HOME NZ Feb / Mar 2014

NZ TALENT AT HOME AND ABROAD Simon Denny in Berlin Jessica McCormack in London Fiona Connor in Los Angeles PLUS Christchurch’s artistic reinvention Exciting new eateries in Wellington and Dunedin Beautiful bathroom guide

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the of living

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THE ART ISSUE 64.

76.

88.

100.

112.

QUEEN OF THE STONE AGE The

SITE SPECIFIC

SURVEILLANCE STATE

GLOBAL ROAMING

HIS WHOLE HISTORY

Artist Fiona Connor's home and studio in Los Angeles' Echo Park

New Zealand artist Simon Denny at home and at work in Berlin

Bill Shumaker's New York home and its New Zealand art

Sculptor Michio Ihara at home in Concord, Massachusetts

London townhouse of Jessica McCormack

contents

Photography / Steffen Jagenburg

Inside Simon Denny and Marta Fontolan's Berlin apartment, photographed by Steffen Jagenburg. For more, see p.88.

30.

SHORE THING

A new restaurant opens in a seaside Dunedin building

ART & DESIGN 19.

THE ART OF CITY LIVING

An intimate, artfilled Auckland apartment 25.

DESIGN FINDS

Furniture and homeware that we like right now

32.

INSIDE THE BOX

36.

THE SHIPPING NEWS

50.

BUILDING MATERIAL

Christchurch's ArtBox brings art back to the city centre

New Wellington eatery Charley Noble

Liz Wilson and Simon Oosterdijk's creative Auckland loft

34.

FORM AND MEANING

In discussion with British architect Niall McLaughlin 35.

THE WORLD STAGE

New Zealand at the Venice Architecture Biennale

39.

PUSHING THE LIMITS

Acclaimed architect Amanda Levete joins our Home of the Year 2014 jury 43.

SOFA, SO GOOD

Design pieces that take a long view 46.

RESTARTING WITH ART

Jonathan Smart's new Christchurch gallery

10 / HOME NEW ZEALAND

56.

MAKING WAVES

Design pieces float on a work by Andrew Barber

EXTRAS 126.

BATHROOMS

Six bathrooms reveal their unique characters 136.

AMANDA LEVETE

The Home of the Year 2014 lecture 138.

STYLE SAFARI

HOME's design tour 146.

MY FAVOURITE BUILDING

Lynda Simmons admires Auckland's Tepid Baths

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CONTRIBUTORS GEMMA GRACEWOOD The New York-based writer visited Michio Ihara (p.112) in Concord (and is in front of work

by Katharina Grosse above).

Michio Ihara’s 1977 work ‘Wind Tree’ was unceremoniously removed from Auckland’s QEII Square in 2002. How do you like it in its new location?

I felt deeply conflicted about the removal of ‘Wind Tree’. As a public transport fan, I thought it was imperative that Auckland get the Britomart terminal, which necessitated the sculpture’s removal in the midst of the QEII Square redesign. But I was suspicious about whether Ihara-san’s sculpture would ever return. Mind you, that windblown square was never the right place for it. I hoped it would end up in the Auckland Domain, or Hayman Park in Manukau, but I am happy with where it is now in Silo Park. New Zealand Herald journalist Brian Rudman needs a shoutout for his years of unflinching criticism and questioning of the council over the sculpture’s future, as does Greer Twiss for representing Iharasan’s interests.

This is our Art Issue. Which other artists are exciting you now?

I’m a bit of a kinetic art geek, and I love anything that delights and surprises. Pushing all of those buttons right now is a documentary I’m filming about Joseph Herscher, a New York-based, Aucklandraised kinetic artist who is one of the world’s foremost creators of Rube Goldberg-style contraptions.

It’s wonderful, bonkers stuff. While we were filming Joseph at an artists’ residency in North Carolina I met Dread Scott, who is making very cool, very disruptive political work about race and power. And I’ve been loving some of the Park Ave Armory installations here. New Zealand doesn’t get art on that scale, so I make sure not to take for granted that I can experience it.

STEFFEN JAGENBURG

GUY FREDERICK

The Berlin-based photographer took our shots of New Zealand artist Simon Denny (p.88).

The Christchurch photographer shot the city’s ArtBox (p.32) and Jonathan Smart’s new gallery (p.46).

You hung out with artist Simon Denny for this issue. What did you think about his artworks?

I tried to focus on his personality, not so much on his work. For me it is important to see people in their context, but on the other hand I need to find my own interpretation of a person sharing time with me.

I think Simon is a very serious, focused man with a lot of humour.

He is very much at work.

What role do you think art has to play in Christchurch’s rebuild?

I have loved seeing art populating many of the gaps in the city. It’s a very raw environment and art provides a perfect mechanism to respond to the changing and transitional spaces. It’s great not only for regeneration of the space, but also for generating discourse which can be built physically and philosophically into the new city.

You live in Berlin. What do you like about the city?

I like the fact that living here is still very affordable compared to other metropolitan cities. It’s also a very inspiring city, due to all the great people who came here to spend a bit of their time.

What are the most memorable recent art projects that have appeared in the city?

A particular work that has stayed with me was ‘The Philosopher’ by Julia Holden. It was projected onto a large outside wall during the Festival of Transitional Architecture, and was created from 776 individually painted oil paintings which became a sort of animation. I was spellbound for the three-minute rotating projection. I also have the utmost respect for the Christchurch Art Gallery and their Outer Spaces Programme which has been a highly innovative response to the circumstances.

This is our magazine’s Art Issue.

Which artists interest you at the moment?

With the work I do, I meet a lot of fantastic, very interesting artists and often they impress me deeply.

At the moment, I can’t take my eyes off the work of the German artist Juliane Solmsdorf. And New Zealand artist Kate Newby – how can I say it? She eats the world with her wonderful senses? I love her work!

When are you coming to visit us in New Zealand?

I would love to come as soon as I can, but I think I will need to bring a lot of time, as it is a huge country with a lot of wonderful people and great things to experience. And it is very far away from here.

Are you optimistic about the city’s future?

There is so much energy and potential flooding through the city at the moment that I can’t help but feel optimistic about its future. Seeing a city rising and changing on a daily basis is intoxicating, and I am astounded by the creative talent, drive and dedication by individuals that are part of it. The only downside is the roadworks, which can drive you bonkers.

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On our cover, a photograph by James MacDonald of the London townhouse of New Zealand jewellery designer Jessica McCormack. For artwork and other details, see p.64.

Editorial Office Bauer Media Group Shed 12, City Works Depot 90 Wellesley St, Auckland New Zealand Postal address HOME New Zealand Bauer Media Group Private Bag 92512 Wellesley Street Auckland 1141 New Zealand

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Editor Jeremy Hansen

Art Director Arch MacDonnell

Inhouse Design

Chief Executive Officer Paul Dykzeul Publisher Lisa Ralph Commercial Director Paul Gardiner

Senior Designer Sarah Gladwell

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Senior Stylist/Designer Kendyl Middelbeek

Strategic Sales Manager Stuart Dick

Inhouse Design

Stylist/Designer Juliette Wanty Designer Oliver Worsfold

Inhouse Design

Editorial Assistant Fiona Williams

Contributors Jo Bates Sam Eichblatt Gemma Gracewood Peter Guenzel Julie Hill Amelia Holmes Zarko Mihic Frances Morton Jane Ussher Photographers Emily Andrews Simon Devitt Guy Frederick Steffen Jagenburg Russell Kleyn James MacDonald Jackie Meiring Toaki Okano Patrick Reynolds Mark Smith Simon Wilson

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HOME New Zealand is subject to copyright in its entirety and the contents may not be reproduced in any form, either in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher. All rights reserved in material accepted for publication, unless initially specified otherwise.

All letters and other material forwarded to the magazine will be assumed intended for publication unless clearly labelled “not for publication�. We welcome submissions of homes that architects or owners would like to be considered for publication. Opinions expressed in HOME New Zealand are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of Bauer Media Group. No responsibility is accepted for unsolicited material. ABC average net circulation, 12 months to September 2013: 12,232 copies ISSN 1174-863X

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Photography / Jeremy Toth

Get the latest online homenewzealand.blogspot.com @homenewzealand @_jeremyhansen facebook.com/home.nz.mag

EDITOR’S LETTER

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Clockwise from top left Jewellery designer Jessica McCormack's art-filled London townhouse; artist Fiona Connor at home in Los Angeles; sculptor Michio Ihara in his studio; artist Simon Denny's Berlin apartment.

One of the great things about journalism is that it offers a ruse for politely stalking interesting people. As I survey the pages in this, our annual Art Issue, I'm happy to say this stalking has paid off handsomely.

Case in point: our feature on world-renowned artist Michio Ihara (p.112), who created 'Wind Tree', a marvellous sculpture in Auckland's Silo Park. Until HOME moved offices recently, 'Wind Tree' was the highlight of my walk to work. I knew something of the sculpture's turbulent past: it was first erected in QEII Square at the bottom of Queen Street in 1977, but was ignominiously taken apart and put in storage when the square was refurbished as part of the Britomart development. After almost a decade in pieces in a warehouse, 'Wind Tree' moved to its terrific new home in 2011.

I had often wondered how Ihara felt about all this.

A quick Google search showed he lives in Concord, Massachusetts; a subsequent phone call revealed he would be happy to appear in this issue. Ihara is now an elegant 85 years of age and still rises at 4am each day to work. Our New York-based team of expat New Zealanders – photographer Emily Andrews and writer Gemma Gracewood – visited him at home and created a moving piece on what it can mean to live an artistic life.

This issue contains other takes on this theme. We meet artist Fiona Connor at her bare-bones home and studio in Los Angeles (p.76), where the 2010 Walters Prize finalist is forging the beginnings of an international career. In Berlin, we visit Simon Denny (p.88), whose acclaimed installation-based riffs on surveillance and technology have led to his selection as New Zealand's representative at the 2015 Venice art biennale. And in London in June, I had the pleasure of spending an hour with Jessica McCormack (p.64), a former Christchurch resident whose jewellery designs are highly sought after and who has a wonderfully insouciant way of living with art. We feel fortunate that our polite stalking allowed us to meet these fascinating people, and are delighted to share the results of these encounters with you here.

Jeremy Hansen, Editor

A couple of important announcements: we'll soon be calling for entries to our annual furniture Design Awards (published in our June/ July issue), so watch our blog for details.

Before then, our Home of the Year issue will be on newsstands in early April. London-based architect Amanda Levete will be the international member of our Home of the Year jury, and will arrive here in early March to visit the shortlisted homes and help select a winner (thanks to our Home of the Year sponsor, Altherm Window Systems).

Levete will also give lectures in Auckland and Christchurch about her remarkable work – please see our story on p.39 for more information about these talks and her brilliant career.

You're also welcome to follow me on Twitter or 'Like' HOME's Facebook page for updates on our Home of the Year 2014 judging journey.

HOME NEW ZEALAND / 17

SIT BOY

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DESIGN

THE ART OF CITY LIVING An intimate Auckland apartment holds a seriously diverse art collection.

TEXT / Jeremy Hansen PHOTOGRAPHY / Jackie Meiring

Above A painting by Toss Woollaston faces the bed, and is placed next to a piece by Sophie Herxheimer and a childhood photo of Glenn receiving an award. At right, a photograph by Roberta Thornley.

The art collection is as eclectic as its owners' backgrounds would suggest. Watercolours of Taranaki landscapes by Janet Hardwick-Smith mingle with fashion photographs by Mario Testino; a Polaroid

by David Bailey faces a painting by Chris Ofili; a photograph by Hong Kong artist Wing Shya hangs a few feet away from a painting by Toss Woollaston.

These works occupy the walls of the Auckland apartment of Jonathan Rutherfurd-Best and Andrew Glenn. Rutherfurd-Best was born in Taranaki but spent most of the past quarter-century in London; Glenn grew up in Hong Kong (his father is a New Zealander) and met Jonathan in London before the couple moved

here and opened Waiheke Island’s Oyster Inn (featured in HOME’s December/January 2013 issue). They now rent a house on the island and use this apartment as their city escape.

The duo purchased the apartment soon after moving to Auckland just over two years ago. Its proximity to the burgeoning Britomart area gave it a sense of big-city urbanity, as did its industrial origins. The building was constructed in the 1920s as a warehouse, but a residential conversion in the 1990s had, bafflingly, raised the floors and lowered the ceilings. The couple’s first move (with the assistance of designer Gino Fierro) was to restore the apartment’s compromised

HOME NEW ZEALAND / 19

Above A work by Chris Ofili hangs above a Chinese lacquerware cabinet. A Burmese doll is propped next to a small case and an 18thcentury Chinese bowl.

Right 'Jenny', a photograph by Roberta Thornley, hangs beside a work by artist Gavin Turk depicting himself as Sid Vicious. A late18th century Japanese vase sits atop an early Fornasetti cabinet. The sofas (one is visible at left in this photo) were custom-designed by Mary Fox Linton.

proportions. After that, “it felt like a New York loft building,” Glenn says, thanks to its concrete beams and original steel-framed windows. They further increased the sense of space in the 86-square-metre dwelling by reducing the number of bedrooms from two to one.

When it came to outfitting the interiors, they drew on the building’s 1920s roots for inspiration, choosing a black-and-white colour scheme that included the installation of built-in black bookshelves that wrap up and over big sliding doors to the bedroom. They sourced vintage light switches and other fittings from Australia, and sinks with a period flavour for the bathroom and powder room (both of these spaces are featured in

20 / HOME NEW ZEALAND

our bathroom design focus on p.128). The uncovered concrete floors were left exposed.

Then came the furniture and art. A pair of elegant sofas by the British designer Mary Fox Linton frame the living space, along with a Deco-looking screen by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and a red Fornasetti cabinet. The artworks screw just a little with this politeness: a large photograph by Nick Waplington of the chaos of Glastonbury music festival occupies the wall above one of the couches, while artist Gavin Turk’s photograph of himself as Sid Vicious glares from the corner. Rutherfurd-Best – who majored in art history at university – purchased both these works while living in

A photograph by Wing Shya of actress and model Maggie Q was shot in Hanoi for a Louis Vuitton editorial campaign when Glenn was working as communications director for the company, and given to him by the photographer as a gift.

Below it is an 1890s French Arts and Crafts cabinet. The 19thcentury Belle Epoque dining table is paired with classic bentwood chairs that Glenn purchased on TradeMe.

HOME NEW ZEALAND / 21

Left A Nick Waplington piece is framed by bookshelves that wrap around the sliding doors that divide bedroom and living area.

Top right Black kitchen cabinetry ties in with the apartment's monochromatic scheme. A marble benchtop and butcher's tiles reference the building's 1920s roots.

Above right A screen by Herzog & de Meuron occupies a corner of the living room, while a work

by Nick Waplington hangs at right.

London (where he established and eventually sold the events firm Urban Caprice), when he was enthralled by the rule-breaking energy of the YBAs (Young British Artists) as they rewrote the rules of contemporary art in the 1990s (a work by another YBA, Tracey Emin, occupies a room at The Oyster Inn).

Another Nick Waplington photograph occupies a wall of the bedroom. Beside the bed, a work by Toss Woollaston that Glenn bought Rutherfurd-Best as a birthday gift hangs with a piece by British artist Sophie Herxheimer and an adorable photograph of Glenn getting second prize in a Hong Kong swimming competition as a child.

