Spaces Volume Two by Frankie Magazine + Giveaway!

1950s House, Balwyn / Victoria – extract from Spaces Volume Two by Frankie magazine. Photography by Brooke Holm.

We are excited to be partnering with the good folk behind Frankie magazine, to bring you an intimate look into Spaces Volume Two. Not only this, we are also giving you the chance to win two copies of the book. Hooray!

Spaces Volume Two is a collection of homes and homes-away-from-home around Australia – from the east coast capitals to the Adelaide Hills, the wilds of Tasmania and the southernmost tip of Western Australia. The designers, photographers, foodies, musicians and artists you’ll meet inside might have cleaned up a bit for their photos, but their homes aren’t fancy. These are the kind of places that take time and energy to put together, with some of the most precious things in them passed down through families, collected on travels or picked up from the side of the road. With a focus on resourcefulness and individual style, Spaces celebrates the importance of home to a creative bunch of Australians.

Below is an excerpt taken from Spaces by Frankie magazine, and also one of our favourite stories – Interview With Residents / Gypsy Wood & Asher Treleaven. It’s a cracker.

For your chance to win one of the two copies of Spaces Volume Two, simply leave a comment below and make sure you’re subscribed to either our Daily Email and/ or Weekly Love Letter. Super simple. Entries close at 11:59pm on Friday 21st November, and two lucky winners will be drawn at random.

1950s House , Balwyn / Victoria – extract from Spaces Volume Two by Frankie magazine. Photography by Brooke Holm.

Interview with residents: Gypsy Wood & Asher Treleaven.
Extract from Spaces Volume Two by Frankie magazine.
Interview by Leanne Amodeo.
Photography by Brooke Holm.

Cabaret artist and stand-up comic aren’t typical occupations for residents in conservative Balwyn North. Then again, Gypsy Wood and Asher Treleaven are anything but typical. What drew the sartorially splendid married couple to this leafy Melbourne suburb in the first place was charming three-bedroom home built in the ’50s, now complete with plastic pink flamingos and Tupperware.

Gypsy is a formally trained dancer who studied at the Victorian College of the Arts and, while on a scholarship, “just fell into burlesque in Paris” (yes, she’s met Dita Von Teese). Before a career in comedy, Asher trained at the National Institute of Circus Arts and worked as a street performer. Theirs is an enviable story of travel, sequins and parties and they have deservedly achieved recognition as world-class performers.

1950s House , Balwyn / Victoria – extract from Spaces Volume Two by Frankie magazine. Photography by Brooke Holm.

1950s House , Balwyn / Victoria – extract from Spaces Volume Two by Frankie magazine. Photography by Brooke Holm.

When did your passion for the ’50s begin?

GYPSY: My love affair with vintage has always been there, it wasn’t something I discovered – it was something I was born into. My mother is Jeanette Luke and she was a go-go dancer in Kings Cross during the ’60s. She moved to Adelaide and ran a vintage clothing store called Dress Ups for many, many years, so I was always dressed in vintage.

ASHER: Mine started to creep in when I was at the end of my twenties and living in London. I was going through a period of change and went from dressing like a teenage kid. Then i met Gypsy and really took to it through her; I just loved the ’50s aesthetic.

Was there a particular moment of sylistic inspiration early on in your relationship?

ASHER: When we were living in Paris five years ago we met a couple who were very dedicated to vintage dressing.

GYPSY: They were libertines who would go to Versailles in eighteenth-century costume to have a picnic. They just really lived life in sich a loud way and we were inspired by their individuality and their commitment. Sometimes you meet people who are eccentric in their dressing and they’re a little crazy, and sometimes you meet people who are very passionate about who how they live and are actually very normal and that’s how we want to be.

1950s House , Balwyn / Victoria – extract from Spaces Volume Two by Frankie magazine. Photography by Brooke Holm.

1950s House , Balwyn / Victoria – extract from Spaces Volume Two by Frankie magazine. Photography by Brooke Holm.

How easy is it to maintain the ’50s lifestyle?

GYPSY: I guess in our work as performers we are always in costume and trying to live that period. It just feels natural – we really dress a lot more ’30s to ’60s, but we’re very passionate about the ’50s and everything in it has to be ’50s. I couldn’t put up some of our 1920s pictures because they’d look out of place.

1950s House , Balwyn / Victoria – extract from Spaces Volume Two by Frankie magazine. Photography by Brooke Holm.

Is there a colourful story behind how you met?

GYPSY: We met on the steps of the Cascadeur theatre in the Garden of Unearthly Delights during the Adelaide Fringe Festival. I was running a show called Midnight at the Cascadeur with some friends and it was during a crazy heatwave that made for these fantastic nights. One night I was dancing on the steps with my feathers and Asher was staring at me.

