Design on tour
A day of essential design briefings with HOME takes in trends for the year ahead.
Each May, a select group joins HOME editor Simon Farrell-Green on a tour of some of Auckland’s best design retailers, taking in new trends in furniture, lighting and design for the year ahead. It’s a packed day of informative briefings – a must for anyone interested in design – and includes a welcome stop for lunch and a well-deserved glass or two along the way.
This year, we started at Backhouse Interiors, where Gary and Michelle Backhouse and senior designer John Dinsdale introduced us to their discoveries from the Milan Furniture Fair. They also revealed a range of new colours for the 50th anniversary of the brand’s iconic modular system ‘Componibilli’ by Anna Castelli Ferrieri.
From there, it was coffee at IMO, where Sam Haughton and Hannah Brodie upated us on their wildly successful – and very practical – ‘KXN’ kitchen system, which continues to be refined and updated. After lunch at Ebisu, we headed to Artisan Collective for a fascinating chat with director Greg McLeod, Simon Longton from Melbourne’s Prestige Carpets and Mickey MacDonald, of Pamu Farms, who farms wool that’s made into some of the world’s most luxurious carpet.
Next up, it was a short trip to the ECC showroom, where Debbie Quy talked about some of their finds at the Milan Furniture Fair – navy, maroon, blush, metals and organic shapes are the look of things to come. (We followed up with a glass of prosecco.)
Our last stop was Studio Italia, where Valeria Carbonaro-Laws regaled us with tales from Milan where, surrounded by fresh ideas and creativity, she says she can’t help but feel “a bit overcome when I walk into the Salone”. Valeria also introduced us to the latest from Flexform, Poliform and Knoll, where caramel leather and classic marble were on display.
It was a terrific day: keep an eye out for our Christchurch Style Safari in September.