homestyle October/November 2020

“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. The homes…

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 Shell box by Los Objetos Decorativos, $119, superette.co.nz 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…

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:…

Out of the Woods (Gestalten, $87) Like #cabinporn on steroids, this gorgeous book profiles building after building made mostly out of timber. In the foreword by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen of Copenhagen’s Norm Architecture, wood is poetically described as “patient and adaptable”, possessing “narratives of what has endured long before us”. Certainly, trees have had a life of their own before we offer them a second one keeping us warm and dry, and timber has been used in construction for eons. It’s a primitive resource, yet new tech and the rise of our collective urge to get back to nature has seen it re-emerge as the material of the moment. Beyond the aesthetic appeal of those on-trend cabins, though, the applications of timber are limitless, and the structures seen here — studios to…

More Than Just a House by Alex Eagle (Rizzoli, $140) What started with childhood hoardings of thimbles and stamps turned into a career as a collector for arbiter of taste Alex, who today sells all sorts in her London boutique and uses her home as a testing ground for her curious finds. For this project, she set out to collect stories by visiting high-profile creative mates around the globe to ask how they make their own havens so special. A Century of Colour in Design by David Harrison (Thames & Hudson, $45) He of the famous chairs, Verner Panton, reckoned he sat more comfortably on colours he liked. Whether or not that’s true for you, there’s certainly something in the use of colour at home that can be a kick in the pants,…

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, like…