ASHER: I was staring. It was pretty sleazy, actually. I had a Calippo – it was really hot – and I just remember looking over at this big group of lesbians who were standing there too, and they were looking at me and they went, “You are so busted!”… Me with my Calippo iceblock, watching my future wife dancing around in her pants in a heatwave.

GYPSY: Then we spoke and I actually gave Asher a job hosting the show one night.

ASHER: And it was the worrrrrrst gig evvvver. It as disastrous, but through that we kind of bonded and became best friends and the rest is history.

1950s House , Balwyn / Victoria – extract from Spaces Volume Two by Frankie magazine. Photography by Brooke Holm.

You’re currently renting this house and have been living here for four years, which was right around the time you got married. Do you remember your first impression of it?

ASHER: It’s a very straight neighbourhood and not an area I would ever have thought to live in – I think we’re the youngest people in our street by about 25 years – but Gypsy was totally obsessed with this place.

GYPSY: I just knew we’d look so good walking in and out of it.

ASHER: When we first inspected the house and there was nothing in it except the original carpet I looked at it and went, “I don’t know, this is pretty intense.”

GYPSY: We were a bit scared of the carpet at first, but now it’s one of the features we love the most.

1950s House , Balwyn / Victoria – extract from Spaces Volume Two by Frankie magazine. Photography by Brooke Holm.

During World War II they had to use all the wool for the soldiers’ uniforms, so when they could finally use wool again, it was like. “Let’s do wool carpet LOUD!” All the really extreme colours and patterns are so beautiful and it inspires me to recall that era of optimism the house was built in; it’s a real expression of the ’50s.

Were there any other original features you fell in love with?

GYPSY: The etched round glass window in the dining room and the etched glass doors between the dining and lounge rooms are really beautiful. The people who first lived here would have chosen the etched butterfly motifs, so it’s a signature unique to this home. Another feature I really love is the foldout ironing board in the kitchen, which would have been state-of-the-art at the time – we’ve used it to serve drinks on at parties.

ASHER: The pink tiles in the bathroom are original and all the light fittings are also original. If anything gets damaged we’ll go out of our way to restore it, which I did with all the Bakelite door handles that were broke.

Do you lament today’s ‘modern’ homes?

GYPSY: I think that post-World War !! optimism is lacking in today’s architecture. Everything is so minimal and bare and sparse, and this house is just so fun and glamorous. Mid-century architecture is my number-one passion, but unfortunetly not everyone shares my passion. There are a lot of rich professionals moving into the area and they’re knocking down these houses and building huge grey concrete prisions. I personally want to protest in front of their homes with a ’50s gown on yelling, “Keep Melbourne Vintage!”

1950s House , Balwyn / Victoria – extract from Spaces Volume Two by Frankie magazine. Photography by Brooke Holm.

1950s House , Balwyn / Victoria – extract from Spaces Volume Two by Frankie magazine. Photography by Brooke Holm.

If everything in your house has to be 50s, how difficult was it to decorate?

GYPSY: Having to get furniture to match the house means that we source a lot of it from eBay and Gumtree. We’re also on Etsy almost every day and we go to the Camberwell market regularly. I’m obsessed with Jayne Mansfield at the moment and I love that she has a pink house, so I have a little heart-shaped pink mat in the bathroom and lots of satin in the bedroom for her.

Do you have any collectables or objects of special significance?

GYPSY: I’m a big fan of Tretchikoff and we have Miss Wong in the bedroom; it’s a dream of mine to own as many of his prints as possible. I actually know Miss Wong’s son, Wayne, who lives in Sydney, and I’m thrilled to have a picture of my friend’s mother, who is one of the most beautiful, famous women in the world, hanging on my wall. I’ve also got all my costumes in my dressing room, which is where I’m allowed to be myself. I do my hair and make-up there and that usually takes around an hour.

1950s House , Balwyn / Victoria – extract from Spaces Volume Two by Frankie magazine. Photography by Brooke Holm.

Do you relish coming home after being away for long periods of time?

ASHER: I travelled a lot as a kid and definitely lived in some pretty interesting places, from Mt Isa and Humpty Doo to Byron Bay. But i’ve never really lived anywhere for very long; this is probably the longest I’ve lived in one place my whole life.

GYPSY: And you definitely agree this is the best house we’ve ever lived in.

ASHER: Without a doubt and I always love coming home.

GYPSY: It’s just such a warm, optimistic, fabulous place.

For your chance to win one of the two copies of Spaces Volume Two, simply leave a comment below and make sure you’re subscribed to either our Daily Email and/ or Weekly Love Letter. Entries close at 11:59pm on Friday 21st November, and two lucky winners will be drawn at random. Good luck!

[Interview by Leanne Amodeo. Photography by Brooke Holm].