Innehållsförteckning för Issue 56 - Summer 2022 från Peppermint Magazine

When it comes to the fight against climate change, every tree – and every action – matters. That’s why we’ve partnered with non-profit environmental charity One Tree Planted to plant a tree for every Peppermint print subscription sold. Because, although the problems our world faces may seem overwhelming, we know we can work together to create real, lasting change – one tiny seedling at a time. When you take out a subscription, you’ll be helping to plant trees in vulnerable communities around the world, including North America, Indonesia, the Amazon rainforest and Australia. The simple act of planting trees helps to restore biodiversity, support reforestation, protect endangered wildlife, provide sustainable jobs and income and, crucially, store carbon from the atmosphere in a bid to prevent global temperatures rising beyond a…

http://madebyfressko.com made by Fressko® http://madebyfressko.com All writers published in this issue’s Letterbox will receive a 660ml water bottle – with an additional sip lid – from Made by Fressko. These stylish, insulated, stainless steel flasks with Fressko’s two-in-one filter (valued at $79.90) are the ideal brew-as-you-go companion. Perfect for infusing water or your favourite tea, or simply to house your morning smoothie, these leak-proof, scratch-proof and BPA-free bottles are lightweight and vacuum-sealed to keep drinks hot for up to six hours and chilled for at least 12. It’s one infuser bottle that does it all! madebyfressko.com dear peppermint I have to say I was so moved by the ‘Under My Skin’ article. A friend of mine suffered terrible burns years ago and had to spend months in hospital to recover.…

http://cheekmedia.com.au Why were you inspired to start Cheek? Cheek was founded at the end of 2020. At the time there was a gap in the market for progressive news commentary and opinion focussed on the intersection of feminist, social and political issues. These spaces had been dominated by either pop culture publications or jargon-heavy feminist ideology. I, along with my two co-founders, wanted to create a space for robust conversation that didn’t intellectualise or shame our audience but entertained and engaged people who wanted to make real change in their communities. Who is it for? It’s a platform for politically and socially engaged Australians who want to challenge their views and model healthy conversations on important subjects with family and friends. Do you think positive media is the way forward?…

COCONUT OIL The ultimate multitasker and base of many skincare essentials, a simple jar of coconut oil – which contains nourishing fatty acids – could replace plenty of products. Use as a body moisturiser, a smoothing hair mask or even as a makeup remover. ORGANIC COCONUT OIL / NIULIFE YOGHURT From cereal to skincare! Yoghurt has probiotics and lactic acids that can help brighten, exfoliate and moisturise skin. Spread on your face as is (always use an unflavoured variety) or mix with other at-home ingredients like honey, oat flour, turmeric or lemon juice. ALL NATURAL FULL FAT YOGHURT / BARAMBAH ORGANICS SUGAR The sweet secret behind most exfoliators, you can whip up your own scrumptious scrubs simply by mixing sugar with other pantry staples like olive or coconut oil and…

I was born in colonised Christian Fiji when homosexuality was a crime. The words homosexual, gay and trans did not feature in our vocabulary, but people used derogatory terms such as “chakka” and “gandu” to describe queer identities. Others knew I was queer before I did. I was so feminine for a boy, it verged on rebellion. I wasn’t a boy and I was not heterosexual either. The elders in my village took it upon themselves to “cure me” of my queerness: praying, encouraging me to snap myself with a rubber band and, at the height of it, beating. None of it ever changed me, but the religious leaders instigated enough fear inside of me that I never wanted to be myself again. As a kid growing up in a…

“My childhood was no longer mine. I could no longer identify with so much of it, because if I did, what was happening to me would become real.” CONTENT WARNING: THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE DISCUSSES SEXUAL ASSAULT. IF YOU, OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW, IS AFFECTED, CALL 1800RESPECT, LIFELINE ON 13 11 14 OR VISIT BEYONDBLUE.ORG.AU. The good and the bad. It’s all enmeshed. They say time heals all, but that’s impossible. Oxygen both sustains life and causes decay. And so we must live, and die one day. There is no moving past, there is only moving with. You can’t hold secrets at bay forever. They’ll consume you one way or another. From Years 3 to 6 I played soccer, and was the only girl on the team. I was never any…

