Sydney, I love you

one and two. the hedonist's guide to sydney. three and four. Room 10 exterior and that famous muesli. five.  bourke st bakery always has the best pastries. Peach and Raspberry galette? why not? six. I love bloodorange's beautiful sign. Pastabilities packaging. seven. my garden. my favourite place in the whole world. 

"Sydney is a shameless flirt," reads the first sentence of the newly released Hedonist's guide to Sydney. Well, I'm sad to say, I've been shamelessly flirting with some other cities this past month, flitting through Hong Kong and New York to see what it's all about. It's funny, you always appreciate home so much more when you've been away. And when you come back to find a guide book to your home town all wrapped up - all the way from London thanks to Marilyn at Hg2 - and sitting on your desk, it seems like there's no better time to rekindle that love affair with Sydney. It's funny looking at your city from a tourist's point of view, but then the hg2 guides are not really for your average tourists. All the recommendations feel like ones you could have received from the best of friends - the ones with wanderlust and great taste and that like all the same things that you do. There's a strong focus on eating and drinking (this is a hedonist's guide, after all!) with sections divided by activity "eat", "sleep", "snack", "shop" and colour-coded by region. I was so happy to see some of my favourites, like the Flinders' Duke Bistro, Miss Chus, Din Tai Fung and Toby's Estate pop up on the lists. It was also exciting to see a couple of places that I've been dying to visit pop up - like Burnt Orange in Mosman and Flying Fish - which only cemented my desire to go. I took the New York guide with me on my holiday and it was such a good decision. Along with all the helpful tips from friends, family and you guys I made a grand old list of thing to do and see and, let's be honest, most importantly - eat. I had such a wonderful, wonderful time (and I've got plenty more posts to come, don't worry!).

My only problem? The shopping picks... I always look forward to shopping sections and this one was so slim! And the information was a little bit out-dated, some of the brands listed are not stocked at stores anymore, and there were some major favourite stores left out, like the amazing Lands End in five ways. But they still had a great selection, including the fantastic bloodorange - the dictionary definition of small but perfectly formed - and, of course, that purveyor of isabel and phillip lim and all things good; The Corner Shop. I can't wait to see the second version with an updated shopping section.

So today, in honour of this fun guide, I decided to enjoy a day out and about in my beautiful city. I had a leisurely breakfast at Room 10 with Talisa - the fig granola, of course! - and then wandered around one of Sydney's most beautiful areas, Potts Point, visiting the new Bourke St Bakery outpost there, and then onto bloodorange, naturally, and then I grabbed some pastablities ravioli for dinner with my family tonight and then I sat in my garden for a little and did some boring computer admin stuff. I love my garden. It's the best thing ever. And you know, I love sydney too. Hopefully with a little help from this guide I'm going to venture to some new places in sydney this year..

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In the studio: BRVTVS

all photos by me

“I just love the stories of ancient Rome. People were so bloodthirsty back then.” Caroline Ventura of New York jewellery label BRVTVS is grinning in her West 24th street studio. Over her right shoulder hang several serious and technical-looking pliers and over her left, a splotchy, hand-painted water-colour artwork tacked up onto the wall with sticky-tape. We couldn’t be further from ancient Rome, or at least the ubiquitous one immortalised in Elizabeth Taylor films, grainy holiday snaps and dusty history books. And yet, there’s something about those hammered gold plates, suspended so gracefully from dainty gold chains. Something historic. Legendary. Mythical. 

“I love how Rome mixes the ancient with the modern,” Ventura says. “The way that I make each piece is a mix of the ancient process of jewellery making and modern design – all of the jewellery is made in a classic way, hand-hammered with artisanal levels of craftsmanship, but the designs and the shapes are modern.” 

This is just one of the dichotomies that characterise Ventura’s one-and-a-half year old line, BRVTVS. What began with “fancy friendship bracelets” featuring hand-dyed silk threads and crafted beads has evolved into a small, but perfectly formed, line of pure gold necklaces, earrings and rings with a charmingly feminine yet resolutely wearable aesthetic. These thin bracelets and spun-gold rings may be simple, but they hold their own against even the most severe of garments. “I have a very tomboy personal style,” Ventura says, “and I love menswear for clothing. But for jewellery I like things that are pretty and super feminine. I like that contrast between boy and girl.” 

