Article Archives | Thames & Hudson Australia & New Zealand

Posted on September 7, 2022 September 12, 2022

5 Fun Facts About ‘My Strange Shrinking Parents’ with Zeno Sworder

1. Strange Inspirations

My Strange Shrinking Parents is a fairytale woven together with some of my experiences growing up. It recounts some of the ways in which my Chinese mother narrowed and burdened her own life to raise a young family in a small Australian country town. In a way, the book is the map that I desperately needed as a child who felt out of place. I hope that it provides readers with a different example of family and love that is a bit more than just hugs and sunshine.

2. A Drawn out Process

The initial plan was to complete the book in a period of roughly ten months. In the end it took more than two years to finish. My early version of the book was more cartoony in style with very generalised characters. The publisher wisely nudged the book in a more specific direction so that it could be grounded with more realistic characters based on my own experience. This helped draw out the universal themes of sacrifice and belonging that are at the heart of the book.

3. Echo of Childhood Friends

This story is also an echo of the stories of many friends who came from single parent and migrant households. Growing up and spending time in their homes, I recognised my own parents’ sacrifices and I learned something about the strange nature of love – the many different ways it can be shown – and how when given it doesn’t only enlarge the person receiving the love, it enlarges the person giving it as well.

4. The Most Difficult Page

The most difficult page of the book was the very last image. Central to the book and its structure is the idea of love being cyclical. The book opens with the parents caring for their young child and closes with the child caring for his elderly parents. While the text did not change, the image that would work best was a question the publisher and I kept on returning to. After drafting a number of different images we finally settled on the very first picture I ever made of the parents: two tiny figures standing in a garden watching the sun set.

5. Artistic Sensibility

The art in the book is heavily inspired by the ukiyo-e artists Hokusai and Hiroshige. I grew up surrounded by Asian art and my Chinese grandmother was a traditional brush and ink painter. There is a page in the book that pays homage to her work where the boy imagines his parents walking through a Chinese landscape painted on a teapot. While I am not a formally trained artist, I pray that the book has been made in an artful way and that it provides an engaging story and captures some of the emotion that was poured into the making of it.

My Strange Shrinking Parents by Zeno Sworder is available now.

AU $25.99

Posted on September 7, 2022

Posted on July 29, 2022 August 1, 2022

Father’s Day: 2022 Gift Guide

This Father’s Day, we invite you to explore our charming collection of gift ideas for your loved one.

Discover inspiring Australian art and architecture titles, explore the wisdom of nature, or settle down with a game or puzzle.

Whatever their interest, we have something for everyone this Father’s Day.

ART

Dreaming the Land

Marie Geissler

A vividly illustrated history of the Australian Aboriginal art movement from remote Australia.

EXPLORE ➔

RAMESH

Jaklyn Babington

The first major monograph of the boundary-pushing work of Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran.

DISCOVER ➔

NARRATIVE NON-FICTION

Astronomy: Sky Country

Karlie Noon &
Krystal De Napoli

Explore the sophisticated astronomical expertise embedded within the Dreaming.

GROWING AND FORAGING

The Kitchen Garden

Lucy Mora

An artfully illustrated guide to growing, sowing and cooking edible plants.

EXPLORE ➔

The Future is Fungi

Michael Lim &
Yun Shu
A complete introduction to the hidden kingdom of fungi and how they may shape our future

DISCOVER ➔

ARCHITECTURE

Neeson Murcutt Neille

Anna Johnson &
Richard Black

Celebrate Neeson Murcutt Neille’s deeply empathetic approach to making architecture in this monograph of their practice.

GIFT

Dinner with Matisse

Iratxe López de Munáin

Piece together the artists, artworks and surroundings that bring Henri Matisse’s world to life in this colourful 1000-piece puzzle.

EXPLORE ➔

At the Bookshop

Kim Siew

Test your book knowledge (and your memory skills!) by matching 25 of the world’s most iconic books with one of their famed characters.

DISCOVER ➔

Posted on July 29, 2022

Posted on June 7, 2022 June 7, 2022

Our 2022 Limited Editions

This year we’re publishing two Limited Edition monographs from brilliant Australian artists: Ramesh on 26 July and Tamara Dean on 30 August.

Each title has a limited run with an expectation that they will sell out fast. Our Limited Editions are sold on a first come, first served basis, so be sure to make a note of the dates.

RAMESH (LIMITED EDITION OF 100)

Bursting with energy and life force, this visual cornucopia celebrates the work of Sri Lankan Australian sculptor and painter, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran.

LIMITED EDITION INCLUDES:
A signed copy of Ramesh with purple sprayed edges + an editioned bronze statue by the artist presented in a signed clamshell box (pictured below).

RRP: $1,320.00

Available here on 26 July.

Pictured: RAMESH Limited Edition placed on the lid of the open clamshell box
beside the editioned bronze statue.

Pictured: Ramesh photographed by Mark Pokorny.

Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran is the youngest artist in the history of the National Gallery of Australia to hold a solo exhibition.

Aged 32, Ramesh has been on a rapid professional trajectory. He has made significant and impressive contributions to contemporary art, and has delivered major artworks in museums, biennales and multi-art centres, both nationally and internationally.

Ramesh is regularly featured as one of the leading artistic practitioners of his generation, being promoted to the public in a diverse range of print, online and television mediate related to art, culture and fashion.

Pictured: RAMESH Limited Edition featuring purple sprayed edges.

Pictured left to right: clamshell box, RAMESH Limited Edition + editioned bronze statue.
Pictured below: RAMESH editioned bronze statue photographed on both sides.

TAMARA DEAN (50 AVAILABLE)

Tamara Dean’s photography deftly explores the undercurrents of the human condition. This monograph is both a retrospective of Dean’s work to date and a perfect introduction for those unfamiliar with her practice.

Limited Edition includes:
A signed copy of Tamara Dean + a signed editioned archival pigment print of Follow Me, 2018 (pictured below) on cotton rag with signed and numbered cataloguing slip presented in a linen-bound slip case.

Available here on 30 August.

RRP $695

Pictured: Tamara Dean Limited Edition Print *Follow Me, 2018*.

Video: Tamara Dean behind the scenes.

Pictured: Tamara Dean. Photography by Sally Flegg.

Posted on June 7, 2022

Posted on May 11, 2022 June 3, 2022

Discover Deeper Levels of Self-Knowledge with Cosmic Numerology

People have long looked to the planets for guidance and wisdom. Likewise, numbers are a universal language that can help us make sense of a seemingly chaotic world.

Cosmic Numerology is a method that combines numerology and astronomy. It’s also the name of a new book by by yoga teacher, herbalist, aromatherapist, and numerologist, Jenn King.

You can use the book to help you discover your foundation, personality, destiny and relationships numbers with calculations using your date of birth. The idea is that because these numbers are based on your birth date, which never changes, they are positioned at the very core of who you are and act like a blueprint of your personality.

Once you have worked out your numbers and their ruling planets, you can use them to discover deeper levels of self-knowledge, access your talents, bring awareness to your strengths and balance out your weaknesses. You can even use them to better understand your relationships, enhance your connections and avoid conflict.

Each chapter of the book also includes information on what colours, days of the week, elements, astrological signs, tarot cards, body zones, herbs and essential oils relate to each particular planet, as well as specialised meditations and suggestions as to how you can balance the particular planets influence.

Figuring out your numbers is super simple – there are only nine numbers and planets to learn about and the calculation is simple. Below is an example of how you can calculate your foundation number and planet.

FOUNDATION NUMBER AND PLANET CALCULATION

Your foundation number and planet are based on the weekday on which you were born. Your particular weekday represents your foundation, which is what you greet the world with and what the world greeted you with when you were born. This placement is similar to your Sun sign in astrology: it is the main underlying structure that supports your other traits.

If you’re not sure what day of the week you were born, use an online calendar for your year of birth. Use the charts on the previous page or the list below to find out which planet was in power on this day, along with its corresponding number.

THE DAYS OF THE WEEK AND THEIR RULING PLANETS

DAY OF THE WEEK

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

PLANETARY RULER

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

THE NUMBERS AND THEIR RULING PLANETS

NUMBER

PLANETARY RULER

Sun

Moon

Jupiter

Uranus

Mercury

Venus

Neptune

Saturn

Mars

EXAMPLES

8 May 1979 = TUESDAY
TUESDAY = MARS
MARS = 9

27 October 1999 = WEDNESDAY
WEDNESDAY = MERCURY
MERCURY = 5

To find out more about what your foundation number and planet means, get your hands on a copy of the book. If you need further incentive, every person who buys the book until 4 July 2022 is eligible to enter our prize to win a personal reading with Jenn King AND an original artwork by Kat Macleod inspired by your reading, worth $1500. See details and enter competition here.

Cosmic Numerology by Jenn King is available now.

AU $39.99

Posted on May 11, 2022

Posted on March 30, 2022 April 1, 2022

Autumn Awards + Book News

March was a huge month for books, with the winners of the Indie Book Awards announced, the Bologna Children’s Fair returning to an in-person format, and longlist reveals from both the the ABIAs and ABDA. Read on for a round up of our top book news this Autumn.

Still Life wins the 2022 Indie Book Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction

On March 22nd, the winners of this year’s Indie Book Awards were announced. The Indie Book Awards are selected every year by Australian independent booksellers in six categories.

We are so thrilled to announce that our very own Still Life by Amber Creswell-Bell was name the winner of the Indie Book Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction. The full list of winners can be viewed here.

BRAW Amazing Bookshelf Exhibition at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair

This year the Bologna Children’s Book Fair returned to an in-person format for the first time since the pandemic began. Among other attractions at the fair was the BRAW Amazing Bookshelf, which showcased 100 books that were greatly admired by the judges and came very close to winning the 2022 Bologna Ragazzi Award.

Included in this this exhibition of publishing gems was This Small Blue Dot by Zeno Sworder, along with A History of Music for Children and The People’s Painter.

ABIA Longlist

Last week, this year’s Australian Book Industry Award longlist was announced. Among the nominations in the Illustrated Book of the Year category were our own Still Life by Amber Creswell Bell and A Life In Pattern by Anna Spiro. The Tiny Explorers by Kat Macleod was also nominated in the Children’s Book of the Year category.

The shortlist of the ABIAs will be announced on Monday 23rd May and the winners will be announced at the publishing industry’s Awards night on Thursday 9 June – a red carpet Ceremony held at the International Convention Centre (ICC) Sydney.

ABDA Longlist

Last but not least, the Australian Book Designers Association recently announced the ABDA longlist. This year marks the 70th year of the awards, and we’re so pleased to see so many Thames and Hudson Australia titles on the list, as well as plenty from our distributed publishers. Congratulations to all authors longlisted!

Thames & Hudson Australia

The Tiny Explorers by Kat Macleod – Best Designed Children’s Illustrated Book
Kat Macleod Early Learner series – Best Designed Children’s/YA Series
Aliens & Other Worlds by Lisa Harvey Smith – Best Designed Children’s Non-Fiction Illustrated Book
Why Do Tigers Have Whiskers? by The Conversation – Best Designed Children’s Non-Fiction Illustrated Book
With A Little Kelp From Our Friends by Mathew Bate – Best Designed Children’s Non-Fiction Illustrated Book
Ken Done by Amber Creswell Bell – Best Designed Fully-Illustrated Book Over $50
Kerstin Thompson Architects by Leon Van Schalk – Best Designed Fully-Illustrated Book Over $50
Day Trip Sydney by Evi O and Andrew Grune – Best Designed Fully-Illustrated Book Under $50

Smith Street Books

Istria by Paola Bacchia – Best Designed Cookbook
Italian Street Food by Paola Bacchia – Best Designed Cookbook
The Vegan Butcher – Best Designed Cookbook
How To Unf*ck The Planet by Zacchary Bird – Best Designed Fully-Illustrated Book Under $50
Keanu Forever by Billie Oliver – Best Designed Fully-Illustrated Book Under $50
The Vagina /The Penis by Dr. Brooke Ah Shay – Best Designed Fully-Illustrated Book Under $50
3D Munchies by Eli George – Best Designed Cookbook
Where’s Attenborough? by Maxim Usik – Best Designed Children’s Non-Fiction Illustrated Book

NGV

After The Australian Ugliness – Best Designed Fully-Illustrated Book Over $50

Gallery of NSW

Archie 100 by Natalie Wilson – Best Designed Fully-Illustrated Book Under $50

The Shortlist will be announced in early April 2022 and the winners will be announced on Friday June 3 at The Craft & Co in Melbourne.

