Design News

Heart of craft

Step into the Auckland headquarters of design and make studio, Fieldcraft, and you’re immediately immersed in a world of creativity that extends well beyond these four walls. Separate from the main industrial workspace is something particularly special.

Veritable veneer

As unique as your own fingerprints, each sheet of Prime Veneer is as distinctive as the tree it was cut from. In fact, you can go as far as using the Track my Tree tool to trace exactly where your New Zealand native veneer was sourced.

Coastal high

This sculptural holiday home in Leigh is an artful arrangement of three buildings, an enclave of sorts, designed to accommodate various personalities and requirements.

Soul soothing

The much anticipated 2025 Dulux Colour Forecast presents three compelling palettes designed to uplift and nurture; comforting, enlivening hues for the year ahead.

Perfect summer

Embracing life outdoors has a new meaning, and it’s firmly centred around a beautifully streamlined range of bathing and kitchen products by ABI Interiors: the Sola Collection.

Nature’s beauty

Flooring is the one element that can provide continuity and tie together an interior space. Wool flooring does so with textural warmth and, in the case of Bremworth, plenty of design flair.

Sky high

Crowning Auckland’s newest skyscraper, The Pacifica penthouses, an exploration of understated luxury high above the bustling downtown precinct, have been unveiled by
international design practice, Plus Architecture.

Intuitively right

We sat down with Sarosh Mulla and Aaron Paterson, founders of award-winning architecture and interior practice, Pac Studio, to hear about everything from fusing beauty and sustainability to colour as a storytelling tool, and the art of designing homes that feel intuitively right.

Wide eyed

Suzy Platt has established herself as a leading figure in New Zealand portraiture with her distinctive whimsical and emotionally engaging style. Often depicting young women, Platt’s work reveals more than just the subject matter – captivating viewers with intricate detail and a playful aesthetic.

Pristine clarity

On the banks of Lake Whakamaru is a diminutive structure. Its translucent skin forms a simple gable, a nod to the rural sheds that are dotted around the area. What’s inside tells an important story about the future of home heating and innovative ways to harness the power of renewable energy.

Bathe al fresco

In the heart of Hawke’s Bay is an artisan workshop garnering significant attention, and for good reason. Led by designer and craftsman Toby Payton, Raw Concrete Design specialises in handcrafted bespoke polished concrete products for residential and commercial settings.

Road to salvation

In a first for New Zealand, 30 new social housing apartments were opened last month in a heritage building in Dunedin, designed in a creative cross-Tasman collaboration between a Dunedin couple and an architecture firm in Tasmania.

Golden light

In an established neighbourhood in Wānaka this holiday home presents a contemporary face to the street.

La-de-da

The latest luminaire from visionary New Zealand lighting designers Nightworks Studio is as playfully evocative as it is precise.

Islands of stone

There’s an honesty to natural stone that’s hard to look past. Part of the allure is its inherent character — each piece entirely individual.

Painted narratives

The winners of the 2024 Dulux Colour Awards seek to set precedents; to evolve our design language, and to create communities.

Naked dance

Experimental niche perfume house .Oddity’s ethos is simple — to inspire with offerings that pursue creative expression through craft, culture, and storytelling in an interplay of visual and olfactory arts.

The power of one

The latest collection from BoConcept is all about transformation — how can a space become something entirely different with one commanding statement piece?

The art of reduction

Essential Induction, an innovative collaboration between Gaggenau and Cosentino, was launched at Milan Design Week with sculptural installation offering a glimpse into the future.

Snapshot of a city

With over 50 buildings unlocking their doors for one weekend only and dozens of lead architects revealing the secrets to their creations; Open Christchurch 2024 proved to be an invaluable barometer of where the Cantabrian city’s built environment is headed.

Almost

The poetic collision between art and furniture; the tipping point from function to form; sculpture on the edge of rational and reasonable. These are the themes that RTA Studio founder Rich Naish explores in an ensemble of three pieces on show as part of an upcoming exhibition at FHE Galleries entitled ‘Almost’.

Reframed classics

Consisting of a series of interconnected rooms, the Knoll pavilion at the Milan Furniture Fair was designed by Belgian architecture practice OFFICE, and conceived as a space that envisioned life through a sequence of intimate spaces and elegant flower gardens.

