Innholdsfortegnelse for October/November 2020 i homestyle

“I’ve been thinking about the random acts of kindness we can offer our future selves.” It’s been practically impossible to keep track of what month it is lately, but despite the turmoil we’ve collectively weathered, the spring blossoms on the trees are a sure seasonal sign that there will always be day-to-day joys to celebrate. Back in May, I popped some cornflower seeds into the pots on our deck; they haven’t bloomed yet, but I’m already looking forward to the day they do, when I can congratulate autumn me for having the foresight to brighten things up a bit as we hustle towards the end of the year. I’ve been thinking about the random acts of kindness we can offer our future selves while we’ve been putting together this issue.…

Tapping into what are arguably the best few hours of the entire week, Città’s new-season range of furniture and homeware is named Sunday Afternoon, two little words with the power to soothe and inspire us to put our feet up and treat ourselves right. Simplicity is the essence of this collection portrayed in a warm, welcoming palette of colours such as sunny masala, earthy tobacco, muted pickle and deep plum. It’s about how it looks and how it feels, with the tactile natural materials including organic cotton, hand-dyed linen, raw silk and unrefined jute. We all deserve spaces and everyday tools that really let us take a load off — deliberately chill acquisitions designed with ease and comfort (but make it chic) in mind. Let’s not allow our downtime to…

ERA MESSAGE Cross contemporary comforts with heritage references and what have you got? A boundary-defying design technique that uses charming hints of the past to create interest without turning twee. Use smaller accents in the form of hardware, tapware, tiling and accessories to bridge the gap between big-ticket items from different time periods, considering tactile materials and old-school finishes as well. IN HIDING Cupboards high and low are an obvious inclusion in most kitchens, but if you’d prefer to dial it down and keep your walls ultra-clean, there’s a pared-back approach for you: cabinetry that looks like it’s part of the furniture. Integrated appliances can be key to this ‘hidden’ storage effect, which is ideal for open-plan spaces in which kitchen, dining and living blend into one other. FRONT ROWS…

MAKE-UP DEPT This cosmetics-inspired Resene colour palette sees stained plywood criss-crossed with battens beautified by powdery pink paint, while eyeshadow- and lipstickesque hues help get the room ready for its close-up. FADED GLAMOUR These limewashed-look walls in a ’50s mint green have an undeniable chemistry with the high-gloss painted floor. Additional décor made from interesting materials such as marble, bouclé and velvet will masterfully hold the attention of any audience. MEET-CUTE Buttermilk walls and white floors share a moment in a bedroom scene in which a crew of dreamy tonal accents combine to convey a sense of youthful optimism. LA-LA LAND An homage to the palm trees of Hollywood, this palette presents an anything-but-boring beige alongside leafy-green and coffee-coloured finds. It’s enlivened by a red-carpet colourwashed floor and a contrasting…

For Salome Tanuvasa, the juggle really is real. After completing her Master of Fine Arts at Elam School of Fine Arts in 2014, she went on to study to become a teacher, graduating a year later. Today, while continuing to show in solo and group exhibitions, including in Sydney and Shanghai, she works full-time as an art and technology teacher at a Māngere high school and is a mum of two, making the evenings her time to get creative. This highly skilled lady’s most recent body of work, Autotelic, included paintings in acrylic on card and impasto works on canvas and calico. So Salome, how would you describe your art practice? It looks at interactions with materials; I consider the qualities of an object and wonder what can develop within…

Taking notes from her muse, LA-based designer Kelly Wearstler, while upholding her own principles, interior architect Therese Carrodus used bold colours, interesting textures and a mix of new and vintage when renovating her Melbourne home. The result is a beautifully resolved, family-friendly dwelling that can’t help but make you feel joyful. Full of Grace founder and mother of three Therese is known for her signature style that mixes strong shades and tactility with brave design choices, an aesthetic developed through years spent working in London and on projects all over Europe. She and her husband Chris stumbled across their 1880s Victorian home in South Yarra by chance in 2017. “We were living in the area, so went along to the open home for a sticky-beak,” she says. “As soon as…

