The joy of our Mt Kili climb captured in a video...

It has been such a long time since my last post I felt it only right to say hello again by sharing one of the most profound experiences of my life - conquering Mt Kilimanjaro. I made this video last year as part of a 40 minute presentation to a Westpac Business audience. I hope you enjoy it x

Ps. Turn it up loud and have a little jig while you're at it:) African music hopefully gets you moving that body!

https://vimeo.com/39628912


Mt Kilimanjaro... we climbed it, we conquered it for Kids from Design Kind on Vimeo.

Inspiration: A visual feast - the beautiful fusion of contemporary dance and fashion

I absolutely love the stunning flower form results of this collision of contemporary dance and fashion. Created by Fashion Film magicians Nick Knight of SHOWstudio and Tell No One, this fashion film was created for AnOther Magazine's SS11/12 issue.

It is almost as beautiful as watching real blooms unravel and reach for the sun!

Do bling & ballet go together? Of course they do!

Over the last few months we've been busy creating the branding, print materials and web site for Starfire Jewellery by Shweta Agarwal. This weekend sees some of her stunning diamond creations being worn by the ballerinas of the Queensland Ballet at the Swan Lake Gala tomorrow night.

I'm looking forward to frocking up and enjoying an evening at the ballet... it is sure to be a visual feast with plenty of bling and graceful beauties!

Branding and website created by visure

Change your behaviour & improve your life with a roll of some cleverly designed dice...

I am always looking for ways to be a better human being, spending valuable time reading lots of interesting books and trying to think of ways I can connect with those around me. Problem is, with so much to read/do/remember and so little time to do it all, I really do struggle sometimes.

For this reason I have added these very cool dice onto my 'wish list' from santa (A better list than the one suggested by 'GiveEmThis' featured in yesterday's post)... They are DiceForChange and are a beautifully simple and playful reminder to introduce new routines and actions into my life.

With the Eco, Kindness and Wellness Dice I'll be prompted to 'walk or cycle to work today', 'hug someone today', 'Think positive today' or best of all 'Slow down today'. There's the very tactile wooden variety or the apps versions you can buy via the itunes store.

The dice are designed by the very inspiring 'creation studio' Creative Heroes in the Netherlands and join a suite of other products including Drive - a game designed for young visually impaired gamers. Love your work Creative Heroes!

Image © Creative Heroes

A useful(???) website to help your Christmas shopping this year?

This morning I came across a rather timely new website GiveEmThis which has had me both intrigued & feeling a little uncomfortable at the same time. The site promises to help me work out the perfect gifts for those closest to me with the simple click of a button. For anyone who's feeling time poor at the moment it does seem like the perfect solution doesn't it?

With GiveEmThis, all you have to do to create your gift shopping list is simply select a friend from your facebook list, hit a button and the website analyses said friend's every click, comment, 'like', and piece of personal information to create a list of 'right' suggestions.

I thought it rather important I experiment a little and so began my short stint at stalking...

First off, I was intrigued to see what the perfect gift would be for me - especially useful as I have no idea what I want from Santa this year! I'm sad to say that the 'right' suggestions in my opinion were really all 'wrong' and I'd probably be offended if anyone who really loves me gave me items from the list. And my favourite suggestion - Junket Rennet Tablets - ummmm?? I had to look these up and found they are tablets to make easily digested milk foods. Really makes me wonder what I've been searching and clicking on???

Not overly blown away by the suggestions for me, I thought I'd try my best friend to see if the website was any better at stalking her. At seeing the results I nearly fell off my chair with laughter. The top suggestion was a very lovely book on Celtic Tatting. If you know who my BFF is, you would know how far wrong this would be as a 'perfect' gift... but then again it makes me question - does she have a secret thing for Celtic Tatting and has been hiding it from me?!

You can see how this website can play with your mind!

So as we fast approach Christmas and hit the 1st of December tomorrow, may I suggest that rather than stalking people with the latest technological tools, perhaps simply ask your loved ones what they would like for Christmas? Better yet reflect on what you know about them and think of something creative.

Then again... maybe it's time to just accept that technology and the data know best and simply get those seemingly ridiculous gifts that your friends secretly desire!

Let the count down to Christmas begin...

Pondering life + health on a friday...

I'm taking a little time to ponder on this rather warm friday afternoon - after all it is the 11/11/11 !

