Living Life to the Max
At home in Geraldine with Fi and Hugh McCafferty
SATURATED IN COLOUR, FI AND HUGH
McCafferty’s ‘hyper-maximalist’ home tells the joyful and personal story of their life together. While it’s impossible to pinpoint an exact design movement in this art-laden house, Victorian Maximalism might be a good starting point, where more is always more. However, far from the stuffiness associated with Victorian design, and with only a hint of floral design in the gorgeously decadent flocked wallpaper in the bathroom and the delicately hand-painted porcelain stag head, Fi has instinctively embraced a thoroughly contemporary version of Maximalism.
The first hint that you’re experiencing something special is evident from the moment you enter the property. Painted a deeply dark red, the exterior of the turn-of-the-century cottage features an incongruously unexpected art panel by renowned Japanese street artist Koryu Aoshima, absolutely stunning yet at odds with a traditional home in Geraldine.
Met at the door by Hugh in his trademark twinkly shoes and with his 71-year-old head of hair firmly pulled back into a youthful man bun, the home instantly feels welcoming and intimate. Fi drifts in quietly, a wonderful vision in red, pink and green, hair piled high and eyes twinkling behind her crimson spectacles. Yellow living room walls form the backdrop for an incredible assemblage of art that Fi and Hugh have collected, collated and even created over a number of years. There’s a marvellous sense of horror vacui – the fear of empty space – and in this home it works. Fi doesn’t view an empty space as a place to breathe or for the eye to rest; it’s an opportunity to add more! ‘I need to see pretty stuff everywhere,’ she explains. As a result, each position is chock-full with art, photos, objects of desire, joyful knickknacks, knitted creations and playful toys. It’s a minimalist’s nightmare and a maximalist’s dream!
Where others might create clutter, Fi’s eye for detail and her ability to bring a room together is a combination of pure instinct and undeniable talent, formalised by a design qualification from the Auckland University of Technology and vast experience as an art director in both advertising and direct marketing. She works effortlessly with colour, texture, line and pattern to pull together the seemingly impossible. Hilariously, Hugh could ‘live in a house with one chair’ but he has been swept along by his wife’s infectiously vibrant style.
Now their home includes portraits by John Badcock, monotypes by Sharon Whittaker, iconography by Sandra Jane Suleski, paintings by Piera McArthur, ceramics by Debra Powell, drawings by Fi, sketches by Hugh and so much more. It’s a home bursting with joy where a cheap toy can be found hanging alongside the work of a high-profile artist. Fi laughingly refers to it as serendipitous chaos, saying it’s ‘like a quilt. All kinds of different things make me happy.’ This happiness extends to the kitchen where a copper still gleams in the sunlight on the table. It’s an eclectic home where one quickly comes to expect the unexpected.
Obsessed with collecting, Fi’s longest fixation began when
she left home and bought her first Christmas decorations. These days she has so many decorations she has too many for just one tree, a feat considering how heavily decorated her trees are! Beginning with warmly white and sparkling lights, the tree is layered with gold beads, coordinating coloured balls, textured balls, intricate treasures and big stars. The end result is a spectacular vision, an ode to Christmas of epic proportions with barely a pine needle in sight.
While it’s traditional for a tree to be put up the night before Christmas and come down on Epiphany, Fi believes ‘the heart of Christmas is with us all the time’. Raised a Christian, she didn’t attend church for 25 years until she felt compelled to re-enter the church in 2005 after relocating to Queenstown. Hugh, on the other hand, has always held a formal relationship with Christianity, albeit a twisting and turning one that has sprung several surprises along the way. Born into a Catholic family, Hugh knew he wanted to be a priest from the time he was eight years old, entering the seminary when he turned 18. However, the late 1960s were turbulent times for the Catholic Church and a missionary service to North Africa left Hugh uncomfortable with the ‘neocolonial attitudes’ that still remained. Plans for priesthood were scuppered and Hugh married his first wife, turning to the Anglican Church when he ‘discovered God was in both places’. These days he’s an ordained priest who helps out at St Mary’s Anglican Church in Geraldine.
Fi has instinctively embraced a thoroughly contemporary version of Maximalism.
Raised in the days of Latin plainsong and with the violin as his first instrument, one might expect a traditional influence from Hugh within the church. However, Fi and this colourful guitar-playing priest formed a youth band called The Bandits, teaching themselves to play ukulele when a member wanted to learn. It was an inspired decision and one that has grown disproportionately. What began as a church band, then a community group has evolved into an annual international ukulele festival, Geraldine Ukefest. There have been sell-out concerts, corporate sponsorship from the likes of Kamaka Ukulele and Meadow Mushrooms and even an international act from Hollywood!
It hasn’t happened by accident though. Behind the scenes Fi has worked feverishly, laughingly admitting she has put her direct marketing skills to good use stalking the superstars of the ukulele world and surprising even herself with some of the big international acts who have come to Geraldine
‘just because I asked them’. James Hill of Canada has not only performed but also run teaching courses. Praising Fi’s resourcefulness, Hugh says, ‘People don’t realise what a coup that was.’ Other big names have included Ukebox, Liverpool’s ukulele-playing answer to The Beatles, Hawaiian virtuosos Bryan Tolentino and L Halehaku Seabury, and celebrated Italian cinematic musician Lorenzo Vignando.
It’s not all about the superstars though. There’s The
Big Strum, an all-in mass session led by Fi and Hugh for beginners and pros alike to bash away at chords and make music together. Ironically, Fi isn’t comfortable in a social setting, yet she blossoms on stage with an instrument in hand and the chance to sing. Fi identified with autism six years
What began as a church band, then a community group has evolved into an annual international ukulele festival, Geraldine Ukefest.
ago and far from allowing this to become a hindrance to her life, it has been a revelation. In many ways she believes it supports her artistic abilities, while explaining the acute uncomfortableness she experiences in social situations, preferring online conversations.
Sadly, the 2020 Geraldine Ukefest was canned due to COVID-19, but tickets for the July 2021 festival are selling well and will feature an eclectic line-up of New Zealand artists. However, being the maximalists they are, Fi and Hugh haven’t settled for merely running festivals and teaching music. They’ve also thrown themselves into journalism and publication, having taken over Geraldine’s local newspaper, The Geraldine News, in April 2019. While Hugh laughs that he ‘should be retiring and sipping gin on the porch’, they form a dream team with Fi working behind the scenes on the newspaper design and coordinating advertising, while Hugh operates the front line, garnering stories and meeting the locals. It’s a weekly publication, circulating 3,790 homes, and one that tends to be reflective. With a focus on addressing local issues from a solution-based perspective, Hugh says, ‘Our mission is to reflect Geraldine’s best self back to itself.’
This is a couple who have only been together for 13 years and both only wore black in their previous lives. However, these years have been packed, maximising life and brimming with colour, love, art, music and laughter. They’ve not only found each other but they’ve found themselves. ‘We’ve done so much,’ smiles Fi. ‘In my other life I was just alive. Now I’m really living.’