Posted on March 30, 2022

Posted on February 24, 2022 February 24, 2022

Welcome to Equiterra!

In support of UN Women Australia, Ruby Taylor welcomes you to Equiterra: a society where all people have equal rights and opportunity, regardless of their gender. A community where the glass ceiling is smashed, the gender pay gap is a thing of the past and toxic masculinity goes straight into the recycling.

We’re thrilled to have paired up with Ruby Taylor and UN Women Australia to turn this uplifting artwork into a 1000-piece puzzle.

So, how far from reality is Equiterra from Australia in 2022? We looked at five of the places featured in Ruby Taylor’s utopia and compared them with the facts. Unfortunately, the figures show we have a long way to go before we reach gender equality.

Freedom Avenue

In Equiterra:

Freedom is one of the guiding principles of life in Equiterra. This includes the freedom to choose your identity, the freedom to choose how many children you have, and the freedom to control what happens to your own body. Freedom Avenue in Equiterra is home to a Reproductive Health Centre that provides nonjudgmental care to all who need it. Here, residents of Equiterra can access safe, voluntary family planning information, as well as comprehensive information about sexuality, and sexual and reproductive health.

In Australia:

Across Australia, the freedom to access safe and affordable healthcare varies drastically from place to place. For example, abortion has been decriminalised in the state of Victoria, but accessing abortions is still difficult for many women, especially for migrant women and women living in regional areas. This shows that for many Australian women, freedom of choice largely depends on where you live. Many trans and gender diverse people also experience additonal barriers to accessing safe healthcare, including disrespectful attitudes and misgendering by medical professionals.

Violence-Free Alley

In Equiterra:

In Equiterra, women feel safe walking down the street, no matter what time of day or night it is. Women are free to walk home alone at night without clutching their keys between their fingers or texting their friends to confirm they’ve arrived home without incident.

Women, men and nonbinary people in Equiterra enjoy equal relationships, free from violence or coercion. On the home front, women and children feel safe in their homes and enjoy the same security as their male family members. Domestic violence is a rare occurrence here, because there are strong laws against it and services to support victims. Since gender equality is the norm in Equiterra, the power dynamics between intimate partners are not oppressive or toxic.

In Australia:

Violence against women is a serious and widespread problem in Australia. Recorded crimes data shows that women are five times more likely to be victims of sexual assault than men. Similarly data collected by Our Watch shows that one in three women has experienced physical and/or sexual violence perpetrated by a man they know, while one in four women has experienced physical or sexual violence by a current or former intimate partner since age fifteen. On average, one woman a week is murdered in Australia by her current or former partner, and almost ten women a day are hospitalised for assault injuries perpetrated by a spouse or domestic partner.

Equal Representation Avenue

In Equiterra:

In Equiterra, men and women are equally represented in public life, including in the political sphere, corporate boardrooms and in the media. Women have equal say in decisions that affect their lives, their bodies, their policies, and their environment.

In Australia:

The reality looks starkly different in Australia. In the business world, data from the ABS indicates that managers are almost twice as likely to be men than women. Similarly, only seventeen per cent of CEO positions in the non-public sector were occupied by women in the period from 2018 to 2019.

On a more positive note, in the period from 2019 to 2022, for the first time, there was equal representation between men and women parliamentarians in the Senate. However, women still comprise only three in ten federal parliamentarians in the House of Representatives. And despite the improvements in the Senate, female politicians and political staffers have reported a toxic and sexist culture in Parliament House, leading many to leave their jobs.

Unstereotype Avenue:

In Equiterra:

Children in Equiterra grow up without the negative influence of restrictive and harmful stereotypes around gender roles. Men and women share chores and care duties at home equally, and domestic labour such as caregiving is valued as equally as participation in the paid workforce. In Equiterra, diversity is celebrated, not feared, and a culture of acceptance dominates peoples’ hearts and minds.

In Australia:

Archaic beliefs around gender roles mean that women in Australia do far more domestic labour and caring for children than men. For every hour an Australian man spends on unpaid care work, an Australian woman spends one hour and 48 minutes, according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency. Similarly, within opposite-sex couples, nearly half of all household tasks are always or usually done by the female in the relationship, compared to only ten per cent done by the male. This grows even more unequal after couples have children.

The heavy load women carry at home often causes them to miss out on promotions at work, or to actively avoid seeking them for fear they will not be able to juggle their responsibilities. This translates into economic inequality between men and women, particularly in retirement.

Equal Pay Street

In Equiterra:

In this utopia, not only do all people receive equal work for equal pay, but the gender pay gap across industries no longer exists. With care work and household responsibilities shared equally, and paid parental leave equally accessible to all, women are not penalised for taking time out of the paid workforce to care for children. The minimum wage here provides a decent standard of living and there is quality and affordable healthcare for those who need it.

In Australia:

In Australia, it has been a legal requirement since 1969 that women and men be paid the same amount for performing the same role. Despite this, there’s still a persistent gender pay gap across industries, with women’s full time adult average weekly earnings being only eighty-six per cent of that of men. This represents a gender pay gap of fourteen per cent. As a result of lower wages and more unpaid caregiving responsibilities, women retire with a superannuation balance on average forty-seven per cent lower than men.

In 2021, the Global Gender Gap Index placed Australia at number 50 – this represented a decline of five places from the previous year, meaning we are actually going BACKWARDS on this issue. This is likely in part due to the unequal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen women leaving the workforce at a higher rate than men. Even among those who retained paid work, women took on more duties in childcare, housework and elder care, increasing the ‘double shift’ of paid and unpaid work.

Toxic Masculinity Recycling Plant

In Equiterra:

Outdated and sexist values have been ditched. Archaic notions like ‘men don’t cry’ and ‘boys will be boys’ are recycled into inclusive language and respect. Boys are encouraged to express their emotions and are allowed to be vulnerable. Freed from oppressive gender roles, the residents of Equiterra are not held back by dominant forms of masculinity, and they are happier and mentally healthier than people in any other society.

In Australia:

Outdated stereotypes about masculinity are often rigid and harmful to men in Australia. Men are often encouraged by society to appear dominant, aggressive and to repress their emotions. These rigid stereotypes are often difficult for many men to live up to and can prevent them from living fulfilling lives. Men who subscribe to these dominant norms are more likely to engage in risk-taking behaviours, such as dangerous driving and substance abuse, and are less likely to seek help or to talk about their feelings. They also experience greater health risks, including higher rates of depression and suicide

This article was inspired by UN Women Australia’s Welcome to Equiterra.

Ruby Taylor on Gender Equality is available now.

AU$32.99

Posted on February 24, 2022

Posted on September 28, 2021 September 28, 2021

Landscapes of our Hearts has won a prestigious prize at the NSW Premier’s History Awards

Landscapes of our Hearts was one of our most significant releases of 2020; it changed our perception of Australian history in a big way. From award-winning writer and ecologist Matthew Colloff, the book explores the history of our relationship to this ancient continent, offering the possibility that a renewed connection to the landscape and each other could pave the way towards reconciliation.

Earlier this month, Landscapes of our Hearts took home the NSW Community and Regional History Prize for the 2021 NSW Premier’s History Awards. The award recognises a significant contribution to understanding of any aspect of the history of New South Wales. We are so proud of Matthew and our team for this huge accomplishment.

Congratulations to all of the recipients of this year’s awards – check out the full list here.

Landscapes of our Hearts: Reconciling People and Environment is available now. Text by Matthew Colloff, cover image by Louise Denton and cover design by Allisa Dinallo.

AU$ 34.99

Posted on September 28, 2021

Posted on August 11, 2021 August 18, 2021

Father’s Day: 2021 Gift Guide

Explore a captivating collection of gift ideas for your loved one this Father’s Day.

Discover personal Australian stories, plan an activity or journey through iconic art and architectural design.

Whatever their interest, we have something for everyone this Father’s Day.

…

Compelling Non-Fiction

Recipe for a Kinder Life

Annie Smithers

Part meditation, part memoir, Annie Smithers offers practical advice and wisdom gleaned from a life dedicated to seasonal food and living sustainably with the land.

Learn more ➔

…

Design: Building on Country

Alison Page and Paul Memmott

The second book in the First Knowledges series, Design: Building on Country issues a challenge for a new Australian design ethos, one that truly responds to the essence of Country and its people.

Explore ➔

…

Activities to enjoy together

Day Trip Sydney

Evi O and Andrew Grune

Plan a mini break with these 52 nature adventures, all within 120 kilometres from Sydney’s city centre.

Discover ➔

…

Dinner with Monet

Illustrated by Iratxe López de Munáin

Piece together the artists, artworks and surroundings that bring Claude Monet’s world to life in this exuberant 1000-piece puzzle.

Read more ➔

…

Art outside the gallery

Still Life

Amber Creswell Bell

A rich survey of the work of more than forty still life artists, which presents the genre in a uniquely Australian light.

Learn more ➔

…

Ken Done

Amber Creswell Bell

A comprehensive and extensively illustrated monograph on the art and design of Ken Done, celebrating the man, his life’s work and his legacy.

Explore ➔

…

Australian Architecture

Kerstin Thompson Architects

Leon van Schaik

This monograph of celebrated architect Kerstin Thompson’s work provides a deep insight into not only what architects do – the buildings they make – but also why and how they design.

Discover➔

…

MMXX

Cameron Bruhn

A survey of the most influential, innovative and exciting Australian architecture of the past 20 years.

Learn more ➔

…

Garden Inspiration

Living Outside

Sharon Mackay and Diana Snape

A collection of residential gardens representing the most ambitious and inspiring contemporary interpretations of mid-century Australian design.

Explore ➔

…

The Garden State

Richard Allen

From Mildura to the lush rolling hills of Gippsland, this is a comprehensive survey of the best private Victorian gardens across one of the most diverse Australian topographies.

Read more ➔

Posted on August 11, 2021

Posted on June 30, 2021 July 1, 2021

Day Trip Sydney is finally here!

From Evi O and Andrew Grune, Day Trip is a new series of Australian travel guides that will ignite your nomadic spirit. The first in the series, Day Trip Sydney takes you to mountains, waterfalls, swimming holes, forests, urban parks, Aboriginal cultural sites, historic architecture and more – all within 120 kilometres of Sydney’s city centre. Whether you’re a Sydney local or a first-time visitor, Day Trip Sydney is the perfect guide for escaping the urban chaos.

Curious? Get a feel for this innovative guide with Day Trip’s launch video below.

Day Trip Sydney is available now. Text, images and design by Evi O and Andrew Grune (Day Trip Publishing).

AU$34.99

You can check out Day Trip’s website here and their Instagram here.

Posted on June 30, 2021

Posted on May 11, 2021 June 15, 2021

Introducing TASCHEN: the latest addition to the Thames & Hudson Australia family

We pride ourselves on being Australia’s home for illustrated books. That’s why we’re so excited about the latest addition to our family of distributed publishers: TASCHEN.

This German-born, globally-loved publishing house is destined for the reader who dreams of building their coffee table book collection. Their selection of art books span from informative introductions to special editions championing the likes of Ai Weiwei and Gustav Klimt, while their impressive selection of architecture and design books will take you on a tour of some of the world’s finest homes and remarkable landmarks. You will also find bestselling tomes and short-form histories on your favourite figures and moments in fashion, film, music and pop culture, as well as photography and travel titles to inspire.

