HighScrollers

by Kristian Taylor-Wood

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Penguin The Magpie Who: Cameron Bloom + Penguin the magpie What: A photographer sharing the shenanigans of an adopted magpie called Penguin Backstory: With more than 90,000 Instagram followers and a book on the way, the Bloom family’s feathered friend has been dubbed by The Huffington Post as “coolest pet ever”.

How did Penguin arrive in the Bloom family? Penguin was found blown out of a nest one windy afternoon as a baby chick. She works so well with our family because we love and respect nature. The kids have had a ball with her.

What makes Penguin such a captivating subject to photograph? You have to catch her at the right time. Sometimes she’ll just want to roll over and snuggle up to you, other times she wants to hunt in the garden and not be picked up. I love her moods and different body shape and above all, her singing.

Why does Instagram love her? She is unique. Not necessarily that people haven’t kept or rescued magpies before, just that she fell into the right family who happened to not only love her but had a dad who could take some okay photos.  

Her favourite thing to do? Taking food and hiding it in [my son] Oli’s bed. She caught a mouse the other day and was trying to find her way inside but we locked her out. Also, falling asleep by the fire.

@penguinthemagpie

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Who: Lauren Winzer What: Tattoo artist at and co-owner of Hunter and Fox Backstory: This needle master founded a parlour with her husband and was recently caught playing ink-tag with Miley Cyrus.

Why a tattoo artist and how did you make it happen? I just drew every second of every day and would put my stuff online until people started requesting art from me and then my boyfriend (now husband) pushed me to learn to tattoo instead of just drawing the designs. The fact that you can create something completely original and then it becomes a part of a person for the rest of their lives was enough to push me to make my art translate to a tattooable form.

Toughest day on the job? There’s been a few, it might be that me and [my husband] Heath have fought on the way to work or that we had a bunny die that we were trying to rescue while I was working. It’s hard to switch that off and be social with my customers and work friends, but the best thing I find is to go to the shop balcony and catch my breath and talk it out.

Why do people get tattoos? To collect art, for aesthetic reasons, for therapeutic reasons, because they feel like it – ha ha! All sorts of reasons depending on the person really. I personally get tattoos because that’s what makes me excited and happy and I love collecting art from friends and people I look up to.

Words to live by? Always make choices based on if it makes you happy.

@laurenwinzer

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Who: James Jirat What: Exhibiting artist and freelance illustrator Backstory: This arty lad has channelled his boyhood thrills into creative genius for Nike, Microsoft and HBO.

How would you describe your style? It’s this kind of electro-gothic aesthetic world that I like exploring, throwing imagery from different influences like fashion, the supernatural, and sci-fi together and giving it a candy-hued rave twist. Some people think it’s scary, but it’s not scary if you’ve seen Saturday morning cartoons or an episode of Buffy.

Where do you turn for inspiration? I used to turn to the Internet a lot, using image aggregators like Tumblr or FFFFOUND!, but then I found I was getting inspired but no work was really coming out of it. Nowadays I look to music and try to create images that evoke the same feeling I get from certain songs, be it ’80s ballads or RNB songs or metal songs – you get different results that way.

Project keeping you up at night? I’m working on about three personal series right now so that keeps me up a lot – one’s a fictional editorial, one’s a typographic series and the other is still-life series. They’re all getting more and more complex as they go on, so that, and all the vintage leather jacket eBay auctions I’m stalking.

Tips for budding artists? It’s good to be inspired and have your heroes but at the end of the day, you need to do you. No-one respects another copy of an existing artist. We all have different backgrounds and tastes so take advantage of them – be as weird as possible. The weird things no-one has seen before are what sticks out, especially in an endless world of repetitive scroll feeds. If you’re really into yoga, but have a soft spot for the occult or aliens, then your work should reflect that.

@jamesjirat

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Chili Philly Who: Phil Ferguson What: A lad with a thing for crocheting foodstuffs to wear on his head   Backstory: Everyone’s talking about this Melbourne-based wool wunderkind, with thousands of Instagrammers now trailing his every stitch.  

How does a young bloke come to start crocheting? Boredom! I was on holiday in Canberra staying with my sisters four or five years ago and figured I had to do something to fill up my time.

And why food items in particular… to wear on your head? I’ve always made things to wear on my head because I was inspired by the hat Finn wears on the TV show Adventure Time. The food inspiration wasn’t anything I had planned but it’s an easy theme to do and is always the most popular.

