Only opened a few weeks ago in the quiet suburb of Carnegie is Little Shop Of Handmade! To quote Bec Albinson the owner, it is ‘a little slice of Northcote in Carnegie’. Little Shop Of stocks mostly items hand made right here in Melbourne (and quite a few local Carnegie-ans), with the exception being a few pieces from rural Victoria. Even better everything in the store is under $50 - so a trip to Little Shop Of won’t break the bank.
Bec is a former graphic designer and creator of all things gorgeous and oh so delightful. A market regular she fitted out Little Shop Of herself, sourcing the beautiful tables and drawers from the Camberwell market. One wall is covered with various picture frames, plates and curios, most of which came from her house originally. I love it! It is like Bec has brought parts of her house right here into the store.
At Little Shop Of alongside Bec’s handmade finds sit her adorable creations including recycled scrabble tile necklaces - which she gets her husband to help her with at night. She creates these from her own illustrations, old story books and vintage fabrics. One even has Michael Jackson - Bec confided in me she was one of the screaming and crying 13 year old girls who lined up to see him a number of years ago.
I could wax lyrical all night about all the fabulous things at Little Shop Of, but I’ll just say you have to go there yourself. There are beautiful necklaces made from recycled upholstery leather off cuts from Mainichi, recycled one offs made from vintage fabrics from Rummage style and gorgeous things from Pocket Carnival.
I stayed for a while and chatted with Bec who was so welcoming. We discussed life, hand making things and Little Shop Of. ‘A girl came in and checked out the shop. She then told her boyfriend that he could buy anything in the entire shop as a present and she would be absolutely happy!’ Bec told me ‘ that was kind of what I was hoping to achieve with the store’.
I agree. I HAD to buy a necklace AND a pair of earrings and am now the proud owner of a oh so cute Dorothy necklace and Dove earrings by Owly and the Fox.
Little Shop of, 8 Woorayl St Carnegie Wed, Thurs, Fri 11am - 6pm Sat 10am - 4.30pm
Lucky, lucky me to have my sweety owl brooch featured in the latest issue of Frankie What's even sweeter is that it has only been 18 months since I chucked in my full-time design job to focus on making my brooches and here I find myself up amongst my all time fave brooch makers. SWEET!
