I have been on a lovely hiatus from work – just long enough to miss it and to be curious about what has changed.
Nine months is a blink in the design world so its kinda like I never left. My style has never been all that motivated by the moment but I always love to see what is on offer, especially in fabric and lighting so I have tucked into the Auckland design scene and am getting an eyeful.
Fabric Foder
Textiles and I have a long-standing love affair. It is my go-to always and forever to finish a space. Fabric is simply more agile than larger, higher priced elements of design so tends to lead and embrace trends – colour sitting at the very top of that list.
Lately, I am crushing on midnight blue – think deep ink. It was all oddly inspired by my need to find stools for the kitchen island (or bench as they are called in NZ). I landed on a formed plastic, Danish designed, bucket seat with oak legs in keeping with some of the more modern elements I have been folding in with my more traditional casegoods.* The colour options for the stool were grey (I love grey but am getting over it as an all-over-everywhere colour), white, gold (think high end mustard, not Frenchs), orange (a coral/mandarin twist that could interpret as fluorescent) and a deep, sophisticated blue. I could have gone tried and true with white – that match-all, risk free, pedestrian non-colour that I am equally over – but the blue against the white? YUM. It is so elegant. Can’t wait to see these in Toronto against what will probably be a white island and some striking Lindsey Adelman statement lighting.
Dam, those Italians!
I have never really embraced Italian furniture design – I have always found it sterile and way too slick. But I am seeing a very different side in Auckland and mi piace (translation: I like it). Tonon seems to combine what is clean and good about Italian design with that Danish, mid-century warmth that when served in perfect balance, softens the entire look. I am particularly taken with their chairs. Gushing.
* Here is the thing with larger casegoods like armoires and dining tables – impossibly expensive to swap out entirely but I am learning take some risks in what you pair them with and the results are shockingly good. Pics to come once my house is ready for its close-up.