Most challenging creation to date? My Burger Hat. I guess it [was] mainly because I hadn’t nailed construction at that point, so figuring out how I was able to create this detailed burger to wear on my head was always going to be a hard task. Though since then, because I have done so many hats, I’m able to finish things in a day or two – unlike the burger, which took months.

Are you still working at a burger shop? I still work at Tuck Shop Take Away. I only work nights though which is how I am able to do things during the day and still work for solid money. Though it’s hard to balance an actual paying job with something which isn’t necessarily giving you an income, it gives you incentive to go hard at what you are doing because you would want to push yourself to succeed when placed out of your comfort zone.

What’s your ultimate knitted headpiece? I’m not sure… a full buffet? I have so many ideas but I’ve gotten into the habit of only wanting to make things in short periods of time. Ultimately, I would want out of all of this a large legacy behind me that I can look back and say I really achieved more than I ever had expected and I was true to myself the whole way.

@chiliphilly

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1itscrunchtime Who: Crunch & Hannah Pikkat What: Miniature horse and trainer Backstory: Owner to two “mini munchkins” called Crunch and Lippy… not to mention 132,000 Instagram followers.

How and when did your love of miniature horses begin? My very first encounter with a miniature horse was outside a Bunnings hardware store when I was seven years old. His name was Spirit. It was love at first sight. This perfectly proportioned beautiful miniature horse was collecting money for charity. And that was it… my family then set about buying our very own miniature horse.

What was it about the little guys? Miniatures horses are real horses just in a mini-size package – which makes them so versatile. They are small enough to enter the house or come with you for a ride in the car; yet strong enough to jump huge jumps or pull you around in a carriage.

Why do you think Instagram loves them so much? For a variety of reasons. So many little dreamers who would love to own their own pony get to see a regular interaction and snippet of something they love. It can be very lonely out there if you have no friends with the same hobby, so Instagram has been wonderful for us. It’s amazing that our account has accumulated an audience of 132,000 followers and can have up to 14,000likes on a photo – which is a great indication of how active they are.

Funniest story to date? One of the funniest things we have done with Crunch is to take him for a ride in the back of the car. The shock on people’s faces as a horse pops his head out of the car window is priceless. You get plenty of wide mouths and double takes and it certainly makes me laugh. I think Crunch enjoys it too.

@1itscrunchtime1

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Who: Katherine Sabbath What: Instagram dessert queen Backstory: this “over-enthusiastic” high-school teacher started baking the world a better place, and picked up 169,000 followers along the way.

Did you ever dream of making a career out of desserts? Actually, not at all! I always thought I’d be a high school teacher until the end of my days. It wasn’t until I started sharing my work with others and the wider Instagram audience that I realised there was a huge market of creatives out there who enjoy my sweet hobby as much as I do!

What role has Instagram played in your journey? I’ve been seriously gob-smacked by the amount of support I’ve received through Instagram as well as all of the wonderful people I’ve been fortunate enough to connect with over the last two years! Most of the incredible opportunities I’ve been able to partake in have been because someone, somewhere has seen my work on Instagram. It’s something I would have never imagined and I thank my lucky stars every day! I try not to take it all too seriously though and still treat it as though my parents (my biggest supporters) are the only ones paying attention to what I post.

Advice for others wanting to turn their hobby into something more? Hone your skills and evolve your craft by constantly experimenting with new ideas and methods, seek and reflect on constructive feedback from others and only work on projects which you truly believe in and love. If you pursue what you love, you’ll never have to ‘work’ another day in your life!

@Katherine_Sabbath

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Little Miss Craft Who: Tallulah Baran What: Teenage creative and water baby, Little Miss Craft Backstory: the daughter of designer Phoebe Gazal, this young crafter spins magic with her mitts.

What’s your favourite thing to create? I love making anything edible. Craft related, I usually like making presents or stuff I can make with my friends. I try and get my friends to come in and help me with making things for my blog whenever they can as it is way more fun. I also like creating things that are colourful and I can have fun with like piñatas and anything that makes the world look prettier, I suppose.

Do you start with a clear plan or just see where the process takes you? It changes from project to project, but not always. Sometimes mistakes turn out to be better than the original idea. Sometimes, some of the craft projects don’t make the final cut because they just don’t work out, but the fun part is in the process, not always the end result.