22 / HOME NEW ZEALAND

The best thing about the apartment is how all these elements – antiques jostling with contemporary art, photography with landscapes, European and Asian pieces – have been combined so confidently to create a space that feels relaxed yet completely modern. It also redefines the notion of a getaway pad: because the couple live on Waiheke Island, an escape to this dense party of the city provides the same contrast that a beach getaway would for most other people. It also shows how a compact space can still feel luxurious, and how the city’s older buildings can be happily converted into desirable residences. If there is an art to city living, much of it can be found here.

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GROUND BREAKERS Earth tones rule in this selection of design finds.

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1 / Beaded disk necklace by Zelda Murray, $140 from Miss Crabb, misscrabb.com 2 / 'Mart' chair by Antonio Citterio for B&B Italia, $13,200 from Matisse, matisse.co.nz

3 / Cooper pendant light, $239 from The Weekend Trader, weekendtrader.net 4 / Spiced Rose Lip Balm by Petalhead, $16 from petalhead.co.nz 5 / 1900s French butcher's hook,

from $180 from The Vitrine, inthevitrine.com 6 / BBQ brush, $16.50 from Father Rabbit, fatherrabbit.com 7 / Terracotta jug, $35 from Flotsam and Jetsam, flotsamandjetsam.co.nz 8 / Liberty vintage-print cushion, $325 from Everyday Needs, everyday-needs.com 9 / 'Pion' tables and stools by Ionna Vautrin for Sancal, from $795 from UFL, ufl.co.nz Edited by Amelia Holmes.

HOME NEW ZEALAND / 25

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FINELY BALANCED Must-have experiments in shape and form.

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1 / 'Agnes' pendant by Roll & Hill, $17,000 from ECC, ecc.co.nz 2 / 'Aurora' pot by Phil Cuttance, $395 from philcuttance.com 3 / Pallarès stainless steel butcher's hook, $3.50 from Father rabbit, fatherrabbit.com 4 / 'Kangourou' table by Matthieu MatÊgot for Gubi, $770 from Corporate Culture, corporateculture.co.nz 5 / 'ASAP' chair by Foersom and Hiort Lorenzen for Paustian, $1100 from Corporate Culture, corporateculture.co.nz 6 / 'Anahata' single diamond earring, $1181 and 'Zap' single diamond earring, $683, both by Zoe & Morgan from Simon James Concept Store, simonjamesdesign.com 7 / 'Drawing', book by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, $70 from Simon James Concept Store, simonjamesdesign.com 8 / 'Monarch' table by Goldsworthy, $1283 from Corporate Culture, corporateculture.co.nz Edited by Amelia Holmes.

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1 / Ceramic bowls, $60 from Father Rabbit, fatherrabbit.com 2 / 'Good One' mug, $20 from Coffee Supreme, coffeesupreme.com 3 / 'Alacati' towel, $99 from Father Rabbit,

fatherrabbit.com 4 / Rope bowl by Harry Allen for Areaware, $178 from Simon James Concept Store, simonjamesdesign.com 5 / 'Couleur' teapot by Kinto, $75 from Everyday Needs, everyday-needs.com 6 / 'Hydra' wool rug by Camilla for Designer Rugs, $6180 (2m x 3m ) from Designer Rugs, designerrugs.co.nz 7 / Silk tie, $130 from Doran & Doran, doran-and-doran.com 8 / 'Lisa' chair by Laudani and Romanelli for Driade, $5625 from Indice, indice.co.nz Edited by Amelia Holmes.

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D:05

SHORE THING A new Dunedin restaurant makes itself at home in a historic seaside building.

INTERVIEW / Jeremy Hansen PHOTOGRAPHY / Simon Wilson

Esplanade 2 The Esplanade Saint Clair, Dunedin 03 456 2544 esplanade.co

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What was in this space before?

The Hydro building has always been a restaurant in some shape or form. Sixty years ago it was the Hydro Tearooms; most recently another restaurant, which closed its doors in February 2013. The building itself carries a strong sense of local history. Not only is it a landmark, but most people who live around here have a personal connection with it, having either flatted here in the 70s, witnessed their parents’ wedding anniversary in the 50s or done something outrageous here in the 90s.

HOME

KATRINA TOOVEY, OWNER

What do you like about the location, and the building itself? It is the most beautiful spot! The building is directly opposite St Clair beach. At the end of the street is the hot salt water pool. It’s paradise, really. And the building itself has great bones, with double brick, native timbers and a high stud.

What kind of space did you ask Cheshire Architects to create?

I wanted a restaurant that reflected the location and environment. It’s an Italian-inspired eatery specialising in wood-fired pizza and fresh pasta. It was important to us that the restaurant was welcoming to everyone while keeping a sense of familiarity for the past and present beach community. It’s an easy space which you can walk into with sand on your feet.

Nat, how did you respond to this?

NAT CHESHIRE, CHESHIRE ARCHITECTS This was an opportunity to honour a beautiful restaurateur and a special building.

We sought a space that would grow into itself, deploying organic materials rather than synthetic, favouring the handmade over the uniform, and playing elegance and informality against each other.

Above left The restaurant is located in the former Hydro Tearooms building on Dunedin's St Clair beach.

Above The restaurant interior, designed by Cheshire Architects, is designed to "grow into itself" over time.

Inside the restaurant, the pendant lights were designed by Emily Priest and Nat Cheshire of Cheshire Architects, and hand-blown and assembled by Isaac Katzoff. The bentwood bar stools are by Thonet, and the 'J104' dining chairs are by Jørgen Baekmark for Hay from Corporate Culture.

HOME NEW ZEALAND / 31

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Right The faces on the L-Pavilion Gallery are prints of works by Philip Trusttum from the exhibition Bookwork: A homage to finger puppets. Philip is a Christchurch artist and Martin's father.

Below right A nighttime peek at works by 59 artists who submitted pieces based on a 10cm cardboard cube.

All were auctioned to raise funds for the ArtBox project.

Far right The Lantern Gallery shows Bodytok Quintet: The Human Instrument Archive, a project by Phil Dadson with interactive software

by James Charlton.

Below far right The Christchurch Art Gallery now utilises the 100-squaremetre Lantern Gallery.

Below Martin Trusttum of CPIT.

OUTSIDE THE BOX Christchurch’s ArtBox brings art back to the centre of the quakedamaged city.

INTERVIEW / Jeremy Hansen PHOTOGRAPHY / Guy Frederick

Art Box Corner Madras and St Asaph Streets, Christchurch cpit.ac.nz christchurchartgallery.org.nz

32 / HOME NEW ZEALAND

HOME

What is the ArtBox?

MARTIN TRUSTTUM, CANTERBURY POLYTECHNIC

ArtBox at its most simple is a studio and gallery space for local artists. We have three small steel-frame and polycarbonate buildings ranging in size from one box to eight, and they provide one workshop and two galleries. Immediately after the earthquake it became obvious there were a lot of people without any place to show work. I believe we need arts activity in order to keep our students wanting to come to the city, so we [the team at Canterbury Polytechnic Institute of Technology] wanted to provide a resource and a hub for people to meet up and discuss the arts. If you don’t have an active arts programme in the central city then you don’t have a lot to engage with, as there’s very little retail in here. The fact people are coming back testifies that the art programmes are understood to be valuable. We’ve done a dozen ArtBox shows since

February 2013, and Christchurch Art Gallery has taken over the 100-squaremetre Lantern Gallery, a collaborative approach that really works.

How were they designed and built?

They were designed by Andrew Just of F3 Design to have a steel frame so you can link the boxes together in a whole host of different ways. The walls are made from ply, slight steel framing and batts, and some polycarbonate. These things could have a life of 50-60 years.

How do you feel about the city’s future generally?

I feel very positive about Christchurch.

If you’ve got some ideas and a willingness to contribute and get involved, then where would you rather be? The reality is that it will take a bit longer than everyone thinks or hopes. There’s a lot to learn but it’s very exciting. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

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D:07

Above left The House at Goleen, on the coast of Ireland, employs linear pavilions that follow the fall of the site, leading to dramatic sea views.

Above right McLaughlin's Bishop Edward King Chapel was shortlisted for the 2013 Stirling Prize.

Right On the inside of the chapel's textured stone facade, columns enclose the nave and draw the eye up towards the light-filled latticework.

FORM AND MEANING British architect Niall McLaughlin visits New Zealand for the Futuna Lecture Series.

INTERVIEW / Jeremy Hansen

HOME The Bishop Edward King Chapel was shortlisted for the 2013 Stirling Architecture Prize. What was special about this project to you, and what does it illustrate about your approach to architecture? NIALL MCLAUGHLIN Building for a religious community allows you to

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explore the relationship between building form and meaning. The client was constantly alive to how design decisions would be read in terms of religious symbolism. This made for a fascinating encounter. We were also able to build using very good materials and craft techniques, something that’s becoming rare in UK building culture.

Your firm designs everything from private residences to health centres, schools and group housing projects. Is there a particular type you enjoy most, or do all of these projects inform one another in some way? Do they share any characteristics? I don’t have a preference for a particular building type. What I love is a good client and a good builder to have a conversation with. My best buildings are genuine collaborations with the makers and the users.

Have you been to New Zealand before? What are your preconceptions or observations of what this

country’s architecture is like, and what are you most looking forward to seeing here? With the Auckland Art Gallery, the Giraffe House at Auckland Zoo and the Shigeru Ban temporary cathedral [in Christchurch], it’s been a high-profile year internationally for New Zealand. I’m always interested in houses and we are spoilt for choice in New Zealand. I love the Local Rock House by Andrew Patterson, the Tent House by Irving Smith Jack, the Great Barrier Island House by Paul Clarke and the Lake Wanaka Retreat House

by Stevens Lawson. I would happily hide away in any of those houses with Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries and a good pinot noir and forget this dreadful British winter.

Niall McLaughlin is visiting New Zealand to give the Futuna Trust Lecture Series in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington on March 19, 20 and 23 respectively.

For tickets, visit futunatrust.org.nz

D:08

Above The team behind New Zealand's exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Standing, left to right: Mike Austin, Claire Natusch, Sara Lee Chialin, Julian Mitchell, Frances Cooper, Rick Pearson, Ginny Pedlow.

Seated: Julie Stout, David Mitchell and Rau Hoskins.

Above right The Waiheke Island house

by Mitchell & Stout Architects, winner of the Home of the Year 2009.

Right David Mitchell and Julie Stout's Auckland home, a finalist in our Home of the Year 2010 award.

THE WORLD STAGE Mitchell & Stout Architects win the bid to present New Zealand's first show at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

INTERVIEW / Jeremy Hansen PORTRAIT / Jane Ussher

Venice Architecture Biennale labiennale.org/en/architecture June 7 - November 23, 2014

HOME What is your team planning for your exhibition at the architecture biennale?

DAVID MITCHELL, CREATIVE DIRECTOR [Dutch architect] Rem Koolhaas is the overall creative director this year, and he’s chosen the theme ‘Fundamentals’, which addresses the evolution of national architectures in the last century. He’s saying that modernity is taking over everything – that there’s an increasing homogeneity in architecture around the world. He’s probably right in general, but we think there’s a Pacific gene in New Zealand architecture that has got more distinctive over the last 100 years. It shows in light post-and-beam and panel structures, often with big roofs. We cross over between the Pacific and the European..

to the exhibition will meet – a Pacific structure if ever there was. Then we’ll have a whare-like, or house-like tent structure within the space, the walls of which will show images of New Zealand buildings that back up our thesis about how deeply lightweight structures inform New Zealand architecture.

These images could include wooden houses of the 1950s, the Waitomo Caves Visitor Centre, holiday homes by Herbst Architects, Wellington’s Futuna Chapel, Christchurch’s Cardboard Cathedral – a Pacific structure by an architect of sufficient prominence to get noticed around the world – and the Auckland Art Gallery, which won World Building of the Year. It couldn’t be a better moment to showcase New Zealand architecture.

So will you convey these ideas in a structure, or an exhibition format?

We’ll have our own room in a palazzo to work within. One of our key pieces is going to be a brand new pataka which is being carved at this moment. It stands on a pole and is the first thing visitors

Your exhibition will be called ‘Last, Loneliest, Loveliest’. Where does the name come from?

It’s a quote from Kipling, written about Auckland. We like it because it implies a lot about what makes New Zealand’s situation unique.

HOME NEW ZEALAND / 35

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THE SHIPPING NEWS A new Wellington bar and eatery takes inspiration from the maritime origins of its heritage building.

INTERVIEW / Jeremy Hansen PHOTOGRAPHY / Russell Kleyn

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HOME What did the owners of Charley Noble ask you to design?

CHARLIE NOTT, ARCHITECT Something that was respectful. They loved the work we did at Depot in Auckland and wanted something that was respectful of the original building, the restored Merchant Shipping Line headquarters. We had absolute freedom – they were totally open to our ideas. We wanted to make a restaurant which looked like it had been there forever, with an open kitchen, distempered floors and a natural, raw ceiling. It’s a timeless fitout that could be 1930 or 2014.

Did the refurbished building give you much to work with?

The building dates from the 1930s so we combined that influence with the thread of that nautical vein running through it. There’s an honesty and an integrity to the building so we feel comfortable in those spaces – they’re not pretentious or fancy or frilly. There’s a kind of rawness to them, as well as lovely steel windows and a high stud.

We inserted elements which soften it a bit, like the over-height booths. We raised the dining area away from the bar area, so you get that view through.

How do you like it now?

I’ve been there once for lunch and loved it. The open-plan kitchen gives you that real theatre.

You’ve done Al Brown’s The Depot, Federal Delicatessen, and Best Ugly Bagels, as well as Napier’s Mister D. How’d you end up doing so many food projects?

We seem to be falling into it – they are all really nice projects. And I think I’m a very good end user.

Charley Noble G round floor, Huddart Parker Building 1 Post Office Square, Wellington 0508 242 753 charleynoble.co.nz Nott Architects nott.co.nz

Far left Herb pots in the open kitchen with views over Jervois Quay.

Above The recycled matai bar top has Carrara marble inlay, oak panelling and a tiled front. The lightshades are from Ico Traders and the wall lights from Vintage Industries.

Above right High booths feature oak panelling and fabric sourced by MDC Christchurch. The 'Nova May' green tiles are topped by an oak dado trim.

Right Architect Charlie Nott wanted to create an interior that "looked like it had been there forever". The lighting is from Ico Traders.

Far right The Huddart Parker Building's original brass name plate (top) and the restored and strengthened 1930s building on Wellington's Post Office Square and Jervois Quay.

HOME NEW ZEALAND / 37

Proud sponsors of the Amanda Levete Lecture Series and Home of the Year 2014 Amanda Levete made her reputation in the 1990s with the visionary firm Future Systems, and now has significant international projects under way in her own right, including a competition-winning redesign of London’s Victoria & Albert Museum. She will give lectures in Auckland and Christchurch on her visit.

Altherm Window Systems is a quality assured APL brand www.altherm.co.nz or facebook.com/AlthermWindows

Architect: McCoy + Heine Architects. Builder: Percival Construction Ltd.

Inspired by design

D:10 Left Architect Amanda Levete in her London office.

PUSHING THE LIMITS Acclaimed London architect Amanda Levete joins our Home of the Year 2014 jury.

TEXT / Jeremy Hansen PORTRAIT / Peter Guenzel

Amanda Levete almost didn’t become an architect. Expelled from school for sunbathing naked on the roof when she should have been at biology class, she had no idea what she was going to do next. “I got so embarrassed that all my friends were going to university that I did an A-level in art and art history and a foundation year at art school,” she told Stuart Jeffries of The Guardian. “That’s when architecture came across my radar, and when it did, I realised that I work best when I’m doing something creatively, but have a boundary to push.”