Above all, TASCHEN’s publishing is synonymous with quality and individuality. Their books are timeless sources of pleasure and learning, and you’ll be carrying them around from home to home. We’ve rounded up a few of our favourite titles from TASCHEN to help you start building your collection.

The Star Wars Archives. 1999-2005

Made with the full cooperation of George Lucas and Lucasfilm, this second volume covers the making of the prequel trilogy and features exclusive interviews with Lucas and his collaborators.

AU$350.00

Virgil Abloh. NIKE. Icons.

In 2016, Nike and fashion designer Virgil Abloh joined forces to create a sneaker collection celebrating 10 of the company’s most iconic shoes. Go behind the scenes of the project in this powerful book.

AU$150.00

Tarot. The Library of Esoterica

Spanning from Medieval to modern, this book explores the influence of Tarot on artists like Salvador Dalí and Niki de Saint Phalle.

AU$75.00

Annie Leibovitz: The Early Years, 1970-1983

For more than half a century, Annie Leibovitz has been taking culture-defining photographs and imprinting on our collective consciousness. Here we return to her origins.

AU$90.00

Dalí . Les dîners de Gala

The opulent dinner parties thrown by Salvador Dalí and his wife and muse, Gala, were the stuff of legend. This reprint of Dalí’s 1973 cookbook reveals some of the sensual, imaginative and exotic elements that made up their notorious gatherings.

AU$125.00

Posted on May 11, 2021

Posted on March 2, 2021 March 2, 2021

Highlights reel: some of our favourite works from Ken Done: Art Design Life

Over four decades, Ken Done’s exuberant artwork and design has become permanently embedded in Australian culture. His signature style has graced everything from ad campaigns to art cars, doona covers to swimwear, and his bright paintings of Sydney Harbour, the outback, the reef and so much more never fails to bring a smile to our faces. Amber Creswell Bell’s Ken Done: Art Design Life brings all of this together in the ultimate celebration of the man, his work and his legacy. Check out a few of our favourite works from the book in our gallery below.

*Image © Ken Done. Beach with Bike, 2006.*

*Image © Ken Done. Big MASK reef, 2019.*

*Image © Ken Done. The visit of an important man from Japan, 1991.*

*Image © Ken Done: Anzac Day, 2002 (detail).*

*Image © Ken Done: Camilla in the backyard, 2006.*

*Image © Ken Done. Going home, Toberua, 1990.*

*Image © Ken Done. Restaurant dining room, 1994.*

*Image © Ken Done. Ken’s BMW Art Car, Western Australia, 1989.*

*Image © Ken Done. 28 Views of the Opera House, 1999.*

Ken Done: Art Design Life is available now. Text by Amber Creswell Bell and design by Evi-O.Studio.

AU$80.00

Posted on March 2, 2021

Posted on November 24, 2020 November 24, 2020

Marvel at the works of Arthur Streeton

For those either living in or visiting Sydney this Summer, The Art Gallery of New South Wales is currently presenting the most significant retrospective of Australian impressionist artist Arthur Streeton. If you can’t get to this incredible exhibition before it finishes on 14 February 2021, the accompanying book Streeton will transport you there. This tome features essays by curator Wayne Tunnicliffe, over 275 paintings and much more.

Get a taste of both the exhibition and the accompanying book with the following collection of some of Streeton’s greatest paintings.

*Arthur Streeton ‘Land of the Golden Fleece’ 1926. Private collection, Sydney*

*Arthur Streeton ‘Butterflies and blossoms’ 1889. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, purchased with the assistance of a special grant from the Government of Victoria 1979*

LEFT: Arthur Streeton ‘Beach scene’ 1890. Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, purchased from the Estate of Henrietta Tuson 1954
RIGHT: Arthur Streeton ‘From McMahon’s Point — fare one penny’ 1890. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1972

Arthur Streeton ‘Early summer – gorse in bloom’ 1888. Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, gift of Mrs Andrew Tennant through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation 1982

Streeton, edited by Wayne Tunnicliffe, is available now. You can purchase tickets to the exhibition at The Art Gallery of New South Wales here, exhibiting now until 14 February 2021.

AU$70.00

Posted on November 24, 2020

Posted on August 25, 2020 August 25, 2020

An Unconventional Abode from Hare + Klein Interior

Product Design and Decoration: Eloise Fotheringham

Photography: Shannon McGrath

Hare + Klein Interior is our second book to showcase the signature use of texture, colour and scale in Hare + Klein’s exceptional and responsive interior design practice.

With a 20-foot shipping container in the living room, the once Old Furniture Factory is one of the most unconventional homes in the book. The previous fit-out of this 1920s furniture factory and warehouse was mostly demolished, aside from the footprint of the mezzanine floor and the 20-foot shipping container. As author and Hare + Klein’s principal and artistic director Meryl Hare writes, “I could see no way of getting it out without removing the front of the building. The concept of working with this extraordinary item in the living room was challenging, but I decided that the ‘elephant in the room should be acknowledged – and repainted orange!”

The impressive result of Hare + Klein’s work here is a fully functioning home for a young family, complete with the shipping container turned children’s playroom, a communal dining area, a practical kitchen with an industrial feel, floods of light and staircases finished in steel to keep in theme with the original look of the building.

Hare + Klein Interior is out now. Text by Meryl Hare, design by Daniel New and cover photograph by Shannon McGrath.

AU$65.00

Posted on August 25, 2020

Posted on August 10, 2020 August 10, 2020

Father’s Day Gift Ideas

Complete Dad’s bookshelf with these captivating titles, carefully selected by our staff for their own Dads, Grandads and all loved-ones as a Father’s Day gift.

From intriguing narrative non-fiction to colourful tomes on art, architecture and photography, we have a book to pique nearly any interest.

Art

Pore over these visual beauties on Australian artists, from the multi-storey murals in Rone to the diverse works in A Painted Landscape, topped off with Chromatopia‘s illustrated history of colour.

Rone

Known for his multi-storey murals gracing buildings all over the world, Melbourne-based artist Rone uses his work to explore the friction and connection between beauty and decay, youth and ruin.

AU$59.99

Discover ➔

A Painted Landscape

Amber Creswell Bell

A Painted Landscape forms an aesthetic study of the landscape as seen, experienced and expressed by 50 Australian artists who choose to paint it.

AU$59.99

Learn more ➔

Chromatopia

David Coles

Chromatopia is an illustrated history of colour, spanning the ancient world to modern leaps in technology. This is a book for the artist, the history buff, the science lover and the design fanatic.

AU$34.99

Explore ➔

Photography

Explore the world through spellbinding photography, beginning with our country’s luminous landscapes through In An Australian Light to the gritty textures of Melbourne and Egypt in Bill Henson’s The Light Fades but the Gods Remain.

In An Australian Light

In an Australian Light reminds us of the myriad ways we experience light in this vast and diverse land.

AU$59.99

The Light Fades But The Gods Remain

Bill Henson

A significant publication of images by one of Australia’s most extraordinary imaginations, The Light Fades But The Gods Remain is the bound collection of Bill Henson’s work.

AU$100

Discover ➔

Architecture

Build up your architecture bookshelf with these tomes on beautiful buildings, houses and projects. Peer inside Sean Godsell: Houses, and the first projects of an architectural icon David Adjaye – Works. Read Australia Modern for your comprehensive visual guide to modernism in our country, and Concrete Houses to explore the lyric beauty, versatility and brute force of concrete as a building material.

Sean Godsell: Houses

The first survey of residential projects designed by award-winning Australian architect Sean Godsell.

AU$100

Explore ➔

David Adjaye – Works

This monograph presents the early works of Sir David Adjaye, one of the most important architects at work in the world today.

AU$120

Learn more ➔

Australia Modern

Hannah Lewi & Philip Goad

Australia Modern vividly captures this architectural legacy with a survey of 100 significant modern sites, richly illustrated with archival images and newly commissioned photographs.

AU$80

Discover ➔

Concrete Houses

Joe Rollo

Concrete Houses explores the use of concrete in landmark contemporary residential architecture from Australia and abroad.

AU$75

Interiors and Gardens

Find inspiration for the indoors with celebrated interior designer Meryl Hare in her new book Hare + Klein Interior, and enjoy the outside with the beautifully photographed pages of In An Australian Garden.

Hare + Klein Interior

Meryl Hare

With a focus on detail and ambience, this is a personal invitation into the elegant and alluring designs of Hare + Klein.

AU$65

Explore ➔

An Australian Garden

Philip Cox

Both private retreat and conservation exercise, An Australian Garden uses nature as muse to reveal the arresting beauty of the natural landscape.

AU$70

Learn more ➔

Narrative non-fiction

Mix a drink from Max Allen’s Intoxicating, complete with cocktail recipes and a history lesson on Australia’s colourful and complex drinking history. Then, change the way you see our country in Landscapes Of Our Hearts.

Intoxicating

Max Allen

In search of answers, Intoxicating takes us on a personal journey through Australia’s colourful and complex drinking history, glass in hand.

AU$32.99

Discover ➔

Landscapes of Our Hearts

Matthew Colloff

An epic exploration of our relationship with this country, Landscapes of Our Hearts offers the possibility that a renewed connection to the landscape and to each other could pave the way towards reconciliation.

AU$34.99

Illustrator Spotlight: Wonder Woman Laura Bernard

Laura Bernard works from her cosy studio in Wellington, New Zealand. She is a self-confessed nerd, homebody and introvert. Laura has inspired young creatives across the world to ignore the negativity that surrounds a career in illustration and to pursue their passion.

To celebrate the release of Wonder Women Bingo, we caught up with Laura to chat about the game, the female creatives she looks up to and how to stay sane when your home sanctuary becomes your workplace.

The illustrations for Wonder Women Bingo are phenomenal. What was your favourite part of working on this project?
Thank you! My favourite part was adding the finer detail to the garments and accessories that the women were wearing: the jewellery, the beaded and embroidered elements and the various patterns. That was so much fun. I feel like that’s one of the main elements that brings these ladies to life and makes them each unique.

Wonder Women Bingo, published by Laurence King Publishing, $29.99

Why do you think it’s important to have a children’s game dedicated to inspirational women?
Too often we are taught the names of famous, genius, amazing men that have achieved great things (Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking, Nikola Tesla to name a few). I think we often forget that there were incredible women who did equally amazing things, but we are rarely taught about them in the same way due to our unbalanced gendered history. Plus, a lot of women had to keep their intelligence a secret or pretend to be a man to be recognised. I think we need a game like this to help balance things out. Hopefully, it can inspire young women and teach them that they can be anything they want to be.

Laurence King Publishing is fortunate to work with a number of fantastic female illustrators like yourself, including Laura Callaghan, Marion Deuchars and Harriet Lee-Merrion. Can you tell us about the female illustrators and creatives that inspire you?
Creatively, I look up to Rebecca Sugar a lot. She created the Steven Universe series and creatively directed a lot of the character design, screenplay and music. She also worked on Adventure Time for a long while. I also admire Jennifer Lee, who is a screenwriter and a head creative at Disney studios. She worked on Frozen and Frozen 2, which are masterpieces for character, background, outfit and song design (all things she helped with).

As a freelancer, do you have any tips for staying sane when working from home? I think we need all the tips we can get right about now!
To be honest, being an introvert really helps. I can’t speak for more extroverted people but I love hibernating and working on my illustration. Working and living in the same space can be a huge challenge, so I do have one very helpful tip. I have a studio for my work, and when I am in there I am in ‘work mode’, when I am anywhere else in the house I’m in ‘home mode’. I’ve always used this mentality even before I had a studio and I worked at the dining room table. I would always sit on one chair and work so then that particular space is associated with working. I think that’s a super important thing to define when working from home as too often we work from bed or the couch, which I try to avoid.

