ETERNAL SUNSHINE

Fiona Lascelles puts a little yellow in your life

Cuisine art director Fiona Lascelles puts yellow in the spotlight

PERSONALLY I THINK yellow is great. Some may think it’s a bit cheap – having become the colour of budget price brands – but yellow shouts proud on these seriously stylish food graphics: Australia’s Sirena tuna, Ortiz anchovies and Batchwell pineapple and ginger kombucha, locally brewed and organic (thinking gin with this). And to lemons, citrus is a fave. I couldn’t help making a jar of lemon curd from my mother’s recipe; it’s as good as I remember as a child. Capital Kitchen lemon squeezer from Stevens; linen napkin from Citta; yellow glass water pitcher from Miss Piper, a great place for vintage finds, online and bricksand-mortar store at Cooks Beach, Coromandel. But it’s the Ruth Castle lemon basket that is the real treasure. Ruth, an ex-occupational therapist is now in her late 80s and still weaving. Her work is held in key NZ museums (contact Masterworks). Susan Christie from formantics creates playful geometrical ceramics, see her terracotta arch vase; Charlotte Perkins Gilman, born 1860, landmark American feminist, writer, lecturer for social reform, role model, inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in the US. The Yellow Wallpaper is her best remembered work. Strong women, strong colour, bring it on.

Sirena (Italian for mermaid) tuna is 100 percent transparent on the source of their fish, caught only by line or pole fishing, no nets. After graduating in both design and fine arts in the Netherlands, Foekje Fleur began making objects that are functional and yet give space for thought. Her attractive and colourful designs seem playful, but are inspired by topics such as environmental pollution and animal rights. Porcelain bottle, moulded from a detergent bottle, Flotsam and Jetsam. Check out her site foekjefleur.com What coloured flowers could look more happy? I remember a time when yellow flowers were deemed not worthy – I mean seriously!