What has been your most challenging project to date? A mother’s day card that I made that was quite tricky because it involved 3D paper and then a tote bag that I made using four shades of glitter. It was really quite hard to get the ombré effect whilst at the same time trying not to get the glitter virus.

What’s on your plate right now? I am working on a YouTube channel and am super excited. I am finding it hard to get a balance between trying to make the craft projects fun and easy to follow but at the same the steps are informative enough to actually create the project. It is really hard to fit everything in with school but I am really hoping to get it up very soon.

@littlemisscraft

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DJ Tigerlily Who: Dara Hayes What: Half-DJ, half-mermaid, making a splash in the EDM scene Backstory: This Sydney-based lady of the decks brings her sound and sparkle to dance floors the world over; fanbase #teamunicorn in tow.  

Cool look, but why a mermaid? I've always been a water baby as I grew up next to the ocean in Maroubra, Sydney. The water definitely has a very beautiful healing power with me. I don’t think I was always a mermaid though... growing up I would say I was more of a crazy fairy!

What was the music of your childhood? I was definitely a product of the late ‘90s. I mostly listened to pop, especially boy bands and girl groups. I’m talking Backstreet Boys, Bardot and my all-time favourite, the Spice Girls. I even started my own, kinda. I made my sisters dress up and sing along with me.

When did you start DJ’ing? I have played music my whole life, but my instrument of choice was a little dorky (the trombone). I fell in love with electronic music in my late teens and started DJ’ing through a program called Your Shot, which gave young kids the opportunity to learn how to mix. It really opened up a whole lot of doors for me within the music industry.

@djtigerlily

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Who: Bei Badgirl What: Cute-crazed artist and designer Backstory: This Sydney-based creative rolls with the catchphrase “Just be cute and don’t worry” while prettying up the likes of My Little Pony, Red Bull, MTV and EMI.

Tell us a little about your background… I have always been in love with art. I decided to pursue it at a young age and I feel extremely lucky that everything has organically been falling into place. Illustration is my favourite form of art and I love that it can be applied to so many different mediums.

How would you describe your work? Sexy, fun and cute!

Can you give us a little insight into your creative process? I’m a painter at heart. I love working with tangible materials the most. When I’m making artworks, my preferred medium is acrylic on wood. Recently, I’ve found myself working digitally a lot more as I’ve been focusing on fashion design, accessories and working on brand collaborations and related details such as packaging. As a Capricorn and extreme perfectionist, everything is definitely pre-planned, but I really need to be in the right mood to begin and creative; honesty is really important to me. I’ll typically work start-to-finish on most projects.

Where do you turn for creative inspiration? I’m a huge nerd so I spend almost all my time online and I love pop culture. I’m always travelling (currently in Japan) and find a lot of inspiration in my surroundings and experiences. Tokyo has been really cool for that. In a way, I consider it my spiritual homeland. I’m passionate about cuteness – which is a major theme that’s integrated into the city and society like nowhere else in the world.

Proudest career achievement? Collaborating with Hello Kitty!

Tips for budding designers? Stay true to your creative vision and sleep while you can!

@beibadgirl

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Who: Becca Gilmartin What: Make-up artist, body painter and hair stylist Backstory: With skin as her canvas, this make-up maven’s mastery has graced the pages of Vogue, RUSSH and her very own book.

What’s your earliest memory of make-up? One of my childhood idols was Boy George… so you could say I have very colourful early memories of make-up.

Why a make-up artist and how did you make it happen? In all honesty, I thought make-up would be a good job to do whilst I pursued acting. I originally wanted to just be a body artist but then I discovered Peter Frampton’s Cinemagraphic make-up course, got accepted, and the rest is history.

Where do you draw creative inspiration from? I am a closet art junkie so most of my ideas come from art. I also get a lot of creative ideas whilst listening to music. I created the whole concept of my book We the Painted whilst listening to Sigur Ros’ album, Valtari.

What’s the biggest misconception about what you do? There are quite a few. 1. That it’s glamorous. 2. It’s a job for people who aren’t smart for anything else. 3.  That it’s easy. 4. It’s superficial. 5. It isn’t a real job. 6. I get paid to paint naked people (in 15 years I am yet to paint a complete nude).

