Women from History: Swank Elsie de Wolfe
The young artist, Cecil Beaton, met and sketched interior decorator Elsie de Wolfe in New York in 1929. He was much younger than her but he liked her at once calling de Wolfe "the sort of wildly grotesque artificial creature I adore".
Elsie de Wolfe had middling success as a stage actor.
Her real success came after she changed direction and became an important American tastemaker. A lady decorator.
One of her most famous interiors was for the first female only club in New York, the Colony Club.
This is the Trellis Room.
And the Strangers' Room
In 1915 she published The House in Good Taste. A natty book on all things refined in the home. But also a treatise on the idea of women's spaces. A space made by women after the men have played their architectural part.
"It is the personality of the mistress that the home expresses. Men are forever guests in our homes, no matter how much happiness they may find there."
De Wolf also had some particular ideas on colour.
"If you are inclined to a hasty temper, for instance, you should not live in a room in which the prevailing note is red. On the other hand, a timid, delicate nature could often gain courage and poise by living in surroundings of rich red tones."
In 1938 Janet Flanner wrote a story about de Wolf in The New Yorker.
"She was a wizard saleswoman. She made money because she likes money and is vulnerable to it, because she has a true, talented eye for color, because she loved the job, and above all because the time was ripe for the work. Women clients liked her because she planned plenty of closets and was practically the mother of modern lampshades; also, she had an inventive efficiency unafraid to mix the practical and lovely.
"She is today a lively little figure with artfully coiffed pale green hair, squirrel-brown eyes, an alert, inquiring, small chic face, and neat tiny feet in low-heeled shoes. She has an air of being an eccentric, entertaining, highly compact, energetic personality. She has been called one of the world's best-dressed women and probably is, since she sensibly gets beautiful Parisian clothes which are simple, fit perfectly, aren't ephemeral or startling in style, and which she generally wears two or three years. She wears chiefly blue or black, and used to adore beige. When she first looked at the Parthenon in Athens, she cried, 'It's beige—just my color!'"
This elegant sitting room from the thirties represents the work of de Wolfe's glamourous lady rooms. Gleaming mirrors, pale walls and painted furniture with soft blue fabrics.
And by the way she was a fitness freak.
And, this is the best bit, at her home in France, the Villa Trianon, she had a dog cemetery in which each tombstone read, "The one I loved the best."
A swanky creature.
Julia Ritson is a Melbourne artist. Her paintings investigate colour, abstraction and a long-standing fascination with the grid. Julia has enriched and extended her studio practice with a series of limited edition art scarves. She also produces an online journal dedicated to art and scarves and architecture.
The School comes to Melbourne this weekend!
Melbournites can enjoy a little taste of Megan Morton's The School this weekend when they set up camp at Small Giants in St Kilda.
A number of The School's expert-led creative classes are already sold out, but we believe there are still openings for skill-boosting short courses such as Photoshop for Bloggers & Beginners with Simone Madigan, and Instagram De-Bunked with Stephanie Somebody. But hurry, as The School's reputation for fun and fabulous learning mean the small number of places still available will be taken up quickly!
Visit The School's website for more info and to book your class. And if you're in Sydney (or planning a trip), you can see their list of upcoming classes at their permanent Roseberry studio here.
Book Review - Simplify, Structure, Succeed - Shannah Kennedy
by Janine Fitzpatrick
The title of this book drew me in, Simplify, Structure, Succeed. Three little words that seem to offer a plan to move from chaos to achievement. Could it be that easy?
Shannah Kennedy is a Life Coach who has created this "practical toolkit for modern life". Kennedy gives a step-by-step plan for restructuring your life to help you achieve your goals while remaining in tune with your beliefs, your personality and your circumstances.
The book opens with a series of set questions to ask yourself to help determine who you are, what you value and your vision for the future. There are simple tasks to complete to remind yourself of all you have accomplished thus far, and where you would like to go from this point in time.
In the second stage of the book Kennedy encourages us to simplify our lives. To rid ourselves of energy drainers and clutter to enable us to focus on what's important. Urging us to set boundaries in tune with the values identified earlier. This is also the section where we are asked to create visions and goals for the future.
When we hit the third stage of the book, structure, I realise we may have met my own personal stumbling block. I have ideas and goals aplenty, it's creating the right system to manage the conflicting demands of wife, mother, employee, creative person that it all starts to full apart. Kennedy's advice moves from the practical (get yourself a planner and lay out your life in a daily, monthly, yearly frameworks) to the more cerebral (responsibility vs blame, commitment vs trying, self-sabotages).
By the time we get to "succeed" Kennedy is inspiring us to create a definitive version of what success looks like in our own life. There is a toolkit of steps to take to ensure we are able to experience that often elusive goal of success.
