Cleopatra's Bling Podcast Olivia Cummings

What kind of engagement ring would a jeweller want for herself?
These questions and more in our final episode of the season that covers the earliest ever love rings, engagement rings' secret codes, and how capture by pirates led to one of the world's most iconic love ring designs.

Our guest today is more often referred to by the charming moniker “Blooms” which she uses as her Instagram handle @petrinablooms. This cheerful gardener is as riotously colourful and funny as the wild and varied flowers she tends to in the green expanses of her suburban Melbourne home.
It’s these flowers that Petrina Burrill handpicks and sells as part of her sustainable floristry practice. In signature pale pink overalls you can find her in a garden that Design Files has described as a Narnia, frollicking amongst pastel petals, and deep green fronds.

Many of us spend our whole lives attempting to climb the ladder of success in our chosen profession. Liam Spurrell found accolades and opportunities early: thanks to his talent for flavour and keen eye for detail already at a young age he found positions opening up to him in some of Melbourne’s best restaurants. But rather than stay in the ratatouille race, Liam decided to trade in his chef’s whites for muddy boots, secateurs and scissors.  He is now a full time forager, sourcing ethical and sustainable produce from beach bananas, to mountain marigold, to olive herb.

Co-host James is back to the Podcast to talk a small but ubiquitous accessory with a very long history: the silk scarf. This week we've got ancient spies, martial arts, war propaganda, and the death of a star of the stage. 
Plus: Listener questions!

Over the past years Olivia has found twin passions in learning the Arabic language and advocating for Palestinian liberation. A mentor and teacher who helped to guide her in this journey is Yousef Alreemawi - a lecturer, political adviser and commentator, editor, and friend.
They discuss the beauty of Arabic as a language, its unique expressiveness, and his experience as part of the Palestinian diaspora.

Kirstie Clements has presided over the most glamorous corners of the Australian fashion industry throughout her long career. At one point in time her role took her from clubbing with supermodels and Guns N’ Roses in Paris, to high tea with Estée Lauder at the Plaza New York, to travels alongside Armani in Shanghai. Despite these stylish credentials, she finds that much of her creative and professional inspiration has been drawn from fine art, poetry, music, film, and travel. She sat down with Olivia to dish on how to reinvent your creative message, adapting to life in a new country, and how it felt to be elevated to Vogue's editor in chief.