In the central Auckland suburb of Westmere, a neighbourhood of tree-lined streets flanked by heritage bungalows and villas, the frontage of this family home by Tim Dorrington tells little of the laid-back lifestyle that plays out on the inside. A director at Dorrington Atcheson Architects, Tim has known homeowners Ginny and Dave Openshaw for a very long time, and while devising the plans for a new dwelling for them and their children Sam (12) and Sophie (9), the old friends spent many a night mulling over different forms, philosophies and references. “Not to be un-neighbourly, but there’s no view out that way [to the street], so Dave and I came up with the idea of the ‘stealth bomber’ — we were trying to be secretive and wanted to create surprise…

“To me, home is somewhere I feel at peace. I make my bed every morning — and actually enjoy doing it. Then I boil the jug to make a pour-over filter coffee; there’s a slowness to the pour-over that makes you appreciate the process. There’s a massive tree growing outside my bedroom window and I love the dappled light it casts, the sounds it makes in the wind, and watching it sway in a storm. It’s like living in a treehouse and has made me commit to bringing more plants inside. Although when I’m not on photoshoots I work from home anyway, this year has made me truly grateful for my neighbourhood — the friendly faces we see on our walks, the daily joke left on a gate for everyone…

RICH PICKINGS We’ll never be royals, but this kind of luxe is definitely for us. By Danish designer Morten Georgsen, BoConcept’s elegantly minimalist Kingston dining table and Princeton dining chairs will go a long way towards making your house your castle. In two sizes and three finishes (white, walnut and dark oak), the table features a round-edged top and gently tapered, inclined legs, plus a built-in extension. The similarly organic curves of the chairs — which you can have upholstered in fabric or leather — have a comfortably cocooning effect atop a brushed steel or matte black base. boconcept.co.nz Treasure hunt WOMEN’S WORKS The talented Indigenous artists at Bábbarra Women’s Centre, a remote textile art workshop in Australia’s Northern Territory, design and handprint textiles that tell ancestral stories and empower…

Almost as if they were made for each other, Samsung’s The Frame 4.0 TV and Escea’s DS Series fireplaces go so well together, you can watch TV or artwork and flickering flames all on one wall. When not screening your next episode, the Frame 4.0 displays art you choose from an online gallery — like this photo by Tommy Clarke, which informed the colour palette of our space filled with rounded shapes that juxtapose the straight lines of the appliances visually linked by a stone surround. The other half of this hot couple is Escea’s DS Series and its Zero Clearance technology that keeps the wall around it cool enough to handle most materials — including your new TV. Find your perfect size match at: escea.com/flame-meets-frame.…

WAFFLING ON Don’t get us started on this Chestnut-hued, GOTS-certified, organic-cotton Waffle hand towel, with its good looks, soft feel, light weight, superior absorbency and quick-drying qualities, or we might not stop. With so many virtues in one little essential, you may want to double down with Città’s matching bath towel or robe, or get it in the Latte or Nori hues as well. cittadesign.com BEARS FRUIT You can expect positive results from Aēsop’s invigorating new Citrus Melange Body Cleanser. Its hero ingredient is petitgrain, an essential oil extracted from the leaves and twigs of the Seville orange tree, which along with lemon and grapefruit rind makes this low-foaming gel formulation a real treat to use. Also, the signature amber-hued bottle will look pretty cool in your shower caddy. aesop.com…

It was a classic standing-over-the-kitchen-sink moment. What if we sold our house and moved to the French countryside? Houses are cheap, I’ve looked online. A La Robe mainly sells to the US, I could run my business from anywhere… It took my partner Marc and I a few years to get a plan together, sell our house in Titirangi and fly from Auckland to the French embassy in Wellington to apply for visas. In the meantime, I attended the Alliance Française to get my school French back on track, and went on a house-hunting mission after a business trip to Paris. It all started to seem doable. Finally, two weeks before Christmas 2016, we handed over the keys to our house, had our dogs picked up by a shipping company…

