Month / Dec 2018

by brandsa2018

Jervois cheese factory makes its mark with mozzarella

Paul Connolly is living a cheese lover’s dream.

He is surrounded by high quality mozzarella every day in his role as operations manager and master cheesemaker at Beston Global Food Company (BFC’s) dairy factories in Jervois and Murray Bridge in the state’s Murraylands.

Paul has worked in the SA cheese industry since the 1980s, so his contribution to the dairy sector is longstanding.

Three years ago the veteran cheesemaker was working under the factories’ previous owner, Hong Kong-owned United Dairy Power Group, when it fell into receivership.

Along came the Adelaide-based ASX-listed BFC, which purchased the business including its disused and neglected dairy factory at Jervois and another plant in Murray Bridge.

A mural by leading local artist Adam Poole-Mottishaw was painted on the Jervois factory’s façade depicting the history of cheesemaking in the area.

More than 30 jobs were saved, including Paul’s, and the two sites restored to their former glory. Both of the factories had a rich history in the state’s dairy industry and contributed greatly to the economic welfare of the region over time.

“When we watched it (United Dairy) wind down and watched all the uncertainty of what was going to happen, we wondered whether the factory was going to be shut down and what would happen to the team of cheesemakers and staff that worked here,” Paul says.

“But then when we found out that an SA company had bought it, would start it up again and reemploy the workers … it was good times.”

Since 2015, BFC has invested $26.5 million to fit out the Jervois factory with state-of-the-art technology, sourced predominantly from Italy to produce Beston’s Edwards Crossing premium quality mozzarella cheese.

Member for Hammond Adrian Pederick, left, Premier Steven Marshall, BFC chairman Dr Roger Sexton, and Murray Bridge Mayor Brenton Lewis celebrates the unveiling of the mural, and the official opening of the mozzarella factory.

Paul has gone on to help BFC win 70 industry awards for its cheeses, and says the complete overhaul of the Jervois factory has ensured a more modern approach to cheesemaking and greater efficiency.

“We purchased a state-of-the-art mozzarella plant that uses esteemed technology from Italy and packaging equipment from Germany. Our mozzarella plant is fully automated,” Paul says. “Parts were also sourced from Holland and New Zealand.”

BFC also makes a number of by-products at Jervois, including whey powder, cream and butter. It has also restarted the production of lactoferrin, a protein in cow’s milk that goes into infant formula powder.

BFC’s support of the regional economy also extends to the resilient dairy industry, as local farmers supply their milk to Beston.

BFC operations manager and master cheesemaker Paul Connolly with some of the mozzarella.

Soon after the acquisition of the cheesemaking business, BFC contracted 38 dairy families across the state to supply milk for the Jervois and Murray Bridge factories. The company also put programs in place to assist farmers in dire need of financial help at the time.

“We still source our milk from across SA … we source from Meningie and Lower Lakes, from northern areas, the Fleurieu Peninsula and also down to the South East,” Paul says. BFC itself owns a number of dairy farms in the South East and Fleurieu regions.

While the Jervois factory is at the centre of mozzarella action, the Murray Bridge plant produces mature-style cheeses and was completely refurbished after BFC’s takeover.

“The hard cheese plant where they were making the parmesans and more artisan-style cheeses had been mothballed in about 2010 so we decided to get that up and running again too,” Paul says.

“The cheddar plant was really run down … we had to get it up to speed so we could make some really high-quality products reliably.”

Beston’s Edward’s Crossing Vintage Cheddar.

BFC employs about 300 people, directly and indirectly, including employees at other SA companies it has invested in, including third-generation seafood company Ferguson Australia. Beston also invests in premium quality bottled water producer AQUAEssence, which sources spring water from underground aquifers at Mt Gambier.

BFC chairman Dr Roger Sexton says the number of employees at Murray Bridge and Jervois is dynamic depending on production and customer demand.

“There is a mix of full-time, permanent part-time and casuals, needless to say as the company grows the need for more employees, especially in the Murrayland region, will occur,” he says.

BFC has become the seventh largest dairy company in Australia, and while its head office is in Adelaide, the company has offices in China, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Dr Sexton says BFC is well positioned to capitalise on the increase in pizza consumption in Asia with Beston’s Edwards Crossing mozzarella.

“The demand for mozzarella in China is forecast to increase over the next few years from around 175,000 tonnes to 248,000 tonnes in 2022,” he says.

Dr Sexton says BFC is also experiencing an expansion in the domestic market, with its products having an ever-growing presence in major retailers and shops across Australia.

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by brandsa2018

Riding high on SA’s mountain biking destinations

The South Australian landscape is internationally recognised for its unique and striking beauty. From the breathtaking vistas of the Flinders Ranges, to the wild and windswept beaches, or the steep wooded gullies of the Adelaide Hills, there’s something that lifts the spirits and inspires the imagination in just about everyone.