“There’s so much about our culture that people don’t know, or don’t know how to celebrate, and I think fashion is an easy entry point to start that discovery.” Why did you start your label Ngali? I moved off Country to Melbourne when I was 14. My sister was there already, and she was all city-sophisticated, wearing things she wouldn't have worn when I’d last seen her. I saw a pair of red flares in a shop window and I was totally fascinated. I kept bugging my mother, who was a single mum, saying, “Can I have these?” She said to me the same thing I said to my daughter when she was growing up: “I can’t give you everything that you want all the time.” When my daughter was…

https://peppermintmag.com/sewing-school The Rosalie Skirt A pattern collaboration with Forget-Me-Not Patterns Our latest free pattern is sweetly swirling into view – meet the Peppermint Rosalie Skirt! Made in collaboration with the marvellous Johanna Morris, the New Zealand-based patternmaker behind Forget-Me-Not Patterns, the Peppermint Rosalie Skirt is a midi-length dream, with a flat-finished, darted front and an elasticated back, combining class and comfort. Plus, you know we put some pockets in there! The star of the show is the fabulous feature flounce – with its dramatically high-pointed front and curved overlap. You’ll be prancing and dancing out of every room just to feel the drama. We used our fabulous friends at Spoonflower’s Petal Signature Cotton, printed with a buffalo check plaid in delicious olive green from American surface pattern designer Hip Kid…

http://digitalfabrics.com.au DIGITAL FABRICS Featuring an enviable range of print-to-order designs, Digital Fabrics supports local creatives, making custom fabrics and textile goods. digitalfabrics.com.au http://allpressespresso.com ALLPRESS ESPRESSO Enjoyed at over 1500 cafes around the world, the Allpress specialty coffee range reflects the brand’s extensive expertise and passion. allpressespresso.com http://emrenthelabel.com.au EMREN THE LABEL Comfortable and waste conscious, EMREN THE LABEL’s reusable Teen Midi Period Pants are ethically made in Melbourne. emrenthelabel.com.au http://thenaturalshoestore.com.au NATURE Nature’s super comfy Minna sandal is made from vegetable-tanned leather in a range of colours including Coffee, Navy and Chestnut. thenaturalshoestore.com.au http://fiskars.com.au FISKARS The cutting edge of sustainability, Fiskars ReNew scissors are fully recyclable and made from recycled and renewable materials. fiskars.com.au http://templebruerwines.com TEMPLE BRUER Bright and delicious, Temple Bruer’s preservative-free grenache is sourced from their own sustainable and organic…

CARLY FINDLAY OAM Writer, speaker and appearance activist I started roller skating several months into the pandemic. It’s been two years now – I have improved a lot, but I am still very much a beginner. I go slow, but it is joyous to see progress. Skating is my escape from a fast-paced life – I can only do one thing at a time when I skate. COURTNEY HOLM Founder of A.BCH For me, slowing down is always about getting into nature. Nothing else provides such immediate perspective, calm and clarity. RYHIA DANK Gudanji and Wakaja artist and designer I organise my calendar months in advance and book time out for myself – I go for walks, I do spa days and treat myself now and then. CONNIE CAO Blogger,…

http://stridestore.com.au INTO YOUR STRIDE Online shopping has its benefits – it’s an efficient way of searching for something specific and you can do it in your pyjamas – but it’s all too easy to click over to those mega sites that offer a scrolling spree of fast-fashion options. Stride has entered the chat to help you shop easily and sustainably. The easy-to-search site has over 3000 products to choose from – including fashion, beauty, accessories and more from brands such as Hope & Harvest and La Enviro pictured above – for women, men and non-binary folks. Filter each category and shop according to your values for an extra ethical experience (PJs optional). stridestore.com.au http://tufudesign.co SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW Something borrowed, something blue! Tufu Design (from the Samoan toe fou meaning…