Your craziest/coolest project to date? Ha! They are all pretty crazy… really… probably my coolest to date was being flown to the Joshua Tree Desert in California to paint a male model as a Thomas Merton/narcissus flower character for Kimbra’s Golden Echo album cover.

Words of advice for budding makeup artists? Be kind, be resilient, be consistent and persistent, never undercut another artist, be patient with your career and remember we are here to make others feel good as much as they look good… so watch your words… don’t beauty shame.

@beccagilmartin

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D’Marge Who: Luc Wiesman What: the lad behind men’s lifestyle site, D’Marge Backstory: This “tall lanky ginger with a penchant for expensive sneakers” kicked off Australia’s biggest men’s lifestyle site, and is taking the world by (stylish) storm.

So D’Marge… what’s it about? Embracing the ethos of the magnificent bastard. Putting those two words together – you’re elevating and then you’re tearing down. And it’s really what I’ve always been about. Even the literal translation of D’Marge is ‘on the line’, so it can fall either way. So everything we produce has an element – yeah, sure it’s a little bit luxury – but I don’t take myself seriously either. That’s how we differentiate ourselves from Men’s Style or GQ or Esquire or Men’s Health, we like to think we’re in a very unique space with both our tone, but also what we write about.

Advice for someone starting their own thing? Stick at it. I almost gave it up. I had a mate who just said, what are you doing? You’ve got to give this a crack, you’re on a good thing. Give it two or three years, do it every day and see what you can create out of it.

What makes someone stylish? Good choices. Whether they be classic or contemporary. You see a lot of guys and they’re like ‘I just want those sneakers’, but the sneakers don’t go with anything else in their wardrobe. So it’s the ability to construct a look, not once, but ongoing. And it could be fashion, it could be kitchen, could be a house, it could be the car you drive. I know some people who can't dress to save themselves, but they have a beautiful collection of vintage, rare cars – and that to me is great style.

@dmarge

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Adore dolls parlour Who: Nicole Hague What: Nail artist Backstory: A former biter and founder of Adore Dolls Parlour, she’s nailed it in the industry of… nails.

Did you always have a fascination with nails? Growing up, I was a nail biter and used to always apply stick-on nails because I wanted them longer but sucked at trying to break the habit. I’ve always been artistic – I literally didn’t want to do anything other than draw and paint. As I got older, I was unhappy with the nail services I was getting so I decided to do a basic nail course and combined it with my art – I became totally obsessed!

When did this become a business? I honestly had no interest in starting a business at first – I just wanted to create cool nails! After becoming insanely booked out from 7am to midnight seven days a week, my partner (who was running another business at the time) and I sat down and realised I could turn my passion into something greater.

Where do you draw inspiration from? Literally everywhere! Mostly fashion, but also my weird brain, food, nature… the list could go on. Anything I surround myself with that resonates with me in some way.

What’s trending in nail art? There’s a lot that comes back around every year but current trends are definitely ’80s and ’90s patterns, hand-painted food (ice creams, fries, burgers) while other people still love Swarovski crystals with a coffin-shaped nail.

Favourite person to nail so far? I’ve been lucky enough to nail Snoop Dogg and give him the ADP touch. He initially wanted painted French tips… but you can’t just let Snoop Dogg walk around with French tips when handed the opportunity. I made sure he left with green leaves and his catch phrase ‘puff-puff-pass’.

@adoredollsparlour

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The Daily Knicker Who: Tiah Eckhardt What: a professional poser, lingerie blogger and lady of The Daily Knicker Backstory: Reared on Perth beaches, this unabashed girlie-girl with a tomboy attitude now struts her stuff around the world and on her blog, The Daily Knicker.  

What is the biggest misconception about modelling? That you get paid bazillion’s of dollars to essentially do nothing except have people tell you you're amazing all day.

If you weren’t posing professionally, what would you be doing? Writing or designing lingerie. Though judging by my Netflix behaviour I probably would’ve studied something like Medieval History at Uni.

What do you love most about being a woman and are there any women you particularly look up to? My tits. Hahaha... No, really. On a deeper level, being able to have a balance between soft and strong, light and dark, in my personality. I think as a society we so encourage women to be strong as well as feminine. But we’re not so quick to encourage typically ‘girly’ emotions in men for fear of being viewed as weakness and I think that’s wrong. So I guess as woman, I’m grateful I can do and be anything. That’s the main thing my mum always told me and [it’s] cliché, yes, but I look up to her the most.

