A new year; a new series of DIY workshops hosted by Three Thousand at Melbourne Now. Harvest Textiles doing the hard work teaching kids to makes soft things, Adriana Giuffrida of POMS transmitting mystical meaning through acts of beading and Alice Oehr making the middle of the day even brighter with her colourful illustration.
Harvest Textiles is Jess Wright, Emma Byrnes and Lara Davies, who leads the workshop. Their passion for textiles is right there in the name, but it’s their complementary passions for education and sustainability that’ve made their Brunswick workroom such a special place. Running screen-printing and textile workshops alongside talks, seminars, exhibitions and all manner of events. As part of NGV Children’s Festival they’ll be teaching kids to decorate ‘softie’ monsters with pens and glitter – all materials included. Or, to really impress when borrowing some Sendak, they can bring a blank library bag for decoration.
POMS is the jewellery – and, now, thanks to collaboration with Pared, sunglass – concern of Adriana Giuffrida. The label takes its name from the pompon chrysanthemum, a startlingly globular flower that’s nonetheless constituted by countless petals. Talk of simplicity through complexity may seem very heady, but her bracelets, necklaces and earrings speak directly to the heart and are enriched even further by the symbolic meanings of the gemstones she uses. Adriana will be teaching participants how to make one of her very own necklaces or bracelets their very own way.
Alice Oehr is an illustrator who “designs for business and pleasure”, even though it seems the two are very much intertwined – her colourful, graphic work for Lavazza, *The Blackmail*, Douglas & Hope and many others leaks an exuberant, childlike joy. Alice is currently in Japan brainstorming ideas for her March workshop. Maybe she’ll be putting a touch of Tokyo in Melbourne Now. Stay tuned.
Three Thousand DIY Workshops:
Community Hall, NGV Interational
DIY workshop for kids and families with Harvest Textiles, Sun 19 Jan, 2–4pm
DIY workshop with POMS, Sun 16 Feb, 2–4pm
DIY workshop with Alice Oehr, Sun 16 Mar, 2–4pm
