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Surrounded by<br />
bustling cafés<br />
and boutiquelined<br />
laneways<br />
is the Chicago-style<br />
Nicholas Building —<br />
the beating heart of<br />
Melbourne’s artisan<br />
culture. On seven levels, in varying states<br />
of disrepair, it’s a warren of art galleries,<br />
boutiques and designer studios to explore,<br />
where illustrators, milliners, button collectors,<br />
tailors, bag makers, jewellers, shoemakers and<br />
more practise their craft.<br />
In Melbourne, it’s<br />
still possible to meet<br />
designers who are<br />
putting their love into<br />
every single detail of their<br />
creations. Here’s the best<br />
place to start looking<br />
RETAIL THERAPY //<br />
ARTISANS<br />
O F A U S T R A L I A<br />
TOP (LEFT-RIGHT):<br />
Matt Thomson;<br />
Brendan Dwyer;<br />
Emma Grace;<br />
Dan McGill<br />
One of the many<br />
resident artisans there<br />
is Matt Thomson.<br />
He was a mechanical<br />
engineering student<br />
WORDS CATRIONA MITCHELL<br />
when he started making<br />
PHOTOGRAPHY CORMAC HANRAHAN<br />
bags on his mother’s<br />
sewing machine. Eleven<br />
years on, he’s the brains and talent behind<br />
the Mattt label, with a growing reputation<br />
for funky, functional shoulder and laptop<br />
bags, all handmade by Thomson himself.<br />
Completely self-taught, Thomson<br />
happily spends the bulk of his day at the<br />
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