At home with NZ illustrator Laura Bernard

Any tips for overcoming creative block?
Oh jeez, this is a hard one. Over the past five or so years that I’ve been freelancing, and where my creativity is my job, there’s that extra pressure to be creative ALL THE TIME. When I’m at a total creative loss and I’ve gone into a creative depression, I generally have a lot of negativity about my own work. I’ve realised that my creative block generally looks and feels the same: a lot of self doubt and self creative pessimism. If I’m telling myself all of these terrible things about my own work, putting it down and comparing it to others, how can I feel proud and happy with the work I’m making? To help break the cycle, I’ll go back to my old sketchbooks from yonks ago and see how far I’ve come. I’ll also look at all of my old random ideas and concepts to give myself a much needed pep talk: Look! These are your ideas and you are creative and awesome! I will then try and learn from my past works and ideas. I think it’s very important to be critical of your own work otherwise you will struggle to grow, but balancing that with self support, encouragement and feeling proud of yourself too.

We can see that you paint in both a traditional medium and digital. Do you prefer one over the other?
I fell in love with watercolour quite quickly after buying my first set when I was about nineteen. I think it will always be very special to me. I then transitioned into digital to broaden my skillset and I thought it would help me find more illustrating opportunities too, as we live in such a digital age. I think watercolour will always be my favourite medium, however I find digital has helped me grow and learn more as a creative — it’s a very forgiving medium and you are able to undo, flip canvases to check proportions, and change colours so easily: all things that you can’t really do with a traditional medium.

We are obsessed with all the work in your portfolio. Can you tell us about your favourite one?
Thank you so much! From my personal works, there’s an illustration of an A-frame house among some trees at night. I am super proud of this and the simplicity of it, but the fact that it still tells a story — a difficult balance. Professionally, I absolutely loved working on the Wonder Women Happy Families card game, and the Wonder Women Bingo. Learning about amazing women in history and having the opportunity to paint their portraits was so inspiring.

Wonder Women Bingo is out now. Text by Isabel Thomas and illustrations by Laura Bernard.

AU$29.99

Posted on August 7, 2020

Posted on July 24, 2020

Admiring the ephemeral: a gallery from RONE

Rone: Street Art and Beyond brings together almost two decades of awe-inspiring work created by one of Australia’s most renowned street artists. This striking survey weaves through Rone’s early street work and stencils, to his arresting murals, and finally the large-scale projects he has ambitiously taken on in the past five years. These projects, immersive installations resulting from the transformation of condemned, derelict or forgotten spaces, have been praised across the globe. Undeniably unique, they explore divergent themes of beauty and decay, youth and ruin. Each artwork is painstakingly produced in immense detail, only to be destroyed, defining them as utterly ephemeral.

Here, we take a sneak peek at Rone’s fascinating installation projcts featured in the book.

EMPTY. October 2016, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia.

“Empty sparked Rone’s passion for creating immersive experiences and fuelled a deeper relationship: fusing art, architecture, decay and fleeting beauty.”

*LEFT: Empty exhibition space: former Star Lyric Theatre, Melbourne, Australia, 2016 | RIGHT: This Will Not End Well, 2016. Photography by Rone.*

*The Empire, 2016. Photography by Rone.*

ALPHA. February 2017, Alphington, Melbourne, Australia.

“For Rone, Alpha was about taking the ugliest, crudest, dirty, masculine walls and turning them into something beautiful and fragile”.

*The Shape of Things to Come, 2017. Photography by Rone, assisted by Tom Franks.*

*Without Darkness There Is No Light, 2017*. *Photography by Rone, assisted by Tom Franks.*

OMEGA. June 2017, Alphington, Melbourne, Australia.

Collaborator: Carly Spooner, interior stylist.

“Omega, a natural progression from Alpha, forged connections between humans and their experiences through delicate manipulations of intimate space.”

*The Green Room, 2017. Photography by Rone.*

EMPIRE. March-April 2019, Sherbrooke, Victoria, Australia.

Collaborators: Carly Spooner, interior stylist; Loose Leaf, organic sculptors; Nick Batterham, composer; Kat Snowden, scent designer.

“To experience Empire was to experience beauty in loss.”

*The Music Room, 2019. Photography by Rone.*

Rone is available now. Cover image by Rone and design by Claire Orrell.

AU$59.99

Posted on July 24, 2020

Posted on July 10, 2020 July 10, 2020

Complete your picture book collection

Delve into the colourful stories and illustrations of these gorgeous picture books, specially chosen by Thames & Hudson staff for the joy they bring our littlest friends and family-members.

Product photography and styling: Jackie Money

Slow Down World

Tai Snaith

Take a whimsical journey from a fast-paced city to the magical imagination of a young girl with Slow Down World, beautifully written and illustrated by Tai Snaith.

Also available: You Might Find Yourself

Hello Australia!

Megan McKean

Follow some cheeky galahs in Hello, Australia! a look-and-find adventure from Megan McKean, author and illustrated of the beloved Hello…! series.

Also available: Hello, Sydney! Hello, Melbourne! Hello, London!

In My Heart

Part of the Growing Hearts series

Written by Jo Witek | Illustrated by Christine Roussey

Cover illustrations: Christine Roussey | Product styling and photography: Jackie Money

In My Heart is a vibrant celebration of feelings, in all their shapes and sizes, and a best-selling instalment of the Growing Hearts series, all lovingly written by Jo Witek and beautifully illustrated by Christine Roussey.

Also available: In My Room, Brave As Can Be, All My Treasures, My Tree and Me, My Little Gifts and With My Daddy.

Bob Goes Pop!

Marion Deuchars

Design: Vanessa Green | Product styling and photography: Jackie Money

Bob the Artist returns in Bob Goes Pop! for a new tale of friendship, self-expression and pop-art, beautifully depicted by the award-winning Marion Deuchars.

Also available: Bob the Artist and Bob’s Blue Period

I Am Love

Part of the I Am series

Written by Susan Verde | Art by Peter H. Reynolds

Book design: Pamela Notarantonio | Product photography and styling: Jackie Money

From the bestselling team Susan Verde and Peter H. Reynolds comes a celebration of love in all its forms, the latest edition of the I Am series.

Also available: I Am Peace, I Am Human and I Am Yoga

Posted on July 10, 2020

Posted on June 22, 2020 June 22, 2020

Complete your fashion bookshelf

Run away with the latest fashion bibles, specially selected by our staff for the best designs, photography and inspiration going around.

Complete your fashion bookshelf today.

Vogue and the Metropolitan Museum of Art Institute

Cover imagery: Fei Fei Sun in Valentino photographed by Steven Meisel, *Vogue,* May 2015 for “China: Through the Looking Glass.” | Cover design: Alberto Orta and Nobi Kashiwagi | Product photography and styling: Jackie Money

This updated and expanded edition of Vogue & The Met covers the past five years of the Met Costume Institute’s exhibitions and galas through the lens of Vogue.

Step Into Paradise

By Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson

Cover imagery: collage of Jenny Kee’s and Linda Jackson’s works | Cover design: Daniel New| Product photography and styling: Jackie Money

Step Into Paradise documents the work of Australia’s best known designers, Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson, spanning more than four decades of their creative practice.

Chanel: The Making of a Collection

Text by Laetitia Cénac | Illustrations by Jean-Philippe Delhomme | Interview by Karl Lagerfeld

Cover illustration: Jean-Philippe Delhomme | Cover design: Shawn Dahl, dahlimama inc. | Product photography and styling: Jackie Money

Chanel: The Making of a Collection is a gorgeously illustrated exploration of the history, culture, and design process of famed fashion house Chanel.

Ralph Lauren: In His Own Fashion

By Alan Flusser

Cover design: Emily Wardwell | Product photography and styling: Jackie Money

Ralph Lauren: In His Own Fashion is a fully illustrated biography of the iconic American designer, told through the lens of his impact on fashion and culture.

Posted on June 22, 2020

Posted on June 16, 2020 July 6, 2020

Flours, Feeding and Failures: Sourdough Troubleshooting with Roly Allen

By now, many of us have completed a back-breaking 1000-piece puzzle, tried our hand at something creative and baked our first (or tenth) loaf of bread.

We put a call-out on social media asking what sourdough issues you were facing and collated our top FAQs. Now, we sit down with sourdough expert and author of How to Raise a Loaf, Roly Allen, to have your questions answered.

What is the difference between bread flour and plain flour?
Bread flour has a higher protein content – around 13% is typical. These proteins (specifically, glutiens) are collectively known as gluten and, because they are looooooong molecules, they hold the dough together, making it stretchier, tighter and able to hold bubbles. That’s why you need bread flour for bread. Plain flour has less gluten. Otherwise they are the same.

I feel like my bread is really dense. What do I need to do to my starter for it to be light and fluffy?
It might not just be the starter, but assuming it is, I find that starters get better the more often that you use them and refresh them. If I bake three or four days running, the starter seems to get bubblier and bubblier. If my starter has just been refreshed once, after spending a period of downtime in the fridge, then things can be flat.

What is the maximum amount of time you can keep your starter in the fridge without feeding it?
Tricky one. I’ve heard tell of a starter that was successfully refreshed after several years dormancy in the back of the fridge, but I’d personally not leave it longer than a couple of weeks. If I knew that my starter would be going a long time unfed, I would make a flourier mixture (less water), which will slow everything down. I would definitely give a dormant starter a couple of refresh-discard cycles for it to get its strength back up before baking.

I learned that the word ‘crumb’ describes the inside of the bread from your book, which is interesting. Despite using a white flour but still can’t achieve the open crumb that I want. Any tips?
Try a mix with slightly more water and an overnight (or ‘retarded’) prove in the fridge. You mix and work the dough in the evening, and let it prove slowly at low temperature before baking in the morning. That might do it!

An open crumb, photography by Ida Riveros

I normally don’t eat white bread. I’ll always choose a wholemeal or multigrain. Do you recommend always starting with a white loaf first because it’s the easiest, or do you think jumping straight into wholemeal is achievable?
It is definitely easier to get a white loaf to rise and have an open crumb. That said, I really like denser brown breads myself and, if that’s what you like, I would just go ahead and start with them. Practice makes perfect, no matter what colour your loaf is.

Cooking time — dutch oven lid on for 45 mins and lid off for the final 15. Do you approve?
If it works for you, then yes!

What does adding a source of steam mean? I just have a regular fan-forced oven and no fancy equipment. What are some ways that I can easily add steam?
It is essential, but easy – just put a cup of hot water into an oven dish in the hot oven before you put the loaf in. The steam stops the crust from setting hard before the middle of the loaf has baked.

I just learned that you can overproof dough. Anything else we might not know about sourdough?
Salt is absolutely essential, and not just for taste. The salt works on a chemical level with the gluten to help the crumb form. If you forget to add salt, or don’t add enough, you get something that doesn’t taste, or look, that good. I’ve learned this the hard way.

What do you think is the biggest mistake people make when they try to make their first loaf?
I can’t speak for everyone, but the mistake I made was leaving the dough to prove for too long. This means that the dough pancakes out and you get a discus-shaped loaf that’s really dense. You need to get that dough into the oven while it’s still nice and springy to the touch.

What are your favourite toppings for freshly baked sourdough?
For breakfast: butter and apricot jam; for lunch, cheese and pickle; with dinner, butter or olive oil. If it’s toasted then it’s Marmite every time (Marmite is similar to Vegemite, but delicious).

There are so many types of bread. Why do you think sourdough is such a craze?
Two reasons. Firstly, it’s a reaction against industrially-produced food. Sourdough bread is traditional, it doesn’t have additives, and you can tell that from how it tastes. Secondly, we are only now starting to understand how important our gut biomes are to our overall health – not just to our digestion. The lacto-bacteria that make sourdough taste slightly sour seem (don’t ask me for the detail!) to have a really positive effect in that department.

How to Raise A Loaf and Fall in Love with Sourdough is available now. Text by Roly Allen and published by Laurence King Publishing.

AU$25

Posted on June 16, 2020

Posted on June 10, 2020 June 10, 2020

Complete your activities collection

These tried and tested activities come highly recommended from our staff for keeping yourself busy. Bake some bread, play a game, convene with oracles or delve into some arts and crafts.

Complete your activities collection today.