This is definitely the case for Nick Bowman, but with an extra added twist. Because where others see a pretty view, Nick sees trails.

Since he was young, Nick has been an avid mountain bike rider, hooked on the thrill of hurtling downhill, dodging trees, jumping logs and flying by the seat of his pants, powered only by his own legs and gravity.

Nick Bowman designs and constructs mountain bike trails across the state. Photo by Kane Naaraat.

“It’s not just about the excitement,“ Nick says. “It’s almost a kind of meditation for me. With mountain biking, you have to focus. You have to be right in the moment the whole time or you’ll just lose concentration and crash.”

The ongoing pursuit of this feeling naturally led Nick to his chosen profession – the design and construction of world class mountain bike courses, through his business, Destination Trails.

Trained in natural resource and biodiversity management, and with many years working as a landscaper, Nick applies a scientific approach to his work, producing trails that will still be in place generations from now.

“It’s not just about recreation,” he says. “A large proportion of quality trail design focusses on conservation. I believe that a good trail strategy is also a good conservation strategy, and I make sure I apply this in all the projects I’m involved with.”

The down hill mountain biking community in SA is big, with race events attracting overnight stayers. Photo by Kane Naaraat.

The Fox Creek trail network in the Adelaide Hills is a good example of this approach. What began in the mid-90s as a damaged, marginal parcel of forestry land, still struggling to recover a decade after the Ash Wednesday bushfires, is now a thriving mountain biking hub with over 80km of trails crisscrossing a series of gullies filled with native regrowth forest.

Nick, alongside members of his club, The Human Projectiles, has spent countless hours over the years on track construction, weed management and revegetation works. He’s also just in the process of finishing off a new beginners’ loop at the top of the network, funded by the Adelaide Hills Council.

“It’s a great little track,” he says. “Heaps of fun and just challenging enough to keep the kids on their toes, but still safe enough for people of any skill level to use.”

Apart from Fox Creek, Nick and the Destination Trails team have also completed projects at Melrose in the Mid North and Point Turton on the Yorke Peninsula, and they are about to commence work on a collaboration with Murraylands Multisports to expand a trail network in the Kinchina Reserve west of Murray Bridge.

The sun creeps through a forest as a rider makes their way through the rugged landscape. Photo by Kane Naaraat.

Header photo by Kane Naaraat.

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by brandsa2018

Adelaide wins the race to host the Australian Space Agency

South Australia has won the bid to host the Australian Space Agency, which will oversee the nation’s burgeoning space industry.

The agency will be established at the old Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) site, now known as Lot 14, by mid-2019 and will initially employ 20 full-time equivalent staff.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison made the announcement in Adelaide today (Wednesday, December 12) and says SA is a key hub for innovation and the technology industry, making it an ideal home for the new agency.

“Australia’s space industry is set to hit new heights,” he says.

“This agency is going to open doors for local businesses and Australian access to the US$345 billion global space industry.

“Our government’s $41 million investment into the agency will act as a launching pad to triple Australia’s space economy to $12 billion and create up to 20,000 jobs by 2030.

“This agency is part of our plan for a stronger economy for SA and the country which is about delivering long-term, high-wage, high-skills jobs.”

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SA Premier Steven Marshall says long-term investment in Adelaide and its space sector will drive entrepreneurship and innovation, and enhance the city’s liveability.

“SA is the ideal location for the Australian Space Agency with a range of local space industry businesses already established here as well as a rapidly growing defence industry sector,” he says.

“Establishing the headquarters of the Australian Space Agency in SA will launch our space and defence sectors to the next level.”

SA was up against strong competition from other states, with Adelaide astronaut Andy Thomas throwing his support behind SA’s bid to host the national space headquarters.

Italian aerospace engineer Flavia Tata Nardini runs Fleet Space Technologies from SA.

Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews says Adelaide put forward the strongest case and is already home to more than 60 organisations and 800 employees in the space sector.

A number of space start-ups including Fleet Space Technologies and nano-satellites startup, Myriota, are based in SA.

The southern state also has a longstanding contribution to the nation’s space journey, with Australia’s first satellite launching from Woomera in the Far North in 1967.

The Australian Space Agency will be key to the new Adelaide City Deal, a scheme that aims to turbo charge the city’s economy and drive long-term investment.

Aside from the space agency, Lot 14 is also expected to include a start-up precinct and growth hub, an international centre for tourism, hospitality and food services, and a national Aboriginal art gallery.

The old RAH closed in September 2017 and has since undergone progressive demolition. The new $2.4 billion hospital is located further west along North Terrace.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

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by brandsa2018

New botanic fashion label with eco layers

As models took to the catwalk at Raj House in the city of Adelaide last week, Lauren Crago saw the fruits of her design labour appearing in more ways than one.

