homestyle's blog

There's beauty in imperfection - that's the message in photographer Emma Bass's latest exhibition. A spray of pohutukawa flowers; plate-size magnolias; sweet yellow kowhai - at first glance they look flawless. But look closer and you'll discover each one is damaged or overblown, shot in the Japanese spirit of wabi-sabi - the beauty of the imperfect. 'I wanted to challenge our concept of what is beautiful," say Emma. Her exhibition opens next Thursday 4th of May and runs until May 20th at the Black Asterisk Gallery, 10 Ponsonby Rd, Auckland.

This issue we look at four styles of garden, country vs. city, coastal vs. alpine.

Whatever part of the country you live in, there are tips in here to suit your garden and the types of plants that will grow best!

Country gardens flourish in their rural environment, enjoying organic, whimsical and traditional styles covering large areas that in some gardens span for more than a hectare.

If you live in the country, you have the luxury of making separate outdoor rooms for different seasons, for outdoor living, ornamentals, vegetables and formal displays. Link them by paths studded with focal points.

Try planting... lavender, rhododendrons, camellias, fruit trees (apple or peach trees), roses, hostas.

We've always been fans of the sweet treats at Little and Friday, as their minature cakes, tarts and donuts exceed all expectations when it comes to an afternoon pick-me-up.

Photography courtesy of Little & Friday

So to celebate Mother's Day we put together a super special subscription offer where you can be in to win one of 200 copies of Penguin's new Treats from Little and Friday cookbook!

We're loving the look of all the delicious cakes and cafe style treats Kim shares in the book and below we have included her recipe for Banana Cakes.

Banana Cakes from 'Treats from LIttle and Friday' by Kim Evans

Makes 12 small cakes or one 23cm double-layer cake

This is our interpretation of the Edmonds Cookbook Banana Cake. We make it as a double-layer cake sandwiched together with gooey caramel and mascarpone.

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
125g unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup caster sugar
2 eggs
3 cups mashed banana
1 tsp baking soda
4 tbsp hot milk
1 cup walnuts

To assemble
½ cup Caramel (see below)
¼ cup mascarpone
1 recipe Cream Cheese Icing
chopped walnuts or banana chips, to decorate

Method
1 Preheat oven to 160ºC. Grease two 6-hole Texas muffin trays or two 23cm cake tins and line the bottom and sides with baking paper cut to fit exactly.

2 Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.
3 Using an electric mixer, beat the butter on a low speed until light and creamy.
4 Slowly add sugar and continue to beat on low speed until light in colour and fluffy.
5 Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, and making sure to incorporate each egg before adding the next. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. With the mixer on low speed add the banana.
6 Dissolve baking soda in hot milk.
7 Fold flour mixture and milk into the banana mixture in three equal measures. Lastly, fold in walnuts.
8 Divide mixture evenly between prepared cake tins and bake for 20–25 minutes for small cakes or 45 minutes for large cakes, or until the tops spring back when touched lightly and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle.
9 Let cakes cool completely in tins before turning out.
10 If making small cakes, carefully cut them in half horizontally. To assemble the cakes, spread Caramel over bottom layer, then spread a thin layer of mascarpone over the top. Place second cake layer on top. Spread with a thick layer of Cream Cheese Icing. Drizzle with extra Caramel and decorate with walnuts or banana chips.

Kitchen Notes: Place in an airtight container and store in a cool place (not the refrigerator) for up to three days. The banana flavour gets better with age at room temperature.

Caramel
Makes 3 cups

2 cups caster sugar
600ml cream

1 Place sugar in a small saucepan and just cover with water to achieve a wet sand consistency.

2 Bring to the boil but do not stir. Using a wet pastry brush, clean down sides of saucepan to remove any stray sugar crystals.

3 Continue to boil until the sugar turns amber. At this point, quickly remove from heat.

4 In a small saucepan, heat cream to boiling point. Gradually add this to caramelised sugar, stirring constantly to achieve a smooth consistency. This may take a while but it will eventually combine.

Kitchen notes:

Timing is paramount with caramel. Both the cream and the sugar need to be really hot when they are combined.

Cream Cheese Icing
Makes 3 1/2 cups

125g unsalted butter, softened and cubed
500g cream cheese, cubed
1 cup icing sugar, sifted

1 Thoroughly cream butter in an electric mixer on high speed, continuously scraping down sides of bowl.

2 Soften cream cheese by squeezing through your fingers and add to butter. Continue beating on high until there are no lumps, scraping down sides of bowl frequently.