Generally life is brilliant. Though I have to admit the life/health/work balance is a little out... only emphasised by the persistent cold I've endured almost all week! So as I sit here on my very solid Aeron chair I see that there may be a very effectively designed alternative to merge the work+health aspects of my life... voila the Kickstand desk.

A very special tree house design - I want one!

I just saw this amazing mirror tree house on Treehugger and would so dearly love to be able to hide out in one! They are now available to make your own with TreeHotel handling the construction...   See the full story at Treehugger.

What a beautiful way to be a part of nature... now I just need a good spot for one!
Design by Tham & Videgard Architects. Photo by Peter Lundstrom, WDO.

An amazing result for the Kizuna Fundraising Exhibition!

Having just returned from a trip to the US, I was ecstatic to hear from Eba at Hanasho about the immense success of the fundraising exhibition I mentioned in my last post.

An amazing total of $10,579 was raised through the sale of the donated artworks, drinks at the artists event and through cash donations....

Eba and the team behind the event are truly inspiring!!

 

Art exhibition for kids effected by the Japan Earthquake

I'd like to let you know about the fabulous Kizuna Exhibition appearing at Hanasho, West End for this week only.

The exhibition has been organised by Eba - owner of Hanasho, to raise much needed funds for children effected by the horrendous earthquake in Japan earlier this year. 100% of the sales will go to Ashinaga. Ashinaga are constructing the Tohoku Rainbow House to provide emotional and educational support for orphans in the area.

There are some brilliant artworks which have been donated by more than 30 artists, including a typographic one from yours truly. 


It would be great if you get along to have a look and perhaps pick yourself up a beautiful new artwork that keeps on giving.

KIZUNA Fundraising Art Exhibition to Help Japan

1 - 6 August 2011

‘Artists Night’ Thu 4 August 6:00pm - 8:30pm

‘Kizuna mini Concert’ Sat 6 August 2:00pm - 5:00pm

Venue: Hanasho Flower & Art

235 Boundary Street West End - opposite West End Library

For more details, please see the KIZUNA website.

An evening with Dr Lois Frankel...

I shared an evening with a wonderful group of women at the launch of the new book Women on Top lastnight. A book about the life journeys of 13 successful business women revealing their biggest challenges and strategies to overcome them. 

I'm very proud of my long term mentor and 'second mum' Kerry Azar, who features as one of the authors alongside Dr Lois Frankel. For more than 12 years, Kerry has supported me and pushed me to try things I never thought possible. We all need people in our lives to help us reach our full potential. For me, to have been fortunate enough to have met Kerry fairly early on in my career, has been an incredible blessing. Through her business New Duende, Kerry is now coaching local and international leaders reach their full potential.

The theme for the evening was connections. The idea that success is all about nourishing relationships, always remaining positive and giving freely. 

As a branding specialist, to hear Dr Frankel express the importance of building your own brand, really resonated. Quite often I speak to my clients about the brand of 'them'. Not the company or product's brand, but rather the brand of 'I'. Dr Frankel's concept of success lies in building, refining, and selling your brand. 

If you haven't already thought about yourself as a brand, try spending some time reflecting on how you would like to be seen in the world... you might even have fun refining brand YOU!

For further inspiration ensure you add these two books to your library

Women on Top & NICE GIRLS JUST DON'T GET IT.

Dr Lois Frankel & I with her new book

My Kili experience has been published in Latte Magazine..

I received my copy of Latte Magazine today and am so excited to have had my experience of Mt Kilimanjaro and fundraising for Kids Helpline profiled in a double page spread.

My fundraising buddy, fellow designer and climber extraordinaire, Synthia and I are both looking for the next charity challenge... in fact Synth has signed up to cycle through Cambodia to raise money to help create better lives for Girls in the Congo forced into Prostitution in Feb next year and I'll likely be doing something equally as exciting later in 2012... will keep you posted!

There are a few people who were edited out of the article and I'd like to make a special mention about them... Inspired Adventures who were amazing in their support of us as well as Ugees owner Charlton who so wonderfully allowed us to hang our artworks in his cafe at west end for weeks and continued to support us through donating his tips! There are so many people who supported us, I hope you know how much we love you!!!

For now, I hope you enjoy reading the article!

Read the article by clicking on the image...

Pedalling for delicious smoothies...