Not only was she showing the first ever Solomon Street collection of ethical clothing after a hard year planning and designing – the collection also centred around her own designs featuring bold, fruit-inspired prints.

“At the moment the designs are inspired by fruit and vegetables, there is a real beauty in them,” Lauren says.

“The current prints are focused mainly on apricots and figs, they hold a special place in my heart with family, my mum and grandma, and my love for cooking…. I have great memories of me and my mum picking figs.”

The clothing range is also remarkable on another layer. All the garments were made from carefully selected, sustainable fabrics including recycled fishing nets, and were printed in Australia. The label was greeted with strong support for the launch at the Feast Festival headquarters in Adelaide’s West End.

Among the family, friends and loyal customers were other local makers and those involved with other eco fashion brands including Huntermade and organic sleepwear label Jager.

Solomon Street’s pieces are centred around fruit and vegetable prints and made from sustainable fabrics.

It’s been a whirlwind month for the entrepreneurial 25-year-old as her burgeoning label also opened its first bricks and mortar home in historic Regent Arcade off Rundle Mall with support from Renew Adelaide.

In a world dominated by consumerism, Lauren says it’s been a passionate pursuit. She first started Solomon Street to sell eco-friendly biodegradable textiles and stationery online about a year ago, creating bound books she designed and cut herself along with cards.

The name for the clothing and stationery label came from the street in the Adelaide CBD where Lauren previously worked at Fairweather coffee as a barista.

But she kept her eyes on the end goal; to produce her own eco fashion label. She is now creating bold designs then taking them to a Melbourne manufacturer for the fabric to be printed.

The fabrics range from organic cotton, a linen and cotton blend, and recycled nylon made from fishing nets in Italy, used in her line of swimwear.

Garments including bathers, leisure wear and jumpsuits are then sewn either by Lauren or through another Adelaide business with the final products landing in the store or being sold online.

Lauren Crago recently celebrated the opening of her bricks and mortar fashion store in Regent Arcade, off Rundle Mall.

“My inspiration comes from changing the way businesses behave, we are a very consumerist society, the fashion side of things is a large part of the business,” she says.

“There are so many facets to the designs. I wanted to create clothing that was comfortable to wear but in a flattering silhouette, it’s reminiscent of the ‘70s, A-frame dresses and flared, wide-leg pants. They are vibrant and fun but comfortable and they will last a really long time.”

It’s been a boost for Lauren, moving into the like-minded hub of Regent Arcade.

There’s a vegan juice bar nearby along with Have you met Charlie?, a gift store featuring homewares, jewellery and prints from independent South Australian makers, many with a sustainable bent.

Oh Deer Sugar is nearby with its non-edible bakery making ‘food for the skin’ bath and body products – all handmade in Adelaide using cruelty free, vegan ingredients to replicate desserts.

And there’s the small design studio Leatherworks Adelaide that specialises in quality, handmade leather goods. It’s owned by Lauren’s family friends and she created the store branding.

“I’m really excited to be in Regent Arcade, it’s known as a hub for a lot of young and up and coming designers in Adelaide and being part of that cohort is pretty cool,” she says.

Solomon Street’s line of swimwear is made from recycled nylon from fishing nets in Italy.

Lauren is also working hard to make Solomon Street a zero-waste brand with the current packaging bio-degradable and products which can be recycled or are also biodegradable.

She also says customers buying her clothing can bring them back for alterations – like tightening straps – to ensure they last longer.

There are plans to use some of the sales profits as loans for those experiencing poverty to gain financial support.

“I want to create ethical and sustainable fabric and paper products from beautiful prints that fund life-bettering projects for our local and international community,” Lauren says.

“We believe that humans are innately generous and kind. Our beliefs lie in the idea that even as one person, one team, one community, we can make the world into a better place.”

Industry in focus: Craft industries

Throughout the months of November and December, the state’s craft industries will be celebrated as part of I Choose SA.

South Australian craftspeople make up some of our most creative thinkers and makers of sustainable and innovative goods. Read more craft stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

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by brandsa2018

Bottling the nation’s best gin

South Australia is aiming to become the gin capital of the nation as 27 craft distillers produce dozens of award-winning bottles and create their own industry association.

Last month, Adelaide was also host to the Australian Distillers Association conference with its finale event held at the Prohibition Liquor Company Tasting Room in Gilbert Street where its owners showcase gins from across the state.

“We serve 40 plus SA gins,” says co-owner Adam Carpenter, adding that the new state industry association also held its first event at the same venue in August.

“We’ve been trying to own the title of the gin state, there are more distillers in other states but they don’t work together as collaboratively as we do, that’s where we have a real strength.”

The Prohibition Liquor Company Tasting Room on Gilbert Street, Adelaide.

It’s been a rapid growth story for the SA industry and the Prohibition Liquor Company started by Adam Carpenter and Wes Heddles in 2015 has been riding the wave.

