Make: Thousand Origami Paper Cranes artwork

First stop on our North American tour was Vancouver to visit my sister and her husband in the super-cute Kitsilano area. Their garden was full of vegetables and their deck covered in pots of flowers and herbs - heaven for the local hummingbirds.

Apart from having a green thumb, my sister is also a crafty DIY gal and a whiz with origami. I adore this amazing artwork that she created for her husband as a wedding gift, featuring a thousand Japanese paper cranes that she folded herself leading up to their big day. According to Japanese folklore, the person who folds a thousand paper cranes is granted a wish by a crane. Origami cranes given as gifts are said to be powerfully lucky; what an amazing wedding gift!

You can make this artwork with your favourite paper (origami or not) and a serious amount of patience. There are a huge number of paper crane tutorials online. My sister recommends bundling the finished cranes in groups of 10 to keep track. Once you have folded one thousands cranes, use your imagination to display them in a frame. You can spray a little adhesive onto the frame backing to ensure that the cranes do not move once they are hung. Place the cranes randomly in the frame, or create a pattern. My sister used solid origami paper, a black backing sheet and a square black frame to showcase her work.

This is also a great project to try with older kids, and a great school holiday project. It's perfect for a rainy day but this craft is portable, so you can also take your papers with you to the park.

Get the best Bondville blog posts delivered to your inbox once a month! Subscribe to the Bondville monthly email newsletter here:

Images: (c) Steph Bond-Hutkin

Hip Products: Olofs Daughter felt homewares

The temperatures are starting to cool in Australia which makes we want to pull my felt cushions out of the cupboard to snuggle with on the couch. If you are yet to discover the joy of eco-friendly felt homewares, check out the delightful Olofs Daughter line.

Misa and Julie hand felt their products using 100% Australian merino wool in the Dandenong Ranges, outside of Melbourne. They also create lovely baby blankets, neck warmers and covered notebooks. It's not going to be long before this talented duo are discovered by the big boys so make sure you snap up some goodies and support independent design.

You can find Olofs Daughter felt products in the Etsy store and at stockists including Modamuse and Georgie Love.

Image: Olof's Daughter

Hip Products: Peace With Earth olive oil decanters

Here is a lovely concept. Dorota and Les Laughlin of Oliveria Melbourne partner each year with an Australian creative force to develop a limited edition olive oil decanter to raise awareness and funds for a specific social cause. The result is Peace With Earth.

The 2008 Peach With Earth project in partnership with Spacecraft was devoted to Voiceless to raise awareness about the suffering of factory farmed animals in Australia. The 2007 design by Gareth Dotchin and the team at Empire Creative Group benefited Fifteen Melbourne, and the inaugural 2006 project was a partnership with MOZI to benefit Earthwatch Australia. Each year, a percentage of sales from each decanter is donated to a chosen charitable organisation.

All the olive oil decanters are gorgeous, so you can simply pick your social cause of choice!

You can find Peach With Earth decanters at the online store as well as various stockists around Australia.

Image: Peace With Earth

Drool-worthy Design: DANDI textiles and homewares

Sydney-based DANDI are a close-knit group of industrial designers creating gorgeous textiles and products for kitchen, dining and home.

The team designs modern, botanically-inpsired prints applied to a range of products. The collection currently includes tableware (napkins, placemats, tablerunners, oil cloth), kitchen essentials (tea towels, aprons, pot holders), and other fabulous pieces for the home such as ironing board covers, pin boards and totes.

One of my favourite products outside of the textiles range is the eco-friendly bamboo chopping board with intricately etched lorrikeet design. Absolutely stunning in real life too.

You can find DANDI tableware on the DANDI online store. Check the DANDI website for stockists around Australia, New Zealand and online. You can find behind-the-scenes info on the DANDI blog.

Image: DANDI

Hip Products: Dinosaur Designs jewellery and homewares

This post is really for overseas readers, as Dinosaur Designs is now practically a household name in Australia. Established in 1985 by Louise Olsen, Stephen Ormandy and Liane Rossler, the Dinosaur Designs team create beautiful jewellery and homewares including their chic signature resin designs. Now you can find Dinosaur Designs products in more than twenty countries, including stores in Sydney, Melbourne and New York .

Dinosaur Designs' distinctive pieces are modelled three-dimensionally by hand, using a type of plasticine and then after casting are hand finished in the Sydney studio. The uneven lines and handmade design are part of the label's charm. And not only do the pieces look beautiful, but they are made for everyday use.

Dinosaur Designs is a climate-friendly business with a strong sense of corporate responsibility. You can find Dinosaur Designs pieces at the online store and at stockists around the world.