“Growing up, I really wanted to change the world. I wanted to help people love themselves, I just didn’t know how.” Your incredible catalogue of work highlights the important intersection of inclusivity, self-care and positivity with all things hair and beauty. Why is this so important to you? I’ve always loved beauty. I’ve always loved doing hair. When I was younger, I didn’t really feel like I was welcome in the world of beauty – being allowed to celebrate beauty and wanting to be a part of, not only expressing my own beauty but also being able to be part of other people expressing their beauty. I felt so “other” growing up, so it’s always been so important for me to bring a sense of self-acceptance and a sense of…

“You’re never alone, there’s always someone feeling the same as you.” Holly Rankin is remarkably humble for a woman with an impressive roll call of achievements as both a musician and an activist. Under her alias Jack River, she released her debut album Sugar Mountain in June 2018. The album, weaving personal anecdotes with musings on the transiency of youth, was nominated for three Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) awards, an Australian Independent Record (AIR) award and an APRA Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year award. Critics raved about her talent, and listeners adored Jack River. While Sugar Mountain made us feel that we knew Jack, it is Holly who is genuinely fascinating in the music industry and beyond it. Last year, she spearheaded Our Soundtrack Our Stories, an ARIA-supported campaign…

“People seem to be more outraged by a symbolic action than they are by the imminent destruction of life on Earth.” We started at Pershing Square in Los Angeles. There were four of us that were planning to risk. We had a couple of bicycle locks, some light chains from the hardware store, padlocks and some lab coats. We wanted to let people know that we were scientists. We picked the JP Morgan Chase building because it seemed like a pretty simple place to do the action, logistically, and also because JP Morgan Chase funds more new fossil fuel projects than any other institution on the planet. We walked right up, I let one person go in, and then I locked a couple of double doors and one of my…

Like most things in Gaëlle Beech’s life, her label, The ANJELMS Project, came about through an act of simple human connection. While on a family holiday in Bali in 2008, she had a chance meeting with two local women who would change the course of her life forever. “I met two women, Arik and Jero, and we shared our life experiences as mothers and the dreams we had for our children,” she recalls. “We all agreed a good education was what was needed to set them up in life, but they worried they wouldn’t be able to provide it for them.” That night, Gaëlle had a dream about a white store with the word ‘ANJELMS’ written on the wall (the initials of her two new friends, plus some of the…

LINJA SHOPPER By making everyday items yourself, you can be sure of their sustainability. Choose an extra durable material for your project – such as the high-quality cotton twine used for this shopper – and you are guaranteed to use the finished piece for almost an eternity. I had been working on an idea for a while: a crocheted shopper that would have a similar shape to a plastic shopping bag. It had been on my mind while wading through a raft of plastic waste on the southern beach of Lantau Island, Hong Kong; while dumpster-diving in one of the plastic recycling bins in Hämeenlinna, Finland; and while watching how the sales assistant in my corner shop in Williamsburg used several plastic bags to pack the two bananas I had…

https://forgetmenotpatterns.com When did your sewing journey begin? I’ve always been drawn to arts and crafts, but I was not really introduced to sewing until I learned a bit about it at school. I had fun and made a few things, but I didn’t catch the real bug for sewing until later on, in my mid-twenties. Let’s just say I was a late bloomer, due to being very ill in my teens and early twenties. How was Forget-Me-Not Patterns born? I would always tell people there was no way I was starting my own business… until I did. I’m really quite shy, and expressing myself scares me sometimes. Despite that, I have always enjoyed sharing with fellow sewists. Even after I completed my fashion studies and worked in various roles, I…