The two have a range of five core gins along the selection, including the Original and the 69% proof Bathtub Cut Gin – “1% higher and it’s officially a dangerous liquid” – both winning a swag of national and international awards.

Adam and Wes opened their tasting room and bar a year ago to showcase their own gins produced at Applewood Distillery in the Adelaide Hills, along with 90 others from around Australia and the world.

They have educational gin tasting flights with many locally crafted brands rotating through the SA version. Adelaide Hills Distillery is in the mix at the moment, a clear sign of Adam and Wes’s commitment to supporting other craft distillers.

Their inclusion marks Adelaide Hills Distillery opening its own tasting and bar venue Lot 100 near Nairne this month. For Adam, it makes sense to work together to jointly promote the state’s rich offerings.

“SA logically is one of the best places in the world to produce gin, first of all most of us use grape-based spirit and we have access to some of the best in the world,” he says.

“Then we have that quality in the gin coming from the best botanical ingredients, some of the best Riverland citrus, we use Adelaide Hills lavender and there’s a whole range of bush ingredients.”

On the bush ingredient side, Something Wild and Adelaide Hills Distillery are making Australian Green Ant Gin with the unique bush tucker hand harvested in the Northern Territory by the Motlop family of the Larrakia people and the product handcrafted and bottled in the Adelaide Hills.

Ambleside Distillers in Hahndorf produces Kifaru Gin using native botanicals found at Monarto including mintbush and wattleseed – with money from bottles sold supporting threatened Southern White Rhinos.

Ambleside’s Kifaru Gin, in collaboration with Monarto Zoo.

While Kangaroo Island Spirits forages for native juniper on Kangaroo Island for its award-winning Native Gin, also using fresh limes from nearby Fleurieu Peninsula.

Some of those capitalising on the state’s top quality fruit include Rowland Short in McLaren Vale. He uses Japanese native yuzu being grown for the first time in the Riverland, bottling under the Settler’s Gin label.

And Twenty Third Street Distillery – owned by the Bickford’s Group and based in the old Renmano winery in Renmark – has created an award-winning Signature Gin with “tiny explosions of Riverland sunshine”, using local mandarin and lime.

It’s an industry daring to be different, and Prohibition Liquor Co is keen to continue being at the forefront. This month, the company is installing Adelaide CBD’s first functioning and visible distillery at its Gilbert Street venue.

The gin bar at Prohibition Liquor Co.

Red Hen Gin uses a copper column still for its London Dry Style gin in the city but it’s not on display. Adam says the new still will be used to make existing gins along with some new offerings crafted on site.

Prohibition Liquor Co gins are now distributed nationally through Dan Murphy’s stores along with other independent bottle shops, online and the business is exporting to New Zealand and Singapore.

Adam says the new year will see an even greater focus on expanding exports along with the two continuing to build strong relationships with other SA gin makers. Wes is treasurer for their new industry association.

“We were about the fifth on the market in SA when we started out, now there’s 27 or 28, it was all starting to emerge in 2015 but it’s just exploded in the last three years,”  he says.

“We have been working together well as an industry on an informal basis since about 2016 but as more and more emerge we are bringing them into the fold, we’re sharing the knowledge so everyone benefits.”

Industry in focus: Craft industries

Throughout the months of November and December, the state’s craft industries will be celebrated as part of I Choose SA.

South Australian craftspeople make up some of our most creative thinkers and makers of sustainable and innovative goods. Read more craft stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

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by brandsa2018

Sustainable hemp at the heart of Good Studios

Ethical fashion designer Anny Duff is championing the use of hemp fabrics to create her contemporary clothing designs with minimal environmental impact.

Her South Australian-based ethical and sustainable fashion label Good Studios features clothing and homewares made from luxurious hemp linens and hemp organic cotton blends woven in Adelaide’s sister city of Qingdao, China.

Industrial hemp is still a fledgling industry in SA, with a number of growing trials rolling out in the Riverland and South East.

Anny, Brand South Australia’s latest I Choose SA ambassador, is passionate about hemp linen as a sustainable fabric, which she uses to create simple and minimalistic pieces, with colour palettes of blues, greys, naturals, blacks, earthy oranges and khaki greens.

Hemp linen is made from the largely misunderstood hemp plant, which aside from the clothing industry can also be used in the manufacturing of some health foods, skin care, construction materials, paper and biofuel.

Anny is quick to point out the differences between the hemp plant and its infamous cousin, marijuana. While it’s a variety of the cannabis sativa species, the chemical compounds of hemp are different to marijuana as hemp contains little to no levels of the psychoactive ingredient THC.

I Choose SA ambassador Anny Duff is behind sustainable fashion label Good Studios. Photo by JKTP.

“I could spend hours talking about the vast differences between marijuana and hemp, they are completely different plants, just of a similar species. If you were to smoke a field of hemp you’d just get a headache,” she says.

