THE GREAT CRAFT COMEBACK
Classic crafts are updated for the 21st century and transform this rural Waikato home into a happy, colourful place
Narelle Huggins’ Waikato home is filled with craft, but not as your grandma knew it. This architect turned artist puts a contemporary spin on classic, old-school hobbies, and her home is rich in arts, crafts and collectables. There are cushions made from checked blankets, knitted cacti and 21st century rag dolls. Narelle’s a believer in “slow design”. The hours that go into making by hand means you’d be hardpressed to recover the cost of your time, she says. “But it will be tactile, beautiful and long-lasting.”
And more sustainable: “If you make something, or buy something that someone else has made, you are far less likely to discard it,” she says.
The backdrop for Narelle’s creativity is the family’s 1970s home on the outskirts of Cambridge, bought three years ago when Narelle, husband Grant and children Elena, 14, Luke, 12, and Harry, five, relocated to New Zealand from Victoria, Australia and found a sunny, spacious house with windows framing peaceful rural scenes. The couple have not altered their home, but Narelle’s handcrafted work and her finely honed op-shopping skills have created a personality-packed interior.
Narelle believes “ordinary” homes can be made unique by what you put into them – without spending pots of money. Her mother was a seamstress and her grandmother an accomplished knitter so nimble fingers run in the family, but other skills are self-taught. >
‘It’s not matchy-matchy. I like to put things together that complement each other, mixing fabrics and vintage and contemporary furnishings’
“I learned screenprinting by watching YouTube tutorials. Many of my prints are inspired by mid-century designs.”
Random second-hand chairs are grouped around a Tasmanian oak table in the living room and a TV cabinet is turned into a seat with a velvet squab. “It’s not matchy-matchy. I like to put things together that complement each other, mixing fabrics and vintage and contemporary furnishings. Each piece has a story.”
Narelle also paints (in bold acrylics) and before moving to Cambridge owned a gallery in the small Victorian town of Ouyen. It was the precursor to The Good Home Project, her latest venture with friend Rachel Chamberlain. The pair met through their children’s school. When Narelle visited Rachel’s home, she admired her art and collectables and said, “I like everything that’s here.”
Their shared desire to use traditional crafts in contemporary ways led them to set up in business. They specialise in handmade homeware, toys and gifts, mixing quality materials, timeless techniques and 21st century pizazz. They have a penchant for upcycling fabrics, turning the likes of old jeans and woollen blankets into treasures. >
A blue denim oval rag-rug in Narelle’s home was made from 15 pairs of cast-off jeans; an old checked blanket where the edge stitching had unravelled, was mended and brightened with yellow hand-stitching and tassels.
Narelle’s penchant for collecting and upcycling has rubbed off on her daughter Elena, and the 14-year-old collects old typewriters. “I hope that my love of slow decor instills in my children a philosophy to build on what they’ve already got, rather than buying new.”
Spinning wool from the family’s own sheep will be the next challenge, as Narelle continues to channel the crafts of women who have gone before her.
Go to goodhomeproject.co.nz to see more of Narelle and Rachel’s work.