I absolutely love the concept behind The Smoothie Cycle... repurposed bicycles and blenders put together to create an energy efficient and fun blending experience! My Strawberry, apple mint and ice smoothie was divine! Perhaps my pedalling effort made it taste even better as I'd had to work for my treat?

Now part of a global community of creative thinkers for social good...

After hearing from its founders from international design firm IDEO at the recent ideas festival in Brisbane, I was inspired to join the community of change makers at openIDEO. 

openIDEO is a a place where thinkers from all walks of life can contribute ideas and solutions, thoughts and reflections on a range of issues or challenges.  I'm looking forward to being a part of this great community and learning from thinkers from all over the world.

Do you see yourself as a creative thinker? Whether you're from a design or business background, or something else altogether and simply want to check out what's happening out there, you can read more about openIDEO at the website: http://www.openideo.com/

A worldwide community with a common goal - to contribute ideas and create solutions for a range of global issues.

An incredibly awe-inspiring human being with a sense of humour!

Can you imagine what life would be like if you could no longer speak? I simply cannot comprehend it and yet film critic Roger Ebert handles his disability with grace and humour. Watching this really made me reflect on how fortunate I am to have the use of all of my senses.

Enabling employee excellence and inspiring innovation

Research shows that rewarding employees for tasks won't ensure great results... This interesting presentation challenges old thinking and shows how companies need to design new ways for their employees to excel. Can you see this way of thinking benefiting your business or venture?

It's never too early to make a statement...

This little girl isn't afraid to think differently and to get her message out to as many people as possible. Imagine what she'll be doing as an adult if she has the tenacity and courage to do this at the age of seven!

Creating a deliciously healthy business...

This brilliant business idea shows you just how you can create a sustainable business which not only is profitable, it also helps people eat healthy while providing opportunities for disadvantaged people with job opportunities... Wouldn't it be great to have this here in Australia?

Spotlight on an amazing human being: Aimee Mullins

I first came across TED at the Design in Daba 2005 conference in Cape Town when it's creator spoke about his website ted.com. The great thing about this site is that it is filled with amazing people who are creating, questioning and pushing the boundaries.

A recently published talk by a Aimee Mullins is one I really wanted to share with you. She shows how she has embraced design to not only be a functional part of her life but also an outlet to create conversation to express her very unique self. Amy not only is a record breaking athlete, a model and activist, she's also one of the most joyous and inspiring people I've heard speak.

listen to her talk at http://www.ted.com/talks/aimee_mullins_prosthetic_aesthetics.html

Photography by Nick Knight sourced from Aimeemullins.com

Helping Japan

A few great examples of putting creative skills to good use... these artists and designers have put their hearts into raising money for Japan after the devastating earthquakes of recent times...

http://www.helpjapannow.bigcartel.com/

 

Artwork by Pomme Chan

http://designforjapan.tumblr.com/

Artwork by Rob Dobi

A pretty cool use of mobile phone technology

Have you ever considered how it would feel to be unable to smile? To not be able to express joy with the simplest facial expression? To essentially become an outcast in your community because of the way you look?

Back when I was in Grade 3 my best friend had a cleft lip which she had been lucky enough to have operated on when she was little. Her scars were her main concern, but to me she was just a pretty girl wanting to fit in with all of the other 'normal' kids.

Memories of my friend immediately came to me when I saw pictures of similarly effected Tanzanians while flying back from Africa to Australia last month. The big difference for people with this condition in Africa is that much of the time they are bullied, sometimes rejected by their parents or worse can die of malnutrition because they can't eat properly.

The inspiring thing to me was that these people, many of whom are young children, are being given a second chance at being part of the community through mobile phone technology. As you may or may not know, Africa has been using mobile technology to provide access to money in lieu of bank accounts since 2008. Essentially a text through money transfer technology can be shown to a wakala (street stall agent) to receive the cash. Perfect for a country like Tanzania that lacks accessible banking infrastructure for the majority of people (who typically earn less than a dollar a day).

And to see now how the design of such a simple system which utilises cheap, accessible mobiles to help patients with fistula (a devastating and isolating childbirth injury) and cleft lips and palates is nothing short of inspiring. An organisation called CCBRT is now using the Vodafone M-PESA technology to quickly transfer money to ambassadors who have identified a patient. This helps get the patient to Dar es Salaam to have an operation and their new life can begin.

Have a look at the CCBRT website to see what else they are up to... http://www.ccbrt.or.tz