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| Straw bale studio |
| A painters hideaway retreat! |
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Reg meets Mitch McCauley, creator of the multimillion dollar boxer shorts label, Mitch Dowd. But today, we're looking at Mitch's other life, in country Victoria where he unleashes his artistic talents in his recently built straw bale house and studio. His drawings and paintings occupy most of his time in this remote retreat, while it's business as usual back in South Melbourne with wife Jane.
Mitch originally began designing boxer shorts to finance his picture frames. He suggested the idea as a joke to his father but as boxers were big overseas, he thought it had potential. And so the Mitch Dowd label was born. The day to day running of the business is now managed by his brother Jason, but Mitch still consults and comes up with design ideas.
Mitch built his straw bale house on 60 hectares, with panoramic views of the Strathbogie Ranges. Completed in March 2000, it's on an environmental site, has no utilities and is solar powered. He found the site through a group called Trust for Nature who put environmental covenants on properties to protect them. This means you can't log or mine and the house uses rain water and toilet waste is broken down.
The studio area has been built from straw in keeping with the environmental theme.
Concrete foundations were laid plus a two foot high stone wall, constructed from stones existing on the site. The concrete spraying then took about two to three weeks which was applied evenly then rendered.
The living area was built using timber cladding, which came from trees which were radially cut. This means you use 80 percent of the timber where as normal milling uses just 40 percent. Other features are the kitchen combustion stove which doubles as the water heating system and the flu that runs from the stove in the kitchen also heats the bedrooms. The total cost of building the house was $150,000, including electricity, fridge and stove.
Most of Mitch's recent work reflects his trip to Antarctica, as part of the back-up team on the support yacht Tooluko, for the first unsupported crossing of the Antarctica Peninsula. He was particularly taken by penguins and seals and they are depicted in much of his work. |
More Info
Mitch McCauley's work is on sale and exhibited at:
Dickerson Gallery, Sydney
34 Queen Street, Woollahra
Tel: 02 9363 3358
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