Whole in the Heart

INTRODUCTION BY KEVIN WEBBY

I stumbled upon the idea that would ultimately form the basis of this group exhibition while ‘chewing the fat’ with my friend Willie (who is, like me, of Cook Island descent). Willie knew that I was New Zealandborn, but was unaware that I was adopted and raised

by European New Zealanders, and unacquainted with my biological family at the time.

Willie said, “That must be like having a hole in the head?”

I responded that it felt more like a hole in the heart!

It had never been expressed to me in those terms before, and I realised that there would be a wonderful duality in embarking on a personal journey of cultural discovery through a passion for furniture design.

I wondered what it meant to be a New Zealander.

How do we perceive ourselves and how do others perceive us? In other words, how are we characterised? What are our main points of difference, and could that assist us in galvanising a unique and collective style and identity?

Furthermore, given our shared history and the multicultural community we live in, could our findings translate to an overall sense of the South Pacific? I felt that by examining broad notions of identity - a sense of place and of belonging, of tradition and contemporary design practice - the discourse of the exhibition could be made inclusive of a cross-section of New Zealand art and design practitioners and provide a case study which may reveal insights into contemporary New Zealand design.

Cover image: Blackseed Coat Tree (2006) Plywood. H 200cm x Dia. 58.5cm

‘Whole In The Heart’ brings together a culturally diverse group of New Zealand designers, who invite the audience to make their own connections with the work, and challenge them to discover the common threads which help us identify ourselves as individuals, New Zealanders, Pacific Islanders and global citizens.

Driven by a concern that many designer-makers seem to struggle to sustain themselves economically, an intentional emphasis has been placed on promoting commercial elements which underpin the show and in a broader sense, the design industry itself.

One of the underlying objectives of the exhibition is to provide some extra visibility for design work to a broad but targeted audience with a view to promoting up and coming artists/designers toward a the status of ‘established’. The creative content of the exhibition showcases the design capabilities of the participants, and the opportunity for increased exposure may lead to meaningful business relationships.

It is a stated objective of the exhibition to make a lasting and positive contribution to the fabric of our collective sense of design in New Zealand as a South Pacific cultural and economic hub. It is hoped that the publication of this catalogue may provide case study research and educational opportunities while the content of the show stimulates dialogue on as many levels as possible.

The exhibition design employs a theme embodied in the metaphor of the traditional Polynesian oceanic navigators to convey a notion of voyage, journey, navigation and migration where the intention is to reinforce the ideas and values which underpin the overarching narrative of the exhibition. The resulting set design provides a functional display framework while evoking a strong sense of the South Pacific through an aesthetic that is inspired by the shared experience of our region’s physical and cultural landscape, values, history and tradition. The result is an interpretation of something new and unique, since these elements have been fused together to suggest possibilities for the future.

In conclusion, I would like to acknowledge all of the collaborators across an astoundingly broad section of the community who have helped to make this project a reality. It has been a profoundly humbling experience to have had the opportunity to work with such dedicated and professional individuals, organisations, companies, private enterprises, agencies and public institutions that have, to a large degree, helped inform and shape the exhibition from its conceptual beginnings to its completed format.

Me te mihi nui, meitaki maata - thank you!

Kevin Webby Designer/Curator

Katie BROWN www.katiebrownglass.co.nz Katie Brown is one of only a handful of full-time female glassblowing artists in New Zealand. Having graduated with a Diploma in Glass Design and Production in 1999 from Whanganui UCOL, Katie now works at Chronicle Glass Studio, Whanganui.

After three years working in the United States, Katie moved to England where she worked with several glass makers including environmental glass artist Neil Wilkin.

Much of Katie’s work is inspired by the natural world and this is reflected in her use of hot glass. Through her use of colour and cold techniques her pieces display a delicate sense of structure.

White Tall Incalmo (2009) Glass. H 65cm x W 25cm

White Cut Incalmo: Small Tear Drop (2009) Glass. H 55cm x W 18cm

White Platter (2009) Glass Dia 47cm

Kennedy BROWN www.kennedybrown.co.nz Growing up in a creative family, Kennedy received encouragement for his love of art and design from an early age. After graduating with a Bachelor of Design from Unitec, majoring in 3D design, he worked in the shop fitting and signage industries, before deciding to travel abroad.

Arriving home with new visions and ideas, he resolved to revisit his passion for furniture design, and joined Cicada Studios in 2005. After nearly three years developing his craft and exhibiting throughout New Zealand, he returned to Auckland to set up a small home-based studio.

Since then, Kennedy has continued to develop his own style through exhibition and experimental pieces, largely funded through commissions and the sale of production works.

Pacific Allsorts range (2011) MDF, hardboard, pine timber, laminate, aluminium, stainless steel.

The ‘Pacific Allsorts’ range is an exploration of contemporary New Zealand furniture design, inspired by our unique cultural landscape.

Simple geometric forms suggest functionality. Traditional elements, such as Polynesian lashing, contrast sharply with engineered components.

This series is a juxtaposition of reinvented elements and ideas from New Zealand’s past. It’s a homage to our traditional craft and cultural values.