On the edge

The location of this home, verging on land and sea in the Christchurch suburb of Redcliffs, meant material selection was focused on both durability and the creation of a subtle elegance suited to a remarkable landscape of natural beauty.

A meeting of materials

At the centre of the renovation of a 1920s home in the Christchurch suburb of Strowan is a kitchen of beautiful juxtaposition.

Quiet elegance

In the heart of this Westmere home is a collection of beautiful, sculptural materials that emanate from the ground up to create a space of embracing warmth with an openness that takes in an unusual yet captivating green view.

Street smart: embracing urban density

Ken Crosson of Crosson Architects, who won Home of the Year 2024 for Boathouse Bay, considers a sustainable vision for our future cities — and offers his thoughts on why the imperative need for both environmental and social change is very much upon us.

A beautiful collision

ABI Interiors began its journey in a humble garage set-up on the Gold Coast, with a simple yet powerful concept: to offer an affordable range of architectural fixtures that rivalled the quality of the highest in the market.

Here & now

Queenstown-based artist, Elan, has spent the past 35 years travelling the world conducting philosophy programmes for global organisations. We caught up with him about how philosophy and art intersect.

Time Traveler

To mark Milan Design Week, Nilufar presented ‘Time Traveler’, a wide-ranging exhibition curated by Nilufar founder Nina Yashar.

The choreography of home

There’s a finely crafted simplicity and considered calmness to the work being produced by young architecture studio, Seear-Budd Ross.

Impactful design

The 2024 Readers’ Choice Home of the Year, Sumner House by RTA Studio, is a place of striking proportions and captivating creativity: a powerful response to a challenging set of site constraints.

Tangibility and presence

Nine years ago Scott Thorp moved to Christchurch to be closer to the mountains. It was here that he felt most connected to the land, and a place that ultimately inspired his photographic journey.

Painted heritage

Drawing on eight distinctive New Zealand landscapes, each reminiscent of a particular era in our colour evolution between 1830 and 1930, a new collection from Dulux is designed to turn a fresh lens on heritage renovations.

Scalloped curves

The sinuous lines of Tāmaki Makaurau’s original foreshore are at the heart of Crosson Architects’ latest project: the Elysian luxury apartment building in Auckland’s Parnell.

Natural reflections

Adjacent to the Mangawhai estuary, this home of sweeping gestures takes cues from the natural environment — from the dark hues of pōhutukawa boughs to the lighter tones of the sandbanks.

Into the fire

The Christchurch company revolutionising the traditional Japanese technique of preserving wood by charring it, shou sugi ban.

Creative heart

At the centre of this highly sculptural home is an artful collection of moments — of views, of textures, and of creativity.

The social edit

The Home of the Year 2024 awards evening at Studio Italia was an event of celebration, creativity and innovation.

Cultivated

We sat down with Cult Design founder, Richard Munao, to talk about the reopening of the brand’s iconic showroom in Parnell.

The odyssey of stone

From the mountains of Italy, Brazil, and Spain to an Auckland stone factory, the journey of architectural stone is as awe-inspiring as the stone itself.

Sphere of influence

Wahine toa Deidre Brown has become the first non-architect to win New Zealand architecture’s highest honour.

Tactile beauty

Design workshop Powersurge has opened an immersive brick and mortar showroom at Auckland’s stunning new architectural destination, Residium.

Luminosity

With mirrors as her canvas of choice, Queenstown artist Sally Bulling’s abstract works are layered with a reflective, boundless energy.

Tones of tranquility

Perched above a small settlement in the Marlborough Sounds, this home exists in perfect unity with the dramatic coastal landscape over which it looks.

World of colour

Entries are open for the 38th Dulux Colour Awards, an Australasian programme designed to shine the light on colour in design.

The modern chainmail and its myriad design uses

The reinvention of a material traditionally used as armour into a contemporary architectural fabric used for everything from solar screening to dividing and defining interior spaces, and creating kinetic sculptures is a story that begins in the costumery department of the Lord of the Rings film set.

