WHO

Ambiguous Horse Agency manages all aspects of supplying to retail for independent designers, including liasing with buyers, ordering, invoicing and collection and distribution of payment.

The agency service has grown over the 3 years of operation to now include 9 local designers creating unique and imaginative hand-made products. Products from each of the designers are featured here in the Online Store.

WHAT

The products available through Ambiguous Horse are selected on the basis of their originality and clever use of materials, processes and ideas. Ambiguous Horse selects designers to work with by applying the following guidelines:

• Is it made by an independent designer or craftsperson?
• Is it original, the best example of its type?
• Is it hand-made or does it incorporate sustainable production methods or materials?
• Would I wear it myself?

Retail buyers can be assured that the products represented by Ambiguous Horse are of the highest quality and that the designers behind them are amongst the most talented around.

WHEN

All of the designers in the Ambiguous Horse stable make to order. This means that all of the products we supply are available throughout the year, but that delivery may take up to 3 weeks. We guarantee to advise the buyer if any order is likely to take more than 3 weeks to reach you.

WHERE

The designers represented by Ambiguous Horse are from Melbourne, Sydney, and Perth, and we currently supply to retailers in Australia, New Zealand, Korea, U.S.A, Singapore, Scotland, England, Belgium, France, and Luxembourg.

WHY

The agency was established to assist small-scale producers by providing a level of administrative capability beyond their own means. We help creative and talented designers to what they are best at - make beautiful things.

Ambiguous Horse is committed to a sustainable future and by supporting small-scale industry we hope to contribute to turning back the tide on the proliferation of mass-produced consumer goods.

HOW

To order from any of the designers represented by Ambiguous Horse obtain an order form by emailing us, fill out your order and contact details and return to us at the same address.

We then pass the order onto the designer who prepares it and sends to you via registered or express post. New clients will need to pay up front for their first order; subsequent orders will attract 30-day terms.

To stay up to date with new ranges, products and designers, we encourage you to subscribe to our retail newsletter, emailing us by clicking here.

With so many cultural activites taking place in Melbourne, it can be hard to make your opening, launch, exhibition or performance stand out from the crowd. Ambiguous Horse offers a cost effective pre-paid publicity package to individual artists, designers, collectives or venues.

A complete service from writing media releases through to preparing media clippings is offered. Additional services such as event photography and graphic design can be packaged with this service and delivered through a range of subcontractors that Ambiguous Horse maintains.

See the Ideas Catalogue launch for an example of this service.

With more than 7 years of festival, event and project management experience, Ambiguous Horse can handle just about any event you can throw at us. Possessing an intimate relationship with an excel spreadsheet and an astonishing ability to juggle stakeholders, Ambiguous Horse will deliver your event on time, in budget and with flair.

With an extensive team of subcontractors and staff available at short notice, there is no event to big or too small.

View some events previously delivered by Ambiguous Horse

Under Capricorn

Bicycle Film Festival

Hello and welcome to the on-line home of Ambiguous Horse. This site has been a long time coming but if you stop to take a look around you will see how busy we have been!

This site is designed to give you a quick run down of our services and catalogue our client work. It also tells you about the projects that we do just for the love of it.

If you’re more of a picture-speaks-a-thousand-words type, then have a look out our flickr site showing images from projects.

If you have any questions or would just like to say hello, please get in touch. And please do come back because this site, like the Ambiguous Horse, is constantly moving, and you never quite know which way it’s going to go…

In January 2007 Ambiguous Horse was contracted by Arts House to manage the foyer refurbishment at the North Melbourne Town Hall. Together with Moth Design and Studio Organic, a contemporary feel was added to the into the heritage listed building, while not interfering with with the many layers of refurbishment that had gone before.

View photos of the refurbishment. Read the rest of this entry »

In August 2006 Ambiguous Horse was contracted by Arts House (with venues in the North Melbourne Town Hall and Meat Market) to find new and niche audiences for its ‘Art in a Dry Climate’ season. New audiences were reached by targeting special interest groups , disseminating marketing collateral and leveraging special ticket offers and promotional activities through targeted outlets.

Read the rest of this entry »

An invitation only trade show, the inaugural Under Capricorn was the major event of the Melbourne Design Festival in 2006 and venue for the festival opening night. Featuring new products from Australian designers in all disciplines, the event was held in custom built marquees on the Federation Square carpark roof.

View images from Under Capricorn 2006

Read the rest of this entry »

Ambiguous Horse is a management agency for the cultural sector. Established in 2006 by Pip Carroll, Ambiguous Horse helps creative people be productive and productive people be creative. Services include Agency, Event Management, Project Management and Publication Editing

The agency works with individuals, small groups and large organisations on short-term, long-term and ongoing projects. You can find out more about past projects through the clients menu.

We also provide all of our stable of designers works for sale online through our SHOP. International delivery is available.

The name (because i know you’re wondering) comes from an optical illusion, which is also the company logo. The horse is ambiguous because it could either be looking at you or looking away, and we like to think that the business is just as adaptable (or unpredictable).

On top of client work, Ambiguous Horse also runs the occasional project just for fun, or more specifically, our own personal agenda. You can find out about these ‘cultural interventions’ on the projects page.

First staged during the 2006 Melbourne Design Festival, ‘There’s A Hole In My Bucket’ responded to the festival theme of ‘When It Rains It Pours’ by introducing the bucket as a symbol for design. 100 bright yellow buckets (with holes) were released into the hands of designers and members of the public. Visit the project website to see the results.Now it’s Sydney’s turn! Ambiguous Horse will be re-staging the project as part of 2008 Sydney Design Week - and we need you. We are looking for DESIGNERS and VENUES to rock the project this August. Download the info and get in touch.