Image: Dinosaur Designs

Hip Products: Mud Australia ceramics

Oh Mud. A must-have on any wedding registry, and a collectors' dream. I'm talking about one of our best known ceramics brands - the adored Mud Australia. Fired with Limoges or imperial porcelain, Mud Australia produces gorgeous pieces in delicate shades that are beautiful to display and functional (oven, microwave and dishwasher safe!) to use everyday.

I particularly love the matte feel of each piece. This is achieved by applying glaze only to the interior of each vessel. These ceramics are meant for use - with handling, they become more smooth. This is one of the characteristics that bring an artisan quality to the pieces and ensure they get lots of attention at dinner parties!

Mud Australia makes and hand finishes all ceramics at the studio in Sydney. I also admire that the company embraces the values of craft, community and sustainability. You can now find Mud Australia at stockists online and around the world.

Image: Mud Australia

Hip Products: Zaishu designer stools

You wouldn't expect designer seating at a cafe in Yamba on the north coast of NSW, but that's exactly what I found at the Beachwood Cafe when I perched upon a perfect Zaishu stool (one of about 20!).

It turns out that talented Matthew Butler and Helen Punton create this iconic Australian furniture from their studio in Yamba where designs are handprinted onto certified sustainable Native Australian Hoop Pine. The eco-friendly panels are then slotted together to create a piece of furniture that can be used as a seat or table, and is guaranteed to be a conversation starter.

I chose to eat my breaky ensconced on the Florence Broadhurst design Zaishu, but there are many more fantastic designs available that are the result of collaborations with Australian artists and special projects around the world (check out the Fiji edition and I look forward to the upcoming Argentinian designs).

You can find Zaishu pieces at the Zaishu online store, as well as stockists around the world. You can find out more about Zaishu projects on their blog.

Image: Zaishu

Hip Products: Blink Designs for home, women and kids

The folks at Blink Designs are incredibly clever at taking cool designs and turning them into even cooler products for women, home and kids.

Cushions, Apparel, tea towels, toys, clocks, lighting, bags, jewellery and wall decor are all handprinted in Melbourne by the talented team. The designs are modern and very much in-the-now to add a dash of currency to your wardrobe/home/life.

You can find Blink Designs products at stockists across Australia and New Zealand and you can order online from Blink Designs directly.

Images: Blink Designs

Hip Products: Little Home

What do you do when you've checked out all the usual suspects for some cool scatter pillows to update the living room, but can't find anything to fit the vision in your head that is also kind to your wallet?

If you are mother-of-two Renata Schmittmann, you scour online and in specialty fabric stores for your dream material. Then you take the plunge and buy material from all over the world in bulk and ship it to your home at the Gold Coast. Then you have the perfect pillows made up to adorn your sofa, and launch a fabulous homewares label called Little Home!!!

Of course, if you are the like the rest of us, you'll simply thank Renata for her good taste, discerning eye and huge helping of chutzpah, and head over to the Enchanted Closet to pick up some of the Little Home cushions for yourself for $54.95. You'll find them at The Enchanted Closet online store (postage only $4.95), and at the shop in Victoria. You can find the whole Little Home range on the Little Home website. Congrats Renata!

Image: Little Home

Hip Products: Red Seed Studio

It was great to see some familiar faces at the GoMA Design Markets on the weekend, and meet some new people too. I was really happy to see the work of Red Seed Studio in person. Ellie Beck and Sam Messina have designed a line of fabulous eco-friendly cushions to complement their artwork and greeting card range.

The cushions are hand screenprinted using water based solvent-free inks and then hand-crafted at their studio in Brisbane. Ellie and Sam use gorgeous textured fabric for the cushions, made from a mix of sustainable hemp and organic cotton, so it is soft to touch, but durable. They have put a lot of research into the source of their materials so that we can have a clear conscience that their products are made without the environment, or human rights, suffering.

You can find the Red Seed Studio range on the Red Seed Studio website and find out more about the studio on their blog and Flickr photostream. You can also take a look at behind the scenes on Ellie's blog petalplum. And you can contact Red Seed Studio for a list of stockists.

Images: Red Seed Studio

Hip Products: SUBOO

If you are in the Southern hemisphere and gearing up for a hot summer; or if you are up North and rugged up for winter (but planning a tropical holiday), you should check out the hip, hot designs of beach accessories label SUBOO.

Based in Sydney, SUBOO debuted in 2007 with a range of punchy, graphic beach umbrellas and has since expanded to include a range of beach essentials including Missoni-inspired deck chairs, and very cool metallic beach totes (I'm desperate for one of these).

