Once you’re eyes are shut, you might be less concerned with the design on your pillow than what’s inside it. Novadown pillows are manufactured with a 100% cotton cambric cover with a 350 thread count and filled with premium sanitised goose and duck down. The down and feather content brings lasting freshness, hygiene and comfort.

Two Urbanism readers can win a white duck down pillow valued at $89 by simply emailing urbanism@agm.co.nz with Novadown in the subject line and your address.

>> Find out more about comfy pillows…

It’s all the benefits of window shopping without some nosey assistant asking if you’d like some help, or the intimidation factor of walking into a tomb-quiet ‘real’ gallery. The See Here ‘micro gallery’ will be housed in the window of Candywhistle Design Studio, 12 Constable Street, Newtown and will exhibit contemporary New Zealand jewellery. The collection of jewellers have been brought together by artist and jeweller Sunni Gibson, who’s work is pictured here. Without that sales assistant, you’ll need to visit theseehere.com to find out more and to buy these stunning, unique pieces.

>> theseehere.com

Contemporary jewellery is also making a mark in Auckland with the New Zealand Jewellery Show on at SkyCity Auckland between 1 – 4 July. The main exhibition floor presents the work of designers of contemporary and fine jewellery from across the country. The designers, each with their own display cabinets, are there to meet the public and sell their work. You will also be able to see three curated exhibitions of contemporary jewellery, giving you an invaluable overview of our jewellery design scene. (At right, a Kristen D’Agostino brooch, a  finalist in the 2010 Regal Casting Jewellery Awards for contemporary jewellery.)

>> Visit jewelleryshow.co.nz for ticket details

American photographer Taryn Simon brings images of the hidden and the unfamiliar to Christchurch Art Gallery next month. An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar represents one artist’s four-year journey to capture the fault lines underlying US society. Inspired by rumours of weapons of mass destruction and secret sites in Iraq, Simon turned her large-format 4×5 camera on secret sites in her own country, photographing hidden places and subjects within America’s borders.

>> Christchurch Art Gallery

AGM Publishing (parent company of such fine magazine titles as Urbis, Houses, Architecture New Zealand and ProDesign) recently launched an online product finding tool called Selector. That great tool now has an accompaniment, the Selector Blog. Visit the blog for the latest news, events and stories from the worlds of furniture, design, architecture and building. (Pictured: Wingchair available from Corporate Culture.)

>> Selector Blog

If you’ve picked up the latest issue of Urbis, you may have noticed that editor Nicole Stock was stuck in Europe due to that darn Icelandic volcano spewing ash and smoke halfway across Europe. These days, apparently, people are too scared to visit Iceland through fear that the Norse god of fire and destruction might rain down some punishment uponst them, hence this crisis management experiment initiated by Inspired by Iceland – a series of videos to, well, get you inspired by the land of fire and ice (actually, forget I said fire)… and make you want to visit, volcanoes or no.

Click on the very excited girl in the cream woollen jumper to witness some truly crazy dancing, Icelandic styley.

>> Inspired by Iceland

Urbis Issue 56 on sale now! Inside, you’ll find great photos of all the recent Urbis Designday installations, including the spectacular Paper Sky collaboration between Poggenpohl and Oh.No.Sumo that graces the cover. There’s also a comprehensive report on the novelties, innovations and trends from the Milan Furniture Fair and editor Nicole Stock’s City Profile on this great Italian design locale. From furniture to fashion, we look at the latest events, shapes and ideas in the local and international design scene.

Subscribe now to Urbis and go into the draw to win $5000 of designer furniture from Coastal Design.
Visit www.urbismagazine.com/subscribe.

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