How to raise a loaf and fall in love with sourdough

By Roly Allen

Photography: Ida Riveros and Rita Platts. Design: Masumi Briozzo.
Product photography and styling: Jackie Money.

How To Raise A Loaf is your go-to guide for making sourdough. Let bread-master Roly Allen run you through the key techniques of traditional baking, creating a living starter, and mastering a crusty loaf.

Art Oracles

By Katya Tylevich. Illustrations by Mikkel Sommer Christensen.

Illustrations: Mikkel Sommer. Product photography and styling: Jackie Money

Are you suffering from creative block? Struggling to make a difficult life decision? Art Oracles is here for you. Find out what Picasso, Pollock, Kahlo and other great artists would have done with this set of fifty oracle cards.

Extraordinary Things to Cut Out and Collage

By Maria Rivans

Design: Mariana Sameiro. Product photography and styling: Jackie Money

Discover the exciting world of Extraordinary Things to Cut Out and Collage, featuring hundreds of beautiful, quirky, and downright daft images, all here for you to cut out and stick.

Ocean Bingo

Illustrations by Holly Exley

Design: Inca Starzinsky. Product photography and styling: Jackie Money

Ocean Bingo is a family-friendly game is packed with ocean creatures for hours of bingo fun, featuring interesting facts and glorious illustrations designed to delight aquatic aficionados.

Posted on June 10, 2020

Posted on June 9, 2020 June 9, 2020

Vogue & The Met: A Glance at Fashion History

Over the past twenty years, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute has produced, time and time again, fascinating and provocative exhibitions. Their annual exhibition is the most spectacular of its kind, providing a window into significant moments in fashion history. Even more, they reflect and create the contemporary zeitgeist. The show’s opening night fundraiser, commonly known as The Met Gala, is attended by notable stars, young creatives, and industry paragons alike.

Vogue & The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute: Parties, Exhibitions, People unveils the seamless collaboration between The Met and Vogue in bringing both the exhibition and gala to life each year. This updated and expanded version of the book, originally published in 2014, includes the dramatic and daring exhibitions of the past five years. Think 2015’s ‘China Through the Looking Glass’ through to 2019’s unforgettable ‘Camp Notes on Fashion’. In the absence of a 2020 gala, wanted to celebrate this ode to the museum and it’s history with a few of our favourite photographs from the book.

*Photography by Eric Boman © The Metropolitan Museum of Art*

*Left: photography by Gordon von Steiner. Right: photograhy by Ethan James Green*

Vogue & The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute: Parties, Exhibitions, People is available now. Text by Hamish Bowles, foreword by Max Hollein, and introduction by Anna Wintour. Edited by Chloe Malle and originally published by Abrams Books.

AU$90.00

Posted on June 9, 2020

Posted on June 9, 2020 June 9, 2020

Parents’ Notes for Kids of All Ages

After a term of homeschooling, the last thing you’re thinking about is setting another homework task, putting aside time for learning or trying to stretch out that 45 minute activity that your sweet angel completed in less than ten minutes.

For those times when you can’t possibly open up another teacher-resource, we have you covered; welcome to parents’ notes.

What are parents’ notes?

Our parents’ notes are just like teachers’ notes, but without the emphasis on learning. Parents’ notes are about inspiring conversation.

The best thing about our parents’ notes is that you don’t need any extra resources and you don’t need to buy the book. Everything you need is included on one page — the questions, the book’s cover and any other helpful illustrations.

We’ve put together parents’ notes for three of our best-selling Laurence King Publishing titles, one for each age group. You can download your parents notes here on our activity page.

1 to 20 Animals Aplenty

Questions aimed at ages 3-5, download here

Example question: How many animals can you see on the front cover? Can you name them all?

*1 to 20 Animals Aplenty* is a delightful counting book that takes young readers from 1 to 20 – from dogs who have pet frogs and snakes who love to eat cakes to gorillas looking at mirrors and llamas wearing pyjamas! Beautifully illustrated by Katie Viggers and published by Laurence King Publishing.

Bob Goes Pop!

Questions aimed at ages 5+, download here

Example question: What are the physical differences between Bob and Roy?

From award-winning author Marion Deuchars and published by Laurence King Publishing, *Bob Goes Pop* is a charming and funny follow-up to *Bob the Artist* and *Bob’s Blue Period*, all about art and teamwork.

Match a Mummy

Questions aimed at ages 10+, download here

Example question: Based on the cat and cat mummy on the box, what can we assume about the ancient Egyptians’ relationship to cats?

Travel back in time to Ancient Egypt with this new children’s matching game, developed in partnership with the British Museum and published by Laurence King Publishing. Locate and match up the pairs to learn more about how the Egyptians lived.

Posted on June 9, 2020

Posted on May 20, 2020 June 22, 2020

Complete your creative bookshelf

At Thames & Hudson Australia, we pride ourselves on our ‘museum without walls’, our books which explore every interest and spark creative energy.

Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing our top titles for key interest areas, from lifestyle and architecture books, to activities, puzzles and games.

Complete your creative bookshelf today.

Complete your fashion bookshelf

Run away with the latest fashion bibles.

EXPLORE ➔

Complete your activities collection

Fight boredom with our best activities on bread baking, bingo playing, fortune telling and collage making.

DISCOVER ➔

Complete your lifestyle bookshelf

Discover a heady mixture of our favourite books on topics spanning plant medicine, floristry, home plant care and career advice in the creative industry.

Coming soon…

Complete your picture book collection
Complete your architecture bookshelf
Complete your art bookshelf
Complete your interior design bookshelf

Posted on May 20, 2020

Colours in the Time of the Ancients

From one of the world’s most respected paint-makers, David Coles, Chromatopia reveals the stories behind fifty striking pigments. The book spans several time periods; here, we look at some of the colours featured from the ancient world.

Egyptian Blue

This was the first synthetically produced colour.

Invented at around the same time as the Great Pyramids were being built, Egyptian blue’s creation dates back about 5000 years. The Ancient Egyptians believed blue was the colour of the heavens and because of the rarity of naturally occurring blue minerals like azurite and lapis lazuli, they devised a way to manufacture the colour themselves.

Egyptian blue was not produced by blind chance: it was created with precision. Made by heating lime, copper, silica and natron, the pigment’s invention was a development of the ceramic glaze processes. The Egyptians controlled the ﬁring of the raw materials with amazing accuracy, holding their kilns at a crucial temperature close to 830°C.

The famous crown of Queen Nefertiti owes its colour to Egyptian blue and the pigment was used extensively for painting murals, sculptures and sarcophagi. It spread from Egypt to Mesopotamia, Greece and the outer reaches of the Roman Empire and was used at the palace at Knossos, in Pompeii and on Roman wall paintings. Known to the Romans as caeruleum (from which the colour cerulean derives its name), it was widely used throughout the Classical Age, but the knowledge of how to make it was lost with the fall of the Roman Empire.

Discoveries made by Napoleon’s 1798 Egyptian expedition led to further investigation of Egyptian blue; and eventually, in the 1880s, the chemical composition of the pigment was identiﬁed and the manufacturing process was recreated.

Orpiment

Orpiment was the closest imitation to gold.

Its Latin name is auripigmentum (gold paint) and in the classical world, it was believed that this resemblance had deeper alchemical roots. It was even said that the Roman emperor Caligula could extract gold from the mineral.

In fact, orpiment carries a much more dangerous substance. It is a highly toxic sulphide of arsenic. The Persian word zarnikh (gold-coloured) became arsenikon in Greek and then arrhenicum in Latin, from which the English word ‘arsenic’ is derived. The Romans were well aware of orpiment’s poisonous nature and used slave labour to mine it. For the unlucky slaves this was, in essence, a death sentence.

Orpiment was used in Ancient Egypt as a cosmetic, taking its place in history alongside other deadly pigments used in makeup. It was used in painting for centuries throughout Persia and Asia, but in Europe, because of the dominance of lead-based yellows, it was most often employed in manuscripts.

A manufactured version, known as king’s yellow, was available from the 17th century. The name is believed to come from Arabic alchemy, which described orpiment and realgar as the ‘two kings’.

Both the naturally occurring and synthetic versions of orpiment were incompatible with other commonly used pigments, particularly lead-based pigments like ﬂake white, and copper-based pigments like verdigris and malachite. It was infamous for turning them black. With the introduction in the 19th century of the more chemically inert and less toxic cadmium yellow, orpiment fell out of usage.

Woad

Woad was widely used as a dye in Europe as early as the Stone Age.

Ancient Britons covered their bodies with woad to face the Roman legions and it is said that they struck fear into Julius Caesar himself.

The ﬁrst part of the woad-making process involved taking fresh leaves of the woad plant, Isatis tinctoria, grinding them to a pulp, rolling them into balls the size of large apples and leaving them to dry in the sun. They could then be stored and used at a later date. Like indigo, the dye is extracted by fermentation. Traditional recipes specify that the plant be soaked in urine under the heat of the sun and trampled for three days. After that, the remaining liquid is a yellowish colour.

The indigo molecule is the blue colourant in woad. The magical quality of indigo is that the distinctive blue colour only develops after the textiles are removed from the dye bath and exposed to air. During the dyeing process, a scum called ﬂorey, known as the ﬂower of woad, also develops on the surface. This was skimmed oﬀ and dried so it could be used separately as a paint colour.

The fermentation process releases large quantities of ammonia. Far worse, however, is that the plant depletes the soil that it grows in, leaving an infertile wasteland in its wake. Laws were passed in medieval Europe to curb this devastation.

Although indigo was known since Imperial Rome, the more colour-intense Indian indigo was not readily available in the west until commercial quantities were imported at the beginning of the 17th century. It supplanted woad, and production rapidly declined as a result.

Chromatopia is available now. Text by David Coles, photography by Adrian Lander, and cover design by Evi. O Studio.

AU$34.99

Posted on May 20, 2020

Posted on May 18, 2020 May 19, 2020

Staying Green in Quarantine

Trying to figure out how to make the most of your time at home? Environmental activist and author of How to Save the World for Free Natalie Fee says it’s the perfect time to reset some of our routines and make small changes to encourage more environmentally friendly behaviour.

Natalie Fee on How to Save the World for Free

Don’t waste water

With all this extra hand washing, we’re using a lot more water. Keep a bowl in your sink to catch the water as you wash your hands then use it to water your plants. Or with all that extra time on your sparkling (er, dry and cracked?) hands, add a bit of tea tree oil to it to wash your floors. When it comes to the loo, if it’s yellow, let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down.

Additionally, when making those never-ending cups of tea, make sure to only boil what you need, as kettles use up a serious amount of energy. If you forget and overfill the kettle, stick the rest in a hot water bottle or in a flask for herbal tea later in the day.

Take up cycling

If you’re avoiding public transport and tempted to jump in your car, don’t! If you’re physically able, get on your bike instead. Cycling is the perfect way to stay fit, get some fresh air and do some low-key, local shopping.

Take the time to research greener options

If you’ve got some ‘white space’ in your diary, block some time out to actually do some online switching of your heat or personal finances services. Switch to an ethical bank, a green energy provider, an earth friendly loo paper or a conscious laundry detergent.

Keep the heat off

As the days start to get colder, consider layering up to stay warm instead of whacking the heating on. Put some tights on under your jeans and wear a beanie or warm hat (maybe not when on Zoom or Skype, unless it’s a good look for you).

Don’t waste electricity

If your home has enough natural light for you to work, don’t turn your lights on during the day. Remember to switch off your electricals at the socket at night to save energy and money. And you’ll probably sleep better with the WiFi off anyway. “Alexa, stop listening to my conversations and using a crapload of data to do it”.

How to Save the World for Free is available now. Text by Natalie Fee, published by Laurence King Publishing

AU$25.00

Posted on May 18, 2020

Posted on May 13, 2020 May 20, 2020

Complete your lifestyle bookshelf

This curated list of lifestyle books are the most current and coveted recommendations from our staff.

Right now, we’re delving into plants for the home, plants for medicine, flower arranging and career inspiration.