“It was only recently that SA changed legislation that allows farmers to apply for licenses to grow industrial hemp. But we still have a long way to go.”

Anny works hard to ensure as much of her supply chain as possible follows sustainable paths.

“We have really tried to find companies who are doing really incredible things and we showcase their fabrics as much as possible with really simplistic designs,” says Anny, who has showcased her pieces from creative workshop, retail and gallery space Ensemble Studio since 2016.

“One of our suppliers is an incredible organisation and is the first Chinese company to be fair wear certified. We work with them to get their surplus and deadstock if we can, so we try to not make too much from scratch.”

Once Anny has sourced the fabric, it is dyed by Oeko-Tex Certified dyes before all design and manufacturing is done in Adelaide.

Some of Good Studios pieces are made from Australian wool, while the label’s line of swimwear is made from up-cycled nylon from salvaged fishing nets.

Good Studios also has a homewares line with bedding made from 100% hemp linen, known for its durability, antibacterial properties and for being naturally thermoregulating. The bedding is made to order with the help of Anny’s mother, a talented seamstress.

Anny says having a sustainable supply chain is sometimes a challenge due to cost and logistics, but she “couldn’t do it any other way”.

“There are moments you have to compromise but my mantra is to try and not compromise as much as possible,” she says.

“There are things you could just turn a blind eye towards but at the end of the day why should some people have less of a livelihood than you just because of the way things are? “Things need to change and need to be transparent.”

Anny founded Good Studios in 2012 after working in the film industry but longing to get back to the roots of her upbringing.

She grew up on an organic farm at Wistow in the Adelaide Hills and attended Mt Barker Waldorf School, a Steiner school offering an education rich in creativity and dynamic learning.

Ensemble Studios has a small retail space showcasing wares made by fellow SA makers, as well as a few selected pieces from sustainable makers across the country.

After completing Year 12 she got an apprenticeship in the film industry as a camera assistant before moving into art direction and production design. She worked on local feature film One Eyed Girl as production designer and set out to find simple, minimalistic, op-shop-style outfits for the cast.

“That sort of aesthetic of really paring back design to the bare minimum was really enjoyable for me and was definitely the first seeds of Good Studios,” Anny says.

“It (fashion design) started as something on the side in-between film projects but then it took on a life of its own and I was hanging onto the proverbial coattails.

“I had no background in pattern making or sewing, I have done a pattern making course since, but it’s been a baptism of fire making sure I work with the right people to deliver my vision.”

Filmmaking still takes up some of Anny’s time. In August she travelled to China to document Good Studios’ supply chain beginning in the hemp fields, and hopes to release a film in the near future.

Aside from Good Studios, Ensemble Studios is also home to two other resident designers, Beccy Bromilow of BB Shoemaker and plant stylist Emma Sadie Thomson.

“That’s probably the best thing that has happened from starting my label, meeting an incredible group of people,” Anny says.

“Consumers are placing a lot more value on the handmade and it’s such a human thing to make. To be able to do it for a living is really special.”

Industry in focus: Craft industries

Throughout the months of November and December, the state’s craft industries will be celebrated as part of I Choose SA.

South Australian craftspeople make up some of our most creative thinkers and makers of sustainable and innovative goods. Read more craft stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

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by brandsa2018

Robyn Wood crafting bespoke furniture pieces from Adelaide

Despite still being on the road travelling home from three long days at The Big Design Market in Melbourne, furniture maker Robyn Wood is keen to talk about her passion for the South Australian industry.

The talented designer runs her own studio from The Mill creative studios in Adelaide and is firmly behind the state’s craft and making industry growing its presence on the national stage.

“We have such an amazing culture for the arts, the next step is getting people to embrace the designers and makers, the artisans along with that, to somehow connect the dots,” says Robyn, Brand South Australia’s latest I Choose SA ambassador.

“I’m really keen to see the craft and making industry becoming like the food side of things, the wine, food and cheese in SA that is so well known.”

It’s been four years since the aptly named Robyn Wood – she married into the name, “how is that for serendipity?” – set up her own design studio at The Mill in Adelaide’s CBD.

After working as an interior architect for 20 years, her interest in furniture making was particularly stirred during a seven-year stint with joinery firm IJF.

Furniture designer and I Choose SA ambassador Robyn Wood at Neigbour Workshop. Photo by James Knowler/JKTP.

Robyn remembers a moment working with IJF after the Adelaide company won a three-year contract to fit out Federal Government embassies around the world.

“It was in Paris, 1995, 15th arrondissement. I was overseeing moving furniture out of an Embassy apartment complex as part of an interior fit out,” she says. “But this wasn’t just any furniture – it was mid-20th century. Timeless, elegant, iconic, built to last. It was beautiful.”

The experience stirred a growing appreciation for beautiful furniture, and in 2014, Robyn opened her own studio.