3 Turn mixer to slow speed and add sifted icing sugar. When icing sugar is fully integrated, turn up speed and beat until mixture is smooth. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Extracted from Treats from Little and Friday. Published by Penguin Books NZ. RRP$44.99

Congratulations to those that had there letters published in issue 47, our April/May issue on sale this week -  these amazing hand-made Waka dishes from borrowed earth are heading your way! .If you love these designs as much as we do, check out www.borrowedearth.co.nz to see all the other amazing ceramics available. And if you have not yet seen the new issue yet, make sure you grab one from your local supermarket or bookstore. Oh, and keep the letters coming!

Trilogy Co-Founder Catherine de Groot was in the UK for a product launch.  While catching a plane to Ireland, she was touched by a newspaper story about an inspirational young woman, Lucy Buck, and the charity she was launching, Child’s i Foundation - which runs projects caring for abandoned babies and vulnerable mothers in Uganda and places children in loving homes.

The story prompted Catherine to contact Lucy and she became a supporter of the foundation on a personal level.
 
When Trilogy decided to launch a charity project to mark 10 years in business, the team wanted to support a children’s charity and one which could be promoted and supported internationally. Several charities were nominated and, after a series of discussions, Child’s i was chosen.

Trilogy Helping Hand Wash is a gorgeous, limited edition product created specially for this campaign. And all profits from the sale of Helping Hand Wash throughout 2012 will be donated to Child’s i Foundation.

Not only will you be supporting a great cause, the luxurious creamy texture of Tilogy's handwash will leave hands feeling deliciously soft and clean. Click here for Trilogy stockists

In our current Oct/Nov issue of the magazine we talked to product designer,  Catherine David about her designs and what New Zealand Made and sustainable design means to her. Check out the extended version of the interview below.

What was your first product to hit the market?
My first product to hit the market were a range of hand printed, cotton, black and white cushions with black piping. I had been coveting some Timney Fowler fabric from the UK, which was horrendously expensive so I thought I could commission a screen printer to do a New Zealand version of this. I then spent many hours in the library choosing the images and cutting and pasting them together to be photocopied for the film work for the screen printer.
    After commissioning the printing of the fabric with my chosen designs - mainly from old wood block drawings of fish, butterflies and astrological images - and having the cushions sewn up, the first shop to buy them was ASKEW. I was very proud. After the cushions came slippers, bedlinen, pyjamas and sleeping bags! Years later, I am still told that people still use my bedlinen and what good quality it is and why am I still not doing it.

How do your designs come about?
The concept develops in both function and form, and then the image develops in my head. After discussion with manufacturers and investigation into materials and suppliers I then work with all the contributing elements until the actual product emerges. It is very much a team thing.

What process do you go through to create each product?
I have in mind what it is I intend to create. I then get on the phone and ring around different factories talking to people and visiting relevant manufacturers. Usually I meet up with them and discuss my idea. In the early days I would quite often come across people who just weren't interested in someone trying to develop and manufacture a product here in New Zealand - this has changed over the years!
    The product is always very clear in my head, even though I studied architecture I find I am better at describing and discussion, than solely focusing on sketching and doing working drawings.

What inspires you to create the designs that you do?
My inspiration comes from everything around me. It can be the colour of the grass on the way to Coromandel or the deep blue sky in summer. It can be an old book or a leaf skeleton lying in the bush - I could go on and on.
    The most important aspect to design is that there needs to be an element of relevance. Design relevance, to me, means the design of the object has to communicate to the consumer on a subconscious level. Good design is a global language.

Do you believe that consumers are searching for sustainable items?
Definitely. Consumers are educating themselves more and more when it comes to choosing the material of the product they are buying, and are making considered decisions as to the eventual disposal of the product.
    My design philosophy, from the advent of my business, has been product purpose rather than creating something which will exist solely for decorative means. If utility and function are key reasons for something, there will most certainly be the element of sustainability. Another issue of sustainability is the capacity to endure. So the use of quality materials for longevity is important.
    We had one of our customers who had had a Splash-Out! shower curtain (a subsidiary of Catherine David Designs - designing and manufacturing shower and bath curtains) for seventeen years return to replace it. They were fully intending to purchase, believe it or not, the same design - which was by this time out of print, so they were encouraged to buy another design, which they did.
    
