‘Back to normal’ is a phrase I’ve been trying not to use for the past couple of months. For all intents and purposes, most elements of my life resemble what came before the pandemic, but the ‘normal’ of this busyness as usual hadn’t been serving me or anyone else very well. People and the planet are suffering as we try to keep pace with modern life, so I’ve been assessing which aspects of mine I actually want to return to, and which I could change.
For me and my family, what will remain a calming constant and antidote to the hustle of the working week is the ritual of weekends spent at home, leaning into the JOMO — the joy of missing out. Conversely, it’s been a treat for the homestyle team to leave our respective abodes to reconnect at the office this issue and get back on the road meeting homeowners around the country — from Ripiro Beach in Northland, to Waiheke Island in the Hauraki Gulf, to Lyttelton on Banks Peninsula. It’s been such a positive example of the value of sharing stories of what home means to us as New Zealanders. As well as these local spots, this issue we take you to Toronto, to the home of expat Kiwi artist/stylist/queen of good taste Anna Church to find out about her recent renovation and what inspired her new collection of sculptography. Yes, it’s a thing, and you can find out more in the feature story.
Loads of suggestions get tossed around in our office on other ways we can share our insider understanding of interiors with you. We’ve created imagery and stories for local brands, hosted workshops, conceptualised interiors for urban developments and then some, and as independent publishers, we always have business ideas brewing. With Covid-19 changing the media landscape, we decided to bring to life one we’ve been mulling over for ages, so while producing our two latest issues, we’ve also been designing the first range for homestyle Editions — a platform that offers a selection of objects for your home.
For our launch collection, we worked with a local manufacturer on a selection of timber pieces; what started with a stool grew to include plinths, tables and lamps. To see them, and find out more head to homestyle-editions.co.nz.
We got so much satisfaction from crafting this collection, and from putting together these pages for you to pick up, so I want to share my gratitude for you, our readers who continue to support us as a small business. We hope you enjoy reading Issue 97 as much as we enjoyed making it.
Alice Lines, Editor
@Alice.lines