She now makes furniture and bespoke objects for architects, galleries and “lovers of good design” throughout Australia, selling at galleries, online, at two markets – The Big Design Market and Bowerbird – and on commission.

Her very first piece made for small production is a favourite, a hand turned timber base Bud Lamp. It drew committed fans among the 70,000 people streaming through The Big Design Market held in the Carlton Royal Exhibition Building last weekend.

“Some of those people at the market saw me there four years ago and they bought my lamp and they came in just to say hello and thanks for the lamp,” Robyn says. “I can still remember their faces from when it was sold, I have some bizarre connection with it.”

There’s also a Reflect desk, vases, candle holders, along with a glass topped coffee table she’s recently finished. Most are made from wood and Robyn has a particular soft spot for sycamore maple and “walnut is lovely to work with too”.

There are other pieces made with glass and steel, with Robyn committed to ensuring each is made from sustainable, renewable materials.

“My design philosophy can be summed up in three words: warmth, simplicity and connection,” she says.

Her plan is to scale back selling smaller pieces with the focus turning to one-off larger designs “to show what I can do” through exhibitions, high-end galleries and stores.

It’s a carefully considered decision in a local industry where artists and designers are working to raise their profile and build stronger business models.

Robyn is a member of craft and design industry group Guildhouse and features on the organisation’s Well Made website, also regularly attending its professional development programs to hone her skills.

She believes there are enormous opportunities to develop a more vibrant local industry.

“I think there’s growing confidence coming through from artist and designers,” Robyn says.

Her career has been marked by the local scene’s strength in collaboration. Robyn regularly works with other makers like Tony Neighbour from Neighbour’s Workshop in Kensington.

“Adelaide is still small scale, its designers and makers are a tight community and I have access to all of that, there’s a lot of old school skills that are still around and I’ve a lot of people mentoring me,” she says.

“The collaboration and skill sets in SA are wonderful, we have so many great makers here.

“Guys like Tony, they don’t get the press and they don’t look for it, but he would be one of the preeminent production makers in SA – if you speak to (acclaimed furniture designer) Khai Liew and others in the know, Tony would be a guy they would all work with.”

Industry in focus: Craft industries

Throughout the months of November and December, the state’s craft industries will be celebrated as part of I Choose SA.

South Australian craftspeople make up some of our most creative thinkers and makers of sustainable and innovative goods. Read more craft stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

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by brandsa2018

Garlic glory on Kangaroo Island

Kangaroo Island man Shane Leahy is on a mission to ensure South Australians have a better chance of consuming locally grown garlic.

His fledgling enterprise, Kangaroo Island Fresh Garlic, is the island’s first commercial garlic farm, and Shane says this year’s harvest is his first successful yield after three years spent perfecting his growing techniques.

He is a strong advocate against imported garlic, saying the flavour of the local produce compared to imported is second to none. He is also passionate about the health and environmental benefits of choosing Australian grown garlic.

“It stunned me when I first started growing and learning about garlic about what they do to imported garlic,” he says. “By the time it gets here to Australia and it’s put on our plate, you may as well eat a cardboard box.”

According to the Australian Garlic Producers Group, Australia imports about 95% of its garlic from China, where the garlic is treated with a growth retardant to prevent it from sprouting and is also sprayed with chemicals to extend its shelf life.

Shane Leahy of Kangaroo Island Fresh Garlic based at Stokes Bay on the island.

Australia also imports garlic from Spain, Argentina, Mexico and the US, with all imported garlic treated with methyl bromide upon arrival to ensure it meets stringent quarantine import conditions.

Australia’s garlic crops are generally planted in autumn, ready for harvest by late spring, depending on the conditions and growing region.

To combat the seasonality of locally grown garlic, Shane has launched a range of value-added products so consumers can enjoy locally grown garlic all year round. He invested in peeling and dehydration equipment to make garlic granules, garlic powder and garlic salt, made with no additives or preservatives.

These products have launched into independent supermarkets and selected greengrocers across metropolitan Adelaide and regional SA, with distributors also in Queensland and Darwin.

The fresh, whole white and purple hardneck garlic bulbs are currently only available on KI, but Shane says plans are afoot to distribute the produce statewide.

Kangaroo Island Fresh Garlic also supplies freshly peeled garlic to top restaurants and cafés in Adelaide and on KI, including Southern Ocean Lodge, Rockpool Café, Sunset Food and Wine, and the Aurora Ozone Hotel.

Aside from fresh bulbs, Kangaroo Island Fresh Garlic also makes garlic salt, garlic powder and garlic granules.

“Because of the strong flavour of Kangaroo Island Fresh Garlic I only need to use one third of the quantity to achieve the same flavour as inferior products,” says Aurora Ozone Hotel head chef Lenny Numa.

