homestyle February/March 2022

“Working with my hands helps me connect with my creativity better than a lot of time online.” The other day, I was chatting to a friend about the challenges of decision-making when you’re considering updates at home. He mentioned he’d been looking for paint colours for his kids’ playroom and turned to Instagram to see how others ‘got the look’, only to spend ages searching for something he wasn’t even sure existed! Although doing some online research is a natural starting point for most of us, our conversation got me thinking that we shouldn’t be fooled into believing it presents a fail-safe shortcut. In my opinion, it’s always well worth setting aside some time to investigate paint options IRL and in your unique space. What does a colour look like when…

SKIP TO MILOU MILOU How does made-to-order, zero-waste bedding in colour combos you curate sound? If it makes you happy and you know it, don’t sleep on it — hop to it. Milou Milou consciously crafts duvet covers, sheets and pillowcases from end-of-line flax linen (one of the most sustainable and healthy textiles around, which needs little irrigation to grow, improves soil quality, and is hypoallergenic and antibacterial), and has it OEKO-TEX certified so you know it’s free of harmful substances. Head to the website to handpick a set or singles in standard or bespoke sizing. miloumilou.com WHEN ONE DOOR CLOSES… … another one opens — in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland’s case to Faradays, a new luxury department store by Edward and Constance von Dadelszen of fashion label Dadelszen and jewellery brand Love & Object,…

Born of a desire to develop a beautiful place in which to shop that also brings a community together to share knowledge during what can be a joyful yet complicated time, there’s an adorable new arrival in Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland’s Newmarket. Alongside their just-opened retail store, Nature Baby has conceived a fresh concept, Community by Nb, which functions as a practitioner room, sustainable community kitchen and space in which to hold wellbeing workshops. We had a quick chat with company co-founder Jacob Faull about it. So Jacob, what inspired the aesthetic? Essentially, it’s based around ideas of creation, nature and situationist practices. Guided by one of our core brand values, sustainability, we wanted to respect and work with the industrial architecture of the original 1940s building, with its high stud and…

Children’s play areas are often worlds unto their own in which primary colours and plastic reign. At apartment complex Edifício Gris in the Brazilian city of Curitiba, Stockholm-based Note Design Studio took the games room in a different direction, one that can be copied at home to create a cool dual zone for kids and adults. A tonal palette of earthy colours results in a set-up that looks and feels good, with shapes that please the eye and encourage kids to imaginatively play without going cray. Share the benefits of all-ages colours and forms at yours by using hues of varying depths from the same side of the colour wheel, plus a few of these accessories.…

Living the Dream by Derek Morrison (Random House, $55) What does your untamed heart yearn for? Does your ideal lo-fi life await you ‘if only’? If you need a push to make living by the sea, lake or river happen however you can, or if you’ll just enjoy experiencing it vicariously, this book provides an opportunity. On pages replete with evidence that sometimes if you can dream it, you can do it, author Derek Morrison connects with folks who’ve pulled out all the stops or simply been very lucky to carve out a waterside life. Travelling from Ahipara in the north to Ōtepoti/Dunedin in the south, he visits people who through hard yakka and abodes that have been in their families for generations have direct access to their idea of endless…

New Zealand’s number-one showcase for contemporary art, Aotearoa Art Fair, is all set for 2022’s programme, which will see more than 40 local and Australian galleries present the work of 180-plus respected artists, and include artist talks, interactive workshops, outdoor sculpture, cocktails and then some in the heart of downtown Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland. This year, there’s an addition to this lineup of very good stuff, He Iti, a section established to champion new galleries and artist-run spaces. The name He Iti was gifted to the fair by Tūranganui-a-Kiwa Gisborne’s Hoea! Gallery & Project Space, an artist-run initiative created and curated by wahine Māori with a goal to uphold mātauranga Māori/Māori knowledge. Explaining the choice of name, Hoea!’s director Melanie Tangaere Baldwin says, “In what has the potential to be an overwhelming or…