COLOUR GETS PERSONAL….

Sir Winston Churchill once said: “I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colours. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns. “ While I can’t say I completely agree, as I like brown, who would have thought that colour meant so much to such a busy man?

We are blessed in New Zealand to be surrounded by lush greens, vivid blues, soft teals, and mysterious greys. Colour provides an important emotional backdrop to our daily lives. It creates a sense of comfort and belonging, refreshes our senses, and reflects our individuality. The colour you surround yourself with matters to you, it defines you and captures the essence of your imagination.

Go for a walk…

Wander through your house and imagine the feeling you want to create. You may want the kitchen and dining room to be vibrant and stimulating for conversation. Be courageous when selecting hues and maybe even ‘clash’ colours. In other spaces, like bedrooms and living rooms, encourage tranquillity and rest.

Use your gut instinct with colour, let your personality shine through.

Which doesn’t mean you have to rush out to buy paint and furiously start painting feature walls. Start small, introducing accents of colour to your scheme which won’t need huge financial outlay or time commitment. Cushions and throws are perfect for enlivening a tired space, delivering both comfort and colour. Mix and match, curate you own cluster of cushions to be enjoyed both visually and practically. Collect objects: smaller pieces to inject colour and personality. Experiment with tones in little groups of functional pieces, before you commit to larger scale changes. Once you have settled upon the nature of each space, take your time to carefully select rugs and key furniture to enhance that sense.

The impact of colour on our emotional wellbeing and psyche is dramatically evident in Rio de Janeiro, where Dutch artists Dre Urhahn and Jeroen Koolhaas transformed a community overrun with violence, gangs, and drug dealing. They invited residents to assist in painting a rainbow-like mural over 34 buildings of a shanty-town that clings to the hills. Together they turned it into a living, breathing canvas. The effects are already being felt with flourishing neighbourly interaction and a shift in perception of the neighbourhood.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, in Milan at Il Salone in 2010, the global stage for design, there was more colour than ever in this uber-styled setting. Press reported it as a reaction to the Global Financial Crisis and the desire to uplift and stimulate surroundings. Colour is hope!

Whatever the motivation, whatever the application, take a little of Churchill’s wisdom into your life and revive your inner colour soul. I dare you!

Changes to come...

So, the thing about blogging is you need to actually blog. It is not about not wanting to communicate - we do that on a daily level with our supplier and our customers. It is simply the balancing act of daily life and commitments to the commercial and private lives we all have. Any suggestions?

Anyway, we have had a great start to the year. We are making changes, and though they may seem small to some, they are laying the ground work for huge changes to come in the next few months. Can't wait to tell everyone about, but all in good time.

In the meantime, we have great new pieces by our fabulous glass blowers, Katie Brown and Justin Culina, and the most stunning piece, Matakiki, by fused glass artist TeRongo Kirkwood. We have just seen the first prototype of a new range of furniture we are soon to launch - very exciting - and are working on our first pieces designed by our in-house designer Christopher Metcalfe.
We have been through a pretty interesting last 12-18 months, very daunting and extremely hard. So it is good to see that, having come through that, we actually have a clear path forward and have certainly not lost the passion for what we do. We love New Zealand design, and the journey we are on to find out what that actually is. We have also started working with designer Dan Friedlander, who moved to New Zealand from San Francisco about 4 years ago and shuttles between the two homes. It is exciting to work with a person who is normally on the retail end of top international brands, such as Ligne Roset, B&B Italia and Venini, to name just a few. We have also taken time to really look into our offering: what do we have, what can we improve on and in what time frame. The attention to detail is extremely satisfying, I am loving it.

So, all will be revealed in weeks to come. Watch this space.

We have beautiful new pieces by John Penman, Garry Nash, Lynden Over and Katie Brown in colours ranging from aqua/teal to rich red, and ranging in prices from $149 - $895. We also have a new delivery of Jo Luping bowls and jewellery - the stunning blossoms and moths designs. I love these, they are so delicate and with a strong message of preservation of our surrounding environment. Small treasures that make you think....

This time is always perplexing for me before Christmas. We wait, as retailers, for this busy time. We take great delight in being able to have happy customers by offering a match of piece/gift with price point. We understand that while desire of the larger and technically complex pieces are desirable, we really try and be sympathetic to having something special, no matter what the price is. We hope that comes across....

Katie Brown Exhibition

Last week we opened an exhibition featuring Katie Brown's handblown glass: "A Study of Pattern". In this exhibition, Katie has displayed her talent along with her artistic eye, her ability to tease this hot, fluid medium into the most stunning of delicate objects. Katie has used Italian techniques to show delicate lines, forming swirls and almost spiderweb like pattern on contrasting colours, such as black. red, dark blue, green and also white on clear - one of the most beautiful pieces....

The pictures speak for themselves.....the glass balls haning in the window glow and shimmer, working when the light is on or off, actually, which sounds a foregone conclusion but was actually a surprise to me.

Katie and I looked at some old images of her work from a few years ago, and in her usual, understated style said: gee, I have come a long way, ah!

Thank you, Katie, for providing us with such beautiful, stunning work to show off.

La Place Restaurant, Rotterdam, Holland

The first Taniko Installation in Europe can now be seen at La Place Restaurant in Rotterdam, Holland. Dutch Design Distribution, essenze's European representation, have a relationship with the chain of restaurants. The restaurants brief was to install hot, trendy product using natural materials with a definite eco/sustainable look and set of values. This installation came from Milan, where David Trubridge exhibited in Superstudio Pui in April this year. The Taniko Collection was developed by one of David's French design interns, so has now gone full circle back to Europe.

We look forward to the next restaurants in the pipeline, and congratulations to our team in Holland.

East Cape Magic

David Trubridge and I always joke about his walks on a beach, that they clear his mind, and cause a lot of work for me as a result of his mind clearing!

My equivalent of that is the escape that my family and I have when we go to the East Cape. This is a special place: spiritual, removed, slow paced, refined, wild, stunning and gentle. I absolutely love it.....On our last trip there we were travelling (slowly) to a local fishing competition to mix with the locals and listen to some stories. We were driving past an old building and my eye caught a spec of colour and design that captured my attention. 'Stop' I said to Stuart, a frequent occurrence, generally to take a photo. We parked and I pushed Stuart through to door to see if we could take a peak at what appeared to be a workshop. A smell of Totara filled the air, and we were suddenly in this totally mesmerizing environment of a local artist. He is a carver, making all the local work for his Iwi, and some commissions. His passion is painting, and as such, the walls are covered with stories of his life and his impressions of the modern world, in particular the religion that influences him. I was absolutely flabbergasted, and started plotting. A few days later we returned and bought one of the many disks that hung from the ceiling. I asked him whether he would be interested doing more, to which he said "yep - just send me the cardboard and the paint and I'll whip them up"...my intention was to take them to New York for ICFF this year, but we delayed our appearance until 2010 for obvious reasons.

In the meantime, our piece of cardboard hangs in the living room, reminding us to stay true to our passion we have for the East Cape and Eastern Bay of Plenty, and the mana we feel from being taken into the local community.

I will let all know when we have them in our gallery in Parnell, and finally take them to New York - can't wait for that!