Good stuff
People, happenings and things, locally and abroad, that we applaud.
OUR KIND OF ANIMAL PRINT
BLUNT Umbrellas launches its latest collaboration this July with Melbourne-based animator and illustrator Ellen Porteus. Porteus’ signature style is known around the world for her tessellating patterns and vibrant colour palettes. Find out how to be in to win one on page 4.
TREADING LIGHTER
The apparel industry loves a good collab and adidas’ partnership with Allbirds is ground-breaking for many reasons.
They have partnered up, by sharing proprietary technologies and material innovations, to reimagine a loweremission design process.
The result is FUTURECRAFT. FOOTPRINT – a prototype running shoe with a carbon footprint of 2.94kg CO2e/ pair, without compromising performance.
In other shoe news, environmental activist and artist Jaden Smith and New Balance have released a Vision Racer collection that is partially crafted with recycled and surplus materials.
The Vision Racer ReWorked is consciously crafted with a mix of recycled materials including a midsole that contains a 5 per cent EVA regrind. The material used in the upper and the tongue contains 74 per cent Spinnex fibre, 16 per cent polyester and 10 per cent spandex. New Balance’s Spinnex material incorporates factory waste cut-offs into a new usable material.
The Vision Racer ReWorked launch is part of the brand’s larger sustainability initiatives in which it is committed to a healthier planet by reaching several sustainability milestones by 2030.
Closer to home, Deuce’s Kind Soles collection consists of three unisex sneakers, each playing a part in protecting the planet.
Two of the sneakers, Jax & Jango, feature a transparent leather-look material called Bio Veg that’s made out of Bio Polyols with elements derived from plants. The main raw material is field corn.
The third style, Gaia, is made with Repreve, a traceable fibre made out of recycled plastic bottles.
These sneakers feature Deuce’s new BLOOM™ footbed, made from algae biomass, a sustainable, plant-based material that helps clean polluted water.
And, Kathryn Wilson has partnered with CarbonClick to launch a new range of eco-friendly KIND sneakers made with low-impact materials such as recycled leather and recycled plastic bottles.
Through the new partnership, Kathryn Wilson will be donating $10 from every pair of KIND shoes sold towards the Kaikoura project, helping to conserve and re-plant 99 hectares of lush native forest by increasing biodiversity and drawing down carbon.
POND PONDERING
A pink pond is the winner of the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV)’s 2021 Architecture Commission in the Grollo Equiset Garden at Melbourne’s NGV International.
The installation, entitled pond[er], offers a space for visitors to cool off during the summer months and reflect on their relationship with the environment.
The body of water is coloured pink, making direct reference to the many inland salt lakes in Victoria and highlighting the scarcity, importance and political implications of water as a natural resource.
The installation, designed by a Melbourne-based team comprising architecture firm Taylor Knights in collaboration with artist James Carey, also includes beds of Victorian wildflowers, designed in association with Ben Scott Garden Design, that bloom at different times throughout the installation, seeking to highlight the beauty, precariousness and temporality of our natural ecology.
From November 2021 to April 2022 visitors will be able to wade through the pink pond if they want to.