Hi-Top Fancy
New Zealand-designed, hand-made sneakers are ToBe the next big thing.
Sneaker fanatics, here’s one for you. Though, actually, anyone who needs to slip something on their feet may soon be coveting this object of desire. The ToBe sneaker, designed in Wellington and crafted from Whanganui leather, launches in New Zealand mid-April. The ToBe abandons colour, overt branding or other gimmicky devices to focus on form, comfort and materials. The hand-made shoe is designed for anyone to wear, male and female, although the first production run is focused on male sizes.
There are few shoe designers in...
Journey Woman
Pippa Blake, widow of Sir Peter Blake, was recently in Auckland to exhibit her work at the Louis Vuitton store, timed to coincide with the Louis Vuitton Trophy Series. Nicole Stock met with both Pippa and Mark Browne from Louis Vuitton to discuss the exhibition Pippa Blake: Journey.
Trish Clark has curated the Journey exhibition at Auckland’s Louis Vuitton store, using pieces from a series of works painted over the past five years.
Though most well-known in this part of the world as the wife of sailor Sir Peter Blake, since his tragic and untimely death, Blake...
Pole Position
Architectural designers glamuzina paterson convert a factory into a Batchelor pad, complete with fireman’s pole.
The first thing you notice is the fireman’s pole. There is no way around it – it isn’t every house that has one. Not even every superhero lair has one. Though in some ways, that’s what this apartment is: a hidden, secure, fantasy hideaway that every boy of any age can relate to.
The brief was simple: owner Nigel Shanks wanted to turn an empty warehouse portion of his commercial building into an apartment that was...
The Reveal
It’s tempting to read a modern-day urban saga between the lines of Andrew Maynard’s Vader House renovation in central Melbourne’s suburb of Fitzroy.
Originally commissioned by a professional couple, the brief – to make substantial alternations to a two-storey brick terraced house – evolved dramatically as it progressed to embrace a series of extra features, requiring Maynard to rethink and rework the plans several times.
The focus of the project became the central courtyard and entertaining area that now occupies the former back yard, as well as the addition of...