Design News

The road to green

We sat down with BMW New Zealand managing director Karol Abrasowicz-Madej to talk sustainability, electrification of the BMW fleet, and the future of green vehicle design. 

The artist behind the lens

Taking inspiration from the work of South African artist William Kentridge, where the studio is the artist’s castle — a place where they can play king or buffoon — a new exhibition entitled A safe place for Stupidity will explore the work of New Zealand photographers. 

Good reads

One of our favourite book purveyors, Wellington’s Unity Books, has selected a trio of art, design, and history to keep us visually fit.

Architecture according to bees

At the heart of photographer Anne Noble’s exhibition Conversātiō at Queensland Art Gallery is a cabinet where a colony of bees lived.

Coffee table décor

As the mercury drops, we’re sitting down to appreciate the wondrous world of architecture and design in these recent books.

Studio 11:11

Marlborough-born spatial and leather goods designer Annabel Smart has worked for an enviable number of firms including Fearon Hay, Architectus, and Melbourne’s Hecker Guthrie.

How to select the best outdoor heating

Whether it’s a cosy fire pit to sit around on long summer evenings, or a high performance woodburner to heat up the outdoors in the colder months, a myriad of ways exist to bring an outdoor space to life.

Interiors Paradiso

Italian cinema is renowned for its impeccable sense of style. Be it music, fashion, food or acting, the Italians have a way of making moving images with a serious touch of stylistic flair.

Cavit & Co – Timeless Luxury

This immaculately presented book tracks the history of Cavit & Co. from its humble beginnings — in its owner’s spare bedroom — to some of the business’s most impressive assignments, including New Zealand embassies overseas and luxury hotels in the Pacific.

Pacific threads

For over six years, New Zealand/Samoan textile designer Lucy Tupu has been creating unique rugs in New York City, that reference her cultural heritage. On

Pop art for the digital age

Known for his expressive pop-art portraits made entirely in collage technique, Thai-born artist Virut is exhibiting for the first time in Auckland’s Lightworx Gallery by

Tokyo Ride

At the Resene Architecture and Design Film Festival 2021, don’t miss Tokyo Road, a celebration of architecture in Tokyo.

Architecture on film

We chat with Clare Buchanan, co-curator of the Resene Architecture and Design Film Festival, to explore the highlights, ideas, and most unforgettable moments from this year’s programme.

Bringing a complex design to life

Lindesay Construction has built some of New Zealand’s most distinctive and unusual homes, the latest being the Dune House by Cheshire Architects. We spoke to William Lindesay about bringing a complex design to life.

Modern Living with Justine Olsen

Art and Conversation: We spoke to Justine Olsen, curator of decorative art and design, from Te Papa on her latest exhibition Modern Living: design in 1950s New Zealand.

Artists’ residence

As we near the one-year anniversary of Covid’s untimely arrival, we look back at how artists from around New Zealand hunkered down and what lessons they learnt from staying at and creating from home. 

Fine print

Eastern meditations and Wes Anderson–like interiors: we select some books that sit firmly on our wish-list.

Little retreats: The Hotel Britomart

Cooper and Company’s transformation of the Britomart precinct in Auckland’s waterfront was a game-changer not just for the City of Sails but as a wider-reaching example of respectful and forward-thinking urban regeneration.

Little retreats: Park Hyatt

There is an undeniable grandiosity to the Park Hyatt’s inner sanctum, a sort of cathedral-like, gasp moment at being confronted with a huge, vertical void filled with modulated light and a powerful architectural statement.

Little retreats: QT Auckland

This hotel chain from across the ditch has been making inroads in New Zealand since 2015 when it purchased the quirky, art-filled, Museum Hotel in Wellington and refurbished it with visual cues that range from the circus-like through to French cabaret.

DARK

Timber, in colour

Timber is synonymous with residential New Zealand architecture – it’s a long-time favourite and, of late, the use of vertical cedar and other wood varieties

A mercy mission

A dilapidated former convent in Grey Lynn has a new lease of life as a luxury boutique hotel with striking interiors that celebrate the building’s origins.

Product of the week

Latest HOME features

The lookout

Perched on a hill above the tiny coastal settlement of Ligar Bay, this two-tiered bach was designed to capture the view in absolute purity, playing with a dialogue that pushes and pulls between solidity and transparency.

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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.

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Al fresco connection

Utilising the existing design language of a mid-century modern home in Remuera, Johnston Architects and Bespoke Interior Design set about redesigning a pool house and creating an outdoor room, resulting in a trio of interconnected areas spanning indoors and out.

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Angle grinder

During a visit to Waiheke a decade or so ago, an architect was struck by a simple, refined sculpture and the way that its ad hoc form, created from a roll of corrugated iron, twisted down a hillside, creating and enclosing spaces.

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City bach

Best known for synthesising and reimagining the humble bach, Herbst Architects has modified its style for this impressive city home on Auckland’s North Shore.

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