As a model, mother, wife and blogger, how do you keep everything balanced? I don’t. Seriously, it, and I, can be crazy. Anyone who’s trying to raise a child with zero-minimal help will tell you that. Put two jobs on top of that, international travel, it’s full on. Trying to structure a schedule for any of the things I do is impossible by their nature and everyday I just try to do the most I can!

@thedailyknicker

Interview: reneeruin.com

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Who: Bree Robertson What: Elite gymnast turned actress, fashion model and contortionist Backstory: A dexterous dame who’s bent over backwards for the likes of Hermès, Louis Vuitton and Giorgio Armani.

You’ve made contortion and fashion a delightful mix – was this always the plan? Yes! I love that I am able to incorporate both. For me, I really wanted to take contortion to a different level. I wanted to step away from the circus type of performance and make my style all about beauty and fashion and make it appealing to watch – not freakish.

Beyoncé gave you one heck of an opportunity… She hired me to perform at an intimate private dinner she was throwing for Jay-Z’s birthday. I can’t rave on about her enough, she was so humble and beautiful – it was such a great experience to be able to see the way she works. We spent hours in her hotel room going over everything from costumes and music to make-up looks. Meeting them both was amazing in itself, but performing for them in such an intimate setting was a real pinch-me moment.

The toughest time in your career? Towards the end of my gymnastics career, I woke up one morning whilst overseas in Hungary for a competition with extreme pins and needles in my right arm [and] by that evening my arm was partially paralysed… I continued to compete somehow for several months but eventually I retired due to numerous injuries including my paralysed arm… It was scary as a young woman in my very early twenties to be left wondering if I would regain full use of my arm ever again, but for some reason I just remained really positive and never let it affect me mentally. After about one year, I noticed I was starting to get more and more movement back and luckily I now have full use of my arm again.

@breerobertson

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The Throttle Dolls Who: Nina Hoglund, Erica Valenti and Maria Adzersen (Maria absent)  What: Three bikie chicks driving dreams at full throttle Backstory: Like the Girls Ride Out and Sisters on Steel before them, this female-only bike gang is breaking down stereotypes, one street at a time.

How and why did The Throttle Dolls come to be? It came about organically: one day sitting in Erica’s garage (which incidentally we now call the Doll House as a nice change to ‘man cave’), we thought it would be fun to start our own girl’s bike gang; one that was representative of our personalities, which are a mixture of bubbly, girly and nerdy. We’re tomboys who love to experiment with fashion and new adventures.

Why wheels? We ride because we love the machines and the freedom and independence associated with riding, and we all have a passion for the custom, retro and vintage bike culture. We were super surprised that other girls wanted to join us, but we have opened up the group so now anyone who rides a motorcycle can be a Throttle Doll.

What’s the ethos behind the group? We hope it shows that when you do something you are passionate about, great things can happen, so whatever you are dreaming about – on or off the motorcycle – just get out there and do it.

Any close shaves on the road? Luckily nothing more than a dropped bike here and there when we were learning. Poor Maria once got stung by a bee that was trapped in her helmet, which was pretty traumatic.

@thethrottledolls

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One Hungry Mami Who: Brenda De La Piedra What: A vegan-turned pescetarian foodie from the jungle Backstory: Psych nurse by day, health-food blogger by night, this Hungry Mami is one to watch.

What was it like growing up in Peru? It was amazing! I lived in a small town with dirt roads and lots of lush greenery. We had chickens and ducks, I had a massive pet snail the size of a human forearm, a turtle and a parrot. My favourite memory was of eating the flesh from the cacao beans, drying them, then crushing them to make chocolate paste which my parents would then make into hot chocolate and we would sit down and have that with baked bananas covered in freshly-ground peanut butter.

Why did you start a blog? It was a way to keep myself accountable and to document my journey into a plant-based diet. It was also a way of connecting with like-minded people and sharing recipes that I made along the way.

What opportunities have come your way as a result? I’ve made some really good friends that I know I will keep for life. Having the ability to collaborate with different brands and develop recipes for them has been really fun, too.

How do you balance blogging with your day job? I love my day job, but it’s super stressful and demanding so the blog for me is what gives me some kind of balance. It allows for a creative outlet and is always light, which is in contrast to what I do day-to-day.

@onehungrymami