Complete your lifestyle bookshelf today.

Plants for the People

By Erin Lovell Verinder

Plants for the People is a beginner’s guide to plant medicine by qualified herbalist and nutritionist Erin Lovell Verinder. Delve into the power of herbs by learning how to harness their healing energy.

Cover design: Alissa Dinallo | Photography: Georgia Blackie | Published by Thames & Hudson Australia | Product photography and styling: Jackie Money

The Flower Expert

By Fleur McHarg

“…tips, tricks and endless floral inspiration.” – SUNDAY LIFE

Master florist Fleur McHarg shares her wisdom in The Flower Expert, a practical guide to flower arranging and meditation on the form, beauty and symbolism of flowers.

Cover design: Evi-O studio | Cover photography: Nikole Ramsay | Product photography and styling: Jackie Money

Make a Living Living

By Nina Karnikowski

Make a Living Living by travel maven Nina Karnikowski is for anyone who has ever wished they could build a successful career doing something they love.

Designer: Mariana Sameiro|Product photography and styling: Jackie Money

How to raise a plant and make it love you back

By Morgan Doane and Erin Harding

Learn how to nurture your leafy co-habitants with How to raise a plant and make it love you back by Morgan Doane and Erin Harding. This easy guide to plant care covers plant selection and maintenance; easy-to-follow care instructions; DIY projects; and plant styling tips.

Design: Masumi Briozzo | Product photography and styling: Jackie Money

Posted on May 13, 2020

Posted on May 4, 2020 May 4, 2020

Shortlist: Illustrated Book of the Year at the 2019 ABIAs

Australia Modern has been shortlisted for the Illustrated Book of the Year award at the 2019 Australian Book Industry Awards. We’d like to extend a warm congratulations to the authors, Hannah Lewi and Philip Goad, the designer, Stuart Geddes, and all of the contributors and editors involved with the creation of the book.

Get to know Australia Modern

Australia Modern is the most complete survey of modernist Australian architecture, interiors and landscape design spanning 1925 to 1975. With a focus on buildings and places that still exist, the book features 100 significant site examples by Australia’s most revered architects, rich archival imagery and expert essays exploring how modernism has shaped Australian society.

Photography: Wylde Street Apartments, Potts Point, NSW, 1947–51, Max Dupain, 1953 (left) and Crossed blades, Alexander Calder, 1967, sculpture. Australia Square, Sydney, NSW, 1961–67, Max Dupain, 1968, © Penelope Seidler (right)

The book pays tribute to all types of examples of Australian modernism, whether big or small, famous or everyday. From the Sydney Opera House and the National Gallery of Victoria, to a Pop-Brutalist courthouse in regional Victoria or a modest lawn bowls club, Australia Modern recognises both the iconic and the now-obsolete. As the authors note, these examples are ‘part of our history, tangible physical reminders of the twentieth-century hopes, aspirations and growth of our local communities, cities, towns and landscapes’.

Photography: Night view of Lonsdale Street, looking towards ICI House, Melbourne, VIC, Mark Strizic, 1964 (left) and Interior, Lobster Bay House, Pretty Beach, NSW, 1971–72, Michael Wee, 2014 (right)

Where to catch the award ceremony – that’s right, you’re invited!

This year, the ABIAs will be held virtually via the official YouTube channel. The perk of going virtual? Anyone can tune in to watch the announcement of the winners on Wednesday 13th May from 4pm AEST.

Australia Modern is available now. Text by Hannah Lewi and Philip Goad and design by Stuart Geddes.

AU$80.00

Posted on May 4, 2020

Posted on April 22, 2020 April 22, 2020

At home with Thames & Hudson Australia

Like so many throughout the world, our team is working from home. Some of us are surrounded by plants, some by arts and crafts, all of us by books. We love seeing the ways people are making new workspaces at home and we wanted to share some of ours with you.

Michelle Brasington | Publicity Manager

Here is my workspace. I have a lot of light streaming in through the kitchen window in the mornings and it prompts me to get the dishes done before I start work!

*Design Lives Here* design: Claire Orrell. *Plants for the People* cover design: Alissa Dinallo. Photography: Georgia Blackie.

My go-to books at the moment are:

Plants for People: A modern guide to plant medicine

This ode to plants reconnects me to nature making me feel relaxed and comforted. I am working my way through Erin’s recipes for teas and my favourite so far is the ‘daily multi’ which is packed with nutritional goodies.

Design Lives Here

This is definitely an aspirational book for me! I find it fascinating how these bespoke pieces of furniture and lighting have found their home and fit so well in these stunning architecturally designed houses.

My co-worker, Charlie the whippet, is probably the most stylish part of my home! I love all dogs, but there’s a special place in my heart for whippets. She’s a good listener and never argues when I talk to her. All she wants is a pat and a dog biscuit!

Jackie Money | Marketing Manager

Firstly, these pictures of my house are entirely misleading, because I could never keep it so clean. Thank you to this content piece for making me tidy up. Secondly, welcome to my (working from) home.

My desk gets some lovely afternoon sunshine, making a great natural filter for video meetings. I keep that pile of work books on the chair next to me for easy reference, and art supplies at the ready for my lunch break.

RIGHT: Framed print by Carlos ARL, lovingly given as a birthday gift

When the sun gets a bit much, I can retreat to my bedroom where the bookshelves live. The books which don’t fit there have to live in piles stashed around the apartment. That doesn’t mean I love them any less than the bookshelf ones, but it does mean I have more books than I have proper places to put them.

*The Flower Expert* cover design: Evi-O Studios. Cover photography: Nikole Ramsay.

Lately, I’ve been pouring over The Flower Expert by Fleur McHarg. The only flower I could identify before reading this book was a sunflower, and now I can tell you what a rose looks like. Maybe even a daisy. It has so many brilliant tips on arranging flowers, like what colours to put together and how much green stuff (ie. foliage) to use. If you’re a flower novice like me, or a master like Fleur, this book will bring you pure, colourful joy.

Lisa Schuurman | Editorial Assistant

Here is my work from home desk. I’ve retreated to my parents’ house on the Mornington Peninsula for some fresh air and space while self-isolating. Currently half my desk is my mum’s sewing area and the other half is taken up by my computer, books, flowers from the garden and quite often Pepper, my dog. She has a habit of sitting in my chair but most of the time she’s under the desk trying to nibble my toes.

I am one of those messy people who will tell you everything is organised, which is half true, but I definitely try to squish everything in wherever I can. The bookcase includes: some of my favourite THA books, a lot of YA from when I ran an online book club, a yellow duck, a fifteen-year-old lucky horse shoe with my name stamped into it, my favourite vinyl records, a small snow globe of a sheep from NZ and one of my favourite postcards that says ‘de wereld is mooier met jou’ which translates from Dutch to ‘the world is more beautiful with you’.

To match my slightly chaotic shelves, I am also a messy reader. I start multiple books and never finish them, don’t read for many months and then I’ll end up reading multiple books at a time. One book I haven’t put down is Portraits Destroyed by Julie Cotter. I started at THA just when we were beginning to work on the book but I never got a chance to read it until now. Julie Cotter has such great insight into the fascinating world of portraits and the role they play in history. You also can’t deny the power of a great pic section in bringing the words to life.

Posted on April 22, 2020

Posted on April 21, 2020 April 28, 2020

A Q&A with design expert Penny Craswell

Photography by Fiona Susanto

Sydney-based editor, writer and curator Penny Craswell has built a career doing what she loves: showcasing exceptional Australian architecture and interiors and writing about why they really matter. Now, Penny has released her first book, Design Lives Here, a compelling look at the connection between spaces and objects that puts the spotlight on local makers. We spoke to Penny about the inspiration behind the book, her favourite project featured, and her predictions for the future of Australian contemporary design.

Where did your love for design, architecture and interiors stem from?

It all started in Amsterdam, where I had originally planned to do an internship for a photography magazine (my first degree was Art History and Curatorship).The photography magazine didn’t have enough desks, so I went to Frame magazine, which happens to be the world’s biggest (and best) design magazine. I fell in love with design there, and when I moved back to Australia, I decided to pursue a career in design magazines and writing.

How does this translate into your blog, The Design Writer?

My blog features amazing design happening in Australia – from architectural and interiors projects like houses, restaurants and retail, to the best design objects, furniture and lighting. I also promote ethical design – design that is doing good for the environment and society.

Design Lives Here goes a step further by paying homage to local designers and makers who have crafted bespoke pieces of furniture and lighting for stunning Australian residential architecture and interiors. What led you to this project and how did it take shape?

I have a real love of interiors stemming from my time as Deputy Editor of Indesign magazine and Editor of Artichoke magazine. Far more than just colours and patterns, it is an incredible skill of understanding how spaces are used and how they should be proportioned – a too-large room is just as badly designed as a too-small room. But I also love design objects – my masters thesis was about objects and products, and how people attach stories to them – how they are made, how they are used. This book combines the two – it’s about the stories attached to both interior and object.

The idea for the book was to show the beauty of Australian design – I wanted to pair each house or apartment with one piece of Australian furniture or lighting design. In some cases, I found the pairing through the architect or interior designer and in some cases I found it through the furniture or lighting designer.

For those who haven’t read Design Lives Here, can you tell us a bit more about the importance of spaces and objects being connected by the design process?

Every designer, whether they’re an architect, interior designer, object designer or fashion designer, starts with an idea and then works this through various iterations – sketching by hand or on a computer or both – and then works with materials to make that idea come to life. Through exploring how something was made, we can peel back the layers and truly understand its meaning and value.

Is there a takeaway for our readers on how they can bring this ethos into their own homes?

I would say that the first solution is not necessarily the best solution – sometimes you need to go through a process to find the right answer. Obviously, professional designers are the experts, so hire them if you can to help you, especially on larger projects. I would recommend that everyone consider buying Australian design – the quality and originality of the design is there, often without the huge price tag.

Do you have a favourite project from Design Lives Here?

I tried to choose a range of projects – large and small, urban to remote, for small families and large. But for me, my favourite has to be Indigo Slam by Smart Design Studio – it is a truly monumental house that is also intimate in places, and the furniture, designed and made by Khai Liew in Adelaide, is exquisite.

What would you say is the most unique object featured, and is there more to its story than revealed in the book?

I really love the Black Sambuca Chandelier by Ruth Allen – she is a glass artist and she recycles used Black Sambuca bottles – those long elegant glass shapes – into pendant lights. I didn’t mention it in the book, but Ruth told me that black glass is quite rare so working this way offers the designer/maker the chance to recycle something that would otherwise be post-consumer waste, while also working with a rare material.

*Sunflower chair (Khai Liew) at Indigo Slam (Smart Design Studio), photography by David Roche*

*Black Sambuca chandelier (Ruth Allen) at Kiah House (Austin Maynard Architects), photography by Tess Kelly*

In the book, you say that ‘the Australian dream of owning a quarter-acre block with a picket fence and a garage is no longer relevant – or at least no longer so simple.’ Can you explain why this is?

It is partly because property prices are so high these days that many young people can’t afford a mortgage on one salary the way our parents could – and sometimes they can’t afford it with two salaries. These days, we may not need a garage as many people prefer bicycles and/or public transport. Also, for financial reasons, apartments are becoming more popular in Australia, as is inter-generational living.

Where do you think Australian contemporary design is headed?

All signs show that Australian design is continuing to grow. I think we need to work on educating the general public about the value of design – there is a burgeoning design industry in Australia and people need to know they can choose to buy Australian design. As long as this continues to happen, the future looks bright for designers, makers, manufacturers and brands looking to grow their business.

What other projects are you working on, and what’s next for you?

I’m working on my blog right now and doing some preliminary research for my next book!

Design Lives Here is available now. Text by Penny Craswell and cover design by Claire Orrell.