There’s a secret set of stairs in this seaside home that leads right up to the roof. In a three-storey house conceived by Weir Architecture’s Robert Weir as a tower reminiscent of a lifeguard station, the pull-down steps concealed in the upper-floor ceiling transport its surfie inhabitants to the very top, so they can see what’s up with the waves. For their second build in Waimairi Beach, the Christchurch suburb they’ve called home for 22 years, Jo and Blaise Chamberlain, owners of this house and decorative concrete business Concrete Masters, have used their favourite material to create a family dwelling that’s much more sculpture than beach shack. Aside from its tower-like form (which not only offers a bird’s-eye outlook from the roof but also an incredible view from the Kaikoura…

Jade, what led you down the architecture path? I think my interest really started through growing up in a timber house designed and built by my dad. My grandfather on my dad’s side was a design draughtsman for infrastructure projects such as bridges and dams, so that had an influence too. And I was also interested in whakairo [carving] and rāranga [weaving]; I really didn’t know much about these artforms at that time, but it was something that always featured in family photos and books we kept at home, and that I’d seen on visits home to the North and in Rotorua. When I was in Fifth Form, Year 11, I went through the university course catalogue and ranked my choices in order of preference. I was fortunate to be…

GIN-GIN New New Zealand design brand Exhibit A trusts in the pleasure of visual and sensual experiences to help us transcend our troubles — and the odd toast certainly helps that along. To this end, the first ‘object of perfection’ they’re purveying is small-batch gin made from triple- distilled rainwater transformed with botanicals then decanted into reusable keepsake bottles made by Auckland ceramicist Gidon Bing. exhibitabrand.com SWEETNESS & LIGHT Also just launched is Aotearoa’s So.Ah, who make 100% plant-based aromatherapy products free from the bad juju of synthetic colours, palm oil and plastic packaging. This is their lovely Still Life candle set, handcrafted from soy, beeswax and your choice of therapeutic essential oil. They do gorgeous vegan, cold-process soap too. soah.co.nz WELL-CUT & DRY Stylish, waterproof and breathable can be…

Because those who can live in a 19th-century palace do, architect Fabio Fantolino has reinvented a 1930s ground-floor extension to the former home of a nobleman in Turin, Italy, as his own abode. Casa Mille is fit for a count throughout, with the bathroom a fine example of Fabio’s vision. Concrete flooring with a subtle swirl sets the tone for a material palette rich in texture — veined marble, woodgrain, large glass bricks and mini mosaic tiles — tempered by calming cream and watery blue. The combination is inventive and highly polished, but balanced by almost utilitarian details, like the built-in seat. Dip your toes in with these finds:…

It’s by no means hyperbole when we say that every single item in Powersurge’s Home collection is absolutely superb. Handcrafted in their West Auckland workshop, this dashing range of brass essentials makes masterful metalworks like those created for some of the country’s best bars, restaurants and architectural projects accessible to discerning residential customers. Recent additions to the Home offering include these sculptural Lito Series pendants (right) by designer Todd Stevenson, who has cradled a defused, dimmable LED light source within three linear channels connected to a central hexagon. The series includes a Lito Trio light, a smaller Lito Petite Trio light, and a Dual Lito Trio light that combines the channel sizes of the other two. In brushed, polished, antiqued and custom finishes, they’re radiant hung individually or en masse,…

The stylist Dulux colour ambassador Michelle Halford One of my favourite childhood books was about Opo the dolphin, who became famous in New Zealand in the mid-’50s for its antics in the small town of Ōpononi on the Hokianga Harbour. It’s a place that has stuck in my mind ever since, and one I’d love to visit. Located in Northland, this area is one of my family’s favourite local holiday destinations and home to some absolutely beautiful beaches. The Dulux colour Ōpononi Double reflects the white sand and giant dunes this area is known for, and was the ideal starting point for creating a calm sanctuary for relaxation and respite. The stylist Dulux colour ambassador Evie Kemp This palette encompasses the bays of Northland right down to Fiordland — so…

