Stockist Spotlight - Villa Hunter

Today we're spotlighting Krystle from Villa Hunter - a Ballarat based maker who is now stocking a selection of her gorgeous homewares with View Point. Make sure you check out her fabulous Christmas range.


There's still time to enter our giveaway, you have until the 24th of November to get your entries in!

Who are you?
I'm Krystle Hunter and I live in Ballarat. I have 2 babies- one Villa Hunter and 2 my 3yr old daughter who is where a lot of my inspiration comes from. The name Villa Hunter came from spending some time in Spain and loving it! And with me making home wares 'Villa' meaning house fitted nicely, and my husband said he'd like the business name to have our name in it too- So Villa Hunter was born :)

What do you make?
 Well it started off with cushions with panels that I had woven, then while I was pregnant I got all maternal and started making girls reversible pinafores. Tees, singlet and long sleeve tops were then added and I started screen printing my designs. I cut back a bit from the house wares cause I got really busy with the clothing side of things. Now the maternal side of me has gone and I have refocused back to the home wares including cushions, birdie buntings and at current Christmas decorations. I am still heavily into the screen printing side and enjoy it a lot.

When did you get started?
 6 years ago I had a foot injury that made me stop my work with Nicola Cerini. After a while of trying to rest I started to feel like I was going to go crazy if I didn't start doing something. I started weaving and making cushions and then it has moved and changes since.

Why do you make your 'thing'?
hmm why not :) I enjoy making things. I also feel that it is important for Children (and adults) to learn by using their sense of touch, so I try and incorporate texture into my work and I like to encourage people to touch my work.


Where to next for you? (what direction do you see your work heading in?) :) I'd love to one day have a studio space away from my house (so household chores etc aren't a distraction) with at least a couple of people, either working for Villa or sharing the studio space. Being around other crafties helps and inspires new ideas grow. Also I'd love my work to be in more shops :) But this still might be a couple of years off with a little one at home- but that's the aim :)

Stockist Spotlight - Gretchen Mist

Today's Stockist Spotlight is Belinda Kemp, who creates under the pseudonym Gretchen Mist - View Point stocks a selection of her stunning prints.

who
belinda kemp

i'm an artist and a mum. i live in melbourne. 

what

art: painting, drawing, collage, mixed media

fabric and pattern design

paper garlands out of recycled fine art print proofs

when

i started painting roughly seven years ago ~ when left my full time graphic design job to have our first son. i really allowed myself to paint for the sake of it for a couple of months. the free time with an 'end' in sight allowed me to get right into making work i liked. 

why

it feels right. and i love it. i go a bit crazy if i don't work :)

where to next

i'm hoping to develop my painting/fine art work and also make more fabric design. i like to have a few things happening along side each other!

Stockist Spotlight - Lulu's Lamps

Who are you? Hello my name is Kristen Smith and I am the creator of LuLu's Lamps. I live on the South Coast with my fabulous partner and our two children.

What do you make? I make a variety of different lamp shades, some are revamped old shades and others are made new, by myself.

When did you get started? I got started about 8 months ago after moving away from all our friends and family and going from working to full time stay at home mum I found my self with a little extra spare time. This is when I began creating my lamps and shades.

Why do you make your 'thing'?  I have always loved funky lamps but found that there really isn't to many of them around or any shades and lamps that I liked were outrageously expensive. I wanted to create unusual shades and lamps that you can't find any where else but are quite affordable. I get inspired every time I walk into a fabric shop or open up a decorating magazine and really enjoy creating individual pieces that are exactly what my customers want.

Where to next for you? (what direction do you see your work heading in?) For the time being I will just keep plodding along and doing what I am doing. I am so surprised at how far my little handmade business has come over the past few months and am excited to see what the future brings!

Stockist Spotlight - Woodpile Woodturning

My name is Rob Wood. My wife's maiden name was Pyle, hence our business is known as Woodpile.

I've always been interested in woodcraft. This, coupled with an interest in antiques, evolved into a restoration business. In those days if one needed to replace a broken knob on a chest of drawers one had to find a craftsman who could turn wood.This was such a frustrating experience that I bought a small lathe and taught myself to turn.Gradually I became proficient and other restorers started asking me to do small jobs for them.Eventually this developed into a full scale wood turning business specialising in custom table legs for cabinet makers, but alas, the world moves on - huge quantities of imported furniture put most of my trade customers out of business. I retired, but not being one to sit around watching the grass grow I set up a compact workshop in a fine new shed in my backyard - after all I still had the tools and equipment used in my previous business.

Nowadays instead of making wooden things for customers, I make what I like and sell my work through galleries, markets and the internet. I'm in the happy position of being able to pick and choose commissions.

Of all the different items I've made I discovered that wooden pens sell best. I use recycled Australian timber and try to link the timber to a local area. Because Bendigo is in the heart of Ironbark forest country I've produced Red Ironbark pens for ViewPoint Gallery.

My pens are often bought by people travelling overseas who want classy looking gifts which don't cost a fortune and take up little space. As an example just in the past few weeks my pens have gone to Japan, China, Ireland, Germany, Spouth America and the US.

What's next for Woodpile? Improve my woodcraft skills; learn more about timber and try to make sense of Facebook.

