Author results: Tess Curran
New Farm Shoe Repairs
As throwaway consumerism continues to fall short, many savvy folks are turning back to the trusty ole art of ‘mend and make do' to keep their purchases kicking longer. And one thing we really do need to kick along longer are our shoes. With cheap chain store knockoffs flooding the market - sole-splitting, heel-crumbling, colour-peeling gems that they are - a great pair of shoes is pretty hard to come by.
Platform Cafe
Whoever said Brisbane lacks history and culture (me, admittedly - several times) will soon drink their words when they stumble across Grand Central Station's Melbourne-style hole-in-the-wall cafe, Platform.
Situated directly under the station's old clock tower, deep in the shadows of the grand colonnade, Platform Cafe is what a coffee house ought to be.
Sonic Fabric
Do you ever wonder what happened to your trusty old cassette tapes after you binned them at first sight of a delicious silvery Compact Disc? Sonic Fabric know, because they've got them. Driven by an ethos of upcycling and repurposing - as well as maintaining cutting edge style and a good dose of experimentalism - this NY-based fashion brand take the long strands of magnetic tape out of our old cassettes and, through a process I can only deem as magic, weave them into scarves, neckties, and other modern accessories and fabric.
Huong's 3-Nation Restaurant
Huong's pride themselves on delivering you "cuisine in a relaxed setting" and, though it may just be a quick phrase penned for business card convenience, those few words capture the spirit of the restaurant perfectly. This Thai-Vietnamese-Chinese hideaway is visible only by its soft glow of lanterns and fairy lights above West End's favourite cheap-as-chips bakery, Kim Thanh.
Toowoomba
Visiting Toowoomba is like somewhat like visiting a relative - a much cooler, architecturally-beautiful relative who frequents a hell of a lot of op shops.It feels familiar not only because approximately 20% of our city's population are originally from there (seriously, ask around - you'll be surprised), but it is also a glimpse of what Brisbane could have been like if the old Bjelke-Peterson government didn't knock every heritage building flat back in the early 80s.
Hetty and Henry Numatic Vacuum Cleaners
It always seems to be the way, doesn't it, that you encounter your penultimate Christmas dream gift just a little too late... I first met Hetty on December 26th - Boxing Day (cue frustration) - and it was love at first sight. There she was, sitting coquettishly on the pages of eBay, in amongst all the Hoovers and Dysons like a rose among weeds.
Brisbane's Budget Bites 2010
We all love to eat at Christmas, but what about the 364 days afterwards? We can't live on leftover prawns and potato salad forever (as good as they might be up until about December 27). But when the merriment wears off and the reality sets in and all our post-Christmas bank accounts are looking pretty dire, the good news is that we don't have to stoop to stalking the kid with the ‘Reduced-To-Clear' sticker gun around Coles anymore.
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