Simplify, Structure, Succeed is an easy-to-read book filled with inspiring quotes and beautiful photographs. Case studies sprinkled throughout show practical examples of implementing Kennedy's advice. The book provides note sections for you to fill in with your thoughts and responses to the ideas presented. I found it to be a very useful resource for providing direction and clear focus. The step-by-step nature of the book is helpful if you are feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of combining your responsibilities and your dreams. All in all this is a handy book to remind you of what you need to do to create a balanced, successful life.
Janine Fitzpatrick blogs at Shambolic Living where readers get to feel far happier about their lives when they experience the chaos of hers. She is coming to terms with being the mother of two teenagers, has given up on the dream of a tidy house and still plans to write a book one day.
New event series: Member's Morning Tea!
In addition to our regular speaker events, we're now introducing bi-monthly morning tea meetups for CWC Full Members to attend.
It's a unique opportunity to discuss our businesses/creative works in a small group setting and get to know each other a little better over a cup of tea.
The first Member's Morning Tea will take place on Tuesday 7 May 2013 at 10am.
We're thrilled that our friends at NorthCity4 in Brunswick (who you may have heard speak at at CWC last year) will host this event in their education space! To keep this initiative intimate and constructive for those who attend, places will be limited and at each morning tea there will be a topic to spark the conversation.
Find out more and book your spot at the morning tea over here or consider joining as a Full Member to attend.
The CWC Member's Morning Tea series is proudly supported by NorthCity4. Check out their range of creative short courses and seminars at their website.
New website feature: Member-run Events page
Our Full Members are a prolific bunch, and while I'd love to promote every exhibition, event, workshop, market stall and pop-up shop they are involved in, sometimes it's hard to keep up! And not only that, sometimes it's good to just have brief details of what is going on around town in one place.
So in the interest of letting you know about some other non-CWC run events that will inspire and entertain, upcoming Member-run Events will be listed over here on their own special page.
The Member-run Events page will be updated monthly and can be found under the 'Events' menu tab at the top of the website.
If you're a Full Member and have a something to promote, look out for an email with more details about how to submit your event information to be displayed on the website later this week.
Image above from an upcoming Meet the Maker event at Shelley Panton Studio featuring Hot Choccy founders Sarah and Chris Appleford... more details over here!
Interview: Madeleine Burke, freelance web developer and designer
By Andrea McArthur
"I make websites." This is how Madeleine Burke would answer if asked the question "What do you do?". Yes she is a girl and yes she codes. From her own admission she loves computers and has made the transition to focus on web development full time with her own business based in Sydney, Australia.
"I love working with small to medium sized business as well as with other designers on both digital design and development projects including custom Wordpress, Shopify and SquareSpace development, SEO and Google AdWords and social media management."
What led you down your current path? I started learning about web design and development as a hobby when I was 13 and my parents first got dial-up internet. School went on and I started a degree in Psychology (don’t ask me why!). After a few years of, I admit, a pretty boring degree I decided to switch to a design degree and pursue my old after-school (and sometimes into the wee hours of the morning) hobby.
As far as working for myself goes I think thats largely been due to my upbringing. My parents have always had their own business – a nursery – when I was little and now my Mum has two restaurants, accommodation and wedding venues in the Hunter Valley and my Dad a landscaping company (no he isn’t the man behind Jim’s mowing!). For me, working for yourself, doing what you are passionate about has always seemed normal. I had a pretty great upbringing.
Where do you feel most inspired? I’d have to say something boring like on my couch in front of my laptop or iPad. I’m a tech junkie and I love the internet. I can always learn something new just by reading around a bit. I love learning, always have and the fact that there’s so much out there that is changing and evolving that I can learn about is what gets me up in the morning.
Who do you admire? I really admire strong, independent women that run successful, profitable businesses. I love Ita Buttrose. I really admire women that don’t let emotions step in the way of their success. That’s probably been the biggest learning curve for me in starting my own business and whenever I read a blog telling people to stop treating their business like a free clinic I really admire that strength.
What has been your most favourite project in recent years? Probably doing the branding for my Mum’s second restaurant. I was just finishing up my degree and they had just bought the property. I got to be involved in every aspect from soundboarding with Mum about the decor, the logo which was my first experience with trademarking, getting creative with packaging and branding, signage, menus and of course the website. Close second was developing my first responsive website. That was really cool!
What does a typical day at work involve for you? Depending on the day and whether my partner is going for an early morning bike ride I wake up somewhere between 5.30 - 7am. I usually start work shortly after, I’m more of a morning person and starting earlier usually means I can take a longer lunch break if I want to get out of the place for a while.
