Tastetravel

Sunday we went for a stroll around the market held just near the railway station, under the Sydney Harbour bridge no less.

It was similiar to many other markets that have a collection of handmade arts and crafts and of course the ever predictable imports that creep in, but overall it did look more Australian crafty than most.

I bought a shawl made of Australian wool, embroidered by Indians though. No that is not me in the bicycle pants. Karen Dye has her name on the shawls and also can be found at the Paddington market in Sydney on Saturdays.

Then we found a sepia photo of the last two Tasmanian tigers in the zoo in Hobart.I have seen this photo before in the museum in Hobart. I will put it in our Tasmanian house to remind our visitors of what used to be roaming around the Tasmanian bushlands. On the Tasmanian theme I quickly spotted this bag.

Hand made one off bags by Gabby Malpas caught my attention next.  Gabby said she had just begun her bag making career and was pleased at the response I gave her for sure. I thought she was on to something and hopefully she makes a go of it. It wasn’t just that she found nice tea towels to make them but the various handles, and other decorative touches she added that gave them a personality.

And they weren’t all made of tea towels, but all kinds of lovely fabrics that were distinctly from various parts of the world. I resisted the Tasmanian number, that would be a bit too obvious, but if some Parisian had made something like this rather than the predictable I love Paris ones sold at Paris’s souvenir shops I might have been tempted.

The person responsible is Gabby Malpas. Her business card says made with love and attitude on the kitchen table. Gabby is organised with a website where you can peruse her collections and buy online. Gabby is from New Zealand where she was an exhibiting artist originally trained in ceramics but now working in paper, fabric and beads.If you live in Sydney pop down and see her work or ‘take a plunge’ and buy her bags online, I can vouch for the lovely finish on the work.