-
The ethicurean age
Welcome to Assemble Papers, a young publication with an old soul exploring the culture of living closer together and small footprint life. Assemble Papers stands for optimism and the hunger to understand context; to join the dots between the ideal and the practical; to advocate for the local while participating in an international conversation -
Born in Barcelona
Introducing Less is More, a new section presenting outstanding examples of architecture and design for compact living, as curated by Assemble Papers. Here, Quino has chosen a recent project by young Spanish practice ARQUITECTURA-G. In this renovated apartment in the historic El Born district of Barcelona, a small footprint, low budget and creative use of space combine to winning effect -
Emotional world optimism: Hiromi Tango
Artist Hiromi Tango is always between homes. A nomad of sorts, her large-scale installations magnify a private world while bringing universal emotions into focus. Working with urban and regional artists and communities, Hiromi finds herself constantly negotiating home as a site that is internal and external, stretching beyond the conventions of a picket fence, four walls, a roof -
Papaya and lime, coconut and fish
Rafaela Pandolfini is a lover. A lady armed with a camera, on a mission to capture beauty. With an eye for detail, Rafaela searches out ritual in contemporary life, from the everyday to the ceremonial, from the spirituality of temples to the late-night paganism of a sweaty dance floor. Here, Rafaela shares selected images from her 'Sri Lanka on film' series, shot on a honeymoon of sorts -
The Grumpy Optimist – an interview with Marcus…
Marcus Westbury gets stuff done. As a broadcaster, media maker, writer and festival director, he is a long-time culture advocate, especially the unconventional, hard to define stuff. In recent times, Marcus has added “urbanist” to his mantle of influence. We talk cities and the initiative of culture-makers. This is urbanism in practice, Westbury-style.
-
The barometry of bees: Melbourne City Rooftop…
The story of bees is also the story of food security and ultimately, our future. Two people who've recognised the importance of the humble honey bee are Vanessa Kwiatkowski and Mat Lumalasi of Melbourne City Rooftop Honey, a beekeeping project that sites hives on rooftops and gardens across the city. Here, the duo speak bee health and proactive sustainability with Eugenia -
Cities as ecosystems
More than half the world’s population now lives in cities. Urbanisation has quickened dramatically in recent decades, with an estimated 1 million people moving to cities every week. Humanity is on the move and is now overwhelmingly urban. Cities have already shown their capacity to adapt and profoundly influence the shape of humanity. Now it’s up to us to influence the shape of our cities -
Inventing designs for lost time: Daniel Barbera
Since 2004, Daniel Barbera has been crafting and manufacturing furniture and interior products as BARBERA Design. In this era of 3D-printing, mass-production offshore and quantity over quality, Barbera’s is an ethos of ‘slow design’. His Australian-made pieces feel elemental and organic, drawing from a lifelong interest in history, the natural world and scientific discovery -
Crowdfunding and couchsurfing: the rise of…
What do car-sharing, Etsy, community supported agriculture, Facebook, Airbnb, co-housing, co-working, social lending, crowdfunding and couch surfing have in common? Tim Riley takes us on a tour of collaborative consumption, an emerging social trend that TIME magazine has called one of the ten ideas that will change the world.
-
Korridors
Danish artist, director and scenographer Sidsel Becker shares her series of photographs shot at nightfall in Copenhagen. The intimate, peeping Tom-esque photos grace the cover of 'NNV Korridors', an anthology of writing by poets and authors from the Nørrebro and Northwest area. Her keen eyes see well in the dark. Below, she shares some insights on what nightfall holds -
Private vs. public: mega events, human rights and…
The Olympics is all about gold and glory, right? Not for the citizens of the host cities of 'mega events'; life gets tougher as the race for medals begins. Writer and academic Henrietta Zeffert reports from London, a city and citizenry whose East End has been redesigned, transformed and polished in time for the Games – but at what cost to its civil liberties and human rights? -
Pasta Parmiggiana
Introducing our new extra Home Made, recipes for living from handy individuals and creative folk who have a flair for ‘homegrown’ ingenuity. This week, our Pino shares a family favourite, a rustic recipe immortalised in his dad's cookbook 'Preserving the Italian Way'. In the spirit of 'spreading the love', we'll feature more Papa Demaio specials from time to time for you to try at home -
Curiosity and the social creature
The Social Studio is nestled in the site of a former men’s rave clothing shop on Smith Street, Collingwood. After three years operating as a not-for-profit that encompasses a fashion label, a retail store, training and employment for young people, a café and a digital printing business – word continues to spread at home and abroad about this hybrid house of good things -
The Cairo: romance and the minimum flat
