HOME covers the best New Zealand architecture, design and interiors. It features inspirational, ingenious and just plain breathtaking homes from all over the country – as well as new restaurants, exciting art and the latest furniture releases.
IT'S EIGHT DEGREES outside as I write this — one of those beautiful, clear winter days that's invigorating. The sea is glassy, and there's a refreshing crispness to the air. It's the first day we've had like this after weeks of menacing-looking clouds rolling in day after day. What really stood out as we put this issue together is the way homes feel — not on days like today, but on the grey ones; mornings when fog lingers or the rain persists. Visiting homes in winter allows us to experience not just the good days but those when home really is a respite, and it's on these days in the depths of winter that great architecture really sings. There's a certain kind of magic in walking into a home that…
Light play Light art experience Darklight by Angus Muir Design returns to Auckland this September with a bold new chapter, Darklight: The Edge of Light. Set against the sweeping backdrop of Okahu Bay, the exhibition will run from 2 to 4 September. Inspired by the in-between moments where day turns to night, land meets sea, and the natural world blends with the built environment, The Edge of Light invites audiences into a richly atmospheric experience. The line-up includes some of Aotearoa's most inventive artists, including Angus Muir, Catherine Ellis, Matt Liggins, Simon Holden, Peter Hobbs, Luke Foley-Martin, and Sarah Jayne Kavali, each bringing their own perspective to the concept of transition — light shifts, space evolves and sound deepens from stillness to resonance. “This is where light becomes emotion and…
BORN IN NEW ZEALAND and now based between Brooklyn, New York, and Porirua, designer Richard Clarkson's practice occupies a space between art, science, and technology. His eponymous studio, established in 2014, is best known for its genredefying lighting pieces — sculptural works that channel meteorology, astrophysics, and emotion into objects that feel part magic, part machine. At the heart of the studio's practice is the flagship Clouds collection — an interactive light and speaker system that mimics the look and behaviour of a thundercloud. The studio has since expanded the concept into an entire family of products. The latest is the Cloudlet Mobile, a kinetic sculpture designed for smaller spaces. Suspended in a delicate, orbit-like configuration, the miniature cloud forms gently rotate. Elsewhere, the studio's work explores other atmospheric phenomena.…
ODDTHING'S PRODUCTS OFTEN answer questions we didn't quite know we were asking. Take the Display Book Stand, for example, a wing-like wedge of aluminium that treats a book like a functional sculpture; or the Simple Soap Bottle Shelf, a slimline bracket that elegantly suspends bottles rather than shelving them. Then there's The Long Light, which is modular by design and fits over kitchen islands of any size. “My design process often starts with an interaction, something noticed in everyday use, or a passing comment. Sometimes, it's spotting a chance to improve a space or exploring a manufacturing technique to form an object in a unique way. From there, I refine those ideas into simple, functional products that can be made in low volumes here in Auckland, New Zealand,” Henry explains.…
THERE'S A STRETCH of Richmond Road where the city feels briefly suspended — leafy, sunstruck, with the background hum of Grey Lynn's cafés and garden-hemmed villas. It's here, at number 453, that Indice Studio has found its place — a gallery-like space dedicated to furniture and objects that lean toward the lyrical. At its core is Driade — the Italian brand known for its theatrical, boundary-blurring designs — now returning to a bricks and mortar store in New Zealand through the lens of Indice Studio's founders, Hannah Skinner and Sarah Handy. The two met in the mid-90s and quickly discovered a shared affinity for Driade's idiosyncratic forms. For Hannah, it was born from her time spent in Milan working with the brand, then later representing it through her family's business.…
SET WITHIN THE Plumbline showroom in Newmarket, the brief called for a kitchen that felt distinctly residential, luxurious, and inspiring. It needed to stand apart from the more conventional showroom context, both in materiality and mood, and offer a sense of softness not typically associated with display spaces. “Because the floor was exposed aggregate, we wanted to reference that gently,” explains designer Kelly Gammie of Rarebirds Interiors. The first decision was the stone: Catarina, a honed quartzite from CDK Stone. “The slab we selected had a beautiful mix of colours and veining — soft terracotta, greys, and subtle blue undertones — which allowed us to anchor the rest of the palette. The cool grey also paired really well with the aggregate floor.” To draw out the warm terracotta tones, pillshaped…