AU$59.99

Posted on April 21, 2020

Posted on April 16, 2020 April 20, 2020

Mind Travel: Nina Karnikowski Takes You on Your Wildest Journey Yet

Words by Nina Karnikowski, author of Make a Living Living, introduction by Bianca Jafari

Nina Karnikowski is one of Australia’s most loved travel writers. Her career has seen her journeying through Mongolia in ex-Russian military vehicles, exploring the Namibian desert in open-sided safari trucks and dodging icebergs in Antarctica in an icebreaker ship. But, for Nina, travel is more than just a job.

Our adventures (imagined, planned or taken) shape a unique part of who we are. They help form our beliefs, expand our way of thinking and provide endless inspiration. With many of the world’s international borders now closed, there’s no obvious replacement to fill the void. Now, Nina brings us one step closer, taking us on a journey that defies physical boundaries.

Nina Karnikowski, photography by Peter Windrim

Last week, I learned a new word. My mum taught it to me, sending me a BBC article she’d read about something called ‘fernweh’. Call it motherly intuition, but it was the exact word I had been searching for. It means, literally, ‘distance sickening’, and nods to that deep craving we all occasionally have to see far-flung places.

‘What if our lust for travel causes us a deep yearning pain, an ache that reminds us we have to get out and see the world?’ asked the BBC article. ‘What if we’re trapped inside our homes because a virus has taken the Earth and its inhabitants hostage, and we feel despair that we simply cannot travel at all?’

The story was a comfort. Having been a travel writer for the past seven years, visiting a dozen countries a year on assignments covering destinations as diverse as Antarctica, India and Zambia, to Japan, Nepal and Peru, the sudden end to this constant wandering has left me feeling stagnant and uninspired.

Reading about ‘fernweh’, though, reminded me how many other travel-hungry humans are stuck in their homes feeling this very same thing – this growing restlessness, this deep thirst for the exotic and the strange and the extraordinary, that seems increasingly far away with every passing day. Maybe, I’ve been thinking, in the absence of real travel and in the face of this very real crisis, we might need to start escaping for some mind travel occasionally, taking inner journeys in the absence of outer ones.

But how do we plan these inner journeys? Well, I think we start by appealing to our senses. This past week, for example, when an intense craving to visit India crept up on me, I brewed pots of sweet masala chai and listened to my favourite Bollywood music and burned nag champa incense and dreamt of the wild adventures I’ll eventually have in the Indian Himalayas when this life pause is over. And yes, I also spent time leafing through the pages of Make a Living Living to find the India tales tucked away in there. It helped.

Mukul Bhatia, one of 26 inspirational creatives featured in *Make a Living Living*, photography by Aleena Das

Films, books and podcasts are other things we can ‘pack’ for these mental journeys around the globe. Over the past week I’ve escaped to 18th-century Qing dynasty China while watching Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, northern India via Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited, and Greenland, Iceland and Afghanistan during The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Diving into transportive travel podcasts like Conde Nast Traveller’s Women Who Travel and Travel With Rick Steves has also proven to be a wonderful escape portal. I’ve spent time ‘travelling’ via forgotten coffee table books, to Africa via Peter Beard’s stunning photographs, and India through Steve McCurry’s. I’ve also been dipping into Paul Bowles’s Travels, Collected Writing, 1950-93, covering tales from Morocco to Kenya, Thailand to Sri Lanka and beyond, and Leigh Ann Henion’s Phenomenal, a Hesitant Adventurer’s Search for Wonder in the Natural World, which whisks the reader away to Mexico to witness the great monarch butterfly migration, to Venezuela to see their notorious lightning storms, and Hawai’i to climb active volcanoes.

Mood boarding is another fun way I’ve found to mind travel, grabbing a stack of old magazines, some scissors and glue and a bunch of coloured pencils, as well as found objects like coins, flowers and feathers, and cutting and pasting my way to a faraway land. It’s a way of immersing yourself with a place in a tactile way (I explain in further in one of the eight creativity-stoking exercises peppered throughout Make a Living Living), and could even prove a useful starting point for organising your next journey when we’re all ready to take flight again.

Mood boarding, photography by Peter Windrim

‘From mimic to master’, one of eight exercises in *Make a Living Living*

Some of the best ‘adventures’ I’ve taken since this all started, though, have been while sitting still. Simply sitting and listening to the sound of my breath in my body has allowed me to not only accept the situation just as it is, and to transform fear into curiosity and creative thinking, but also to cut through the noise and find fresh time and energy to share with those closest to me.

Home meditations and yoga classes via YogaGlo.com have been pulling me out of catastrophic thinking, as have listening to podcasts like Ten Percent Happier by Dan Harris, a practical deep-dive into mindfulness and Buddhism aimed at ambitious modern listeners, and those by Buddhist teacher Tara Brach. These tools have opened up potent periods of stillness and clarity in my days that have made me realise that the greatest adventure any of us might hope to take right now, or perhaps ever, is that of going nowhere at all.

*Make a Living Living* is for anyone who has ever wished they could build a successful career doing something they love. Structured around the stories of inspiring individuals, from a vegan chocolatier to a nomadic photographer and a tiny-house builder, the book explains how they achieved their ideal existence, and the challenges they faced along the way.

Make a Living Living, published in March 2020, by Laurence King Publishing, $29.99, available here.

Posted on April 16, 2020

Posted on April 9, 2020 April 9, 2020

Kids games and activities to entertain the whole family

We took our epic collection of fun, family activities on a balcony picnic to give them a whirl! Read on to see what we’re playing and how they work.

Jungle Bingo

For ages 3+

Classic bingo with a jungle twist! Play along with the blue Ulysses butterfly and the inedible tomato frog, along with many other exotic jungle creatures. Easy to play and simply delightful, for all animal-loving children and adults.

LEFT: 150 tokens, 48 jungle tokens in one lion head box, 8 double-sided game cards and one large game board | UPPER RIGHT: game card and tokens | LOWER RIGHT: close up of the beautifully designed game board, tokens and lion head box, illustrated by Caroline Selmes

Jungle Bingo, illustrated by Caroline Selmes. Published by Laurence King Publishing.

$29.99

Build Your Own Mars Colony

For ages 6+

Build Your Own Mars Colony is a pop-out assembly set, no scissors or glue necessary. Set up your own rockets, astronauts, robots and hover craft. Heck, name your space cat Major Tom and enjoy hours of extraterrestrial fun.

UPPER LEFT: flat lay example of two pop-out boards, illustrated by Jana Glatt | LOWER LEFT: close up of assembled pieces | RIGHT: Mars colony, assembled and ready for take-off!

Build your Own Mars Colony, illustrated by Jana Glatt. Published by Laurence King Publishing.

$24.99

I Saw It First! Ocean

For ages 4+

300 sea creatures are hiding on this game board – can you be the first to spot the clown fish or the killer whale? The rules are simple: take a creature token from the box and show it to the group. The first to spot the creature on the big board, wins the token. The one with the most tokens, wins!

LEFT: the great double-sided, hexagon board, tokens and token box | RIGHT: close up of the beautifully designed sea creature tokens and board

LEFT: sea creature tokens sunny side up, featuring gorgeous illustrations by Caroline Selmes | RIGHT: sea creature tokens, flipped over to reveal their proper names

I Saw It First! Ocean, illustrated by Caroline Selmes. Published by Laurence King Publishing.

$29.99

The Superhero Handbook

For ages 6+

All you need to know to become the ultimate superhero! Featuring 20 activities and a sticker sheet, this colourful activity book reveals superhero secrets like how to make yourself invisible, and handy tips from finding your superhero name to designing your costume.

LEFT: The superhero handbook featuring illustrations by Jason Doyle | UPPER RIGHT: open page on superhero gadgets, with words by James Doyle and more illustrations from Jason Ford | LOWER RIGHT: flicking through the pages

The Superhero Handbook, text and illustrations by James Doyle and Jason Ford. Published by Laurence King Publishing.

$19.99

Puzzle Play

For ages 2+

Colours, animals and numbers combine in this beautiful jigsaw. Children will love these five simple puzzles, making learning fun.

LEFT: Puzzle play box surrounded by its colourful puzzle pieces | UPPER RIGHT: the five four-piece puzzles | LOWER LEFT: close up of a puzzle combination, featuring the beautiful illustrations by Jana Glatt

Puzzle Play, illustrated by Jana Glatt. Published by Laurence King Publishing.

$19.99

The Big Sticker Book of Birds

For ages 3+

This book is packed with more stickers you can shake a tail feather at (over 200!) and glorious activities to stick them on. Design a hoopoe’s crown, stick the right egg in its nest and play blackbird bingo in this beautifully designed sticker activity book.

LEFT: The Big Sticker Book of Birds by Yuval Zommer| UPPER RIGHT: Puffins, chillin’ and one making their way through a maze | LOWER RIGHT: stickers! So many stickers.

The Big Sticker Book of Birds, text and illustrations by Yuval Zommer. Published by Thames & Hudson UK.

$17.99

Dogs & Puppies: A Memory Game

For ages 4+

Featuring 25 breeds of your favourite four-legged friends, this memory game will keep you entertained for hours.

LEFT: open game box, featuring the classic card design on one card and a golden retriever puppy on the other. We’ve named him Bert | RIGHT: game cards, featuring the Pug cards face up. All illustrations by Marcel George

Dogs & Puppies: A Memory Game, illustrated by Marcel George. Published by Laurence King Publishing.

$21.99

Posted on April 9, 2020

Posted on March 25, 2020 June 4, 2020

#SupportingLocal: bookstores offering delivery and more

Now is a more important time than ever to support your local bookstores. Stock up for your personal library and check out our live list of bookstores offering free delivery services, pick-up options and over-the-phone book recommendations to get you through.

This is a live list, get in touch if you would like to add a service being offered by a local bookstore.

VICTORIA

Aesop’s Attic (Kyneton): Accepting phone orders and offering a drive through pick-up service.

Antipodes Gallery & Bookshop (Sorrento): Accepting phone and email orders and offering free home delivery to local suburbs.

Avenue Bookstore (Richmond, Albert Park and Elsternwick): Accepting phone and email orders and offering free same day delivery to local suburbs for orders over $30 placed before 3pm.

Avoca Hill Bookstore (South Yarra): Free delivery to local suburbs for orders over $20 and next day delivery for in stock items.

Beaumaris Books (Beaumaris): Over-the-phone book recommendations, free gift wrapping and offering free delivery to local suburbs.

Benn’s Books (Bentleigh): Accepting phone, Instagram and email orders and offering free delivery to Bentleigh, East Bentleigh, McKinnon, Moorabbin and Murrumbeena.

Blarney Books (Port Fairy): Accepting phone and Facebook orders and offering free delivery to local suburbs.

Book and Paper (Williamstown): Accepting Instagram, Facebook and text orders and offering home delivery to local suburbs.

Brunswick Bound (Brunswick): Accepting phone and online orders and offering free delivery to Brunswick, Brunswick East, Brunswick West, North Carlton, North Fitzroy, Coburg, Moonee Ponds and Essendon.

Brunswick Street Bookstore (Fitzroy): Accepting phone, email and online orders and offering free delivery to local suburbs.

Collins Moonee Ponds: Accepting online orders and offering click and collect services.

Collins Ballarat: Accepting online orders and offering free home delivery within Ballarat.

Coventry Bookstore (South Melbourne): Accepting online orders and offering free delivery for orders over $20 with next day delivery for items that are in stock.

Diabolik Books (Mount Hawthorn): Accepting phone orders for delivery and offering home delivery within a 3km radius of the store.

Dymocks CBD: Accepting phone and email orders and offering free delivery for orders over $50.

Dymocks Camberwell: Accepting phone and email orders and offering free delivery to local suburbs.

Dymocks Tooronga: Accepting phone and email orders and offering free delivery to local suburbs.

Eltham Bookshop (Eltham): Accepting phone and email orders and offering delivery to local suburbs.

Escape Hatch Books (Kew East): Free delivery to local suburbs.

Fairfield Books (Fairfield): Accepting phone orders and offering both a pick-up from your car service and free delivery to local suburbs.

Farrell’s Bookshop (Mornington): Accepting phone and email orders and offering free delivery to local suburbs.