Levete (pronounced Lev-eet), the international member of our Home of the Year 2014 jury, has been pushing boundaries to create remarkable buildings ever since. For 20 years she was one-half of the innovative firm Future Systems with her then-husband, the

late Jan Kaplický. Together they designed the Media Centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground, a curvaceous pod of white aluminium that almost bankrupted them but then won the 1999 Stirling Prize, Britain’s most prestigious architecture award. Their subsequent design for Birmingham’s Selfridges store, a swoop of a building covered in circular aluminium discs, was hailed as a symbol of the city’s regeneration. Kaplicky stormed out of the Selfridges opening because the finished structure wasn’t as pure as their original design. Levete was more pragmatic. “I don’t devalue the power of conceptual thinking, but for me the thrill of architecture is to see your ideas realised – to struggle against the problems out there and overcome them,” she told Jeffries.

Levete and Kaplicky had a son, Josef, but divorced in 2006 – “a very public falling out,” according to

HOME NEW ZEALAND / 39

Above left A rendering of a gallery space in the EDP Cultural Centre in Lisbon, designed by Amanda Levete Architects.

Above A rendering of the EDP Centre's exterior shows how specially designed tiles will reflect light.

Right The living area and kitchen extension Levete designed for her North London home.

Photography / Gidon Fuehrer

Above Floating bespoke brushed steel shelves in Levete's home display collected art and objects.

Left Currently under construction, the EDP Cultural Centre has a rooftop walkway with views of the Tagus River.

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Left Levete's extension of London's Victoria & Albert Museum is the city's largest new art space since the Tate Modern.

Levete. Kaplicky, who was Czech, died in Prague in 2009 at the age of 71, just after visiting his second wife, Eliska, and their newborn daughter in hospital. He and Levete had continued working together after their divorce, but had agreed to separate their architectural practice four months before his death, which is when Levete established Amanda Levete Architects.

Anyone who wondered if she had been riding on the coattails of Kaplický’s genius (a word Levete uses to describe him) has since been thoroughly silenced. In 2011, Levete won an international competition to build an extension to London’s Victoria & Albert Museum.

The 1,500-square-metre gallery for temporary exhibitions will be the biggest new art space in London since the Tate Modern; the project also involves the design of a new entry to the building from Exhibition Road.

An earlier scheme by Daniel Libeskind was abandoned seven years earlier after encountering a storm of public option. “It was an iconic building, but the time for iconic buildings has passed,” Levete told The Guardian.

Her design is currently under construction.

Other major projects are nearing completion: a waterfront cultural centre in Lisbon that reads as a dramatic bulge in the landscape; a shimmering high-rise hotel and shopping centre in Bangkok which Levete will attend the opening of on her way home

Below The V&A project involves the design of a new entry to the building from Exhibition Road.

from helping to choose our 2014 Home of the Year. She has also designed furniture for London’s Established & Sons and writes regularly about architecture, design and urbanism for The New Statesman. Her office, a non-descript semi-industrial building in London’s northeast, now employs more than 50 staff, who pad around on the immaculate space’s bright carpet in socks (the office’s no-shoe office rule means you are greeted by an archipelago of footwear when you arrive at reception).

This will be Levete’s first visit to New Zealand.

Her husband Ben Evans, director of the London Design Festival, will accompany her. She has already reviewed the entries in the 2014 Home of the Year with us, and will help choose a winner when we visit the shortlisted homes in person. First impressions? This year’s entrants are notable for their “modesty in scale and materials and technology, and within that they’re searching for something quite profound and poetic,” she says. That seems promising.

We’re looking forward to showing her the best New Zealand homes of the past year, and are delighted to announce Levete will also give lectures in Auckland and Christchurch while she’s here. Please come along: it’s a rare chance to hear a remarkable talent reveal more about her remarkable work.

Below, bottom Levete's concept design for the courtyard and a vast new underground gallery at the V&A.

Amanda Levete’s visit is made possible with the support of Altherm Window Systems, our Home of the Year sponsor. She will give lectures in Auckland on Monday March 10 and Christchurch on Wednesday March 12.

Tickets to each event are $20 ($15 for subscribers and students) and are available at eventopia. co/amandalevete.

For venue information, see p.136.

HOME NEW ZEALAND / 41

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Take a seat on design pieces with a long view.

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1 / 'Arco' sofa by BoConcept, $3756 from BoConcept, boconcept.com 2 /

'Polder' sofa by Hella Jongerius for Vitra, $13,500 from Matisse, matisse.co.nz 'Mio' sofa by Draga e Aurel for Baxter, from $17,000 from Cavit & Co, cavitco.com 5 / Day bed by Douglas + Bec, $2490 from Douglas + Bec, douglasandbec.co.nz 6 / 'Solemyidae' sofa

by Rosella Pugliatti for Giorgetti, $26,965 from ECC, ecc.co.nz 7 / 'Foliage' sofa by Patricia Urquiola for Kartell, $5830 from Backhouse, backhousenz.com Edited by Kendyl Middelbeek and Juliette Wanty.

3 / 'Paramount' highback sofa system by Simon James, $8563 from Simon James Design, simonjamesdesign.com 4 /

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1 / 'Stoccolma' sofa by Paola Navone for Baxter, from $25,500 from Cavit & Co, cavitco.com 2 / 'Bart' sofa by Bart Schilder for Moooi, $19,665 from ECC, ecc.co.nz 3 / 'Living Landscape' by Walter Knoll for EOOS, POA from Matisse, matisse.co.nz 4 / 'Sorrento' sofa by Paola Navone for Baxter, from $27,000 from Cavit & Co, cavitco.com 5 / 'Mags' sofa by Hay Studios, $7364 from Corporate Culture, corporateculture.co.nz 6 / 'Tuscany Pietrasanta' sofa by Paola Navone for Baxter, from $32,000 from Cavit & Co, cavitco.com 7 / 'Chester Moon' sofa by Paola Navone for Baxter, from $48,000 from Cavit & Co, cavitco.com 8 / 'Guscio' sofa by Antonio Citterio for Flexiform, $19,870 from Studio Italia, studioitalia.co.nz Edited by Kendyl Middelbeek and Juliette Wanty.

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1 / 'Charles' sofa by Antonio Citterio for B&B Italia, $29,340 from Matisse, matisse.co.nz 2 /

'EJ 315' sofa by Eric Jorgensen, $15,467 from Corporate Culture, coporateculture.co.nz 3 / 'Cloud' sofa by Marcel Wanders for Moooi, $15,185 from ECC, ecc.co.nz 4 / 'OW150' day bed by Ole Wanscher for Carl Hansen & Son, $5940 from Corporate Culture, coporateculture.co.nz 5 / 'LC2' sofa by Le Corbusier for Cassina, $12,500 from Matisse, matisse.co.nz 6 / Vintage leather and teak sofa by Arne Vodder for Cado, $2900 from Karakter, karakter.co.nz 7 / 'Diesis' sofa by Antonio Citterio for B&B Italia, $22,400 from Matisse, matisse.co.nz Edited by Kendyl Middelbeek and Juliette Wanty.

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Left The entry to Jonathan Smart's new gallery, in the Christchurch suburb of Sydenham.

Restarting with art Christchurch art dealer Jonathan Smart’s gallery was ruined in the city’s quakes. His spacious new gallery shows his faith in the city’s future. / Jeremy Hansen PHOTOGRAPHY / Guy Frederick TEXT

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Left Photographs from Fiona Pardington's 2013 series 'Wahine Patere, Wahine Panekeneke' on the gallery walls.

HOME You’ve recently moved to a new space. Where were you working before the earthquakes?

JONATHAN SMART I had been in High Street for 22 years in an upstairs space, a sort of Victorian brick retail building that was quite stylish in its own right and very much a part of the blossoming of boutique retail along that street through the late 90s and early 2000s.

I’d decided I wanted a ground-floor space, something more light-industrial, roller-door warehouse, that sort of thing. I was about to move out of my old space when the earthquake happened. Fortunately, because I had planned to move, most of my stock was stored offsite.

The building has since been demolished.

Below Jonathan Smart in his gallery, in front of a painting by Chris Heaphy.

Bottom An old church pew in the gallery space.

When you started looking around, how easy was it to find a new space?

It was very difficult – it became painfully obvious that a lot of the central city spaces I could afford were damaged beyond repair or were going to take time to get repaired. It was looking pretty bleak. Art sales stopped in their tracks for two years. I’d be lying if I said closing the gallery didn’t cross my mind. But I’ve been here so long and I didn’t really want to do anything else. This is my place, my home and my job as yet is unfinished. The city still needs experienced, quality representation for the good artists who live within it, and some of the best artists who live in this country.

HOME NEW ZEALAND / 47

Jonathan Smart 52 Buchan Street, Sydenham, Christchurch jonathansmartgallery. com 03 365 7070

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Left Views of the gallery space, in a light-industrial building constructed in the 1990s. A painting from Heather Straka's 'Burqababe' series faces the camera in the stockroom.

Below Paintings by Chris Heaphy from his exhibition 'Maukatere'.

So what did you do?

[Sculptor] Neil Dawson came to my rescue and offered me a little north-facing space to show work in his studio in Linwood. I showed there for two years and that meant I could maintain the gallery project and it bought me some time to look for space. The space I found was in Sydenham, a building built by an engineer in 1990. I didn’t have to do too much to it. The neighbourhood is central, accessible, a place where people come to work, so it’s a different sort of environment than High Street, which had been gentrified. Architect Thom Craig came up with a design for the canopy at the entrance, and I moved a wall to create a more intimate secondary display space, and put in some lighting.

Has the quake affected the work of local artists at all?

It will have quietly affected the way artists work, but I can’t think of too many direct consequences in terms of earthquake content. Neil Dawson made a small series of quake discs, works in Perspex. On the whole it has

sharpened the focus and reminded us all that living in New Zealand, we live in a very physical environment, very different from Europe. It’s a real presence in our lives. Most artists I know have responded in the only way they know how, and that is to get over the worst of the initial disruption and get back to thinking and working it through.

Has Christchurch become a more creative place since the earthquakes?

I think it’s a more open place. There have been some barriers, physical and psychological, that have been broken down. I hope it has encouraged people to look harder for good, fascinating, interesting things in life and to value those things. That might be one of the good things that has come out the whole event.

After all that's happened, are you optimistic about the city's future?

I am optimistic. In the end I'm a glass half-full kind of guy. You have to be to stay in any creative business.

HOME NEW ZEALAND / 49

Left Liz Wilson and Simon Oosterdijk overlook a courtyard outside their Auckland home. Once a hat manufacturer, the warehouse is now a home from which the duo also work.

Right A selection of objects created by Oosterdijk include 3D prints inspired by the 19th century German biologist Ernst Haeckel and his study of microbes.

Building material The otherworldly Auckland loft of fashion designer Liz Wilson and graphic designer Simon Oosterdijk. / Julie Hill PHOTOGRAPHY / Jackie Meiring TEXT

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Far left The wall displays some of Wilson and Oosterdijk's local and international art, including works by Alethea Nathan, Ryan Gander, et al, Daniel Malone and Victor Vasarely.

Left Oosterdijk at his desk under the home's mezzanine floor.

Right The hanging basket seat swings out from the kitchen, where Wilson stands, to a small deck where herbs and vegetables are grown in crates.

Strips of earthy textiles are stuck to a wall.

A model glides into frame, her pastel-purple jacket billowing behind her. Dressed in baby blues and pinks, in tennis visors and face shields, she and her sisters drive screws into wood, kneel on insulation foam and squirt Polyfilla into the wall.

The video for the inaugural collection of Liz Wilson’s clothing line Eugénie (her middle name), made with boyfriend Simon Oosterdijk, is an ode to construction.

“You know when you see building sites and they’ve treated the structural frames and they’re pink? So it’s a feminine colour palette but a very unfeminine inspiration.” The haunting sound track is, in fact, Justin Bieber slowed down by 800 percent.

Their work caught the attention of European fashion bloggers, including Ivania Carpio of Love Aesthetics, who wrote: “Behold the wonderful look book displaying the very first collection of New Zealand-based label Eugénie: a map covered with insulating material on the inside with several booklets and images attached. I love the elements from the construction industry in the collection, like the prints of insulating foam and wood, the oversized jackets that remind [me] of some sort of workwear and the tool case in the model's hand.” Carpio then wore a beautifully cut Eugénie jacket in a fashion shoot and hits on Wilson’s website went through the virtual ceiling.

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Wilson and Oosterdijk live in a two-storey warehouse off Auckland’s Upper Queen St, past a jumble of office spaces and overlooking a shared courtyard full of cabbage trees and Virginia creeper. Once their place was a hat factory, and rumour has it that in an uninhabited subterranean level there are old hat stands, which they would love to get their hands on.

A couple visited one day who had met decades earlier and fallen in love while working here. Less poetically, the flat downstairs used to be a dog pound.

Their landlord renovated the space before they moved in a few years ago, to include a new kitchen, bathroom, mezzanine and proper stairs (the old ones stopped short in the air so that one had to leap to the lower floor). “He made the bars on the top floor match the original bars outside,” says Wilson, “so it really preserved the integrity of the building.” Herbs and vegetables grow in beer crates and hang from planters, and a lovely old basket chair swings out over the driveway.

On the lower floor, next to their work spaces, cabinets from a show Oosterdijk held at the Auckland Arts Festival have been re-purposed as tables. A graphic designer and creator of album covers, videos and writing, he is now exploring 3D digital modelling and fabrication, rendering wondrous natural and unnatural phenomena and mythical creatures on a small to infinitesimal scale. They are made in The Netherlands, where,

Once their place was a hat factory, and rumour has it that in an uninhabitated subterranean level there are old hat stands, which they would love to get their hands on.

Far left A mezzanine has been added but the warehouse heritage of the building hasn't been compromised.

Left A display cabinet from an exhibition Oosterdijk held has been re-purposed as a table and shows his current experiments with digital fabrication.

Right Oosterdijk sits near the old pot belly that, in winter, attempts to heat the living area.

says Wilson, “The machines make their own parts to upgrade themselves, so it’s quite Terminator-ish.”

Oosterdijk also edits a publication with artist Markus Hofko called Pie Paper, which is filled with magical impressions of “the arcane and commonplace wonders of the world around us”.

I suggest to Wilson and Oosterdijk that they are artists but they deny it. They make objects to sell, they say.

Liz even started out in advertising. “I had a marketing degree and a design degree and thought I was going to be Amanda Woodward from Melrose Place.”

Instead, she became a textile and graphic designer, then a design assistant to Karen Walker, before going solo. In 2011 she won Fashion Quarterly/Tresemmé Designer of the Year with an ensemble inspired by Agent Cooper from Twin Peaks: a two-piece transparent PVC jacket over a digitally printed under-jacket featuring pine trees, fire and smoke.

The photographic effect continues in her collection, while other garments appear to be daubed in paint or speckled with the pale purple-blue of insulation foam.

“The boom that’s happened recently with digital printing means you can do so much more,” says Wilson. “You can do subtle gradients that you can’t do with traditional screen printing. You can do a rainbow of colours at no extra cost, so in a way it’s much more affordable to do things that are much more effective.”

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They don’t really do decoration, they say; instead filling their home with collected pieces: a salt and pepper set marked ‘heroin’ and ‘cocaine’ by Glaswegian artist David Shrigley; works by Auckland artists Daniel Malone and Kate Newby; an old letter press. There are framed bugs from Deyrolle, the Parisian taxidermists where, they tell me, there were stuffed chicks, a baby elephant, and tray upon tray of insects. “You can pull out the drawers like a candy shop,” enthuses Oosterdijk.

