Julie Fragar wins the 2025 Archibald Prize Flagship Mother Multiverse (Justene) Hello Spring, and welcome to 'Rabbit Holes and The Feral Patch!' Thank goodness in Europe spring is here and Summer just around the corner, I'm over being sucked down rabbit holes, those quick 'hack' posts which leave you amazed at the things noone ever told you, politics - that disgusting subject which polarises and...

The Ultimate Midlife Crisis (with Coffee and a Hound Dog) "Choosing between French forests and Aussie beaches — with a hound dog and a dodgy knee in tow. What could possibly go wrong?"Whoops! Here I am, sitting in our little French slice of heaven in Corrèze, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, sipping coffee and staring into the misty woods, asking myself the big question: What on earth are we...

It is seemingly impossible to keep up to date with forthcoming colour trends and how they might be reflected in our clothing, cars, and homes. As I cast my eye to future Colour Trends, I am amazed at how we and our world are studied to predict what we might be thinking and feeling, and how the colours around us will influence our behaviours. I...

I don’t know about you but my intention to make my daily walks part of my exercise routine tend to fall flat. Each day, each week, each season brings something new and wonderful. The shapes, the colours, my phone camera in and out of my pocket, like a gunslinger, shooting images purely for my own satisfaction. Magical Mushrooms My canine walking buddy, Jedd, can become...

Yes Cool Like That ! It all started leading up to Christmas 2024 and New Years Eve 2024/25. I was feeling tres negative about my aging body. I needed to cling on to hope of finding a solution to the 'Weight Creep' I was experiencing. Apparently, once you get to the ripe old age of 40, it is not uncommon for both women and men...

Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night with words swirling around in your mind? These words, all of a sudden, find their place and you are reading an internal dialogue, story or poem? Like a waking dream. This has been happening to me lately. The result has been not about designing but redesigning my thoughts, who I am, and what I...

  Well, Murphy's Law. I am in bed in the back room of my parent's house for the third day, waiting to recover from a virus caught on the plane from France to Australia. I am trying to think clearly about the budget apartment Reno project. It is an apartment in an iconic apartment block near the Yarra River that was originally built to house...

Can the balance between preserving authenticity and embracing transformation truly be achieved? It's a question that resonates deeply with me, particularly when reflecting on my own life. There's a lot I wish to change, I wonder whether I really want to. I see a similarity with this, and the way I approach renovation. Speaking of renovation, check out the amazing Australian lighting store I have...

Fascinating Brutalist Architecture and New Rope Clothes Hangers are two of my recent obsessions. Brutalism: It is art, a sculpture you can walk in, work in, live in. In the 1950s, in the UK, the architectural vibe called was emerging. It was all about showcasing raw materials like concrete, steel, and brick and ditching the fancy stuff for a more minimalist look, using large structural...

What dictates the colour of the year, who decides, and what are they looking for? My Pantone colour guides are a wonderful world of colour; strangely, I rarely refer to them. At the moment, I love the muted and often matte pastel hues used for objects like bathroom vanity basins and on walls. Contrasted with arches and drawing inspiration from historical styles with an up-to-date palette...Pastels...