Rangan Srikhanta may be in his mid-twenties, but as the executive director of One Laptop Per Child Australia (OLPC), he’s certainly not twiddling his thumbs with drinking games or watching entire seasons of Entourage in one sitting. Instead, Rangan is figuring out ways to ensure his organisation achieves its mission statement of distributing laptops to children in disadvantaged circumstances or remote areas; children who, as yet, do not have access to a computer at all. In Australia, that counts for 400,000 children between the ages of four and fifteen. In a world where computers manage everything, such lack of skill immediately translates into limited opportunities everywhere from the workforce to their social life. OLPC aims to get a laptop to every single one of those 400,000 children. Not most, not some, not a select few who have been chosen for their ‘potential’; ALL of them.

Rangan came to Australia from Sri Lanka as a child, so he was inadvertently bestowed with a unique insight into how stifling a prospect a lack of opportunity can be. Acknowledging that his parents uprooted their lives for his, he now feels the same hope and aspiration for the children of his adopted country, too many of whom face the same lack of choice he himself would have experienced in his birthplace. The common interest within his organisation, he maintains, is the belief in “the potential of all children.”

Rangan (left) with some beneficiaries of the OLPC program

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Dan Gray

Little Gonzales is a fitting moniker for Sydney artist Dan Gray. He’s quiet, charming, and refreshingly, he doesn’t seem to take himself the least bit seriously. As a designer, illustrator, painter and animator, Little Gonzales is all about honing in on his creativity and making it look damn good in the process. We spent a cosy Sunday morning getting to know this curious creative with a fondness for retro, music, and ever-so-geeky fun.

The name Little Gonzales comes from Dan’s childhood nickname, Speedy Gonzales, and reflects the very strong familial ties that Dan has, particularly with his triplet siblings. One an IT geek and the other a banker, Dan may be the only artist in the family, but all of them have a strong creative bent – after all, appearances can be deceiving. Dan himself started out in medical research, but soon discovered that medicine was not feeding his creative calling. He found himself face-to-face with the conversation most born-again creatives dread with their parents: the one concerning art school and the terror of trying to do anything else with their life. Although initially shocked, his parents were on board soon enough – and now take full advantage of the artist in the family. “Dad has been asking me to put designs that he likes on t-shirts so he can wear them,” Dan tells us.

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photo: Margaret Sevenjhazi

photo: Lisa Zhu

Away from the mayhem of Darlinghurst’s Victoria Street, Almond Bar is a buzzing little oasis with attentive staff, fabulous fare and stylish surroundings. Whether you want to dive into the desserts head first or unwind with a stiff cocktail, this tiny Syrian restaurant is the perfect tonic to a long day. And with hundreds of drinking holes within a ten-minute radius, it’s a great spot to kick start a night you won’t remember in the morning.

That was the plan when a friend and I wandered in early last Saturday night. Before most restaurants have their first diners, Almond Bar is already heating up, largely due to its stylish looks and affordable dining. The restaurant’s deep chocolate interiors mix the old and the new with a distinctive Middle-Eastern flavour, creating an elegant aesthetic that feels intimate and relaxed rather than self-conscious. It’s a low-key environment that forces any posers to keep their pouts to themselves.

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Grace Adler (of Will & Grace fame) once described going to the theatre as ‘an expensive nap’. I won’t deny that after a long day at work, a cosy seat in a darkened room in which to rest my tired little head can be a little tempting. Brilliantly, the folks at Sydney’s Short & Sweet Festival have found a way to appease those of us with the attention span of a stoned goldfish. Make the play short. Like, really short. I’m talking under ten minutes short.

Playwright Kaz Getts has written one of the 167 works showing in this year’s festival. Her play, Hormonophrenia, is running each night this week at Short & Sweet for a mere nine-ish minutes. It is, as the name suggests, a comedy about the nature of women, or more accurately, the insanity of a species. And hormones. Her inspiration, as always, is her own backyard. . There’s something to be said for the absolute comedy of real life: “[The play] has been inspired by all of us. By my life, my friends lives and the people around me. It’s little snapshots of the things that happen to us along the way… By the end of the journey, you’ve just gotta laugh.”

Hormonophrenia

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Elke Kramer is queen to accessory lovers all over. Her quirky art nouveau, deco and op-art aesthetic combined with the eclectic narratives that underlie her collections has secured her as one of Sydney’s most precious design talents. Side Street, Sydney caught up with the woman herself to talk travelling, the best places in Sydney to find vintage jewellery and her summer collection, Shake of Ophelia.

While Elke’s foray into jewellery design was not planned, she explains that she “always had intentions of working creatively.” Her mother an artist who still paints today, Elke had a strong artistic influence when she was growing up. She took this with her when she started studying design at Sydney’s College of Fine Arts, where Elke was trained in multiple disciplines, including textiles, jewellery, ceramics and graphics, all of which she continues to draws from in her work. After graduating, Elke did a bit of freelance, as well as in-house work for Sass & Bide and Oyster magazine. However, it wasn’t until she was asked by friend and fashion designer Michelle Robinson to make necklaces for one of her shows in 2004 that Elke made her mark in the accessories world. Channelling her graphic design experience into jewellery design, Elke soon became one of the most exciting up-and-coming designers on the market, culminating in seasonal collections ever since. “It was a welcome change when I started the jewellery label,” she reflects. It obviously worked out for her too, considering the successes of her individual collections as well as a commended collaboration with Jessie Hill and a sell-out capsule collection for Sportsgirl.

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