Following the success of their video, Wilson decided to look at the bigger picture and focus on creating a solid business plan for Eugénie rather than producing a range last season. The new direction is focused on moving into retail. "It's daunting taking the leap, but the prospect of connecting with people who are interested in the garments is hugely exciting,” she says.

The Eugénie video was Wilson and Oosterdijk's first major collaboration. There is also, says Wilson, potential in using their combined talents to make jewellery. “He gets what I get. It’s nice to be able to tell him an idea and know that he’s not going to think I’m completely crazy, because usually it does sound quite crazy.”

It looks a lot like art. But it’s not. “There’s that balance of concept and wearability,” says Wilson.

“I don’t ever want to make wearable art. If someone doesn’t want to wear it on the street, it’s not a good garment. I’m not making art. It’s design.”

Furniture and homeware float on an unsettled sea by artist Andrew Barber.

Amelia Holmes PHOTOGRAPHY / Toaki Okano STYLING /

making waves

Wave forms of Andrew Barber’s site-specific artwork ‘The Sea’, painted on the floor at Auckland's Hopkinson Mossman Gallery, also lap at the walls. Enquiries, hopkinsonmossman.com. 'Acme' stool by Acme & Co, $315 from Acme & Co, acmeandco.co.nz; vintage steel pot from Flotsam and Jetsam, flotsamandjetsam. co.nz; cupboard brush by Redecker, $120 from Everyday Needs, everyday-needs.com; ‘Pod' chair by Benjamin Hubert for De Vorm, $9685 from ECC, ecc.co.nz; Mediterranean bath sheet, $129 from Tessuti, tessuti. co.nz; African stool, $1500 from Everyday Needs, everydayneeds.com; industrial fluorescent tube, $1350 from Flotsam and jetsam, flotsamandjetsam.co.nz.

‘Comeback’ chair by Patricia Urquiola for Kartell, $1052 from Kartell, backhousenz.com; ‘Taccia’ table lamp by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni for Flos, $4825 from ECC, ecc.co.nz; ‘Ink’ side table by Emilio Nanni for Zanotta, $2700 from Studio Italia, studioitalia.co.nz. 'The Sea', site-specific floor painting by Andrew Barber, POA at Hopkinson Mossman, hopkinsonmossman.com

‘Ink’ coffee table by Emilio Nanni for Zanotta, $3980 from Studio Italia, studioitalia.co.nz; ‘Eos’ lounge chair by Matthew Hilton for Case, $757 from Simon James Design, simonjamesdesign.com; woven dish by Ruth Castle, $150 from Everyday needs, everyday-needs.com. 'The Sea', site-specific floor painting by Andrew Barber, POA at Hopkinson Mossman, hopkinsonmossman.com

‘Yankee’, artwork by Andrew Barber in patchwork cotton, $17,500, rests atop the floor painting 'The Sea' at Hopkinson Mossman, hopkinsonmossman. com; 1940s French champagne crate, $350 from The Vitrine, inthevitrine.com; ‘Elements 002’ side table by Jaime Hayon for Moooi, $2050 from ECC, ecc. co.nz; ‘Crevasse’ vase by Zaha Hadid for Alessi, $494 from Simon James Concept Store, store. simonjamesdesign.com; ‘Mikado’ cabinet by Front for Porro, $9980 from Studio Italia, studioitalia. co.nz; ‘Orloff’ bowl by Patricia Urquiola for Alessi, $138 from Simon James Concept Store, store.simonjamesdesign.com; Indian khadi blanket, $135 from Everyday Needs, everyday-needs. com; ‘Foliage’ armchair by Patricia Urquiola for Kartell, $2890 from Kartell, backhousenz.com.

PRESENTS

art houses 64. JESSICA McCORMACK IN LONDON 76. FIONA CONNOR IN LOS ANGELES 88. SIMON DENNY IN BERLIN 100. BILL SHUMAKER IN NEW YORK 112. MICHIO IHARA IN CONCORD

This photo In the entry hall of Jessica McCormack's London townhouse. The 'Hex' light sculpture by the Haas Brothers is custom-made with brass tile over wood, and features slumped, fused-glass shades.

The 'Tomb Stag' bench in white civec marble

with antler is by Rick Owens. The photographs on the stairwell wall are from Mexican artist Daniela Edburg's series 'Parรกsitos y Perecederos'.

Right Jewellery designer Jessica McCormack at home.

queen of the stone age New Zealander Jessica McCormack dreams up her globally sought-after jewellery designs from a glamorous London townhouse.

Jeremy Hansen PHOTOGRAPHY / James MacDonald TEXT /

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Above the fireplace is a work by French artist ValĂŠrie Belin named 'Amazon Lily'. To its left is 'Pygmalion V' by Jayson Musson, and a cork, wood and acrylic sculpture by Huma Bhabha. To the right of the fireplace is Marilyn Minter's 'Liquid Sky' and the 'Enignum IV' sculptural chair by Joseph Walsh. The glass-mounted cabinet is by Roberto Rida. To its right stands a carved wood 18th-century Contessa. The custommade light sculpture in bronze, porcelain and crystal is by David Wiseman and is named 'Collage'.

Left Above the fireplace in the library is a painting

by Jim Shaw. To its left is a 17th-century French console in walnut topped with red marble.

To its right is a Black Forest bear seat.

Jessica McCormack is a DIY woman in a luxury world. Today, she is striding around the Victorian townhouse in the top-shelf London borough of Mayfair that is the official home of her eponymous jewellery business. There are beautiful brass-and-glass jewellery cases on marble plinths with gems that sparkle inside them. Avant-garde furniture is mixed with antiques in the same way London’s futuristic buildings by Foster and Rogers energetically jostle with their elderly neighbours. A piano of sci-fi curvaceousness, custom-made for the space, automatically plays a pre-programmed concerto. A crew of art installers hovers, anxiously awaiting some kind of signal from McCormack as to how they might hang works on walls that already look full.

It’s quite a change of scene for this pint-sized, Christchurch-raised force of nature. For the last five years, McCormack has worked from an (admittedly well-appointed) Clerkenwell basement. In that time, she has built a business whose offbeat jewellery designs have been worn by Madonna, Rihanna and former French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld, as well as deeppocketed clients who commission bespoke pieces from Russia, South Africa and the United States. Inspecting the new home of McCormack’s business, a journalist from the Financial Times noted in May that “she has stepped up the size, value and glamour of her designs… this is the new face of a serious diamond business”.

There’s no sign, however, that this rapid ascent has McCormack aspiring to become a hands-off operator.

She designs all her jewellery herself and has it made

by London-based craftsmen, some of whom work out of this space. Her can-do approach extends to her new premises. She interviewed some of the city’s best interior designers about the possibility of kitting out these rooms, but elected to do the job herself after finding their pitches too theme-y. “I don’t like to say my style is eclectic, but it’s something that’s really natural,”

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Avant-garde furniture is mixed with antiques in the same way London’s futuristic buildings by Foster and Rogers energetically jostle with their elderly neighbours.

Right The custommade piano is by Based Upon. Above the fireplace is 'Silver Flicker'

by Marilyn Minter. On the mantelpiece to the left is a 19th-century Kanak 'bird head' ceremonial club. To its right is a life-size terracotta head by Charles Weddepohl (Netherlands, circa 1947). The works

hanging to the left of the fireplace are 'Kylan in the Cold' by Susanne Johansson and 'OT'

by Axel Geis. The figure on a plinth at the right of the fireplace is 'New Drape' by Tom Price.

Jessica McCormack designed the custommade brass and glass jewellery cabinets specifically for the townhouse.

she says. “I’m not worried about what will go with what style. There are a lot of references to the Victorian period, but mixed with the modern. That’s what I do with the jewellery, [using] old setting techniques but modern stones. Where do the ideas come from?

That’s the easy part for me. Running a business is the hard part.”

It’s not as if she grew up with gem-filled dreams.

Her father John is a co-founder of McCormack and McKeller, a Christchurch art and antiques auction house. After dropping out of university, McCormack travelled to London and took up a four-month internship in the jewellery department at Sotheby’s auction house, presuming she would use the experience to return to New Zealand and work with her Dad. But something about the jewellery she was working with at Sotheby’s fascinated her. “I was always making bits and pieces in New Zealand as a hobby,” she says. “I always had a talent for taking something and putting it somewhere and making it look beautiful.” She began making small items of jewellery and selling them to her friends.

Soon afterwards she met one of her two partners in the business, a third-generation diamond dealer, and then three years ago the duo was joined

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by another investor, Rachel Slack, who hails from what’s been described as the “diamond dynasty” of the Oppenheimer family. Despite teaming up with people with deep experience in the jewellery trade, McCormack has maintained her unique aesthetic, mixing diamonds (all her stones are approved by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme) with 18-karat gold and placing precious gems in settings of surprising insouciance. Her hand-crafted style was a deliberate contrast to the mass-market approach of better-known jewellery purveyors. “Jewellery has got very generic and cold,” she says. “My jewels are very unique, special pieces.”

Unique, special pieces for which this townhouse is the perfect setting. The salon’s ground-floor space showcases some of McCormack’s work in the aforementioned jewellery cabinets. Upstairs is a library space with dark-painted walls intended as a comfort zone for blokes who might feel a little sensitive about shopping for jewellery. There is also a ‘Romance Room’ where couples can peruse engagement rings. Above this is McCormack’s design studio, and further up the townhouse are two levels that she intends to convert into her own flat.

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What’s remarkable about each of these rooms is how they feel glamorous and easy-going at the same time. What’s equally remarkable is how matter-of-fact McCormack is about her progress, and how unaffected she appears to be by her transition from Christchurch to this rarefied London setting where, across the road, matrons with big hair and bigger sunglasses are escorted from the back seats of limousines into The Connaught hotel. You get the feeling they’d find McCormack’s new premises a bit of an adventure.

“I want people to be able to come in and have an experience,” McCormack says. Any visitor to these interiors can be assured of that.

Above The library was devised as a space in which men could feel comfortable while jewellery shopping with their women friends.

Right The 'Enignum' sculptural shelf is by Joseph Walsh. The pâpiér maché didactic flower is from the Florence Museum.

Above it is 'Eye #7' by Sebastiaan Bremer.

DESIGN NOTEBOOK Q&A with jewellery designer Jessica McCormack

The London-based New Zealander on her approach to designing interiors and her unique jewellery pieces.

How would you describe your interior design?

It’s not something I really plan. I just do it. I have also collaborated with really interesting designers such as The Haas Brothers and David Wiseman. That’s what I do with jewellery: I use traditional setting techniques combined with modern design. This house exists to give context to what I do; it's here for my clients to be inspired and delight in the hidden details. I hope that each time they come they notice something else.

It is an evolving space. I travel to Russia, South Africa and America to see my clients but I want them to come to London, to this space, and feel further connected to me and my jewellery. It was never meant to feel like a shop.

What distinguishes your jewellery designs from others in the market?

I like to be able to provide a bespoke experience and to connect with a forgotten era of luxury through timeless design. It really is the backbone of the business. I wouldn’t change the way we work for the world because my clients constantly inspire me and show me new ways and different perspectives of looking at things and I hope to provide the same for them. I see my business as a family business, I am creating pieces to be handed down for generations.

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Above left The 'New York' ring from the 'Jewels of the Urban Night' collection takes inspiration from Manhattan's skyline. Set with 13 French-cut diamonds, bullet-shaped and tapered baguette diamonds, it is mounted in white and yellow gold.

Above, middle 'Blind Arcade' is set with handcut baguette diamonds in a platinum and yellow gold sleeve.

Above right 'New York Reflection' is set with 18 carre-cut diamonds and baguette diamonds in white and yellow gold.

Right The 'Snowdrop Riviere' necklace has two rows of cushion-cut diamonds intersected by 'snowdrops' of white and yellow gold with emerald detail.

Below right The 'Humility' bracelet from the 'XIV' collection is set with baguette and round brilliant-cut diamonds and has a hand-stitched antique grey and black snake skin strap.

Below Marble plinths with glass jewellery cases and a photograph of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater by Matthew Day Jackson on display.

From a bare former shop in Los Angeles' Echo Park, artist Fiona Connor forges an international career.

Frances Morton PHOTOGRAPHY / Emily Andrews TEXT /

site specific

Left Ceramic plates made by the artist bear freshly cut fruit.

This page New Zealand artist Fiona Connor at the entrance of her home and studio, which was previously a vacant shop, in Echo Park, Los Angeles.

Connor's studio and living space features furniture and other pieces she made for her exhibition Bare Use. The furniture was based on pieces from Rancho La Puerta, a health spa in Tecate, Mexico. "There are a lot of crossovers between art and spas," she says. Her exhibition showed at 1301PE Gallery in Los Angeles.

Fiona Connor toys with architecture in her work, planting structural dopplegangers in gallery spaces that playfully prompt viewers to reconsider their physical surroundings. The artist rebuilt the frontage of Michael Lett’s former gallery space in Auckland’s Karangahape Road 15 times over for her celebrated work, the Walters Prize-nominated 'Something Transparent (Please Go Round the Back)'.

That was 2009, the same year she moved to Los Angeles to study a master of fine arts at California Institute for the Arts, known as CalArts.

Since then, Connor has assembled original and replica art gallery visitor seating for her masters graduation show, installed marble steps leading nowhere at the Hammer Museum’s Made in LA show (which surveyed the work of leading LA-based contemporary artists) and recently recreated Los Angeles County Park’s drinking fountain for a group show in a cavernous Chinatown space. All works beckon viewers to puzzle over her institutional critique.

She does this in a fun, inquisitive, unpretentious way. When you meet the artist behind the work it’s unsurprising to find her a vibration of dark curls in sensible boots and paint-stained jeans with a ready hug.

Late in 2012, Connor, 32, set up home in a vacant shop in an industrial stretch of Echo Park to the northwest of downtown Los Angeles. She greets me on the curb on a predictably sunny California morning with a Styrofoam cup of a sweet milky drink that’s not quite chocolatey, not quite malty. It’s atole, a Mexican drink made with corn, cinnamon and vanilla that she got down the street. “Until the last 10 years, this was generally a Latino area and that’s still very much the majority and heartbeat of the place,” says Connor.

Connor’s house prompts visitors to revisit their idea of home – not because of what she has brought to the space, but what she hasn’t. Her living area has barely any furniture at all, and that’s the way she likes it. We sip our atole while sitting on the floor. The only other place to sit is a replica coffee table and stools modelled on Richard Neutra’s architecture studio, which Connor

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Left The artist’s makeshift bedroom with 'Gilded Newspaper', a work from 2012 on the bed – the gold leaf on newspaper piece is one in an edition of 10.

Right The silkscreen printed bed linen set promotes Connor's exhibition Bare Use at 1301PE, and was printed in a limited edition of 10.

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made while at CalArts. Despite being perfectly functional it seems wrong to sit on the art work. She also did 1:1 replicas of furniture from Rudolph Schindler’s studio and sourced an Eames bookshelf.

“It was this idea of taking all this purpose-built furniture from seminal LA architects and collapsing them into my studio. But my studio at Cal Arts was jammed full of furniture, which actually made the studio unusable."

Connor has taken a much more stripped-back approach to her new home and studio. Even her bed is tucked away on its end at the back of the space, only to be hauled out at night. “I’m keeping my things down to a total minimum, trying to keep it real needs-based. I want my studio to function as a space where anything can happen. The needs of the work determines the way it is furnished and is laid out.”

The space is one room wide, leading from the frosted window at street level up two steps to a raised level with the main living area, and a basic kitchen and bathroom.

