The countdown begins
We’re gearing up for launch, perfecting the art of the awkward reel, and pondering why these imperfect houses strike such a chord.
It’s now less than a month until our book, Bush Modern, is let loose in the world - and just a couple of weeks left to pre-order.
After spending three years in our own little bubble actually making the thing, working out how to share it has turned out to be a whole different challenge.
We’ve been keeping busy on Instagram, putting together little videos to promote the book - as elder Millenials, the cringe of talking to camera is real, but we’re trying to get over it. Sheesh, we’re even on Tiktok!
Lately, we’ve posted about two very different houses: Stonygrad, the crude stone and timber fortress built by Russian artist Danila Vassilieff in the 1940s, and Monty Sibbel, a 1975 brick home given new life through a subtle renovation by Nüüd Studio. Each in its own way shows how this region’s architecture is informed by the natural environment.
Watching the internet’s reaction to this obscure pocket of brown houses on the outskirts of Melbourne — resolutely lo-fi and imperfect — has been fascinating to us.
After all, these homes aren’t ‘aspirational’ in the usual sense. I suspect the response points to something larger — an idealisation, perhaps, of a simpler life. Or nostalgia for an era when living close to nature — and building your own home — was within reach for ordinary people. It’s pretty revolutionary when you think about it, and (sadly) something that feels SO foreign today.
Hopefully we’ll get a chance to write more about those ideas soon.
But for now, as we count down to the book’s release, we’re busy planning launch events, lining up media features and taking pre-orders for a little longer.
Thanks so much for following along.
P.S. Melbourne people! Pencil in Sunday 9 November for the launch event. We’ll be celebrating with an afternoon pop-up store at Warrandyte Pottery, surrounded by many of the people whose stories fill the book’s pages. If you pre-ordered and selected ‘local pickup’, this is where you’ll collect it. More details soon.