Stockist Spotlight - Stephen Guest

Who are you? Hi my name is Stephen Guest and yes i am the husband of Michelle (textiles artist, she has her textiles in the shop) we live in a lovely town call Taradale

What do you make? i do slump glass and photography

When did you get started? i started do glass in Woodend. Michelle had gone to a class there when she came home she said i should go there because she thought i would enjoy it and yes i did we have set up a studio at home. Photography i just love taking pictures still on film.

Why do you make your 'thing'? i love creating and making and seeing people enjoying your work.

Where to next for you? (what direction do you see your work heading in?) Getting more creative and have lots more fun doing what you love doing.

Stockist Spotlight - Scentual Flair

 

WHO- I am Charlene Camilleri, I have just this year celebrated my tenth wedding anniversary with my husband Brien and we have a gorgeous
little 8 year old boy. We live in a beautiful suburb next to the Swan Valley wine region, Perth. Besides keeping myself busy with my business, I also
love photography and teach scrapbooking and craft classes at my local scrapbook shop.I love walks along the beach and spending time with my family.

WHAT- I make a beautiful range of soywax melts, candles & tealights, gorgeous handmade soaps and a range of giftware such as decorated gift jars, boxes, cards and keepsakes.

WHEN- like all other crafty souls, I started creating things from a very young age and never stopped! I launched Scentual Flair in late January 2011.

WHY- I create products that I personally love and I am very lucky to do so. I love to create products that make people feel good and set a beautiful
relaxed ambience in their homes. Everyone loves to receive gifts which is why I added my range of handmade giftware.

WHERE- In the future I would love to incorporate some of my photography into my designer giftware. I would eventually love to supply my product as favours for
weddings, birthdays and special events.

Stockist Spotlight - Swoon & Blues

   

Who are you?


My name is Lisa and I'm one half of Swoon & Blues. We started Swoon & Blues as an umbrella for the individual and collaborative pursuits of myself and my dear friend Lee. It is a merging of art and design, textiles and textures. I live in Erskineville, Sydney and Lee lives in Katoomba, Blue Mountains. 

 What do you make?

I use my original designs for hand screen printed tea towels, screen printed clocks, greeting cards and ceramic tiles and hearts. I also collaborate with Lee who is a pattern maker, seamstress and designer. We have recently begun getting my designs digitally printed onto fabric to create garments and home furnishings. Our collaborative creations take baby steps due to distance, work, and family (lee has a lovely wee one Katja), we love working together and are finding ways to make those baby steps bigger.

 When did you get started?

We began Swoon & Blues early last year, following more than a decade long friendship between Lee and myself. I have a background in Visual Arts, Education and Textile Design and Printing. I teach the wee ones 4 days a week at a local Primary School, which I love almost as much as my making. Lee has a background in Fashion Design and Fashion Manufacturing, and has worked in both aspects of the fashion industry. 

Why do you make your 'thing'?

I just love drawing, painting, designing and making things. I completed a course at Ultimo TAFE a couple of years ago in Design and Fabric Printing. I was able to extend my screen printing skills and create designs facilitated by passionate and talented teachers. The drawing and design part of that course was so inspiring. The teachers really pushed you and provided challenging briefs that totally refreshed my aesthetic and designs. I also developed from that course an obsession with repeat patterns and a love of screen printing. The immediacy, process and ability screen printing gives you to reproduce designs is just wonderful. 

 Where to next for you? (what direction do you see your work heading in?)

I want to focus on my tiles more. It would be great to get them into some bathrooms and kitchens! I think the repeat patterns would work beautifully as splash backs, full bathroom walls or even in a funky small bar. I would also like to start doing some regular market stalls which I'm in the process of applying for now actually. Also, another step is to find some more stockists. View Point is my first, thanks guys! Finally, turning the collaborative baby steps with Lee into giant ones, well double baby steps at least.

Stockist Spotlight - Booqi Boutique

Each day for the next few weeks we'll be featuring a stockist - today View Point would like to introduce you to the couple behind Booqi Boutique

Hi we are Kyle & Jess A

{* photo care of www.zanabellephotography.com.au}
The two of us are the names behind Booqi (boo-key) Boutique. 

Booqi Boutique is a small online store where we sell our homemade homewares & gifts. The store changes from season to season and is like an extension of our own personalities. At the moment we are working to stock it to the brim with beautiful gifts for the Christmas season. We LOVE anything to do with holidays, decorating ... & eating.

We have always been pretty handy when it comes to making things with our hands. I first started out making earrings for myself, soon there was a pair for every day of the week and then one for every day of the month!

Kyle is always bringing home beautiful pieces of wood with grand plans for this and that (at the moment he is making the Taj Mahal of dog kennels from recycled timber)

We started the booqiblog in February of this year & soon after we opened our first online store in the hopes of sharing some of the things we love with others.

We get our inspiration for things to stock in the store from just about anywhere.

One day Kyle came home with a whole bunch of scrap cypress pine & I said to him, wouldn't it be great if we could make it into something so we could enjoy the beautiful cypress smell inside?

Now every time I get out of the shower I can enjoy warming my toes on the wood and smelling the gorgeous scent of the forest.

{*Cypress bath mats available from View Point Gallery}

We love that because the store is ours it can grow and become as much or as little as we want-- when the opportunity came to send stock to a real store we jumped at the opportunity to expand.

We hope that you'll drop by View Point sometime and smell our little piece of the forest in-store & maybe pick up some of our brown paper gift wrap while you're there.

If you would like to discover more about Booqi Boutique or see what we are making next you can visit us at www.booqiblog.blogspot.com or follow us on facebook.

booqi x