The concept of ‘slow’ is a conundrum to me. In many ways, it’s an out-of-touch privilege; a beige-toned, hazily filmed snippet of someone with too much time – and money – on their hands. On the flipside, it’s also a biological and emotional necessity in a world where ‘fast’ is too often the norm. I have to admit that me and slow are not soul sisters; we only catch up occasionally, and often only when a reunion is forced upon us. Usually by this stage I yearn for her visits but then don’t recognise her gentle face; she sits uncomfortably in my busy presence. I have been spending more time getting to know her in recent months. ‘After the floods’ (a difficult period of lost time that I still struggle…

http://womadelaide.com.au What is WOMADelaide? WOMAD was founded in 1982 in the UK by English rock musician Peter Gabriel. WOMADelaide is WOMAD + Adelaide – a four-day, outdoor festival of amazing music, arts and dance from across the planet, held each March on the traditional lands of the Kaurna people. How is it different from other festivals? Aside from being held in the most beautiful venue, Botanic Park in inner-city Adelaide, it’s probably best known for introducing diverse, extraordinary, traditional and contemporary music to Australia. From Korean folk to Scottish rock, Americana to Moroccan blues, DJs to modern dance – and everything in between – the festival embraces many sounds and styles and welcomes an audience of all ages. We also present a stunning program of roving artists and site installations…

http://kipandco.com.au http://r-e-p-o-s-e.com http://thegoodfarm.shop http://greenpan.com.au http://secateurmebaby.online http://sparkke.com KIP&CO ceramics In collab with renowned ceramists Robert Gordon, the female-founded, carbon-neutral crew at Kip&Co have created a range dedicated to the art of setting the table. kipandco.com.au GREENPAN cookware Celebrate 15 years of sustainable cooking with GreenPan. They scrambled their competitors like eggs when they introduced Thermolon back in 2007, a non-stick coating derived from sand not Teflon. greenpan.com.au REPOSE lampshades and napery Fill your home with the welcoming vibes of Repose. The off-beat, elevated aesthetics of its pieces are architectural yet organic, inspired by the natural materials and techniques they are created with. r-e-p-o-s-e.com SECATEUR ME BABY plant stakes Help your plant babies grow with the flow with these sculptural plant stakes. Functional yet fabulous, these recycled plastic, native timber or steel…

Of the 20-something million cars on Australian roads, only 23,000 are electric. That’s 0.115%. Disheartening? Sure. Especially when you consider that countries overseas are looking to ban new petrol and diesel models completely by 2030. But the number is going up. And fast. From 2020 to 2021 alone, electric vehicle (EV) registrations Down Under increased by 62.3%. When you consider the environmental impacts, research shows driving an electric car produces a whopping 70% fewer emissions than their petrol counterparts in countries such as France and Sweden where the majority of electricity comes from renewables. EVs are going to have a higher footprint up front – largely because of the battery – but that’s quickly offset in operation. And as the grid gets greener, benefits across the entire lifecycle will only…

WHAT YOU’LL NEED A t-shirt 1.5–2m of fun fabric Scissors Fabric pen Pins Sewing machine Calculator LET’S GET MAKING! Put on your chosen t-shirt. Using a fabric pen or some pins, mark where you’d like your skirt to sit. You can go classic and sit the skirt at your natural waist (the narrowest part of your torso), the bottom of your ribcage for a high-waisted babydoll look, or closer to your hips for a drop-waist effect. Lay your shirt out on a flat surface and measure its width along the point you marked. Multiply this measurement by two to get the circumference of the shirt at this point. Mark a straight line around the skirt at your chosen waistline and then carefully cut off the shirt 1.5cm below this point.…

“A ball of hand-spun hemp is more than just string – it speaks to the depths of our humanity and traditions, the relationship between people and their land, and the inseparability of environment and culture.” Can you tell us a little about the origins of String Harvest? It was 2014, when Mum was running a cafe alongside a sustainable homewares and furniture store in Temora (Wiradjuri Country), rural NSW. She asked me if I wanted to take over the retail side of things and go online. As a renter living in Melbourne, I had no desire to go into homewares – but Mum also stocked a small selection of fair trade, artisanal twines in fibres such as hemp, jute and coconut and I was curious about those. I was always…