Home New Zealand December - January 2022 / 2023

It's hard to believe that, as we are sending this issue to print, we are nearing the end of 2022. This year has been a busy — and very enjoyable — one for our team. We've been to houses all over the country — from those of the smallest scale to those of grand proportions. We’ve seen homes crafted by hand, utilising found materials, and those on rugged and remote sites that operate entirely off the grid. We've visited urban and suburban abodes, and coastal and alpine cribs. Despite their diversity in form, scale, and intention, each has a commonality; they are all houses that speak to what it means to live in New Zealand — perhaps those words may revolve around a specific site and place; perhaps they talk…

Catherine Steel For this issue, you wrote about a Waipu bach designed by Glamuzina Architects (pg. 52). What did you enjoy most about this home? I'm a big fan of built-in structures, so the wardrobes and detailed bunk beds did it for me! Pops of personality in the curved furnishings and the bunks' curtains and cabin windows add to the home's sensuous flavour. What do you find most interesting about writing about architecture and design? Architecture and design tell people’s stories; interpret who they are and how they relate to the world. You're based in Auckland. What are your favourite buildings in your hometown? The brick Kenneth Myers Centre, with its pink and yellow stained-glass dome ceiling, arched windows, and parquet floor. Built in 1934, it now houses the Gus…

DESIGN:01 A new collection by Mina and Lil Ceramics has delivered a fresh take on summer with a bright and jovial aesthetic underpinned by an innate imperfection. We spoke to the duo behind it, Natalie Procter and Lily Weeds. Fashion and ceramics are, arguably, an unlikely pairing. How did this collaboration come about? Lily: It's not so much 'fashion' and 'ceramics'; it's a feeling, it's a place and a time and an attitude. It's picnics in your beautiful linen dress, and dressing up for a party and eating melon and cheese and olives off a beautiful platter; drinking sangria, and sitting in the sunshine under a tree whilst wearing beautifully designed clothing. Natalie: I'm lucky that I always seem to work with lovely, authentic, creative people; Lily and I met…

DESIGN:02 Part milking stool, part garden tool, the Spade chair is the latest in a collection now available in New Zealand by Please Wait to be Seated. It harks back to the English rural tradition and an agricultural economy interleaved with everyday life. Its designer, British-born Faye Toogood, rejects the sentimental views of the countryside in favour of a celebration of hard-wearing functionality. A hardy piece, it suggests the handle of a spade as well as the classic, three-legged milking stool. An ode to the English countryside, or perhaps an elegy. @slow_thestore…

DESIGN:03 Showcasing the diversity of contemporary clay practices in Aotearoa, the Portage Ceramic Awards 2022 finalists are now on show at Te Uru in Titirangi. Photography Studio La Gonda The 30 finalists are as diverse as they are artfully crafted. "The finalists' works represent an incredible diversity of approaches with overarching themes [from] Covid, language, and climate change to just wanting to explore the versatility of clay as a material. They are a mix of fun; surprising; and, in some cases, really quirky, which I think will change people's opinions about the possibilities of contemporary ceramics," says judge Karl Chitham. Pictured here: Top: Helen Perrett, No Space in My Head. "Overwhelmed, repetitive thoughts, dry eyes. Can't switch off the brain. Earthenware with slips, oxides, and stains." Right: Mandy Gargiulo, Takaroa's…

DESIGN:04 We often contemplate the skies, the stars at night, but we rarely contemplate what we are walking on We spoke to the quartet about their recent exhibition and how an earth-based expression of place could inform design decisions and develop distinctive local aesthetics. What lies beneath our feet is a record of our history, a physical expression of the nuances of place and environment, and a rich tapestry of colour, texture, and proportion few experience. As we develop the built environment, we cover up this dialogue and close off the possibility of connection with soil. For Philippe Campays, Carles MartinezAlmoyna, Jacqueline McIntosh, and Bruno Marques of Victoria University of Wellington, embarking on this project was ambitious but something they felt was critical to their sectors — architecture and landscape…