Sunday, October 31, 2010

WE ARE UP AND OUT NOW



Anna ran across Town Hall steps with a bottle of champagne and a cheap CD player in her handbag. Maree was rolling giftwraps. There was a palpable buzz and a definite haze of heat from the dozens of people crammed into Arcade number one, LITTLE BRANCH pop up shop numero uno. When Anna burst into the space she put on the Rolling Stones and started jumping up and down on the kilim. Maree was composed but glowing. The flowers by Portobello Rose (www.portobellorose.com.au) looked subtle, romantic and beautiful. The invisible hanging wrapping paper rods were magically strong. Thank you Helen! Aunty Thirza made the scene and was sipping a glass of wine. Anna's parents spent $95. Renowned author Jessica Adams scooped up several gift wraps to wall paper her kitchen cupboards. Graham Maslen of Spitting Image and Art in Print admired the large scale limited edition art print he created for our debut and eight o'clock swung round too fast. 

The mood in Gaffa is like a secret cafe or club you stumble on and want to share. It's a vibe that has been missing in Sydney for so long and we feel so happy to be a part of it. The girls at GAFFA; Zoe, Kelly and Penny and The Finders Keepers, Sarah and Brooke and have shown massive enthusiasm and James and co at Klink Cafe are doing a mean lemongrass for our launch hangovers. The only thing our swinging art happening needs is more traffic, so please drop by and see what we are up to. Anna has various other CDs aside from the Rolling Stones.

P.S. Big hearty thanks to Violet & Smiley, Helen, Melinda at Dalton Paper, Scott, Anthony & Chris at Southern Colour, Matt at The Squad, Suzie Atkin, Thirza Woods,  Kylie at Portobello Rose, our families, kids, serious love interests, The Finders Keepers, GAFFA, our stockists, Violet and Lucia the super nannies and all our early customers!!!

281 Clarence Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, (+61) 02 9283 4273
Mon-Fri: 10-6pm, Sat: 11-5pm, Sun+Holidays: Closed

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Finders Keepers Markets 3&4 December Sydney

See Little Branch at the Finders Keepers Markets 
3rd & 4th December in Sydney


Finders Keepers Opening Launch

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=164585530227104&index=1

Wrapping



Instore at Portobello Rose - 42 Sailors Bay Road
Northbridge, NSW 2063

http://www.portobellorose.com.au/

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

BLUE AND WHITE FOREVER

Art for art's sake and blue for heaven's sake! 
That's our battle cry this week.



When Little Branch open their pop up shop next Wednesday at the GAFFA ARCADE PROJECT (www.gaffa.com.au, 281 Clarence St. Sydney) , we launch the ORIGAMI BLUES card line and are theming our little white cube shop in an Orientalist mood. One of the people who understands blue like her blood is made of Indigo ink is the author/aesthete/stylist Sibella Court (www.thesocietyinc.com.au)Sibella is so deeply complicit to the fact that blue looks best beautifully aged.  Blue breathes against wood and chipped plaster walls and through the smoky veil of china tea at the bottom of a chipped willow tea cup. Sibella is in Syria, no doubt scooping up armfuls of traditional woven fabrics and mad trinkets but I'll be popping into The Society to see if she's got any blue and white beauty for our shop. 




So I cast my mind east to understand what sort of textures create the best shades of blue. Between fabric and paper there is a subtle sensual relationship and I hope we blur that line in our artworks. The beauty of old kimonos is captured in the slightly nubbly texture of blue and white origami paper and that is why I enjoy collaging it into our drawings for Little Branch. The paper functions almost as a textile. It's got the same oxygen, patina and soul. On the weekend I was in Hill End visiting the landscape painter Luke Sciberras. Luke had just laid hands on the beautiful book "Mattise his Art and his Textiles" (Royal Academy of Arts), talk about art imitating an artist's life. The Sciberras studio is strewn with so many crumbly gorgeous textiles in every shade from sky to midnight blue and he wears blue cloths strung round his neck as well, energized by the hand made, touched by a bit of storm blue sky made cloth. Creativity is about convergence. Maree saw this extremely special, extremely blue and white Matisse show in London and the catalogue is a touch stone for both of us. It is sitting open on our studio floor right now and here are a few of our favourite pages for your eyes to devour.




So, this week when we launch ORIGAMI BLUES we'll be looking to paint the empty canvas blue and mottled cream. I'll be donating my gigantic willow pattern tea cup as a vase for floating white flowers. My mother's blue bead necklaces from the Cote de Ivoire, maybe. Various lace table cloths and whatever textiles we can sling up to create a mood of Oscar Wilde, Tom Waits, Matisse and Billie Holiday. Anyone and everyone who understands just how beautiful the blues can be.  

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Work in Progress : Gaffa display



Blooming, blossoming, branching out!



Join us for our debut and save the date 
for the launch of the 
Little Branch pop up shop! 


Where:
Gaffa Gallery, Arcade 1 
281 Clarence Street, Sydney CBD 

When:
Thursday, October 28 
6:30 pm to 9:00 pm

Stockists








Check out Little Branch at one of these fantastic retailers!


N.S.W
- Magella Rose, Lismore
- Plantasia, Lindfield
- Ariel Books, Paddington
- Sous le Soleil, Roseville & Lindfield
- Portobello Rose, Northbridge, 
- The Card and Paper House, QVB, Sydney
- The Floral Craftsman, Mosman,
- Pulp Creative Paper, Balgowlah, 

Wrapping Paper by Little Branch












Saturday, October 9, 2010

The Giveaway Winner!

Good evening all!


Sorry we have been a little on the quiet side of late but we have been busily working away on some new collections! Details soon...


Feeling in a lucky mood we drew the winner of the giveaway tonight. We had a great response and while we might not have hit our target on blogger, collectively we have 71 followers across blogger and facebook, so we are mighty chuffed and we want to say thank you, so... drum roll please...


the winner of the boxed card set is Kara Dwyer!






AND as we are feeling very flattered here at Little Branch we drew a second time for a Little Branch 30x40 print


the winner is Nikki n Todd Buckland!








Branchettes if you can contact us with your address details, we will send out your goodies this week!


Congratulations and thank you everyone for your support!


M & A xx