Peter COLLIS www.collis.co.nz Born in Auckland in 1951, Peter Collis has worked with clay nearly all of his life. The main focus to his work has been the handling of shape and surface. He creates pure-form vessels.

Crackle glazes, textures, vivid colours - all enrich surfaces and complement form.

One of New Zealand’s most accomplished ceramic artists with over fifty solo exhibitions to his name, his work is held in public and private collections in New Zealand, Australia, Sweden, Great Britain, USA, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and Holland.

Peter has been a full-time artist/potter since 1978 and he works from his studio in Birkenhead Point. He is a multiple award winner and continues his extremely broad and long standing community involvement within the arts sector.

Aqua Orbs Ceramic Various heights

The orbs are hand-thrown on a potters wheel, and the foot ring is turned. When the work is leatherhard, it is bisque-fired and then glaze-fired.

Lester HALL www.lesterhall.com Lester Hall is a print maker who left the vexations of city life over a decade ago to surround himself with the wonderful environs of the Bay of Islands.

It was here that he found inspiration for his musings on a life lived in the Pacific. His latest stories are written in the formats of stamps - often actual, early-New Zealand stamps altered to accept and accentuate the narrative he wishes to express.

“These works are a natural confluence of Euro-Polynesian style, design and thought, suggesting a freedom which might galvanise us all into a special culture, unique in the world.”

My making process is based on the story of, and philosophy surrounding, New Zealand race relations. I imagine and create digital images and then paint them on paper. These are scanned and manipulated with more digital software and then sent to an 8-colour inkjet printer.

Boogieman (2008) Ink on paper A3 +

Sam HAUGHTON www.imo.co.nz Sam is a self-taught designer whose childhood years spent on a Northland farm provided him with practical skills and a handson approach. “On the surface, it wasn’t the most creative of environments” he says. “But, like design, farming is a process of problem solving. You are forced to exploit constraints and restricted resources to come up with new solutions. You learn by doing.”

Sam established his Auckland-based, furniture design company, IMO in 2004. He is involved in all aspects of the product life cycle, from the user research to prototyping, drawing component parts, resolving manufacturing issues, tooling up, testing and delivery to market.

A degree in history and social science at Victoria University fostered his idealistic interest in mass production as a means of achieving a design democracy. “Design doesn’t have to be expensive or elitist.

I like the notion of good design for all’’.

A2 Stool (2010) Aluminium, solid tawa H 44cm x W 40cm x D 32cm We were approached by Fisher & Paykel to develop furniture for the ‘Social Kitchen’, a travelling food, furniture and appliance exhibition. We opted for stools as the seat of choice to go with our bench style Fiord tables. Stools add an element of spontaneity that would allow for groups to be as intimate or as separated as they want to be. It would also add a splash of colour and playfulness. They had to be light, and cost-effective and be able to be stacked into a container for transport.

Mike HINDMARSH www.mikehindmarsh.com Mike Hindmarsh was raised in Wellington, and began making furniture in the mid 1990s. He moved to Nelson to complete a Diploma in Visual Arts, specialising in furniture design in 1997. Mike later worked for well-known designermakers David Haig and John Shaw, before setting up his own contemporary design studio.

Mike has specialised in the technique of constructing threedimensional forms by stacking and interlocking flat planes of material, most clearly demonstrated in his award-winning ‘Spacejunk’ shelving range.

Spacejunk-Virus (2011) Composite board Dia. 118cm x D 20cm

Roger KELLY www.redorange.co.nz Roger originally trained as an engraver in the mid 1980s and holds a Bachelor of Design from Christchurch Polytechnic.

While there, he was invited to tutor in 3D design, and developed a keen interest in built environments. He now tutors in 3D design at the Eastern Institute of Technology.

During his residency at Cicada Studios, he promoted his furniture at national and international design fairs and exhibitions.

He established RedOrange Design in 2006 to explore new furniture-related forms and pursue an interest in design curation.

The use of existing materials in a new context is central to his design aesthetic, and he draws inspiration from various New Zealand icons, both natural and man-made.

‘Kono’ Floor Lamp (2011) Southland Beech H 160cm x Dia. 36cm The ‘Kono’ lamp series references the traditional Māori crafts of raranga and whakairo.

Jo LUPING www.jolupingdesign.com Jo studied print making and photography at the Otago School of Fine Art, then film making and design at Victoria University.

She established her studio in 1996 in Wellington, where she now lives with her family. She became renowned for her ceramics which capture New Zealand’s coastal landforms and indigenous flora and fauna. She works in a variety of media including jewellery, ceramics, glass, print making, textiles, photography and film.

Tui Head Cushion (2009) Boiled felt H 44cm x W 44cm

Cheeky Fantail Plate (2009) Porcelain Dia. 20cm x D 2.5cm

“I use design as a platform to tell a story.

The story raises awareness about an environmental issue and highlight nature’s beauty. I am inspired by the Japanese aesthetic wabi-sabi which is characterised by asymmetry, simple elegance, intimacy, modesty and suggestions of natural process.”