Shane took to garlic growing after spending most of his working life in the wool industry as a wool classer. While born in SA, his family moved to Fremantle in WA where he spent most of his childhood and adolescence, completing a TAFE course in wool classing.

He then spent years travelling around the country, hopping from shearing shed to shearing shed until he one day took a wool classing job on KI.

He still moved around during the off-season but grew tired of the constant travelling. In 2003, KI became his home base, with its population of 4000 people and the many mates he made at the front bar of the local pub.

Two of those mates were brothers Lachie and Sam Hollitt and over a few beers the trio came up with a grand plan – to grow garlic on the island and sell it to market.

Shane says Sam was the brains behind the idea, with the three men eventually taking a trip to the Mid North to “pick the brains of an old fella” who had been growing garlic for years.

But on the cusp of launching their enterprise, Sam was killed in a car accident, leaving the small community devastated. In a second bout of tragedy, Lachie later fell ill with testicular cancer and nine months after the diagnosis he passed away.

This year’s harvest is Kangaroo Island Fresh Garlic’s first successful yield.

Months later, Shane toyed with the idea of continuing the garlic venture in honour of his two mates, believing “it was what the boys would have wanted”.

And so he carried on with the plans in their memory, eventually meeting a grower in Renmark, buying seed and planting thousands of them by hand over one acre on his property at Stokes Bay.

Four years later and the garlic crop of about 300,000 plants takes up about 3ha of his 250-acre farm, which also runs 400 crossbred ewes for meat production.

Shane says he hopes to do the brothers proud with his garlic enterprise, which is still a one-man operation besides a small number of workers employed seasonally.

He says KI’s cold climate helps accentuate the strong flavour of the garlic and says his go-to garlic recipe is a simple garlic butter.

“Work half a pouch of the garlic powder into a knob of butter and you have the best garlic butter in the world,” he adds.

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From little labels, big wines grow in the Adelaide Hills

The time to focus maximum attention on the Adelaide Hills wine region is right now.

An outstanding suite of wines presented as trophy winners at the recent Adelaide Hills Wine Show underlines that this region rides at the forefront of modern Australian winemaking – and continues to keep offering new sensations, illustrated by the show’s supreme winner being a winemaker most people would not yet have heard of.

Charlotte Hardy makes her small batch wines in the tiny hills sub-region of Basket Range, and releases them under the brand name of Charlotte Dalton.

The New Zealand-born winemaker first came to the district 13 years ago and was soon besotted, realising it produced the type of superior cool climate fruit that would allow her to make lean, sensuous wines of distinctive appeal.

As a result, the 2017 vintage of Charlotte Dalton Wines Love Me Love You Shiraz won three big trophies at the 2018 Adelaide Hills Wine Show – Best Shiraz, Best Single Vineyard Wine and Best Wine of the Show.

Charlotte Hardy of Charlotte Dalton Wines in Basket Range.

Named sentimentally in tribute to a lullaby that her mother sang to Charlotte in her childhood, this slender, spicy and nimble shiraz – more akin to pinot noir in structure, but with a more plush fruit palate – represents an exciting new benchmark for cool climate shiraz.

“I firmly believe that a wine must be made with a happy heart and a content soul,” says Charlotte. “And that is, simply, why I make the Charlotte Dalton Wines – to bring me joy, happiness and contentedness, and to share those feelings through the wines.”

Shiraz in the Adelaide Hills has come of age, and is now respected as one of the four vinous pillars of strength in the region, along with sparkling wines, chardonnay and pinot noir.

The wine show judges awarded seven gold medals for shiraz wines this year compared to three last year – with the great improvers being small, artisan producers.

Out of 592 entries in this year’s Adelaide Hills Wine Show, a vast majority come from small and family producers, and 315 were awarded medals – with a startling 56 being gold medals, signalling a new high water mark of quality.

Michael Downer of Murdoch Hill.

“Right now, this is the most exciting wine region in Australia,” said chairman of the wine show judges Nick Stock, addressing a capacity audience at the wine show awards lunch held at Bird In Hand winery on November 30.

Much of Nick’s excitement is directed towards innovative winemaking. Michael Downer of Murdoch Hill wines, awarded best Adelaide Hills producer making less than 100 tonnes of wine, also won best avant garde wine with the 2018 Murdoch Hill Happy Pinot Gris, an experimental orange wine produced from extended grape skin contact and longer oak maturation.

It has proved such a success from its small batch trial that Michael has confirmed he will make the same style again.

“Experiments can lead to popular styles,” says Michael. “If we don’t push the boundaries and break with convention at times, we don’t fully understand what’s possible in making great wine.”

Recognising boutique excellence extends through to sparkling wine production, illustrated by Mt Lofty Ranges Vineyard being awarded best sparkling wine of show for its 2015 Pinot Noir, Chardonnay – one of the exciting categories identifying a raft of small producers throughout the Adelaide Hills region producing fine wines of exceptional quality.

