Yellowtrace 5th Birthday // Reader Survey + ‘5 for 5’ GIVEAWAY!!

Dearest Yellowtracers,

Holy shit. Yellowtrace is 5 years old on Monday (Dec 1st). Yes, FIVE! Wow. Somehow this particular anniversary feels more significant then the others – because, you know – five is so much more important that four (note: that was sarcasm) – but in reality this birthday really does feel a lot more significant. I don’t have the habit of stopping too often to take stock of what we’ve achieved with Yellowtrace, because I’m always far too busy with the next deadline or working on about a million and one things at once. I have, however, taken a moment to consider what a huge achievement these 5 years have been, and this last year in particular, as this has been the year of big transitions – Yellowtrace grew legs and became a fledging two-stream business (Digital Publishing & Design Studio) operating from an actual office, and the business grew beyond just myself and Husband Yellowtrace. I think it’s also worth noting that, surviving for five years in the over-crowded online world, where it’s incredibly difficult to make people stop and pay attention, and even harder to make a living and build a business, is in itself a massive achievement. So, please indulge me for a moment while I say – Hi Fives to Team Yellowtrace cause I think we’ve done pretty good.

If you care to read about it, here are just some of the things that’ve happened around Yellowtrace HQ in 2014: We took on our first ever Editorial Assistant, the gorgeous Rebecca Taylor, who has been my right hand woman helping me tame the wild beast that is Yellowtrace; Team Yellowtrace travelled to Florence, Cinque Terre, then Milan for Salone del Mobile/ Milan Design Week and upon our return we launched MILANTRACE Edizione 2014 – world’s first interactive digital magazine & video series dedicated to Salone Del Mobile and Milan Design Week; in parallel to the magazine we also set off on a sold out national speaking tour which brought Milan Design Week to more than a thousand architects & designers in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth – a slightly crazy but very cool experience; we launched Studio Yellowtrace – the design arm of our business specialising in Interiors, Creative Direction and Special Projects with a small in-house team working on select projects with wonderful clients only (true story!); we redesigned this website and also rebranded with a more grown-up version of our logo; I was recently lucky enough to travel to the wonderful Copenhagen for a week – one of the best trips ever – where I had a religious experience at The Apartment during The Residency by Studioilse (possibly the most personal post I’ve ever written); in Copenhagen I also got the chance to meet one of my design heroes Enrico Fratesi of GamFratesi who is seriously awesome; Yellowtrace received a bunch of wonderful press throughout the year for which we are very grateful… You know, we’ve been pretty busy, to say the least.

Enter the Yellowtrace 5th Birthday “5 for 5” Giveaway Now.

By now you guys probably know the drill – in our ongoing commitment to develop this site and our content, I hope you will take a moment to give us your valuable feedback. By completing our 2014 Reader Survey you will be in with the chance to win awesome prizes – and when I say awesome, I mean more than $4,000 AUD worth of awesome. Aaaandddd, I’ve personally hand selected every single item for a very special Top “5 for 5” giveaway representing 5 things I wish I could own myself. The prizes are so good that I’m seriously considering entering the survey 5 times under 5 different names and rigging the results somehow, but that would totally be dodgy and illegal, and most Un-Yellowtrace-Like, so I won’t be doing that, but you get what I’m sayin’ though, right? You’d be silly not to try your luck. Let’s have a closer look at what’s up for grabs.

Enter the Yellowtrace 5th Birthday “5 for 5” Giveaway Now.

PARACHILNA ABALLS small table lamp in Gold, designed by Jaime Hayon. Courtesy of KE-ZU. RRP $1465

“Jaime, we are looking for a lamp, straightforward but imbued with the spirit of PARACHILNA: rich materials, traditional skills blended with artisanal craftsmanship and impeccable finishes. Design-wise… you take care of it.” So began the creation of ABALLS, a collection that combines the world class craftsmanship skills of Bosa with the traditional artistry of hand blown glass. Ceramics and blown glass are linked by a polished brass ring, with dimmer control lever also made of polished brass. It’s serious LOVE!

Farmhouse Sled Base Lounge Chair in your colour of choice, designed by Gaurav Nanda. Courtesy of Own World. RRP $600

Bend wire seating is made up of intricate arrangements of wires or lines through a hand crafted method of shaping and spot welding, a process the designer likes to call ‘bending’. Each bend is carefully arranged to ensure structural strength, while the angles of the back, the curves of the seat, and the closeness of the wires are designed to encourage relaxation and utility. Available in 3 colours: White, Orange, and Peacock Blue.

LITMUP C-Type Print – 90cm x 60cm unframed. Courtesy of Simon Davidson. Read our interview with Simon here. RRP $900

Simon Davidson is New Zealand-born, Sydney-raised photographer with a passion for the fast, loud and greasy car subculture. From the smoke and seeming chaos of burnout competitions, to the strictly regulated world of the speed trials held on the vast expanses of shimmering salt at Lake Bonneville in USA, and Lake Gairdner in South Australia, Davidson is part of the scene. Simon translates the chaos of the burnout pad and the tension of the salt into visually spectacular moments, portraying beauty where beauty is not always obvious.

Menu Marble Wall Clock in your choice of White or Green, designed by Norm Architects. Courtesy of Great Dane. RRP $550

The minimalistic Marble Wall Clock is stripped of all unnecessary details, allowing you to read the hour and minutes of time in timeless fashion. “With smartphones replacing traditional clocks in our society we’d like to see a renaissance of the classic wall clock, an object not only beautiful but also highly distinguished”, says Norm’s Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen. The use of high-quality marble allows for a maximum appreciation of its mosaic and complex structure. Decorative, uncomplicated and made from natural honest materials, Marble Wall Clock is an elegant object that helps you keep up, while looking back.

Karimoku New Standard Colour Platter designed by Scholten & Baijings. Courtesy of Stylecraft. RRP $517

Colour Platter is a set of three wooden plates that are available in two different colour and graphic patterns. Designed by Scholten and Baijings, the colours and graphics represent contemporary design superimposed on traditional craft techniques. When stacked, the platters form a striking centrepiece to any table setting.

Enter the Yellowtrace 5th Birthday “5 for 5” Giveaway Now.

There you have it. A huge thank you to you all, once again, for taking the time out of your busy days to stop by our site and for your ongoing support. Without you, there would be no Yellowtrace, and this is something that’s always at the forefront of my mind. Another huge enormous thanks goes to our dear friends and sponsors for offering these wonderful prizes. You have between today and 19th December 2014 to enter the giveaway. The winners will be announced in January 2015. Please refer our full terms & conditions page for everything you need to know. Thank you again and GOOD LUCK!

Love always,
Mama Yellowtrace xx

(P.S. When Yellowtrace turned one, two, three & four…)

[Top image courtesy of Rodney Smith. Graphic overlay by Yellowtrace.]