A conveniently oversized back door is large enough to fit hefty installations through and load into Fiona’s trusty Toyota ute that is parked in the gravel yard.

The airy colour scheme of grey floors and whitewashed walls was already in place when Connor moved in and suits her fine, although she gave it a good scrub to eliminate the dusty smell it had acquired after laying

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“I’m keeping my things down to a total minimum, trying to keep it real needsbased. In this studio, I want my studio to function as a space where anything can happen.”

Left Cereal boxes and flowers are artfully placed in the kitchen.

Above The jacuzzi sign is 'Object No. 7' from Bare Use. A hand-built Enzo Mari chair sits in the background surrounded by various objects. Connor's Toyota truck is pulled up in the yard.

Right Connor's reproduction of Richard Neutra's studio table and stools are set up in the yard. A stack of her handmade plates are placed on the table, along with a bunch of chrysanthemums she picked up at Trader Joe's.

vacant for some time. Living in the bare shop is quite a change for Connor, who was previously sharing a cosy American Craftsman bungalow with two friends nearby.

The address became a kind of creative flophouse, often accommodating travellers on the couch. It regularly transformed into a venue for life-drawing classes, dinner parties and book fairs and the fire pit in the back garden was an assembly point for lively discussions.

Rather than entertain in her sparse space, Connor heads back up the hill to see her friends when she is in need of company. “I want a total change of gear where this is my separate space where I can work away.”

The bungalow is still HQ for The Collective, a group of six members who met at CalArts and create work together as well as collect it. Connor has a history of collaboration, as a founding member of Auckland artistrun spaces Gambia Castle and Special. “It’s important to have a crew,” she says. “It’s good to share ideas and have a safe zone.”

Connor had a solo show to prepare as soon as she settled into her new studio. Bare Use opened the 2013 exhibition schedule at 1301PE, a gallery on Wilshire Boulevard run by ex-Aucklander Isha Welsh and his business partner Brian Butler, former director of Artspace. For her exhibition, Connor visited destination spa retreats in California and Mexico and recreated physical forms – the signposts, and the

vernacular of that world – for the gallery. “It’s interesting because there are a lot of crossovers between art and spas,” she says, referring to the exceptional experiences they both offer.

“Isn’t it insane you have to escape your life so you can come back to it more normal? [At spas] they call it ‘pattern changing’. The vocabulary bugs me out.”

Connor continues to exhibit in New Zealand. In 2012 she showed solo at Hopkinson Mossman gallery in Auckland and was a visiting artist at Dunedin Public Art Gallery. An international schedule has kept her busy since. The Collective had a show in Mexico of mural proposals based on sites in Los Angeles and Tijuana that have either sanctioned or unsanctioned murals. “Proposals are a way of doing an exhibition in a gallery that reaches past the space itself. It talks to a more public audience without dealing with the bureaucracy,” she says.

She also developed projects for New York’s Frieze Art Fair and the Istanbul Biennial last year. And when she needs a break, she doesn’t need to go to an expensive spa to get away from it all. “There is a really amazing view from Elysian Park, so one of my favourite things to do is get pizza and a beer and then go watch the sunset over Dodger Stadium.”

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Fiona Connor in her home and studio with furniture pieces that are sculptures from her exhibition Bare Use. "This is my separate space where I can work away," she says.

DESIGN NOTEBOOK Q&A with Fiona Connor

The former Aucklander – now resident in Los Angeles – on her unique artistic practice.

Tell us about Los Angeles and why, as an artist, you live there.

Because it is a city that begs you to ask yourself that question every day. And you are surrounded by others who are doing the same.

What are you currently working on?

I am working in my studio on some R&D and trying to integrate all my new year's resolutions into reality.

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What specifically are you researching and could you define your angle on research and development?

Good question. Last year I went around Los Angeles and took paint samples from all the standard-issue drinking fountains and I'm developing a colour chart with the help of Barratt and Boyes. This was a great excuse to bus around and visit parks in different parts of the city.

I am also planning for installations in Guadalajara, Melbourne, and Auckland at Hopkinson Mossman in September.

And about those new year's resolutions, what are they?

To get into the mountains or the wilderness for a week every four months and to read more fiction.

Top and above left Connor's Lobbies on Wilshire exhibition at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, showed a replica of the building's stairway leading into a window.

Above right At Various Small Fires gallery in Los Angeles, Connor constructed six caster-mounted walls with different surface textures sampled from building exteriors around Venice Beach.

Simon Denny’s meteoric rise has made him one of the art world’s mostwatched talents.

David Herkt PHOTOGRAPHY / Steffen Jagenburg TEXT /

Surveillance State

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Left Artist Simon Denny at home in Berlin. Top The front room of Denny's apartment faces Frankfurter Allee in Friedrichshain, a neighbourhood that was part of the former East Berlin. The 'MT1' table was designed by Hauke Murken and Sven Hansen. The chair is a vintage find. At left is a 1950s East German writing desk. Above The wardrobe offers a peek of an Isabel Marant jacket owned by Denny's girlfriend, Marta Fontolan.

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Simon Denny is only 31 years old and one of New Zealand’s most acutely observed contemporary artists. He will represent the country at the 2015 Venice Biennale – the youngest New Zealand artist to do so – with 'Five Eyes', a work dealing with surveillance and intelligence-sharing between Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. He has swiftly become globally successful. He won the 2012 Baloise Art Prize at Art Basel, and last year his exhibition 'The Personal Effects of Kim Dotcom' opened at Vienna’s contemporary art museum.

His work was selected for the central exhibition of the 2013 Venice Biennale – the first New Zealand artist to achieve this honour. He has exhibited in New York – and been accorded a full review in the New York Times – as well as London, Sydney, and throughout Europe.

He has a full future exhibition schedule.

Aptly, given his fascination with surveillance and technology, Denny lives in Berlin, a city with a history that includes the state-wide surveillance system set up by the East German Stasi, and the ideal metropolis of Welthauptstadt Germania (“World Capital Germania”), planned by Adolf Hitler and Albert Speer. The apartment Denny lives in with his girlfriend, Marta Fontolan, is in G-Nord block, one of the iconic projects of the

former German Democratic Republic (GDR). It is often referred to as ‘Stalinbau’, Stalinist-style buildings from a concept by architects led by Hermann Henselmann, who also designed the iconic Berlin TV tower, Fernsehturm. The building was completed in 1954 and the facade and parts of the interior were historically protected in 1990, a few months after the wall came down. It’s on Frankfurter Allee in Friedrichshain.

"It’s a beautiful boulevard with a fountain and this crazy, ceramic-tiled, neo-classical, Stalinist architecture... littered with allusion and ‘Worker’ statues and figures," says Denny. "It really is totally unique."

Denny’s studio, a short U-bahn ride from home, is in a much less spectacular building in the former West working-class district of Wedding. But it's here that his exhibitions and works are conceived and planned. He often has exhibitions running simultaneously in different countries and new exhibitions are scheduled years in advance. He is currently working on a project that describes the lively tech startup culture in Berlin.

"In many ways, the startup scene kind of demographically mirrors the art context here – many foreigners, language shared between German and English, upwardly mobile people focused on international as well as local business. I'm framing this through the

Above Denny's apartment is in a 1954 complex designed by Herman Henselmann, who also designed the iconic Berlin TV Tower. It was granted heritage protection a few months after the Berlin Wall came down. Dried flowers in a Venetian vase decorate the space.

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Top Denny, in a Techcrunch Disrupt Berlin Groupon T-shirt and North Face hoodie, lies on a woven blanket in the bedroom. Above Books sit on the mauve lino floor in the second front room of the apartment, where they are temporarily stored while awaiting shelving.

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Top Denny works on a 'Splitback Schlafsofa' by Etage 7. Above A remote control for a JVC Boomblaster sits on a windowsill in the second front room, which overlooks Frankfurter Allee.

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Top The view from the right-hand window in the front room shows the mirroring G-Sud apartment block.

The artwork by Daniel Keller at left hand wall is 'FUBU Career CAPTCHA (Providual Omniventist)', 2013.

Above The view from the kitchen window takes in Liebigstrasse.

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Top Denny leaves the historically protected apartment building, which is currently under restoration.

Above The letterbox unit for 'K端nstlerhaus' or 'Artist House' near Leopoldplatz, at Denny's studio in the neighbourhood of Wedding, in Berlin's west.

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Top Denny crosses Frankfurter Allee. Behind him are the 'Stalinbau' developments, with apartments designed by Hans Hopp from a concept led by Herman Henselmann, who also designed the Frankfurter Tor towers in the background.

The Frankfurter Tor development was a pastiche of Russian 'Seven Sisters' Stalinist architecture with allusions to local 19th-century landmarks in Berlin. The towers are partially modelled on French and German cathedrals at the Gendarmenmarkt in Mitte. Above The entrance to Denny's studio building.

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Top The interior of the Wedding studio where Denny works with his assistants.

Above Installation instructions for a Samsung LED TV lie on the floor.

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practice of computer case modifying – a sort of subculture where gamers build their own computer towers from cases and components. So there will be a kind of special case-mod for each of the top 10 Berlin startups that end up looking a bit like a cross between branded minimalist sculptures and building miniatures, as well as kind of half-finished computers."

Just as Denny’s Berlin skyline is dominated by the Fernsehturm, the 368-metre-high TV tower, television and monitor screens have been a frequent reference in his work. In 2009, at Michael Lett in Auckland, the backs of discarded TVs faced the viewer in an exhibition called 'Starting From Behind'. Images of decommissioned analogue TV broadcasting equipment from Britain’s Channel 4 were compressed and duplicated onto canvas and set in rows for his 'Analogue Broadcasting Hardware Compression' exhibition at the 2013 Venice Biennale, where they loomed like the thin facade of a digital Stonehenge.

Denny’s works situate themselves around our relationship with media technology: "I’m interested in the way information reaches us, what our interaction with the world feels like through information."

In the 'Personal Effects of Kim Dotcom' exhibition in Vienna, where the ‘assets’ seized in the controversial

raid on Dotcom’s Coatesville mansion have been duplicated, Denny has taken a legal situation from the media age and restaged it. He exhibited ‘approximations’ of 110 items on the Dotcom police seizure list, including three cubic meters of cash, a life-size Predator statue, a $60,000 Hastens mattress, and real and dummy flat-screen TVs. A “collection of copies, rip-offs and imitations of the ‘real’ contraband”, says Denny. It's a trenchant commentary on both the contemporary object and computer crime, where simulacra are ‘traded’ and ‘stolen’, as if they were ‘real’.

"I have focused more recently on the culture around the powerful bullish tech economy," he says, "but I still have a basic strategy of using the changing hardware and design from communication technology to try and analyse political and social issues."

Denny is at the forefront of art, colonising the new tech, the virtual horizon, and its effects upon us all. "For a while the internet felt a bit fantasy-like – it felt like one could kind of do anything and be anyone. But clearly with Facebook, real names and tracking of all sorts of behaviours – be that commercial or governmental – it feels like AFK (Away From Keyboard) is where one can behave more freely. That feels like a weird flip, but of course it makes so much sense at the same time."

Above Simon Denny describes his 70-square-metre studio on the first floor of a former furniture studio in Berlin's west as "pretty plain". The sign reads 'Wedding furniture studio'.

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Top An original glass door to the front room in the Frankfurter Allee apartment. Middle Various Berlin startup relics stand behind Denny at his studio.

Bottom Denny's accounting folders are neatly stored at the studio.

DESIGN NOTEBOOK Q & A with Simon Denny

The Berlin-based artist discusses work and home.

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Top An original screenprinted Michael Asher 1992 exhibition poster. The 'Tell It To My Heart: Collected

by Julie Ault' poster is from 2013. Middle Denny's assistant sorts hardware on a plywood trestle table.

Bottom Various components for the 'Disruptive Berlin' exhibition which opened at Galerie Buchholz in January include an Apple IIe computer, purchased

by Denny from Christie's auction house in their first sale of vintage Apple tech.

Top Dried flowers at the kitchen window which overlooks the rear facade of the Stalinbau. Middle Canvas stretchers freshly painted at the studio.

Bottom A lanyard for attending influential tech blog Techcrunch's 2013 Disrupt conference in Berlin.

Why did you, as a New Zealand artist, decide to live in Berlin?

I moved to Frankfurt am Main in 2007 to attend the Städeschule Art Academy.

After a couple of years, when I graduated, I had already been a regular visitor to Berlin. It’s one of the global art centres with a very lively dealer gallery scene and several major institutions.

for example: as a foreign student in Frankfurt, I basically paid no fees.

How do you find living in the city?

Berlin is a clean, safe, beautiful city with lots of parks and museums, ideally suited for cycling in the summer. It’s also relatively inexpensive compared to other major European capitals. There is still a really solid welfare system in Germany, so you don't tend to get massive gaps between rich and poor quite as dramatically as you might in other major western nations. Education is also still heavily subsidised by the government,

Tell us about your current projects.

The exhibition based on the Berlin startup ecosystem looks at young companies and events in the blossoming German tech sector. I also recently made a TEDx event with Daniel Keller at the Kunstmuseum in Liechtenstein, the first in that country. TEDxVaduz speakers spoke on topics related to luxury, finance and energy use. The backdrop was a giant tag cloud with the most commonly spoken words in all TED talks.

Will your controversial 'The Personal Effects of Kim Dotcom' exhibition travel to New Zealand?

It will open in Wellington at the Adam Art Gallery in early October, around election time, and run until February 2015.

Photography / Emily Andrews. Architect/ William Tozer.

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In Bill Shumaker's Brooklyn brownstone, a photograph from Vietnam hangs above the kitchen sink in between a basket and broom, also from Vietnam. The works above the pots are by Bill Shumaker's friend Robert Box a former punk-rock musician turned artist.

global roaming Chef, ad-man, one-time Titirangi hippie: Bill Shumaker’s rich life is reflected in the madcap collection on his Brooklyn walls.

Sam Eichblatt PHOTOGRAPHY / Emily Andrews TEXT /

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Get Bill Shumaker talking, and chances are there are few subjects that will remain untouched over the next few hours. “I’ve had several reincarnations in this body,” he chuckles at one point, before embarking on a not-so-brief potted history of Bill. Though a die-hard New Yorker, born and raised in the Bronx, over the course of his 70-odd years, Shumaker has also lived in Auckland, London, Vietnam and Northern Cyprus, and has degrees in advertising, geography and tourism.

He recalls an anecdote from his first job, in the Mad Men era of New York advertising. His boss was reminiscing about an opportunity he’d had, early in his own career, to move to Berlin. “He said he’d always wondered how his life would have turned out if he’d taken that path. And I thought, that sure as hell is not going to be me!”

So, after working as an account executive, he became a cook, firstly for the London institution Wheelers of St James, then setting up a series of restaurants­in Florida and New York before becoming an instructor at the New York Restaurant School.

Through his hospo buddies, his presence on New York’s burgeoning rock scene, and some after-hours socialising around the bar, he eventually came to

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manage the iconic Bowery venue CBGB in its punk heyday, working with acts including Patti Smith, Blondie, Talking Heads and Television. Though he says the role was never dignified with something as pedestrian as a job title, CBGB’s owner, Hilly Kristal, is his daughter’s godfather, and his guest room is still papered with flyers and posters from that era.

Oh yeah, and then there was that time in the early 1970s that Shumaker and his late wife, Ginny, ended up living in the Auckland suburb of Titirangi after catching a $50 flight on assisted passage from Los Angeles to New Zealand so he could work as an account executive for the McCann Erickson advertising agency.

The couple quickly fell in with the local art crowd.

