Nat Cheshire talks about the design of the beautiful 'Parison' pendant

We've just made this short web film featuring Nat Cheshire and Emily Priest of Cheshire Architects talking about the design of the gorgeous 'Parison' pendant for Resident, the winner of our furniture and lighting Design Awards 2014. In it, they talk about the design process, the joys of being a designer in New Zealand, and Cheshire Architects' ambitions to "redesign entire cities" and "build whole worlds".  

A big thank you to our Design Awards sponsors, Fisher & Paykel, for their support of great New Zealand design. And congratulations again to Nat and the Cheshire Architects team!

Tickets are on sale now for our inaugural Kitchen Design Day with Blum

We're delighted to invite you to our inaugural Kitchen Design Day, which we're holding in conjunction with our friends at Blum, the specialists in top-quality kitchen hardware.

Modelled on our successful Style Safaris, our Kitchen Design Day is an all-day event that incorporates showroom visits, the latest news in kitchen appliances, new trends from Europe, and information-rich design briefings from expert kitchen designers (including international kitchen design award-winner Morgan Cronin, one of whose designs is shown in the image below).

Tickets for the day are $75 (the price includes transport between destinations and food and drinks), and numbers are limited to 50. The event is being held in Auckland and is hosted by HOME editor Jeremy Hansen. It'll be a perfect day full of inspiration for anyone planning a new kitchen, so book your tickets now at the link here.

Presenting NZ's best new furniture in our annual Design Awards (with our new partners Fisher & Paykel).

Every year we're delighted to showcase New Zealand's best new furniture and lighting in our annual Design Awards - and this year, we're delighted to present the finalists and winner to you in conjunction with our new Design Awards partners, Fisher & Paykel. 

First, meet the designers in our competition (who you can also see in this issue of the magazine). They are (from left) Nat Cheshire of Cheshire Architects; Nathan Goldsworthy of Goldsworthy; Tim Webber of Tim Webber Design; Simon James of Resident; Nigel Groom and Emma Fox-Derwin of Well-Groomed Fox; and Timothy John of Timothy John Design. They were photographed by Toaki Okano at Auckland's White Studios on May 7.

And now to the objects in our competition. The winner of the 2014 Design Awards is Cheshire Architects for the 'Parison' pendant for Resident (below), an elegant mix of the hand-made and the digital (it's made when a bubble of layered molten glass is mouth-blown into a computer-cut mould of water-soaked cherrywood). The pendant has already debuted at the Milan furniture fair as part of the Resident collection, and we're delighted to feature it here. 

And here are our other finalists, in no particular order: first, the 'Pi' table (below) by Paris-based designer Roderick Fry, an ingeniously simple trestle leg system that flat-packs for shipping but holds a range of table tops with perfect stability. 

Nathan Goldsworthy's beautiful 'Ballet' chairs and 'Ballerina' tables (below) were produced as part of a collaboration with Backhouse Interiors and Designworks. The chairs and table are crafted from laminated ash, and the chairs are upholstered in wool. 

Emma Fox-Derwin and Nigel Groom of Wellington's Well-Groomed Fox created the handsome 'Notch' pendant lights (below), which have a raw, matte depth thanks to their colour being part of the ceramic rather than a glaze applied later.

Designer Timothy John created the 'Handmade' range (below) - which includes the 'Bowler' light, 'Splay' table and 'Nordic' chair - for Paper Plane, the design store he co-owns in Mount Maunganui. All the designs are hand-crafted by Nigel Cotterill. The chair and light are made from solid American ash, and the table is available in ash or laminate versions.

Auckland-based Tim Webber created the 'Duffle' ottoman, a sturdy piece of furniture that references the classic bag. It's upholstered in wool with a simple rope drawstring. 

Last but certainly not least is Simon James' 'Pick Up Sticks' chair for Resident, with a solid oak frame and detachable, wool-upholstered component, allowing retailers to stock the frames and the wool seats to be made to order. 

A huge thank you from us to all the designers who entered, and congratulations to the team at Cheshire Architects and the other finalists. We're also delighted at the support Fisher & Paykel are giving to New Zealand design by supporting our awards programme. 

Our shoot was photographed by Toaki Okano, and styled by Kendyl Middelbeek and Samantha Totty. You can read more details about the entrants in our special winter issue of the magazine.
 

New Zealand at the Venice Architecture Biennale

The Venice Architecture Biennale begins later this week, and includes New Zealand's first-ever exhibition at this prestigious event (an initiative led by the New Zealand Institute of Architects). In our February issue, we spoke to David Mitchell of Mitchell and Stout Architects, the creative director of the New Zealand exhibition, about what they're planning for the show.

David Mitchell (centre) with the other creators of New Zealand's first-ever exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale. From left, back row: Mike Austin, Claire Natusch, Sara Lee Chia-lin, Julian Mitchell, Frances Cooper, Rick Pearson and Ginny Pedlow. Front row, from left: Julie Stout, David Mitchell and Rau Hoskins. Photograph by Jane Ussher.

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.

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 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. 

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. 

The Venice Architecture Biennale runs June 7 to November 23http://venice.nzia.co.nz/ You can read more about the New Zealand exhibition and see video of David Mitchell presenting the exhibition concept at this link.

Our new issue has winter goodness aplenty

Our winter issue is on newsstands RIGHT NOW and we're quite excited about all that it contains. First, here's the cover: a photograph by Simon Devitt of an amazing small home by Pattersons on the northern end of Banks Peninsula. Beautiful!

Here's a photograph by Simon Devitt of the home itself (below) in its spectacular setting:

Also in this issue, we visit a couple of remarkable New Zealand expats. Music manager Debbi Gibbs lives in Manhattan, but spends weekends on the New Jersey lakeside in this prefabricated home by Resolution: 4 Architecture (the home was mostly built in a factory and trucked to the site in four pieces). The photograph below, featuring Debbi and her son Blake, is by Emily Andrews.

Emily Andrews also visited London for this issue, where she photographed the flat of Christchurch-born interior designer Christopher Hall (below) who divides his time between the English capital and his homes in Istanbul (where he also designs furniture, including all the pieces in this photo) and Riyadh, where has has some major interior design commissions under way. He's a fascinating and very successful designer, and we're delighted to feature him in this issue.

Also in this issue! A delightful home (below) by Michael O'Sullivan (who also designed our 2011 Home of the Year on Kare Kare Beach) on Waiheke Island - it's warm, woody and economical, and well worth a closer look. The photo is by Simon Devitt.

And in Christchurch, we visit a vintage delight, a wonderful 1968 home (below) by Warren & Mahoney that is now owned (and adored) by Matthew Arnold of the design firm Sons & Co and his wife Kate. It was photographed by Samuel Hartnett. 

And let's not forget that this is our annual Design Awards issue, featuring the work of New Zealand's best furniture designers (brought to you this year by our new awards partner, Fisher & Paykel). Here's a group shot of them by Toaki Okano (below), and you can check out their fantastic work in the mag.

Our Design Awards finalists are (from left): Nat Cheshire of Cheshire Architects, Nathan Goldsworthy, Tim Webber, Simon James, Nigel Groom and Emma Fox-Derwin of Wellington's Well-Groomed Fox, and Timothy John. Look out for more of their designs in the magazine and in a subsequent post. In the meantime, enjoy our new issue!