Empathic lightness: Inside Kowtow’s new Melbourne store

In a late-1800s building of timber, brick, iron, and bluestone in a character-filled street in the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, New Zealand-brand Kowtow has opened its first international boutique, designed by Auckland-based interior architect Rufus Knight.

Spatial identity

The winners of the Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects 2023 New Zealand Architecture Awards were announced in November. We explore some of the winning projects.

Natural clarity

Designed to merge into its coastal environs, this island home utilises board and batten cedar cladding to create a gentle visual rhythm that moves gracefully between indoors and out.

The sky above

Taking the operable louvred roof to the next level, the latest innovation from Louvretec is the Retract Roof range — Opening Roofs that completely open or close at the touch of a button.

The plunge pool, redefined

Not quite a pool and not quite a spa, the Stoked Stainless Plunge Spa strikes a perfect balance between the two with a piece that embraces the art of relaxation outdoors.

On the quiet

The slopes of Marlborough’s Southern Valleys are home to a new organic vintage from award-winning winemaker Jules Taylor.

Decadence underfoot

In a pool house that opens to a mid-century modern home in Remuera, an interior palette was designed to reflect the original architectural language and create a strong narrative between old and new.

Iron outdoors

Inspired by cast iron handmade in the 1800s, the antique finish of this contemporary cookware could, at first touch, pass as a ceramic surface.

Be seated

Industrial designer Lucas Wotawa on his latest furniture pieces, upcoming collections and a story of refinement.

Surrender to the sunset: Two Fijian resorts not to miss

These two very different tropical getaways in the Fijian islands offer an alluring escape. Immerse yourself in the stunning landscapes of Vomo Island or stay in a contemporary overwater bure at the adults-only retreat of Fiji Marriott Momi Bay.

A dynamic dance

Portraying the versatility of its designs through the grace of dancers, Belgian design house JORI is a conceptual realisation of ergonomic comfort woven into the forms of contemporary interior pieces.

Float away

This New Zealand brand draws inspiration from the rewards and challenges of life by the sea: simple, relaxing and beautiful but rugged and unforgiving.

Win a trip for two to Fiji

Win a trip for two to Fiji including four nights accommodation at exclusive adults-only retreat Matamanoa Island Resort.

Strokes of colour

The 2024 Dulux Colour Forecast is a sumptuous splash of warmth, nostalgia, and vibrancy. We explore the three alluring palettes: Muse, Solstice, and Journey.

Tropical opulence

Designed by New Zealand architect Richard Priest, a luxury development in the turquoise bay of Malolo Island — a few miles away from Fiji’s largest island Viti Levu — is Vunabaka, an enclave of expansive private homes.

Over water

We chat to AAPi Design, a Fiji-based architecture firm, about the development of tropical modern resort architecture in the Fijian islands.

Inspired retreat

Rediscovering the beauty within simplicity, the latest from Australian furniture atelier MCM House awakens a deep appreciation for the art of restraint.

The geometry of motion

From bringing the indoors out, to cabinetry that spins to reveal its contents, Hettich is elevating interior and alfresco design options with its innovation in the mechanics of movement.

Artistry at home

The manipulation of a material, whose inherent qualities speak to permanence and solidity, into sculptural forms that move effortlessly between the design realms of lightness, whimsy, and decadence.

Wild landscapes

Sculptor Simon Max Bannister’s works carry a powerful essence, often becoming symbols of our relationship with the environment and the wildlife within it.

Passive hub

One of only five office buildings in the world to achieve Passive House Plus certification, and the first outside of France, has opened in Wanaka.

Theatrical colour

The refurbishment of Wellington’s St James Theatre received a coveted accolade at the 2023 Dulux Colour Awards, being named the New Zealand Grand Prix winner. We talk to the designer behind this majestic restoration.

Locality

We take a look at some of the Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects 2023 Local Architecture Awards winners.

The pool

This pool house is a dichotomy of sorts — on a residential site, it is commercially proportioned — and meticulously considered as both a public and private facility.

Cast forms

We speak to graphic designer turned product designer, Kate Slavin, about her experience in moving from two dimensions to three, and the intricacies of designing a product to outlive our generation — and the next.

Brass decadence

It’s the finer details that make a home, and that’s no exception with Windsor Hardware’s latest range of handcrafted bespoke cabinet handles.