“It was very much self-entertaining, because there wasn’t much to do,” he says, painting a somewhat nostalgic image of men with long hair, women in short skirts, and dreadful food, like the “pizza” he once saw in an out-of-town restaurant, devised using a pie crust topped with Wattie’s spaghetti. “When I first got [to Titirangi],” he remembers, “people went overboard in adopting styles – it was like an idealised hippie lifestyle.

There was a real feeling of ‘us and them’. For me, at the time, it was the perfect place to be.”

Left Art is everywhere to be found in Shumaker's home, including the ceiling, painted by Robert Box. Right When Shumaker lived in Auckland, his social circle included the likes of Dick Frizzell, Murray Grimsdale and Craig Murray-Orr. Their work, including Frizzell's 'Farm Track' (above), is dotted throughout the home, which Shumaker likens to a "gallery of friendship".

This photo A selfportrait by Murray Grimsdale dominates the study wall. To its far left is a New Yorker cover that reminds Shumaker of his late wife, Ginny. Below it is a paint brush can by Dick Frizzell. The Viking to the right was a gift from Grimsdale, and below is his photo taken by Clive Stone in 1972. '22' was painted by John Perry, and the truck cartoon is

by Malcolm Poynter.

Right Posters from Shumaker's days at the iconic New York music venue CBGB decorate the rock 'n' roll guest room. They include one of the "tour that never was" after the Sex Pistols were goaded into swearing live on air, prompting the tour to be cancelled. The Richard Lloyd poster promotes his first solo gig after Television disbanded.

Far right The door depicts a scene painted from one of Shumaker's sketches and is reminiscent of his cooking days.

Shumaker's social circle contained the artists Dick Frizzell, Murray Grimsdale – both then still working in advertising – and Craig Murray-Orr. All have remained close friends over the last four decades, and their work is dotted among the curiosities that crowd Shumaker’s Park Slope brownstone in Brooklyn, New York.

Flanked by the collection of religious figures and masks from Haiti, Sri Lanka, India, Tehran and Thailand, a wall-mounted flat-screen shows a digital exhibition of Frizzell’s work. Shumaker’s personal collection includes a number of the artist’s paintings: 'Two Matching Boxes' (1971) and 'Farm Track' (2001) – two of the few titled pieces – sit by a life-size resin gorilla that dominates the central living area.

Frizzell’s son Josh recently visited and contributed a new piece to the growing collection of drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, which also includes the door from an old Ford Mustang hanging in Shumaker's bathroom. He found it on the side of the road in 1973 and took a shine to it. Ever since, he has insisted his artistic guests reinterpret it in their own style. Josh, an advertising director, made a short film.

“It’s a gallery of friendship,” Shumaker says.

“Sometimes the whole room almost overwhelms me

– my thoughts go way beyond the work, to the person that did it.”

Grimsdale is also a regular fixture. One of his selfportraits hangs in the study (along with a Maori tiki statue), and he has worked on a series of decorative projects around the place, including the large, circular piece in the lounge made from a tabletop, and the kitchen’s cabinet doors. These hark back to Shumaker’s cooking days and were taken from sketches the artist did at a nearby restaurant, Applewood, and then painted to include likenesses of his daughters and two tiny cameo appearances by Shumaker and himself, peeking through the restaurant’s doors.

Grimsdale’s next commission is the set of doors in the lounge – one of the few empty surfaces remaining.

Even the ceilings are painted; the lounge by British artist Malcolm Poynter, and the study by former punk rock musician, now artist, Robert Box. Shumaker bought this three-storey building in 1975.

“We got lucky,” he says. “It was a very different world back then.” He is only the third owner, after several generations of “rock-solid working-class Irish” who, fortunately for him, failed to be moved by the spirit of the times to gut the house in the 1950s, as many others

HOME NEW ZEALAND / 105

Shumaker is a long-time collector of religious figures and masks from all over the world. In his New York brownstone, which retains original period details from the 1890s, they have all found a home. The ceiling has been painted

by British artist Malcolm Poynter.

Right In 1973, Shumaker found the abandoned door of a Ford Mustang on the street, which now hangs in the bathroom. He often invites his artistic guests to reinterpret the installation in their own style.

Above The circular piece in front of the fireplace was painted on a table top by Murray Grimsdale in 1972. It represents the signs of the zodiac and includes the names of Shumaker, his late wife Ginny, her son Jason, Annie Bonza and Murray Grimsdale.

Above right The flatscreen behind Shumaker in the living room exhibits Dick Frizzell's work.

did. The house has thus retained period details datin­g back to the 1890s, such as the beautiful wooden scrollwor­k in the living room, plaster moulding and a central dumbwaiter.

Like him, the neighbourhood has had several reincarnations over the course of its life, as Shumaker will tell you if you happen to take one of the tours of Park Slope he runs as a volunteer with Big Apple Greeters.

It started as a wealthy area in the late 19th century and declined over the 20th, before becoming the home

108 / HOME NEW ZEALAND

Right, below As well as printed paraphernalia from his music days, Shumaker retains an impressive vinyl collection.

Like him, the neighbourhood has had several reincarnations over the course of its life, as Shumaker will tell you if you happen to take one of the tours of Park Slope. of chi-chi bohemia that it is now, where brownstones formerly inhabited by factory workers come with multimillion dollar price tags.

“People tell me I could make a fortune selling this place now,” he says. “And I guess I could. But, seriously, why would I want to live anywhere else?”

HOME NEW ZEALAND / 109

Far left Shumaker is only the third owner of the gracious threestorey Brooklyn brownstone that he bought in 1975.

Left A resin gorilla holds court below Dick Frizzell's 'Two Matching Boxes', which Bill has hung differently over the years – together, separately and currently staggered.

Below Unlike many other brownstones of the era, the interiors of Shumaker's home were not gutted during the 50s and retain detailing from the 1890s, such as the delicate scrollwork in the living room.

DESIGN NOTEBOOK Q&A with Bill Shumaker

The New Yorker and one-time New Zealand resident on his fascinating art collection.

What is it like to live with all this art?

One of my favourite places in New York is The Frick Collection [the Frick mansion belonged to turn-of-the-century industrialist Henry Clay Frick, and was opened as a public art museum in 1935].

It’s one of those museums that is more than a museum. Being a tour guide, I get to go to these places after hours,

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and on one occasion I was left there on my own, with the art all around me. I felt like Frick. I can relate to him. Art is a part of my life.

Is there a method to the madness?

Things just evolved over time. Murray [Grimsdale], who is a very un-commercial artist, changed my concept of decoration. So it’s not only on the walls and the ceiling, but surrounding me.

You’ve grouped certain objects together?

The masks are in most cases a symbol of religion, or used for religious ceremonies. Everything in here is religious. The man carving the Buddha, for example, had been carving that same Buddha for 20 years. And is every one slightly different? Yes! He’s like a great medieval craftsperson. You watch him work and it’s like a great actor playing the same role over its thousandth time, and it still has meaning. So, none of these things are mass-produced, that’s the grouping in this room.

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After the triumphant reinstatement of his 1977 'Wind Tree' sculpture on Auckland’s waterfront, Michio Ihara reflects on life and art from his home and studio near Boston.

Gemma Gracewood PHOTOGRAPHY / Emily Andrews TEXT /

his whole hisstory 112 / HOME NEW ZEALAND

Michio Ihara in his home in Concord, Massachusetts, surrounded by maquettes of his large-scale works.

It can take a while to find the perfect home.

After nearly three decades as the most prominent artwork in downtown Auckland’s windblown Queen Elizabeth II Square, Michio Ihara’s 1977 sculpture 'Wind Tree' was taken down to make way for the Britomart redevelopment.

'Wind Tree’s' original site was never ideal. It became a resting place for QEII Square’s pigeons, a jungle gym for late night revellers, and a pain in the ear for nearby office workers when the wind really whipped through the sculpture’s hanging eaves.

Still, the artist was dismayed by its removal, and even more so that 'Wind Tree' lay bent and tarnished in an Onehunga warehouse for another decade, its future far from assured as council officials searched for a new site. It now stands gleaming in Silo Park, Auckland’s newest waterfront playground, framed by sky and sea and grass, as if it was meant to be there from the very start.

Ihara couldn’t be more pleased. “I experienced the survival of the sculpture, which is very lucky for me,” he says, in his elegant Japanese-inflected English.

“A lot of cities have much shorter tempers.”

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Ihara-san’s own search for a permanent home has taken him from Paris, where he was born in 1928 to Japanese parents – an artist father and music student mother – to Japan, where he resolved at art school to spend his life working in the architectural space, and finally to Concord, Massachusetts, a leafy, historic town in north-eastern United States where he and his family have found the ideal home and studio in a former school.

At 85, Ihara is one of the world’s foremost architectural sculptors. His intricate, large-scale commissions hang in New York City’s Rockefeller Center, in Fuji Film’s Tokyo headquarters, at Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills, in churches throughout Japan, and in hospitals, theatres, airports, performing arts centres, libraries, schools and public spaces across the United States, in South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia and, of course, New Zealand.

Yet he’s not the most notable resident of Concord.

That accolade goes to the late Louisa May Alcott and her writer friends Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry David Thoreau. Their well-preserved 18th-century houses line the roads leading to

Left The view from the street of Ihara's 1875 Gothic-style house.

This photo Maquettes in Ihara's studio. The maquette at the left with the oval base is for a 20-metre-tall kinetic piece in place at Tokyo's City Hall.

Michio Ihara in repose in a work by his son Akeo, above the desk where Michio's wife Doreen often works.

A typical day begins early, around 4am . . . by midafternoon Ihara is ready for a rest. “He works very long hours, he takes a nap, and after dinner he’s back in the studio. If he doesn’t have a project going on he gets a little grumpy.”

Above left The wall relief study was done in the 60s. Below it sits a card Ihara designed in the 50s (before he turned to sculpture), next to a reproduction Morandi painting.

Above right The stairs lead up to the studio's second floor (the former gymnasium); the part of the workshop where sculptures are fabricated. Downstairs is the design studio.

Concord’s Main Street, where antique stores and cafes perch alongside the river. A mile away, over a bridge and along a road edged with white pines, Ihara’s house – an 1875 Victorian Gothic-style Stick – sits on a large acreage fronted by a curving driveway.

Behind it is the artist’s studio, a two-storey structure that once housed the gymnasium and two classrooms of a private school (the house was its administration block). The buildings are linked by a floating staircase, which Ihara’s wife Doreen laughingly calls “Michio’s 30-second commute”.

Outside in the early summer heat, a large patch of Siberian irises bursts forth. Around the back, blackberry canes are fit to burst. There are Bachelor’s buttons in electric blue, spiderwort in magenta and purple, the Japanese snow flower, deutzia, in stunning white, and everywhere there are hosta, grown from pickings that Doreen harvested from an original patch beside the back porch.

“My garden is very much ‘more of the same’,” Doreen says. “Whatever multiplies by itself so I don’t have to go out and buy it. I just divide and spread around.” Blooms come as others go, enticing changing

HOME NEW ZEALAND / 117

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Far left The former gymnasium provided the ideal space for Ihara's sculpture studio.

The high ceiling allows the artist to assemble a large sculpture before disassembling it and crating it for shipment and installation.

Far left, bottom Ihara at work on a small sculpture in the design studio.

Among the other maquettes and studies seen around him are three cantilevered studies on the top and middle shelves that show his original design for the New Zealand piece. On the bottom shelf are two maquettes of 'Monday Plaza', commissioned for Expo 70, the World’s Fair in Osaka.

This page The view from the studio staircase into the garden where two kinetic sculptures sit surrounded by rhododendron and a redbud in bloom. The neighbouring house in the background was also part of the private school campus of which Ihara and Doreen bought one of five parcels when it relocated to a new facility.

reflections of colour from the gleaming steel of Ihara’s mid-sized sculptures, the personal artworks he has taken to making since the economy slowed the large commissions.

“This is it,” Ihara remembers thinking when he saw the property. They had been living in nearby Cambridge. Michio moved into the studio as soon as they bought it in 1981, while Doreen spent the next nine months renovating the house (he dubbed her “The Concord Ripper” for all the walls that came down).

It’s a graceful, unfussy renovation. The living room still has the original walnut-and-ash striped floorboards, though Doreen fears “they won’t survive another sanding”. The teachers’ lounge became the kitchen, with its standout black stone bench – “I wanted it to look like a laboratory,” she chuckles – and two porches are the other major additions.

One improvement that didn’t survive was a traditional Japanese bathroom, where bathers would wash before entering the large, tiled bath. “It took forever to fill the thing, took forever to heat the thing,” Doreen laughs. “And then my husband didn’t want to follow

“I really like to sit by myself and then do nothing, very quiet.

Drop the ink on the paper, that’s good enough to trigger the idea.

The white paper, the given stage, is very important. Has to be void, has to be nothing there." the Japanese system: the husband comes home from work, he goes into the bath before dinner, then the rest of the family follows. Michio keeps his own schedule.”

While he works next door, Doreen works on projects in their adult son Akeo’s former bedroom-turned-sewing room, or writing novels at her desk in the master bedroom. Above the desk is a painting by Akeo – a film industry props master – of Michio in repose. Turtle figurines dot the shelves, a collecting obsession of Michio’s. Along the upstairs hallway, photographs reveal charmingly dapper Ihara ancestors, while downstairs, walls are lined with paintings by Ihara’s brother, Otoaki, and their father. “You can see the Matisse influence,” says Doreen, pointing to a painting in its original plaster frame portraying Ihara senior’s studio in the 13th Arrondissement.

Michio and Doreen met in Boston; he was a 36-year-old research associate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), she, a 20-year-old art education student from the “Borscht Belt” area of New York (as depicted in the film Dirty Dancing).

Ihara had gone to MIT’s School of Architecture in the early 1960s on a Fulbright Scholarship to study

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under the Hungarian artist and design theorist György Kepes. Kepes’ profoundly influential 1956 publication The New Landscape in Art and Science had made a career-changing impression on the young art student when he was still at Tokyo University of Fine Arts, struggling to bond with traditional painting practice.

“Somehow the oil on canvas didn’t echo to my feeling or my blood,” he explains. “I needed some different kind of material, some different kind of space. You never know what makes things turn the corner.” So consistently has he stuck to his practice, he feels as if the span of life between that decision and the present day has been “almost one breath”.

Student and mentor became lifelong friends. In Kepes’ final years, Ihara would visit him weekly, bearing sushi. Several of Kepes’ photogram artworks grace the Ihara home. Ihara himself is now a mentor to Graham Lucks, a kinetic sculptor who has been his assistant for almost 20 years, since coming to him as a high-school student.

A typical day begins early, around 4am. “My head is clear at that time,” Ihara explains. He comes to the studio impeccably dressed. Lucks arrives mid-morning; by mid-afternoon Ihara is ready for a rest. “He is incredibly focused,” says Lucks. “He works very long hours, he takes a nap, and after dinner he’s back in the studio. If he doesn’t have a project going on he gets a little grumpy.”

Each large piece – he once made a suspended sculpture to fit an 82-metre tall hotel atrium – takes years: designing, pitching, negotiating with architects and clients, all handled with grace as long as Ihara feels he has some freedom. Then there’s the manufacturing and installation, after which he rewards himself by going gliding, feeding an obsession he’s had with airplanes since World War Two. “I owe myself two or three flights. I don’t have a license so I have to pay somebody to take me up there.”

While the gently swaying canopy of trees surrounding Ihara’s studio speaks to the steel trunks, veins and branches of his sculptures, and his Japanese heritage could be assumed to be a clear driver of his clean, modernist lines, the strongest influence on Ihara’s work is, in fact, the simplest of things: a blank piece of paper.