SUBOO is the brainchild of Fashion recruiter Sue Di Chio who was looking for a cool beach umbrella and realised that she would have to make her own. Honestly, Sue has really nailed it with her 2008 Collection.

You can find SUBOO at retailers across Australia and can purchase online from the SUBOO e-boutique.

Image: SUBOO

Hip Products: paper boat press

The must-have Christmas decorations this season have to come from paper boat press. Kylie Johnson has created a range of beautiful ceramic ornaments with inspirational and whimsical sayings that are perfect for tree, mantle, window, table centrepiece or just hanging on a doorknob.

Hip Products: modernmurri

Yellow is such a cool colour for interiors at the moment, and one of my favourite yellow cushions comes from modernmurri, a small Aboriginal art studio started by three women from Moree, NSW Australia. Their soft furnishings, textiles, craft and stationery are a true blend of traditional and modern which I think is perfect for current Australian interiors.

The modernmurri designs are inspired by the Gamilaroi country and culture from northwest New South Wales. Each item is individually hand-made, locally sourced and environmentally sound where possible.

You can buy modernmurrie pieces on modamuse.com, stationery at the ANTaR shop and from time to time on Etsy. For more information, you can email products@modernmurri.com and watch for the modernmurri Website which is coming soon.

Image: modamuse.com

Drool-worthy Design: Leonhard Pfeifer Mini Bar Side Table

The absolute highlight of my vacation in the US and Canada was the launch of my friend Leon's amazing Mini Bar Side Table in the New York Museum Of Modern Art store. The piece is genius - one part living room furniture, one part hidden drinks cabinet, all parts very cool. The mini.bar is just one piece from Leon's clever new.est range of occasional furniture made for small living spaces. I've written before about the Proteus Table and the low table. You can find the Leonhard Pfeifer Mini Bar at MOMA stores, MOMA store online and in the UK at Heal's stores and other international stockists. You can find more info about Leon's furniture designs at LeonhardPfeifer.com.

Image: Leonhard Pfeifer

Cool Websites: Whiteport

The folks from Whiteport wrote to me recently to let me know about the launch of their new Australian homewares site which looks pretty fabulous. The site offers home decor, gifts and accessories, themed around a stylish white palette. The site is gorgeous, clean, simple and easy to use and I hope Aussies embrace this site and more like it. I particularly love the French Country homewares dragonfly pieces.

Image: Whiteport

Droolworthy Design: The Pfeifer Consultancy Proteus Table

My dear friends Leon and Karla of the Pfeifer Consultancy have collaborated their design geniuses to create the Proteus range of furniture. It's a beautiful marriage of Leon's structural design skills, and Karla's graphic design. The colour is spot-on, and available in dining table 6, 4 and 8 seat), coffee table, console and side table. The pattern can also be custom designed. I can't wait to get one. Contact Leon for ordering information.

Image: Leonhard Pfeifer

The Coolest Ever Chicken Coop

I'm seriously taken with the Eglu. I've secretly harboured desires to keep my own egg-laying chickens in the backyard, and to the rescue is this very stylish and very efficient chicken-coop alternative. Fresh eggs whenever you like! Fun pets to keep the grass short! The Eglu is high on my wish-list once I get a backyard. I'll have one in green, thanks.

Image: My Pet Chicken

Hip Products: Guitar Hero

Without a doubt the very best game/toy for the 2005 holiday season is Guitar Hero. This PlayStation 2 game is bundled with an electric "guitar" input that allows you to karaoke on to your heart's content. You can play the guitar (no musical knowledge required) in quick play mode, or work through songs progressively to unlock new songs, skins, and guitars. We are spellbound. This game rocks. Buy on Amazon.com now!

Image: Amazon.com

Drool-worthy Design: Hable Construction

High on my gift list this year is anything from hable construction. This textile and home accessories company sells the most gorgeous pillows and has a store in the neighbourhood (Nolita). They work with a woman's cooperative in Hungary using a traditional technique to produce half of the pillow and accessories collections. The cotton and linen prints are lovely, but the killer items are in felt. This Christmas they also feature felt Christmas stockings and holiday gift boxes.

Image: hable construction

Drool-worthy Design: Leonhard Pfeifer

My fabulous NZ-born, Australian-raised, UK-based furniture designer friend Leonhard Pfeifer got some great press in the New York Times this past week. The low table can be folded flat and hung on the wall as art and features stainless steel pieces inlaid in timber. Leon has a killer sushi tray that he exhibited at the ICFF in New York this year. Leon's pieces are available in the US through 2Jane.com.

Image: Leonhard Pfeifer