What does NZ Made mean to you?
NZ Made to me means a product should have design integrity and be manufactured here. The product needs to be a considered item that has been manufactured thoughtfully and is not only reflecting the well-recognised ingenuity of the people but also reflecting and respecting the qualities of the land.
    Elements of ‘kiwiana’ are often physically applied to a product creating something that is to be read literally as a New Zealand made product eg: silver ferns and kiwis. This is disrespectful to the NZ consumer who is largely well read and traveled and is looking for a product that reflects our country and people. By basically only communicating with consumers on a superficial level, products which have no meaning are being mass produced and eventually mass disposed of. New Zealand made is simply quality design and production.

What's next for Catherine David Designs?
As new materials are developed new opportunities and their applications evolve; it is a balance between this and recognising and honouring the artisan skills of people in our local workshops and  applying their skills to new products. It's getting harder to find screen printers, metal spinners and welders  - the more labour intensive the process is the harder it is becoming to find someone committed to using and training and passing the skill on. Still using these skills and applying them to new materials and technology is an active form of sustainability.

You produce a broad range of homeware items, what is next?
I never know exactly what is around the corner product wise but I will continue developing my range and expanding the range of materials used.  Also having recently completed a degree in art curation who knows what else is around the corner?

Visit Catherine here to find out more about her work, and to shop online.

LEFT Urban pendant lightshades, RIGHT Auckland coat rack and Kiss light.

From punching out the eyelets in her shower curtains to folding them for packaging, handmade processes are at the core of Catherine's designs.

There's something about Lego that appeals to the child in all of us, but this Architecture Lego series also appeals to the architect in all of us. What a great addition to a desk in your home office!

We're loving the Farnsworth and Fallingwater houses below, which is your favourite?

In this issue of homestyle we look at the organic gardens for health and beauty products company Weleda. 

The organic property is kept pristine at all times, and in keeping with Weleda’s strict organic principles, no spray is ever used, with natural remedies preferred for everything.We chat with Weleda gardener Warren Pearce about the organic garden.

Do you have any favourite plants?
It’s hard to choose, as after working with the plants here for so long they all leave an impression on you. I’m particularly interested in stinging nettle, because I like the strength of it and the symmetry of the plant. Weeds won’t touch it, and it’s very useful in our compost preparation.

What are your main crops at Weleda?
Echinacea purpurea, calendula flowers, lavender, primula flowers and oats for medicine.

Is organic gardening more challenging?
I’ve never used chemicals so I can’t say! For me, it’s a question of whether or not I’d use chemicals, not about the additional work involved. There is certainly more time required to complete physical work, such as hand weeding and hoeing though, and our approach to care management of our soil is more intensive to ensure we preserve it.

What does it mean to be biodynamic?
It basically relates to preparations that are one step above organic gardening – it’s the closest thing to nature. For instance, our biodynamic gardening approach helps in the breakdown of compost, to ensure there is no imbalance of fungi or bacteria.

For more on this garden see this issue on sale now!

This year’s eagerly anticipated Starship-fundraiser tea towel by 14 year-old cancer survivor Ruby Seeto is now available, featuring a very Kiwi homemade hokey pokey ice cream recipe.
Ruby has once again teamed up with linen retailer Wallace Cotton to produce and sell the $10.00 tea towels, with $6.00 (which is all the proceeds after costs) from each sale going to Starship.
Says Ruby, “I hope you buy my new tea towel because all the money goes to the sick kids at Starship.” “My favourite thing about my new tea towel is the yummy recipe and the bright colours!”
Ruby had major surgery in October 2006 to remove a 1.6kg tumour from her liver and spent 12 months at Starship Hospital undergoing intensive chemotherapy treatment. For the last four years, Ruby has designed tea towels for Starship raising more than $100,000 for the national children’s hospital in that time. Ruby is now fully recovered and is in Year 10 at school. You can keep up with what Ruby is up to on her new website here. 

The tea towels are sold through Wallace Cotton stores or click here to purchase online. This is a great cause to get behind, and who doesn't love a well designed tea towel!

If you're as excited about colour in interiors as we are then you're going to love our August/September issue which is on sale this week. Not only have we pulled together a selection of ideas for decorating with colour, but we bring you some colourful homes as well.

For our cover feature this issue we were lucky enough to visit the home of self confessed 'colourholic' and super talented interior designer Alex Fulton. She has recently updated her families home with a lick of paint, reupholstered furniture and the addition of pieces to her ongoing collection of quirky homewares and artworks.

Below is a sneak peek inside her family's home. And Alex's blog will quickly become your go-to source for interior tips and witty quips. Click here to read.

And pick up the lastest issue to find more inspiring ideas from Alex's home as well as 11 other homes from around the country.

Photography Lisa Gane