“I really like to sit by myself and then do nothing, very quiet. Drop the ink on the paper, that’s good enough to trigger the idea. The white paper, the given stage, is very important. Has to be void, has to be nothing there.

“The drop of ink or the touch of contact with the pencil, that’s really the beginning, maybe like human life, the conception. Your whole history is there.

“You can’t describe what you have in your body or your mind. There’s nothing. No words come with it.

I always enjoy that moment.”

Right Ihara in his design studio between shelves that hold records of past commissions.

HOME NEW ZEALAND / 121

Photography / Simon Devitt

Above Once located at Auckland's windblown Queen Elizabeth II Square, Michio Ihara's 'Wind Tree' now resides at Silo Park.

DESIGN NOTEBOOK Q&A with Michio Ihara

The world-renowned sculptor, born in Paris but based in Massachusetts, shares insights into his art.

To realise your larger artworks, do you deliberately partner with corporate clients? Well, it’s chicken and egg I guess. The spaces are provided. I have to design to a given space.

So it’s not initially that I needed an 80-feet space [24.3 metres]; an 80-feet space was given to me to whatever I can perform. I sort of trained myself how to deal with those problems.

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Your pieces lend themselves to contemplation, and as it turns out you have designed many artworks for churches, and even a crematorium. I have a friend who is very skilful in religious building, so because of him I have some chance to work in the church.

I’m not a religious person, but I like working with churches. I like the religious space: the place, and the people, and the meditation.

The viewer often expects your works to move, to be kinetic, but few are. What is your thinking behind this? I don’t have to wave my hand to get attention. The sculpture is the same way. It doesn’t need to be flashy, you know, light and movement.

I was a painter to start with, so the form or vision I have is out of my brush stroke.

It tends to be very subtle.

Below Artist Michio Ihara, whose large-scale commissions feature in arts centres, theatres and public spaces throughout the world.

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THE SOCIAL KITCHEN Architect Evelyn McNamara teams up with Fisher & Paykel to reinvent a cramped kitchen as a multifunctional social space.

TEXT / Jeremy Hansen PHOTOGRAPHY / Jeremy Toth

HOME What was this space like before you redesigned it?

EVELYN McNAMARA, ARCHITECT It was dated and cramped – you arrived at the dining table and had to walk around that to an L-shaped space with a tiny work area and small island. This left only a small window above the bench to see out to the rear deck and no direct physical link to outdoor entertaining area.

What were you asked to create with the new kitchen space? The clients requested a spacious kitchen with better flow and more workspace, with an island bench to house a Fisher & Paykel Touch Control Induction Cooktop. They enjoy entertaining so a space that functioned well with guests was important. They also needed a lot more wine storage!

What were the key moves you made to respond to this brief? The kitchen is the natural gathering point when guests arrive at your home, so I consider the appeal and entry to this space critical. I designed a clearer point of entry to the kitchen, which delivers

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Left The 120cm VentSurface Rangehood is integrated in an overhead unit that mimics the dimensions of the kitchen island, and the 90cm Touch Control Induction Cooktop was seamlessly integrated into the Caesarstone bench. The etched-glass splashback pattern is by Flox. This page The handle of the 76cm 11 Function Pyrolytic Built-In Oven was used as a reference for the drawer pulls on the island bench, while the Hettich pull handles on the ActiveSmart™ 790mm French Door Ice & Water 519L fridge were also used on the pantry door. The stainless steel fridge Surround Kit ensures the fridge fits seamlessly with the stained oak cabinetry.

a noticeable ‘wow’ factor - you can’t pass through the hallway without being confronted by this large, light-filled space. I brought light into the kitchen and dining area by flipping the layout, moving the dining area next to new bi-folding doors opening to the outdoor living area.

The other key thing was designing lots of storage to reduce visual clutter.

The storage unit mimics the spatial proportions of the main kitchen work surface. The VentSurface Rangehood is housed into a custom-designed unit mimicking the dimensions of the island bench. This denotes the “work” area of the kitchen and helps spatially define the three areas: preparation and cleaning, cooking, and dining.

What appliances did you incorporate, and how easy was it to design for them? The Fisher & Paykel appliances were incredibly easy to integrate.

The 790mm ActiveSmart™ fridge comes with a stainless-steel Surround Kit that makes it sit perfectly flush with the timber cabinetry, and we mimicked its stainless steel on the benches to keep

the material palette sleek and coherent.

The DishDrawers™ were seamlessly integrated into the stained oak cabinetry and the oven itself was used as a reference for the heights of the drawer pull recesses on the island, to ensure they all lined up. We also used the Hettich pull handles from the fridge on the pantry cupboards. The Touch Control induction cooktop was recessed into the Caesarstone top, resulting in a completely flush work and cooking surface.

What makes a successful kitchen for you? The kitchen is the hub of the home and it must cater for the full spectrum of daily life: it needs to provide a space suited to breakfast on weekdays when you’re in a hurry, weekends when you want to relax at the island bench with an iPad or the paper, and also weeknight dinners and weekend entertaining. When you have guests over to be entertained you need somewhere they can congregate and talk informally over a few drinks and nibbles before you sit down more formally for a meal. I think we covered all those bases in this space.

Fisher & Paykel fisherpaykel.com

B:01

BATHROOMS

PAST PRESENTS A renovated bath­ room embraces a 1920s mood.

How did you choose how to renovate your bathroom? JONATHAN RUTHERFURDBEST, OWNER Our [Auckland] apartment building (see p.19)was built in 1926, so this 1920s approach felt appropriate. I’ve always liked bathrooms of the 1920s – they’re generous and luxurious, with long baths and showers that are completely separate. They’re always beautifully tiled.

It was such an elegant time in design – quite practical and not fussy. It was all about the detail in that period.

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DARK MATTER

How did you choose the materials?

We wanted to pay homage to the era with a black and white feel and the tiling. I’ve always liked the look of tiles with marble – and the 1920s was notable for its beautiful tiling – so we chose plain white butcher's tiles for the upper walls, white honeycomb tiles for the floor and grey marble for the bath plinth and the lower parts of the walls. We also chose the sinks and accessories so they fitted with the 1920s theme, while still trying to keep a modern feel.

The space gets plenty of light and is a pleasure to use.

A moody, intimate bathroom in a home

by Pattersons.

What made you choose a dark material palette for this bathroom area? DAVOR POPADICH, PATTERSONS We wanted the space to feel intimate.

Bathing being such a personal and intimate activity we wanted to scale the space down by using darker tiles and soft, filtered light.

Basins Twin sinks from Early Settler, earlysettler. co.nz. Floor tiles White honeycomb tiles from Artedomus, artedomus.co.nz. Bath plinth and wall tiles Grey marble tiles from European Stone & Ceramic, euroceramics.co.nz. Wall tiles White tiles from Heritage Tiles, tiles.co.nz. Tapware from Mico Bathrooms, micobathrooms.co.nz. Lighting Wall-mounted llght from ECC, ecc.co.nz. Mirror Extendable mirror from Devon & Devon, devondevon.com

How did you manage lighting in the space, both natural and artificial?

We love natural daylight and in this case we wanted to filter it as much as possible to create a more intimate feel.

For night-time bathing, we have specified dimmable uplights behind the bath to soften the light and minimise glare while in the bath. Artificial lighting is functional, aesthetically matches other lighting elements in the house and is fully dimmable.

126 / HOME NEW ZEALAND

Tapware Boffi from Elemento, elemento. co.nz. Bath Boffi from Elemento, elemento. co.nz. Vanity Boffi from Elemento, elemento. co.nz. Lighting Viabizzuno lighting from ECC, ecc.co.nz. Tiles 'Rak' floor and wall tiles from Heritage Tiles, tiles.co.nz. Mirror customdesigned by Pattersons, pattersons.com

Photography / Simon Devitt

Photography / Jackie Meiring

What do you think makes an ideal bathroom? It’s a balance between intimacy and utility. Bathrooms are on one hand very intimate spaces yet on the other require a great deal of utility and practicality to function well.

HOME NEW ZEALAND / 127

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ROOM WITH A VIEW A bathroom renovation by Jeremy Smith offers a garden outlook

This is a renovation of your own bathroom – how did you decide what to keep and what to change?

JEREMY SMITH, ISJ ARCHITECTS It was a case of first resolving how to fit a separate shower, WC, and bathrooms into a compact 1960s house. Cantilevering the floor out to the eave (past the bulkhead), gained the extra 600mm needed to house the re-surfaced bath. The opening allows the bathroom to be informed by the garden, and applied softened finishes to make the space slow and relaxing.

How did you decide on the look and feel of the cabinetry? The dark carbonated timber plays second to the existing rimu floor and joinery throughout the house. The angled front and edge detailing reference the original bedroom cabinetry, while reducing the scale in much the same way that the offset tile pattern identifies and acknowledges that this is a little space within a little house.

Flooring Original 1961 rimu flooring, resanded and finished with natural wax. Wall tiles ‘Blanco Antilia’ 100 x 100mm tiles from Artedomus, artedomus.co.nz. Basin ‘Memento’ by Villeroy & Boch from Mico Bathrooms, micobathrooms.co.nz.

Lighting Second-hand pressed black metal and opaque shades. Cabinetry Carbonated ash unit designed by Jeremy Smith, fabricated by Waimea West Joinery, Nelson. Paint Walls and ceiling in ‘Ecru White’ by Karen Walker for Resene Paints, resene.co.nz

128 / HOME NEW ZEALAND

Photography / Patrick Reynolds

How did you address privacy with the door to the garden? It opens to a private garden. We elongated the glazing to extend the garden into the busy part of the bathroom. The bath relaxes into a softer corner yet still views the garden.

B:04

MATERIAL THINKING Architect Michael O’Sullivan brings material richness to a simple space.

What were the functional requirements for this space? MICHAEL O’SULLIVAN To enable a young family to use the bathroom at the same time without falling over each other. And, specifically, a shelf to put your leg up on and shave in the shower.

How did you choose the materials, and what made you confident they’d work together? The bath was always intended to be part of the garden, in that the marble chosen was meant to imply one was bathing in the forest.

You’ve previously done bathrooms that are all one stone on the walls, tub and floor – what made you take a different approach here? I was particularly taken with Frank Lloyd Wright’s cork-tiled shower and bathrooms of the famous Fallingwater house. I was hoping to filter some of this rich material thinking through into this space.

Bath Designed by Michael O’Sullivan (Bull O'Sullivan Architecture, bosarchitecture.co.nz) with Italian ‘Forest Green’ marble. Bath and shower tapware ‘Kiri’ by Methven, methven.com/nz. Handbasin tapware ‘Belaire’ by Methven, methven.com/nz. Floor tiles Graphite herringbone tiles from Artedomus, artedomus.co.nz. Wall tiles White ceramic tiles from Artedomus, artedomus.co.nz. Handbasin Purchased second-hand off TradeMe Pendant light 'E27' socket lamp by Mattias Ståhlbom from Douglas + Bec, douglasandbec.co.nz

Photography / Simon Devitt

What do you like most about this space now it’s complete? You can open the French doors while in the bath and take in the landscape and northern sky. The old handbasin is also a treat on the Kauri walls.w

HOME NEW ZEALAND / 129

Photography / Mark Smith

B:05

WINNING FORMULA Stevens Lawson Architects' design for the Home of the Year 2013.

This space is in the Home of the Year 2013. How does its relate to the home overall? GARY LAWSON, STEVENS LAWSON ARCHITECTS The concept for the house was one of organic, shell-like forms connected by a fluid open-plan space.

The bathroom is an intimate space within one of the shells.

How did you select the materials?

The hexagonal terracotta floor tiles have an earthy quality, and the bandsawn cedar walls bring the outside cladding in. The off-white mosaics create a calm feel in the wet areas – they reflect the light and can be moulded around curves.

Why have the bathroom space open to the bedroom? The big sliding door enables the bathroom to be either totally open or closed off. The connected

130 / HOME NEW ZEALAND

bathroom makes it feel like a holiday retreat, where one person in the bath can chat to the other on the bed.

What makes you lavish attention on these small spaces? We try to dramatise daily life and like to create delight where you may not expect it. Bathing can be relaxing and rejuvenating. We all need more of that.

Bath Bette 'Starlet' (with custom surround) from Metrix, metrix.co.nz. Tapware ‘Minimalist’ by Methven, methven.com/nz. Handbasins Duravit 'Vero' from Metrix Tiles Winckelman 'Hexagonal Red' (on floor) and 'Straight Gloss White', both from Heritage Tiles, tiles.co.nz Lighting Recessed fluoros from Concept Lighting, conceptlighting.co.nz, and 'Galla' downlights from Halcyon, halcyonlights.co.nz, with 'Le Soleil' pendant Vincente Garcia Jimenez for Foscarini from Matisse, matisse.co.nz

Photography / Jackie Meiring

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POWDER PLAY A small powder room packs a stylish punch.

Sink From Mico Bathrooms, micobathrooms.co.nz. Tapware From Mico Bathrooms, micobathrooms.co.nz. Tiles Wall tiles from Heritage Tiles, tiles.co.nz.

Glass shelf From Devon & Devon, devondevon.com. Mirror From Devon & Devon, devon-devon.com. Artwork Photograph

by Derek Henderson from Melanie Roger Gallery, melanierogergallery.com

What were the key decorative moves you made in this small space? JONATHAN RUTHERFURD-BEST, OWNER It’s very small – it really is a powder room. We wanted to evoke a sense of 1920s luxury throughout the entire apartment (see p.19), and this powder room has all the hallmarks of the period.

There’s a beautiful hexagonal mirror that is mounted above a delicate glass shelf and a sink and taps that feel like they’re from the 1920s. And the artwork

by Derek Henderson hangs there beautifully, too. ANDREW GLENN, OWNER We were deeply obsessive about some of the details, and almost drove the builder to despair. The sink took me a week to find and wasn’t in stock so we had to order it. But the end result is that the powder room feels like an integral part of the apartment.

Resene colours, from left to right: Resene Glamour Puss, Resene Bittersweet, Resene St Kilda, Resene Half Kumutoto and Resene Ayers Rock. Call 0800 RESENE (737 363) for your nearest Resene ColorShop, or visit resene.co.nz Below, from left: Workshop stool, $250 from Object Support, museumworkshop. co.nz; ‘Tio’ table by Mass Productions, $1549 from Simon James Design, simonjamesdesign.com; Bertoia ‘Side’ chair by Harry Bertoia for Knoll, from $2798 from Bromhead Design, bromheaddesign. com; 1950s planter by Willy Guhl, from $450 The Vitrine, inthevitrine.com.

132 / HOME NEW ZEALAND

HOME Nice

room! How’d you choose the colours?

I was inspired by the idea of using accent colours in unexpected and unique ways. We can all get a bit conservative with colour – so creating this room set was a good way of breaking out of that rut and trying something new. I enjoyed pushing past the usual habit of just choosing one or two paint colours, and found these combinations had a summery energy that I really enjoyed.

AMELIA HOLMES, STYLIST

How have you accessorised the room and complemented the colour palette?

The colours are so bold I didn’t think the furniture needed to compete. So I chose strong shapes in white, black or timber that are still legible against this exuberant background.

Who said only your walls could be colourful? Take our lead and bring floors, walls and ceilings to life with Resene The Range fashion colours. Trends for 2014 reference historical hues in brilliant yellows, pumpkin oranges and tomato reds. Paired with pretty pastels for balance, these rich accents give you the most coveted colour trends for 2014. Resene The Range fashion colours come complete with complementary colour suggestions.