Sharon Pearson and Garry Sweeney of Mt Lofty Ranges Vineyard.

“The next step ahead for the producers of this region is focus hard on ultra-specialisation, in both the quality of the grapes we grow and the wines we make,” says Garry Sweeney, co-proprietor of Mt Lofty Ranges Vineyard with partner Sharon Pearson.

“We make 16 different wines from only five grape varieties, because we are intent on finding the best individual parcels of fruit and making the very best wines we can from them. Absolute attention to detail is what will continue putting the Adelaide Hills wine region on the map.”

Wine judge Nick Stock agrees. “The Hills winemakers are wonderfully capable of making great sparkling wine. Smaller producers are very committed and realise that the best thing for them is to go the extra step to give their wines that extra quality which will bring them notice and make them successful.”

The region is also abreast of fast-moving wine trends, especially the transformation in style of the booming rosé class, with the best examples becoming more pale, dry and nuanced.

Howard Vineyard winemaker Tom Northcott with a group of cellar door visitors.

This year saw Howard Vineyard 2018 Clover Rosé come out on top, earning the trophy in consecutive years with a refined, elegant and delightfully aromatic wine made from cabernet franc grapes.

Importantly, Howard Vineyard also won the trophy for best Adelaide Hills Cellar Door experience, marking the success of recent improvements to the Nairne winery’s visitor centre that have been introduced by owners Ian and Sharon Northcott with their winemaker son Tom.

“Making sure that visitors to the Adelaide Hills wine region have a fantastic experience is of primary concern to us all,” says Tom Northcott. “That’s how people remember our great wines – by tasting them in a great setting.”

All the results of the 2018 Adelaide Hills Wine Show can be found online here.

Header image: Michael Downer of Murdoch Hill.

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Regional exhibition tells a story that must be told

For many years Aboriginal woman Kunyi June Anne McInerney has picked up a paint brush as a way to reflect on her past and share her life experiences of being a member of the Stolen Generations.

Moments of separation, struggles but also joy are reflected in her most recent collection of artwork that has set off on a two-year touring exhibition across regional South Australia.

Launched at the Port Pirie Regional Art Gallery last week and presented by Country Arts SA, the exhibition My Paintings Speak For Me will be shared in galleries across the state, from as far west as Port Lincoln to as far east as Bordertown.

“These are my stories from a dry, remote place where my experiences were so different from what Australian children know today. These are not fairy tales, they are true,” Kunyi says.

“I want people to understand what happened. Painting is the best way for me to tell my stories.”

Curator Maggie Fletcher, left, with artist Kunyi June Anne McInerney at the exhibition opening in Port Pirie.

In 1955 at the age of four, Kunyi was taken from her mother Daisy, a Yankunytjatjara woman, and placed in the Oondnadatta Children’s Home.

She was one of many Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children torn from their families and raised in institutions or adopted into foster families between the 1900s and 1960s.

But from the struggles, Kunyi has created beauty in the form of art; vibrant colours used to depict the rich, burnt orange earth of the outback, reflecting on memories of both sorrow and joy. She says she found comfort in painting and drawing as a child.

“Every Sunday in the missionary we did artwork and learnt something different, and I just went to another planet,” Kunyi says.

“We were always in a good mood then, we were always helping each other out and it was really exciting to see what the others would come up with. In primary school the teachers said I was the best in the class.”

Kunyi now lives at Henley Beach and has three adult children. Aside from being a much-exhibited artist whose works are appreciated not only in Australia but also overseas, she is also a published book illustrator.

The paintings and stories for My Paintings Speak For Me have been collated by curator Maggie Fletcher, with Country Arts SA also commissioning an artist video to run alongside the exhibition.

Kunyi June Anne McInerney, Sunday Service, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 61×91 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

“We are delighted to present this brand new exhibition that provides insight into a dark and often forgotten time in Australian history that has an ongoing impact today,” says Country Arts SA CEO Steve Saffell.

“There’s a lot of sadness but also joy in Kunyi’s exquisite representation of her childhood memories in the mission home. Parts of her story will literally come to life before your eyes in an animated video we have commissioned to complement her work.”

The collection of Kunyi’s work was first exhibited at the Migration Museum in Adelaide earlier this year. It will be shown in Port Pirie until January 13, 2019, before heading to Murray Bridge, Goolwa, Hahndorf, Roxby Downs, Port Lincoln, Port Augusta, Millicent, Tailem Bend, Balaklava, Moonta, the Barossa Valley, Kapunda, Burra and Bordertown.

For more information on dates and locations visit the Country Arts SA website.

Header image: Kunyi June Anne McInerney, Mission Buildings with Dining Area, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 61×91 cm. On loan from the Migration Museum, a division of the History Trust of South Australia, image courtesy of the artist.