I usually start by answering any emails that have come in overnight (yes I get a lot of 2am emails from clients!), reconcile any accounts and get to work on that day’s projects. I always do a bit of work on my business every day whether that be social media work, adwords, SEO or some branding collateral or even a blog post. I think it’s important to put as much effort into your own business as you do into everyone else's.
Of course the day is broken up with other emails, Twitter (bit of an addiction to that as well!), quotes and phone calls but I try to tick off a few of my to-do’s every day to make sure I’m actually achieving something. The day usually finishes around 7pm so it’s a longer day than an average full-time job, but I love it.
5 Questions in 5 minutes – Getting Personal:
Studio Sounds, what’s playing? Always something cheerful. We just bought a record player so that’s getting a bit of a workout. The biggest on my Spotify are definitely “How Will I Know” Whitney Houston and “Lights” Ellie Goulding. Anything by Fleetwood Mac ranks pretty highly also!
What are you currently reading? “Work for Money, Design for Love” by David Airey. I love reading business or design books, they make me feel productive but I’m also breaking it up with Alkymisten, The Alchemist by Paolo Coehlo in Norwegian.
What are you looking forward to? The weekend? Ha, um learning. I know I’ve said it before but learning, expanding my skillset, maybe teaching one day? I’d love to teach girls how to code, it’s something that I’m really passionate about.
Can you share your go to resource for inspiration? I get a lot of inspiration from my Twitter feed, blogs like mashable, siteinspire, good inc. and fast company. I also love getting out of the house, going to great restaurants, bars and shops.
What is your local areas best kept secret? We live in Erskineville in Sydney’s inner west. There’s so many great spots around here. Probably my favourite is Bloodwood on King St. They have great polenta chips and the best Bloody Mary I’ve ever had.
You can contact Madeleine through the following channels online: hello@madeleineburke.com madeleineburke.com.au Twitter: @minburke
Andrea McArthur has a passion for all things visual. Type is her true love and goes weak at the knees over beautiful design. Andrea works as a freelance graphic designer in Brisbane by day and lectures in graphic design by night. You will find her sharing design related goodness via @andyjane_mc www.andyjane.com
We're hiring! CWC website & social media manager
With a loyal readership since 2010, and a growing database of members, the Creative Women’s Circle website is a respected source of information and inspiration for creative Australian women. We're now looking for a motivated individual to realise its potential and take the website to the next level. In consultation with CWC coordinator Tess McCabe, you will manage the CWC website and blog content, liase with contributors, be active on our social media platforms, and develop and manage relationships with advertisers and sponsors.
You'll be an essential partner in the CWC team going forward, and the role will offer chances to be creative and see real results for your efforts!
Ideally you will be a regular reader of the CWC blog, a social media enthusiast with a background in blog advertising/sponsorship management (on your own blog or for a company or client), and have excellent verbal, written & email communication skills.
Self-starters who run their own business, freelancers, or anyone who is looking for a side-project in which to build their profile and network is encouraged to apply. This would also be an ideal position for a full-time carer (e.g. a mum) with prior experience in this realm, as the hours are flexible, the work can be done from home and the networking opportunities are invaluable!
Required duties:
- Manage the blog post schedule
- Liase with blog contributors via email and address their queries
- Proofread and schedule weekly blog posts
- Post regularly to Twitter and Facebook about blog content, engage with social media followers and answer follower questions/queries
- Launch website advertising and liase directly with regular sponsors
- Develop creative website advertising/revenue concepts and bring them to fruition
- Engage with sponsorship partners to create interesting and engaging promotion campaigns
- Investigate partnerships with other like-minded blogs and businesses
Essential attributes:
- Excellent verbal, written & email communication skills
- Organised and efficient
- Personable with a desire to meet and engage with new people online
- Experience with the Wordpress blog platform
- Experienced and active in the social media realm (e.g. with your own blog/social media platforms), especially Twitter and Facebook
- Takes direction and shows initiative
Desirable attributes:
- Based in Melbourne, Australia
- Prior social media management experience for a company or not-for-profit
- Prior experience liasing with advertisers in a blog setting
- Experience with MailChimp or other HTML newsletter software
- Experience analysing Google Analytics data
- Have attended a CWC event in the past
- Basic Photoshop skills and/or graphic design skills
Payment: After an intitial flat sum, this position will be paid based on the website revenue developed. This will be discussed during the interview process.
To apply:
Please send a friendly email to Tess via admin<at>creativewomenscircle.com.au, outlining your background, skills, abilities, and any prior website/blog management experience.
Applications close 6pm Friday 26 April 2013 and successful candidates will be contacted for an informal interview shortly after.
Any queries can be directed to Tess at the above email address. Thanks!