Ceramicist Larissa Goodwin and her artist/web developer husband James Wylie spent a decade living in a small inner-city Auckland apartment, but a two-year stint in rural Japan made them realise the lifestyle they really wanted, so they moved south to James’s hometown, Matamata. They’re slowly settling in and cultivating a quieter life — although, ironically, Larissa says now she’s working for herself, she’s never been busier. Larissa, was ceramics something you knew you wanted to pursue when studying visual arts at AUT and post-grad at Elam School of Fine Arts, or have you adopted the practice since? Ceramics was always on the periphery, but I was too intimidated by the process and equipment to fully commit to it. In 2019, I decided to take a night class, then Auckland potter…

When it comes to interior design, the psychological journey of putting rooms together is as relevant as the creative one. It can be tricky. Sometimes what a client thinks they want can only be interpreted in ways they hadn’t yet thought of. For this new build just out of town in Tauranga, Annique Heesen of Gezellig Interiors was brought in early to knit the interiors and furnishings together in a scheme that was sympathetic to the architecture of the contemporary farmhouse with cathedral ceilings. The homeowners, a couple with two young kids, wanted to create a ‘gorgeous rural resort’. “It had to be luxe but also practical,” says Annique. Red wine spills on the kitchen bench and feet on the living room sofas were all part of the deal. The…

Being asked to design a house reminiscent of a tramping hut filled Martin Varney with joy. The director of Make Architects says it was an especially exciting assignment because the brief perfectly suited the landowners’ site. Sarah Cavill and James Maguire own just over 10ha near the Karangahake Gorge, where their new house is hugged by the Kaimai Range and sits sentinel at the edge of a plateau overlooking Waitawheta Valley. The expansive view from their land, near Waihi, takes in farmland, bush-clad hills and mountains. The pair wanted a home that would embrace that outlook, be made of predominantly sustainable New Zealand materials and enable simple living. Sarah speaks of their love of the outdoors and hiking in the bush, and of the many DOC huts they’ve hunkered down…

Boutique and chic… those are the words that now define this two-bedroom apartment in a 1970s building on a ridge in the Auckland suburb of Parnell. It wasn’t always the case. Absolutely, it had good bone structure: solid, creamy brick, windows that packaged a view of the harbour and museum, and a higher-than-average stud. But accountant/business owner Natalie Burrett had rented it out for some time, so when she decided to move back in, she engaged interior designer Janice Kumar-Ward to turn neutral to beautiful. “I asked her for a sophisticated ‘adult’ refurb of the space,” says Natalie, “one that would showcase the gorgeous integrity of the architecture.” For her part, Janice says she wanted to add a bit of ‘sparkle’. “The apartment didn’t have any ‘moments’ — it was…

There’s a desire in all of us for the feeling of freedom balanced by comfortable boundaries, and this beguiling garden is veritably the leafy embodiment of that. On an estuarine finger of the Omaha River in Point Wells north of Auckland, it’s expertly structured with unmistakable whispers of wildness, a fusion of best-laid professional plans and nature’s own best intentions. While honouring the architecture with which they cohabit, the plants here are allowed a mind of their own, and a closer examination of their proclivities reveals why they’re all so at home. The owners of this verdant setting for their award-winning 2017 home by Aaron Paterson and Steven Lloyd of Pac Studio and Dominic Glamuzina (now of Glamuzina Architects) had developed plots on their previous properties, but this time was…

POWERSURGE —— Homeware Elevating essentials into artisanal accents, Powersurge’s Spring 20 collection sees arches and spheres find form in mirrors, hooks and soap holders, while handles (also available in custom lengths) are reimagined, pairing luxurious brass with timeless oak that can be matched to your cabinetry. Visit the website for the full Home collection of furnishings and accessories handmade in Powersurge’s Auckland studio. info@powersurge.co.nz powersurge.co.nz HOMESTYLE EDITIONS —— Furniture Homestyle Editions showcases pieces we’ve dreamed up for your interior and made in collaboration with local craftspeople, including this Niche plinth for staging arrangements here, there and everywhere. With an offset edge profile that encourages a play of light over the rectangular structure and a recessed base to further accentuate the classical form, it’s available in three sizes, in Natural Oak…