the story behind the MüCKE label.

 

 Some other great reading is this piece about Isobel Davies.  She is fearless, focused and passionate, where it is most needed.  Grab the latest copy of Dumbo Feather for an inspirational read on Davies and other fascinating people.

An inspirational soul.

I really enjoyed this interview with Yohji Yamamoto, about his solo exhibition at the V&A last year.  I was so sad I couldn't make it to London for the show.

This interview is an incredibly interesting view into the life of a designer who I much admire and who rarely gives such long interviews.  It offers a great insight into his life's work. A self confessed 'fashion hater', I find much inspiration in his approach to an unsustainable industry which focuses on constant change and constant disposal of that which is not worn out.

A gentle and ambitious soul and master in my mind Yohji Yamamoto offers me constant inspiration through his dedication to perfecting the dying art of making, through fashion.

Gather AW12

Gather together your thoughts and ideas.

Amass and accumulate,

Then

Harvest.

Enquire and pause,

Reflecting and then continue, gathering.

Some pictures from our AW12 photo shoot, GATHER. Photography by Olga Bennett

Buy them here

Cliffs, Crabs and Pebbles

Postcards to Adelaide

Photography by Olga Bennett

Postcard proofs approved, yey!!  I'm rather excited about getting these in my hot little hands, as for the first time ever we are taking MüCKE to Adelaide. You can find us at the Bowerbird Bazaar from 23rd-25th March along with our usual fair, PLUS some new pieces from the Gather AW12 range.  Forward this to you Adelaidean friends, please do!

STUDIO SALE!!!

Need I say more?  Invite your friends! (But maybe tell them it doesn't start until midday so you can be the first to secure the bargains and limited selection of new AW2012 pieces for yourself)

Nice Work

The L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival's Cultural Program is here!  And runs for the entire month of March.  This year we make a small contribution to the festival.  Milly Sleeping invited us to participate in an project titled Nice Work.  Predominantly made up of a series of photographs by Independent Fashion Designers, the exhibition presents "an unorthodox view of life as an independent designer/maker in Australia today." Check it out online as it evolves, or instore.  It runs until Sunday March 18th, 2012.

Our first image to be displayed is located, I think quite aptly, under the heading 'fastidious'! (see below)

Nice music to polish metal
Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison

Collections in the studio
Ellie Mücke

the ss1112 range @ PREMIERE

Over the weekend we had the pleasure of being invited to set up a little 'mock studio' in the beautiful Royal Exhibition Buiding, in Carlton Gardens, as part of PREMIERE.  We did a little preview showing of the new ss1112 collection, to be continued....  I am pleased to say it was a great success!  We met some lovely folk, from across the country and (excitedly!!!) will be stocking in a couple of new locations shortly.

For now though, I've got a pop up shop AND fashion show to get ready for.

Ciao for now!

Ellie
Ps: Thank you Leah for the snaps of the show!

A spot of publicity

Nothing like a bit of publicity to spread the good word.  We've been keeping a couple of posts a secret but thought it must be time to divulge!

A spot of light reading here
Plus a good bit of promo here

 Thanks Craft Australia for the interview and Habitus for the interest in our work too.  Seen any other media postings of us that we've missed lately?  Feel free to let us know!

 

Forwards Backwards Top ss1112

You can find us here this weekend, in the open studios section.  There will be a little mock-up of our studio space, so you can drop by and have a chat or watch me hard at work in the surrounds of the stunning Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne.  Don't forget to register- this is a trade only event!

Also I'll be speaking at this seminar for Fashion Exposed.  If you're in the industry register now and come and participate in a seminar as part of [eco]logical.

Invites for the launch of our Spring Summer 1112 to be continued... collection coming soon.  Don't forget to join the mailing list here for your invite, if you are not already part of the online family.

x Ellie

The pot has been brewing.

If you know me, you would know that I like a good cup of tea and a yarn over said brewing pot.  Winter is a good time for such pleasures and day dreams about an impending summer filled with sideways collars and spliced shirts!  Sound like some kind of fancy cocktail to you too?

Fancy indeed I say!  A concoction of unique fabrics and shapes, our spring/summer 11/12 creations have been creeping onto the website.  Here's a couple of previews to tempt the hibernating summer within... 

 

*available as of 7th Sept in our ss1112 Pop Up Store.  

Subscribe to our mailing list here

to be the first in the know!

MELBOURNE DESIGN MARKET SUNDAY 24TH JULY

This sunday at the Melbourne Design Market you can expect to see us flaunting these MüCKE items and MORE!!  Beat the crowds, come early and score a pair of the new MüCKE pantpants with zips- pictured above.  Only 3 pairs available!!!

Inspired r-e-c-y-c-l-i-n-g. made in morocco

235 x 140 cm (7' 8'' x 3' 2''), rag, wool, industrial fibres

190 x 135 cm (6' 4'' x 4' 6''), recycled industrial fibres, rag, wool 

170 x 90 cm (5' 8'' x 3'), recycled industrial fibres, rag 

"We come into the world as sensory human beings, but only a few remain so. Occasionally one’s own creative activity coincides with art, not forgetting the feelings that we have springing from primary impressions such as colours, sounds, tastes, smells and pain. Bit by bit, due to their activity, the senses engender body and soul. The surrounding world teaches the individual to understand his own nature more or less as a detached fragment, and shows the whole from which he comes. Like a rag rug, the ego is made up of pieces and fragments. Human beings find a sense of self through the familiar surroundings of the group, from worldly preoccupations and the landscape around them, finding the material to take form, to formulate themselves"Axel Steinmann / Gebhart Blazek

time to share

Hey there,

I've decide its time to broaden the discussion.  I'm being thrown a lot of info at the moment.  Articles from one side of the info-net to the other...time to share..

Zandra Rhodes, YIELD exhibition, Wellingon NZ.

YIELD- an exhibition looking at zero waste concepts in the fashion industry.  Holly Mc Quillan the co-curator has some interesting things to say about the show here
I'm enjoying this discussion as zero waste is something I am aware of, do my best to consider and incorporate.  Having said that, with all my other limitations in designing, ie recycled material, working with clothing not flat fabric, maintaining a viable re-manufacturing model within these limitations etc it is not my main focus in the design process.  I focus more on putting the 'waste' from my production processes back into the making and designing system.  You can see the latest restults of this process if you make it along to the Sisters Market tomorrow- 10-4pm @ the Brusnwick town Hall.

Haven't yet read this one, but plan to at some point.  I think this is exploring the challenges involved in making it possible for consumers to make good choices when purchasing clothing.  It's a really complex area, one that I struggle to offer any answers to, but that is being discussed more and more amongst those of us in the industry.  I hope to be able to throw some ideas around in this space, though, at some point.

And one more piece to get your noggins thinking.  The thing that troubles me about this article is its as if the writer is hunting for a single/perfect solution.  I'm not so pleased when she talks about the pre-organic farm "not being organic at all'.  If we didn't support farms in transition, then we'd have business going 'out of business' for 5 years or so it takes become certified as 'organic'.  I agree there are issues with the 'recyclable shoe not being able to necessarily be recycled', but I don't think that is necessarily greenwash.  It is inevitable that certain parts of industry will change before the other parts catch up.  We really are still at the very beginning of a a very big learning curve.  Lets stay positive about it and keep the discussion happening.

Signing off for now but see you soon.