ADVERTISING PROMOTION / HOME + RESENE

Resene colour challenge With a floor to ceiling canvas, Resene shows you home is where the art is. / Amelia Holmes PHOTOGRAPHY / Toaki Okano STYLING

Resene Ayers Rock

Resene Bittersweet

Resene Glamour Puss

Resene Half Kumutoto

Resene St Kilda

Resene Half Baltic Sea

HOME NEW ZEALAND / 133

1 YE 6 issuesAR $50 SAVE 2 4%

2 YE RS 12 issueA s $90 SAVE 31%

NZ TALENT AT HOME AND ABROAD Simon Denny in Berlin Jessica McCormack in London Fiona Connor in Los Angeles PLUS Christchurch’s artistic reinvention Exciting new eateries in Wellington and Dunedin Beautiful bathroom guide

Subscribe to HOME.

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Photography / Paul McCredie

Subscribe securely online at www.magshop.co.nz/home/M402HAE Phone 0800 MAGSHOP (0800 624 746) and quote M402HAE FREE DELIVERY TO YOUR HOME

NEVER PAY COVER PRICE AGAIN

This offer is valid for delivery in New Zealand before 6 April 2014 to subscribers by phone or online at www.magshop.co.nz/home/M402HAE. This subscription offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. Once processed, all subscriptions are non-refundable. Rates include GST and postage. Please allow 6 weeks for delivery of your first magazine. For overseas subscription rates and full terms and conditions refer to www.magshop.co.nz.

2014 HOME OF THE YEAR LECTURE

Amanda Levete The Stirling Prize-winning architect on her innovative approach to architecture and design.

A rendering of the new gallery designed by Amanda Levete Architects for London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. The competitionwinning design also includes a new entry for the museum.

It will be the largest new space for art in London since the construction of the Tate Modern.

London-based architect Amanda Levete is visiting New Zealand for the first time as the international member of our Home of the Year 2014 jury. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear this world-renowned designer discuss her remarkable work.

AUCKLAND Monday March 10, 6.30pm

Fisher & Paykel Auditorium, Owen G. Glenn Building, University of Auckland, 12 Grafton Road.

CHRISTCHURCH Wednesday March 12, 6pm DL Lecture Theatre (entrance from D Block Quad), CPIT, Madras Street.

$20

(students and subscribers $15) Book online at: eventopia.co/amandalevete Amanda Levete was a partner with the late Jan Kaplicky in the influential firm Future Systems for 20 years, designing buildings including the Media Centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground and the Selfridges department store in Birmingham. Working as Amanda Levete Architects since 2009, she has designed projects including a new gallery and entry courtyard for London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, a waterfront cultural centre in Portugal, and a high-rise hotel and shopping centre in Bangkok. She also designs furniture and writes regularly about architecture and urbanism.

For information, please contact Fiona Williams at HOME, 09 308 2739 or fwilliams@bauermedia.co.nz

+ PRESENT

style safari 2014

A day of design store tours and expert briefings guided by HOME editor Jeremy Hansen FRIDAY MAY 16

$75 Thanks to ASB Private Banking

HOME’s Style Safari is an exclusive day-long set of briefings on the latest design trends and releases from the April Milan Furniture Fair, guided by HOME editor Jeremy Hansen. The day commences at 9am and includes five design briefings at Auckland’s most important design stores, finishing around 5pm.

Lunch is included. Numbers on the Style Safari are limited to 50, so reserve your tickets now.

OUR GUEST SPEAKERS

Valeria Carbonaro-Laws

Alan Bertenshaw

Michelle Backhouse

Sam Haughton IMO

ECC LIGHTING + FURNITURE

The co-founder of Studio Italia reports on the new releases from the Milan Furniture Fair.

Matisse’s co-founder reveals the newest designs from Matisse’s suite of luxury brands.

The co-owner of Backhouse Interiors on new products from Kartell and other prestige brands.

The New Zealand design firm on their design process, new showroom, and foray into kitchens.

Fresh back from Milan with a host of new purchases, the ECC head reports on new design developments.

Photography / Toaki Okano Styling / Sarah Conder and Juliette Wanty

STUDIO ITALIA

MATISSE

BACKHOUSE INTERIORS

HOW TO BOOK Book your tickets online at eventopia.co/homestylesafari Each ticket costs $75 and includes lunch and our all-day Style Safari experience. For information, contact Jessica Allan, 09 308 7441 or jallan@bauermedia.co.nz

Mike Thorburn

ADVERTISING PROMOTION

Hastings City Art Gallery Discover Hawke's Bay's creative capital at the region's hub of contemporary art. Fine local content stands alongside high-quality exhibitions featuring national and international art in the three gallery spaces.

The varied exhibition programme is supported by a range of engaging public events.

Located in the Civic Square of Hastings, next to the library.

Open 7 days with free entry.

Phone 06 8715095 www.hastingscityartgallery.co.nz

Artiteq

Across a three decade career, Australian based Joanna Braithwaite has given shape to an ever-growing population of uncanny creatures. In ‘Home Truths’ she portrays the history of New Zealand from the perspective of our much loved animal icons.

Artiteq is a low cost, high profile, high quality flexible picture hanging system. It provides a professional way to display art and other decorative items in a home or public area.

Using Artiteq will give you total freedom and flexibility to move your hangings around without having to worry about holes in the wall or damaging your pieces of art.

JOANNA BRAITHWAITE Home Truths 15th March – 9th April 2014

Whether it concerns hanging a valuable work of art in a gallery, a children's drawing, advertising material for your office or showroom or a precious photograph Artiteq will have a hanging solution for you!

Milford Galleries Dunedin 18 Dowling Street Dunedin 9016 (03) 477 7727 www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

Brick Bay Sculpture Trail A remarkable outdoor gallery experience showcasing contemporary sculpture by New Zealand’s leading artists, overlooking the celebrated Brick Bay Vineyard. Carefully selected by a curatorial panel, all work is for sale.

Experience art and wine entwined at Brick Bay. Open daily 10am – 5pm, last trail entry 4pm Arabella Lane, Snells Beach, Warkworth 0920 P:hone 09 425 4690 sculpture@brickbay.co.nz www.brickbaysculpture.co.nz www.brickbay.co.nz

Bryce Gallery The home of great art in Christchurch.

An eclectic range of artworks from emerging, established and investment artists, with an emphasis on Canterbury artists. We pack & ship to any destination.

Image - Be together, Oils on canvas by Min Kim. (880 x 990mm Incl frame) Open: 7 days from 10am (Sun from 11am) Corner Riccarton Rd and Paeroa St, Christchurch.

Phone 03 348 0064 www.brycegallery.co.nz art2die4@brycegallery.co.nz

Mardeco International Ld. Phone 0800 820 840 info@artiteq.co.nz www.artiteq.co.nz

Hoglund Art Glass Art glass by Ola and Marie Höglund is totally unique. Each Graal piece is a singular work of art, engraved with its individual title and code, numbered and signed by the artists, and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. Any Graal piece from this fine collection is a true collector’s treasure. www.hoglundartglass.com

Matt Payne exhibition at Parnell Gallery Matt Payne is a gifted young artist whose work is quickly gaining prominence on the NZ art scene. Landscape features strongly in Matt’s oeuvre, and he is particularly inspired by a love of the coast. His paintings demonstrate precise representations of particular moments in time evoking the mystery of the natural world. The translucency of a wave, dappled sand revealed briefly below as it breaks; the delicate foam lacing the water left behind as it rolls into shore; or the glassy sheen of tranquil water in the early morning, are all captured with meticulous quality and sharply focused detail.

Matt Payne Exhibition, Parnell Gallery, 18 – 31 March www.parnellgallery.co.nz

Art Gallery Showcase

To advertise here contact Kim Chapman, phone: (07) 578 3646, mobile: 021 673 133, email: classifieds@xtra.co.nz

Milford Galleries

To advertise here contact Kim Chapman, phone: (07) 578 3646, mobile: 021 673 133, email: classifieds@xtra.co.nz

ADVERTISING PROMOTION

In Residence

Heirloom International

Perrin & Rowe bath taps take the beautiful to the sublime. In this understated bathroom design white brick-bond tiles set off the Perrin & Rowe bath filler to make it a statement in its own right. The iconic porcelain indices on the tap heads give a classical look which complements the traditional bath.

The Loft toilet suite is the latest 2014 release from Heirloom. A stylish smooth looking toilet to deliver a touch of class for a modern bathroom. The Loft wall faced toilet features a soft close seat with stainless steel hinges and economical WELS 4 star water efficiency

Original designs and engineering excellence are the hallmark of Perrin & Rowe tapware which is still manufactured in England to time-honoured standards.

The Loft collection of bathroom accessories captures the elegance of the trend seeking clean smooth linear lines. The high quality Loft collection has a wide range of items and details can be found at www.heirloom.co.nz

8 George St, Parnell, Auckland.

Ph: (09) 309 3023 www.inres.co.nz

3 Analie Place, East Tamaki, Auckland Ph: (09) 274 4443 www.heirloom.co.nz

Mobile Ceramics NZ Ltd

Plumb'In

Mobile Ceramics is an established company that has been avidly selling tiles for more than 18 years. MC Tiles imports from around the globe, and their collection of wall and floor tiles is found in many tile shops throughout New Zealand, including their Auckland-based showrooms in Howick and Albany.

Our new Camden rectangular freestanding bath is now instore.

Passion is the key word to describe their sales consultants’ dedication to colour and design and their love of beautiful tiles, a contagious zeal that makes choosing the right tile for your project a breeze.

Visit their Albany showroom at the Tawa Trade Centre or their newly renovated showroom in Howick, to view their beautiful collection.

This versatile and stylish bath makes a beautiful centre piece or can sit flush with your bathroom wall.

Ph: 0800 002 005 Email: sales@mobileceramics.co.nz www.mobileceramics.co.nz

Email: info@plumbin.co.nz Freephone: 0800 44 9993 View online at: www.plumbin.co.nz/shop/baths

Bathroom Showcase

SOURCE – General

www.threaddesign.co.nz

co.nz

274 Richmond Rd, Grey Lynn, Auckland

t he i mport e r furniture

and

homewares

MT WELLINGTON | HAMILTON TAURANGA | MT MAUNGANUI

www.theimporter.co.nz

info@locarno.co.nz www.locarno.co.nz

We work within YOUR budget Full interior design service, including supply and installation.

www.carmendesign.co.nz

027 4331 984

To advertise here contact Kim Chapman, phone: (07) 578 3646, mobile: 021 673 133, email: classifieds@xtra.co.nz

0800 LOCARNO or (09) 525 2525

SOURCE – General

T 09 524 9663 339 remuera road, remuera

www.designquarter.co.nz

To advertise here contact Kim Chapman, phone: (07) 578 3646, mobile: 021 673 133, email: classifieds@xtra.co.nz

SOURCE - General / Sustainable living

Straw Bale Homes s 3UPERB 26 )NSULATION s 3UPERB IN %ARTHQUAKES

Macrocarpa (Cypress) supplies 4HE .ATURALLY $URABLE 4IMBER

s 3UPERB $ESIGN ,IVING

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s 7EATHERBOARD s 3ARKING 4' 6 s &LOORING s "EAMS s &RAMING s $ECKING s *OINERY s 0ERGOLAS s +ITSET #ABINS s 2AISED GARDEN BEDS s #OMPOST BINS s /UTDOOR TABLES s "ENCHSEATS

s -ASTER "UILD 7ARRANTY

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Choose sustainability. Choose Macrocarpa.

Cell: 027 289 3478 Est 1996

macdirect.co.nz / sales@macdirect.co.nz / Ph (09) 236 3727

THE PERFECT BALANCE OF FORM & FUNCTION The Astivita range of bathroomware combines design excellence with quality components to achieve the perfect balance of form and function. Developed exclusively for Plumbing World, it combines design excellence with quality components to achieve the perfect balance of form and function, reecting today’s focus on relaxation and comfort in the home.

Pick-up the new Astivita Catalogue at your local Plumbing World today.

exclusive to Branches Nationwide Freephone 0800 800 686

Plumbing World is part of the NZPM Cooperative

To advertise here contact Kim Chapman, phone: (07) 578 3646, mobile: 021 673 133, email: classifieds@xtra.co.nz

www.plumbingworld.co.nz

SOURCE – General

Flutter Chair

by Flutter Design

Phone 07 856 5430 Mobile 027 474 8501 www.habberleys.co.nz

NZ Made quality, style & comfort...

www.flutterdesign.co.nz

To advertise here contact Kim Chapman, phone: (07) 578 3646, mobile: 021 673 133, email: classifieds@xtra.co.nz

Interior Designer 09 445 1098 www.designworxnz.co.nz

• Kitchen • Bathroom Design • Soft Furnishings • Colour Schemes

With more than 15 years of building experience and an established reputation with an excellent team of qualified subcontractors, Bungalow & Villa Renovation Specialists have the expert knowledge to turn your building dream into reality.

Studio and Showroom 64 Vauxhall Rd Devonport

Phone (09) 629 0366/ 021 270 1388

www.bungalowvilla.co.nz

steelbydesign custom made steel furniture

Manufacturers of Custom made steel • Furniture • Abstract art • Home interiors • Commercial fit-outs

Importers and distributors of genuine vitreous enamel industrial lighting www.boudi.co.nz Ph (06) 878 0166

info@steelbydesign.co.nz www.steelbydesign.co.nz Phone (09) 421-0352

WINNER 2013 CREATIVE EXCELLENCE AWARD FOR THE MOST INNOVATIVE KITCHEN Visit our display kitchen at: PO Box 28-700, Remuera Phone (09) 813 6192 www.croninkitchens.co.nz

155 The Strand, Parnell.

MY FAVOURITE BUILDING Auckland architect Lynda Simmons admires the artistry of Auckland’s rejuvenated Tepid Baths.

“Not many swimming pools are designed for the experience and view from the water, rather than the view towards the pool itself, but the Tepid Baths in Auckland is one of them. Looking across the sunlit water surface towards the repetitive ‘boxes of shadow’ of the changing-room cabanas at the edges is one of my favourite spatial moments. The combination of an illuminated surface of water edged by shadowy niches was first shown to me by one of my great lecturers, Dr J Dickson, and it has been a spatial device I have often sought out since.

“The Teps have a long history in my family – my grandfather washed in the coin-operated bath cubicles when he was young, as his home had no bathroom, and I have been swimming here since my university days in the early 1980s. The building has become part of the fabric of the city and has been a regular part of my life.

“I have been witness to near-demolitions and two renovations. In the most recent one, Jasmax has done an excellent job in continuing The Teps’ spatial character. The shadowy niches have been amended in design, but the rhythm of the cubicles is retained and a lovely shadow-line has been created under the seat to the edge of the pool.”

PHOTOGRAPHY

/ Simon Wilson

Your new kitchen companion Taste magazine is now online!

• Delicious recipes • How-to advice from the experts • Prizes to win • Plus updates on people and places of interest to lovers of all things edible.

See it all for yourself at taste.co.nz

TOP RIGHT: kMix Kitchen Machine in Bold Blue supplied

by Taste.co.nz sponsor Kenwood

A DELICIOUS W AY O F L I F E

SUPPLY 6038H

An Italian-made kitchen adaptable to any space, the Matrix collection creates an enchanting environment to cook and entertain in. Available exclusively from Studio Italia.

Auckland + 64 9 523 2105 96E Carlton Gore Rd, Newmarket

www.studioitalia.co.nz info@studioitalia.co.nz