A leafy art deco gem built by Australian modernist architect Best Overend, Cairo Flats was completed in 1936. This post-dated Overend's September 1933 article 'A Minimum Flat with Maximum Comfort' in the publication 'Australian Home Beautiful.' Writer James Stephens talks to former resident Kate Rhodes about the romance and quirks of her Cairo days -
Small but sunshiny house by Torafu Architects
Set on a site of only 67 square metres (the size of the average two bedroom Melbourne apartment) near Yokohama, Torafu Architects designed this detached house with a modest living area of 7 x 7.5 metres. The project was designed for a couple and consists of living spaces, a small bedroom, walk-in robes and a loft for a newly-independent child -
Gill: Surf city limits
Gill Hutchison is a blogger, born-again surfer and producer based in a Melrose Place-esque enclave in Collingwood. After a bodyboarding epiphany in Mexico, Gill (aka 'Gilly Slater') returned to Melbourne a surf-obsessive, balancing her busy city work and social life with frequent trips 'down the coast'. We visited to talk surfing, pastries and domestic sanctuaries -
Melissa, Simon & Gustov: utopian heights
Gallerist Melissa Loughnan and social entrepreneur Simon Griffiths recently became the new owners of Gustov, a British blue. To mark this occasion (and because we'd heard rumours of bountiful art and a cosy atmosphere), we sent NY-based photographer Paul Barbera to Mel and Simon's warehouse in Fitzroy. Here are the beautiful results (dozens more ridiculously cute cat photos not pictured!) -
Project Microhouse: Or, How I Learned to Stop…
Have you ever made an inventory of all your possessions? Not just the big, expensive stuff, but everything. All your worldly possessions: socks, felt-tip pens, phone chargers, crockery, contraception – the lot. In the case of Alec Farmer, a 23 year-old Glaswegian, his list included three pairs of long johns, 93 books and two decommissioned parachutes -
Emlyn and Gabby: cook, work, parties, people
We visited the cosy, art-laden apartment of Emlyn Olaver and wife Gabby who lived in the city for over a year and a half before recently moving north. "There’s good people watching out the window, it's always entertaining. We’ve witnessed bad buskers, giant rats, naked backpackers, catfights, breakups and mass arrests...and that's just New Years!" -
Little Big House
Like most mainlanders we know, we're in love with Tasmania. Here, we take a look at one of the objects of our Apple Isle affection, 'Little Big House', designed by can-do architect couple Thomas Bailey and Megan Baynes of Hobart/Melbourne studio Room11. This small footprint, timber-clad home is an elegant take on a log cabin in the woods – one we could easily retreat to -
Springtime surf mix
Our first Ears is brought to you by wunderkind DJs Simon Winkler and Lauren Taylor. Each week, 'Winkles' and Lauren spin damn fine local and international tunes as proponents of 'the new and the next' on Triple R FM's Breaking and Entering. Here they herald Spring with a surf-inspired mixtape featuring Fox + Sui, Holy Balm, Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish and many more choice cuts -
Gummiring – photos by Jess Brent
Jess Brent uses old-school film and plastic cameras. An explorer of food and form, Jess is the co-editor of Condiment magazine and one of the multi-talented Sibling collective. We've admired her pictures, exercises in vernacular beauty, for a long time. Here are some recent selections by Jess from her eyes to yours -
Is Melbourne still the Golden Child?
Throughout the 2000s, Melbourne was the best performing Australian city on almost every economic indicator and it rightly claimed the mantle of Australia’s ‘golden child’. However, legitimate questions are increasingly being raised about Melbourne’s ability to retain this title in the current decade -
The People’s Pancetta
If you're a 'meat in moderation' kind of person – as with any food – home made trumps processed stuff any day. Here, Pino shares a family fave, the People's Pancetta. For this, all you need is time, simple, good quality ingredients and a cool nook in a laundry or pantry. Avert your eyes if you are vegetarian – in coming weeks we promise more herbivore recipes to cater to every stomach -
Alain de Botton on Living Architecture
Alain de Botton is a Zurich-born writer and philosopher now based in London. His ‘philosophy of everyday life’ covers the stuff of human existence: love, travel, work, status, architecture and most recently, religion for atheists. A writer and thinker of many commitments and convictions, Alain put a few thoughts to email while in transit to Oz on a book tour.
-
Material storytelling: interview with Bo Reudler
Bo Reudler is a Dutch designer of furniture, objects and interiors who finds inspiration from wanders in the woods. Leading his own Amsterdam-based studio, Bo and his team are in love with both the material and the immaterial – coaxing out the hidden beauty in natural matter, imbuing their mostly timber and bamboo forms with mythology and meaning -
On breaking no law – Berlin by bicycle
What are the conditions for a thriving culture in our cities, by day and by night? Bicycles, walkability, public transport, density, opera? Urban designer and 'theatrist' Jana Perkovic argues that it's the sum of all these parts that makes cities liveable – the built environment and also our corresponding way of life. She dispatches this opinion piece while bicycling around Berlin by night
Follow Us