Happy Valley (Collingwood): Accepting phone and email orders and offering free delivery to Collingwood, Fitzroy, Clifton Hill and Carlton North.

Hares & Hyenas (Fitzroy): Delivery via Books-on-Bikes for those staying in their homes or who cannot afford postage.

Hill of Content (CBD): Accepting online, phone and email orders and offering free delivery for orders over $50.

Ink Bookshop (Winchcombe): Free delivery in Mansfield and surrounding areas.

Jeffreys Books (Malvern): Accepting phone, email and online orders.

Just Books (Bairnsdale): Free home delivery to customers in Bairnsdale, Lakes Entrance and surrounding areas.

Metropolis Bookshop (CBD): Accepting online orders and offering free postage delivery for orders over $50.

My Bookshop by Corrie Perkins (Toorak): Accepting phone orders and offering home delivery within a 20km radius of the store as well as a same-day delivery service if order is placed before 3pm.

Neighbourhood Books (Northcote): Accepting online orders and offering free delivery to Northcote, Thornbury, Preston, Reservoir, Fairfield, Carlton North, Carlton, Fitzroy North, Fitzroy, Collingwood, Princes Hill, Clifton Hill and Brunswick.

New Leaves (Macedon Ranges): Accepting phone orders and offering free delivery to the Macedon Ranges area.

Paperback Bookshop (CBD): Accepting phone and email orders.

Readings (Carlton, Doncaster, Hawthorn, St Kilda and Malvern): Accepting online orders and offering free delivery for orders over $60.

Squishy Minnie (Kyneton): Accepting online orders and offering free delivery within the Macedon Ranges.

The Book Bird (Geelong West): Accepting phone, Instagram and email orders and offering free delivery to Geelong, Geelong West, North Geelong, Newtown, Manifold Heights, Rippleside, Hamlin Heights, Herne Hill, Bell Post Hill, and Bell Park.

The Bookshop at Queenscliff: Accepting phone and email orders and offering free delivery to the local area.

The Grumpy Swimmer (Elwood): Accepting phone and email orders and offering free delivery to Elwood and local suburbs for orders over $25.

The Leaf Bookshop (Ashburton): Over-the-phone book recommendations, accepting phone orders and offering free delivery within a 5km radius of the store.

The Little Bookroom (Carlton North): Accepting online orders and offering free delivery to Carlton North, Carlton, Fitzroy North, Fitzroy, Princes Hill, Clifton Hill, Brunswick, Northcote and Coburg.

The Sun Bookshop and The Younger Sun (Yarraville): Accepting phone orders and offering free same day delivery to Yarraville, Seddon and Kingsville, and next-day deliveries by car to Spotswood and Newport.

Thesaurus Books (Brighton): Accepting phone and email orders and offering free delivery to Brighton, Brighton East, Hampton and Bentleigh.

Top Titles Bookstore (Brighton): Accepting phone orders and offering free delivery to local suburbs.

Torquay Books (Torquay): Accepting online orders and offering delivery to local suburbs.

T.S. Bookshop (CBD): Accepting phone and online orders between 10am and 5pm, Monday through Friday, and offering free delivery across Australia for orders over $50.

Turn the Page (Cowes): Accepting phone orders and offering local delivery.

Verso Books (Healesville): Free delivery to local suburbs.

NSW

Beachside Bookshop (Avalon): Accepting phone, email and online orders and offering both a carpark pick-up service and free delivery to local suburbs.

Berkelouw Books (Cronulla): Accepting phone and email orders and offering free home delivery to Cronulla, Kurnell, Woolooware, Caringbah, Miranda, Gymea, Kirrawee and Sutherland on the 26th March.

Berkelouw Books (Hornsby): Personalised, curated book lists as well as pick up and home delivery with free shipping for orders over $99.

Berkelouw Books (Leichhardt): Curated book lists here, accepting phone orders and offering $5 delivery for orders over $49 or free delivery for orders over $99 to local suburbs.

Berkelouw Books (Rose Bay): Free home delivery to Rose Bay, Vaucluse, Watsons Bay, Dover Heights, Point Piper and Bellevue Hill.

Better Read than Dead (Newtown): Delivering curated staff picks right to your desktop or phone screen via their Virtual Bookseller which you can access here, and offering free delivery across Australia.

Book Bazaar (Umina Beach): Offering free delivery to local suburbs.

Bookoccino (Avalon): Accepting phone and email orders and offering free delivery within a 10km radius of the store.

BooksPlus (Bathurst): Free delivery within Bathurst.

Collins Booksellers (Orange): Offering free delivery across Orange.

Dymocks (Chatswood): Accepting phone and email orders for delivery.

Gertrude and Alice (Bondi Beach): Accepting phone orders and home delivery around the Bondi and Tamarama area.

Gleebooks (Glebe): Offering free postage delivery to Inner Western suburbs or Australia-wide for orders over $50.

Harry Hartog (all stores): Offering curated book lists here.

Harbour Bookshop (Ulladulla): Accepting phone, email and social media orders and offering $6 delivery across Ulladulla.

Kinokuniya (Sydney CBD): Accepting phone and online orders and offering over-the-phone book recommendations.

Lost in Books (Fairfield): Offering delivery across Australia and digital creative programs.

Megalong Books (Leura): Recommendations over the phone and free home delivery to local residents in the Upper Mountains

Oscar and Friends (Double Bay): Free home delivery in Surry Hills, Redfern, Double Bay and Bellevue Hill.

Potts Point Bookshop (Potts Point): Accepting phone and online orders and offering free delivery to local suburbs.

Reader’s Companion (Armidale): Free delivery to customers in Armidale, Uralla and Guyra district.

The Book Room at Byron (Byron Bay): Free same day book delivery in the Byron shire and Lennox Head.

The Bookshop (Bowral and Kiama): Personally curated bookstacks, accepting phone and email orders, and offering delivery to local suburbs.

The Little Lost Bookshop (Katoomba): Accepting phone, web and email orders and offering free delivery across Katoomba.

The Wandering Bookseller (Katoomba): Accepting email orders and offering free delivery Australia-wide.

Wise Words Bookshop (Moree): Accepting phone or DM orders and both mail order and home delivery.

TAS

Fullers Bookshop (Hobart): $5 delivery across Tasmania.

Petrarch’s Bookshop (Launceston): Delivery to Launceston.

The Devonport Bookshop (Devonport): Accepting phone orders and offering free delivery across the Devonport area.

The Hobart Bookshop (Hobart): Free delivery within the Hobart metropolitan area as well as a pick-up service.

ACT

Dymocks Canberra: Free delivery in the ACT.

Dymocks Belconnen: Free delivery in the ACT and Murrumbateman.

QLD

Avid Reader (West End): Free delivery to local suburbs and free postage delivery across Australia for orders over $50.

Books@Stones (Stones Corner): Free delivery across Australia until April 8th.

Dymocks (Brisbane): Free delivery for orders over $75.

Dymocks (Toowoomba): Free delivery to people over 70 and $2 shipping to local suburbs.

Folio Books (Brisbane CBD): Accepting phone and email orders and offering free postage to Brisbane customers for orders of two books or more.

Mad Hatters Bookshop (Manly): Free delivery to Wynnum, Manly and suburbs within 5km of the store for orders over $30.

Mary Who? (Townsville): Accepting phone orders and offering free delivery to the inner Townsville area for orders over $50.

Riverbend Books (Bulimba): Accepting phone and online orders and offering both a pick-up option and home delivery to postcodes 4170 and 4171.

Sequel Books (Moorooka): Accepting phone and email orders and offering free home delivery to local suburbs.

The Book Tree (Toowoomba): $2 home delivery to customers in the 4350 postcode.

Where the Wild Things Are (West End): Accepting phone orders and offering offering free home delivery to postcodes 4170 and 4171 and free delivery to other areas for orders over $50.

Beaufort Street Books (Mount Lawley): Free delivery within a 5km radius of the store.

Collins (Cottesloe): Accepting online and phone orders and offering free delivery in Western Australia.

Collins (Bunbury): Free home delivery on purchases over $30 to Bunbury, Eaton, Australind and Dalyellup areas and postage to other areas for $6.95.

Crow Books (East Victoria Park): Accepting phone and email orders and offering home delivery to local suburbs.

Dymocks (Busselton): Free home delivery within the South-West, including same-day delivery if in-stock books are ordered before 2:30pm.

Dymocks (Morley): Accepting phone and email orders and home delivery at a reduced price of $2 for Booklover members or $5 for non-members in the suburbs of Bassendean, Bayswater, Inglewood, Kiara, Mirrabooka, Morley, Nollamara, Noranda, Tuart Hill and Yokine.

Dymocks (Karrinyup): Accepting phone and email orders and home delivery at a reduced price of $2 for Booklover members or $5 for non-members in the suburbs of Karrinyup, Trigg, Innaloo, Gwelup, Scarborough, North Beach and Karine.

Dymocks (Joondalup): Accepting phone orders and offering free local delivery.

My Little Bookshop (Halls Head): Free delivery from Perth metro area to Bunbury.

Paperbird Books (Fremantle): Free delivery to Fremantle and surrounding suburbs.

Planet Books (Mount Lawley and Northside): Accepting online, phone and email orders and offering free delivery to local suburbs.

Imprints Booksellers (Adelaide): Accepting phone and email orders and offering free postage across SA and free home delivery around Adelaide.

Matilda Bookshop (Adelaide): Accepting phone orders and offering free postage across SA and free home delivery to local suburbs.

Mostly Books (Torrens Park): Free delivery south of Adelaide, to the suburbs of Mitcham and surrounding suburbs.

The Raven’s Parlour (Tanunda): Delivery to local residents in quarantine or self-isolation.

Red Kangaroo Books (Alice Springs): Accepting phone and email orders and delivering across Alice Springs.

Books are everywhere.

Plenty of bookstores that support us not listed here will be delivering online, and you can also purchase books from Booktopia and other online retailers.

The Australian Booksellers Association’s Love Your Bookshop Day is also sharing a range of ways in which you can continue to support your local bookstore, including purchasing vouchers, signing up to their e-newsletter list and pre-ordering titles. #loveyourbookshopeveryday

Posted on March 25, 2020

Posted on February 26, 2020 March 4, 2020

The art and musing of Ken Done

Playful, vibrant and bold, Ken Done’s artwork is truly one-of-a-kind. In the Ken Done: Painting Australia series, Ken captures his love of the Australian landscape, from the joyful shout of Sydney and the Aussie Beach to the calm beauty of the Outback and Reef.

Scroll through some selections of Ken’s work below, carefully curated from each book and accompanied by his charming commentary.

Story by Jackie Money

SYDNEY

Sailboats on music sheets — *The Wednesday Race I,* 1980. Oil crayon and ink on paper. ©Ken Done

“The world-famous musician James Morrison is an old friend. He once released an album of music inspired by a number of my paintings. In one song he gave a musical notation to the way I had placed my drawings of yachts in this work, The Wednesday Race. Who could ask for more?”

– Ken Done

BEACH

“This work was one of a number I showed in my first exhibition in Paris. The picture of the sunbaker by the famous Australian photographer Max Dupain is one of our most revered images. I’ve made numerous paintings using the iconic form as a graphic device, always with reverence and respect.”

– Ken Done

OUTBACK

Ned Kelly in a canyon — *Nolan canyon*, 2019. Oil on canvas. ©Ken Done

“When I look at the Outback, I often think of Sidney Nolan. One of our most influential artists, I was lucky enough to meet and talk with him a couple of times. For me, he will always be the Kelly figure looking at the landscape.”

– Ken Done

REEF

Sea creatures — *Drawings of things in the sea*, 1993. Oil, acrylic, oil crayon, pencil and ink on canvas.
©Ken Done

“A jelly and a fish. Then a jellyfish. Lots of things you find in the sea. This painting, now in a big Japanese collection, is fun. Some images are tight, and some I’ve played games with. Being underwater should always be fun.”

– Ken Done

Posted on February 26, 2020