Ventura is, as the best designers often are, her label’s best advertisement and biggest fan. Her casual everyday style of R.M Williams boots and oversized charcoal sweaters is offset perfectly by the stunning array of jewellery that she sports. In her right lobe are a few tiny emerald studs, in her left a plain gold sphere. A necklace, two bracelets and whole fingers full of stacked rings complete the look. Every design from BRVTVS (so called because she “thought it would be funny to name it after someone who was notoriously a bad friend”) is something that she would personally wear and test-drives herself, recalling the label’s early origins as her hobby and past time. 

“I couldn’t find things that I wanted to wear in the jewellery world,” Ventura says, shrugging. “Everything seemed to be statement pieces, super big and not my style at all. I wanted something really dainty that I could wear everyday. So I decided to make them myself!” A class in metal work and several instructive youtube videos later, Ventura created her label. “A lot of it is trial and error,” she admits. “A lot of the time I just sit here and hammer away at making shapes. It’s such a learning process and I don’t think I’ll ever not have something to learn.” 

Ventura’s design process is refreshingly organic. Whether physically molding shapes from metal or creating rough sketches on one of the many notepads that litter her studio, Ventura designs in the same unforced way that she approaches her business. The original collection revolved around the minimalist beauty of geometric shapes like spheres and cones. Now she is toying with the idea of natural materials such as wood and leather, especially for men’s jewellery. Ventura does have some experience designing for men – the matching wedding bands that both her and her husband wear are one of her own creations. But that doesn’t mean that she finds it easy to translate the particularly unique aesthetic of BRVTVS to menswear. “It’s tricky designing for men,” Ventura muses. “I think my designs are so dainty that it comes across too feminine.” She’s hopeful that a series of hand-dyed leather pieces with beads will appeal to the male customers that constantly request for BRVTVS to cater to their end of the market. 

One thing that will remain steadfast as the label grows is Ventura’s dedication to artisanal techniques. “In anything that I do I always want it to feel like there was some level of craftsmanship to it, that it wasn’t just a piece that was turned out or that everyone has the same copy,” Ventura says. At the moment every item is made to order by Ventura herself, with the result that no two pieces are identical. In the future she would like to pass production over to an assistant so that she can focus on design and other creative ventures, but for now she’s happy to maintain control over her burgeoning label. “I would love to reach a broader audience and it’s limiting when you are doing it all yourself,” Ventura says, “but it’s so important to me to maintain that artistry aspect.” No matter how big the company grows the jewellery will always be handmade. “I don’t want to move into a factory setting. Maybe in the future they won’t all be handmade by me, but they will be handmade by someone.” 

 The future is truly bright for this old-worldly jewellery label. Ventura has dreams of a multi-faceted lifestyle empire encompassing everything that she finds lovely, from artsy greeting cards to hand-mixed oils and scents. A store-front would be ideal, somewhere nice and big so that Ventura can display her pieces to a browsing public in the ceramic jewellery dishes that she makes herself, resting on top of the rustic furniture that she designs in tandem with her husband. “I think I would like to offer a lot of things to people that could reach different facets of their lives and not just pretty jewellery,” Ventura says. “In the end it’s all just stuff that I want and stuff that I do anyway and I would just love to offer it to other people.” 

You get the feeling that it all comes naturally to Ventura, one of those innately creative people who sees beauty in a grain of sand. Everything is effortless, without a single ounce of pretension. “Things will happen the way that they happen. I don’t want anything to feel forced because people won’t like – I won’t like it,” Ventura says. “Ultimately it’s all about me!” she adds, laughing. She’s certainly no gaudy, attention-grabbing Cleopatra, emerging triumphantly from a rug at Caesar’s feet, but this idea of fate and pre-destination? That sounds distinctly Roman to me. 

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Another studio visit! It was such a pleasure to meet the face behind one of my favourite labels, and to see that she is incredibly creative and just as passionate as her designs suggest. I'm lucky enough to own a couple of BRVTVS numbers and they are my favourite pieces of jewellery - beautiful gold and historic designs. If you have any questions or would like to place a (hand made) order, please check out their online shop or contact info@brvtvs.com. And if you want to read my first studio visit in New York, with jewellery designer Satomi Kawakita, click here.

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