Bob McDONALD www.bobmcdonald.co.nz Bob McDonald has alternated between the furniture and building industries most of his working life. Early work experience with one of Auckland’s leading furniture manufacturers, who were strongly influenced

by Scandinavian design, began to inform his own sense of design.

Still very connected to the design and production of furniture in his late forties, he decided to enhance his practical skills with academic study. He began a four-year 3D design degree at Auckland’s Unitec before returning to furniture in 2000. The following year, he was one of the winners of the prestigious New Zealand Best Design Awards.

Bob works from a studio workshop in Morningside, Auckland. His interest in sailing and boat construction has been helpful in shaping his aesthetic and his desire to make furniture that is less materially intensive.

A platform for sleeping.

My hopes for the design of the bed were to achieve a sense of lightness; or suspension, that makes the invisible space visible. It allows the surroundings to speak.

The design is reduced to a simple wooden platform so that the bed doesn’t dominate the room. As with much of my furniture the bed reflects our relationship with wood and its relaxed, less formal context.

‘Line Three’ Bed Steel tube, solid oak timber H 74cm x W 172cm x D 217cm

Tim MAIN www.dilana.co.nz Tim graduated with a Bachelor of Craft Arts, majoring in sculpture and textile printing, from CPIT School of Art and Design, where he later taught textile printing.

In 2003 he collaborated with fashion designer Sharon Ng and in 2005 he was the artist-in-residence at The Arts Centre, Christchurch. Tim has works in collections throughout New Zealand including Canterbury Museum, the Christchurch Art Gallery and the James Wallace Trust.

In his work, he transforms the patterns of nature into symbols and motifs. Themes are derived from the sense of order and purpose in nature. His patterns reflect the idea that the pleasure of the aesthetic experience lies in finding a balance between a guiding structure and a variety of flourishes, a harmony of order and movement.

‘Pohutukawa II’ (Tim Main for Dilana) Textile W 100cm x L 300cm Courtesy of Dilana

In collaboration with the Dilana workshop, his designs, along with those of other artists and designers, are used by rug makers to produce high-quality textile floor coverings.

Robbie NATHAN Robbie studied Contemporary Maori Design and Industrial Design at the Wellington School of Design. He went on to gain a Bachelor of Design, majoring in Industrial Design, at Massey University He then moved to Hawke’s Bay and took up residence at Cicada Studios where he became involved in a wide range of design projects from around New Zealand - from furniture, graphic and product design, to commercial ďŹ t-outs.

More recently, Robbie has focused on developing and promoting his own range of contemporary design. He also produces commissioned work for private and corporate clients. Robbie currently works as an Industrial Designer for SKOPE Industries Limited in Christchurch.

K4 (2008) Plywood, laminate Private collection H 19.5cm x W 100cm x D 1.9cm

Rona Ngahuia OSBORNE www.nativeagent.co.nz

Rona Ngahuia Osborne began her professional life as a painter and photographer after completing a Bachelor’s Degree from Elam School of Fine Arts.

In 2003 Rona created the brand Native Agent as an outlet for her clothing and textile work and the following year established a design store and gallery of the same name in Kingsland, Auckland.

Rona produces beautifully conceived and crafted products for Native Agent, which are sold through their website and at design stores and galleries throughout New Zealand.

Rona works in West Auckland, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.

Kevin WEBBY www.kevinwebby.com A New Zealand-born Cook Islander, Kevin completed his formal design training in Palmerston North in 2002. He then moved to Hawke’s Bay where he was one of the first to take up residency at Cicada Studio’s furniture design incubator. He set up his own company in 2005 and now offers a range of furniture design products to private and commercial clients in New Zealand and overseas.

After a series of guest appearances at furniture fairs and exhibitions in Australia and New Zealand, his work was exhibited by Auckland design house Essenze at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York, and also at Saatchi and Saatchi’s New York showroom.

In 2009 he was awarded Creative New Zealand funding to conduct research in the Cook Islands towards making a new body of furniture design work. He also secured funding to create new work for a proposed touring exhibition of New Zealand furniture design.

Kevin’s work is held in private collections in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, the United States, France, Canada and Switzerland.

X&Y Magazine Rack (2006) Plywood, mild steel H 44cm x W 46cm x D 40 cm

X&Y is one of a series of two designs created through an exploration of Pacific iconography. Both solutions expand on the prevalent decorative and two-dimensional use of ‘koru’ through applied layers of function.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS KW: What is your overall impression of contemporary New Zealand furniture design? How do you relate to it, choose to engage it, or otherwise?

SH: Unlike Europe, we don’t have an extensive history of design and manufacturing. The appreciation of timeless, well designed and made things is not inherent in our culture, so it’s often eclipsed by the marketing-driven consumer need for the new. Too many companies just sprinkle a little design on something. But two years later it’s out of date because it was designed it for that purpose.

Design must be fully integrated into every aspect of a product’s life cycle - research and development, manufacturing, distribution, marketing and sales. If not, then design lives briefly in a vacuum and dies.

I see a big ‘disconnect’ between the design and manufacture of furniture in New Zealand, which is most evident in product quality.

There does seem to be a growing interest in New Zealand furniture design however, and ultimately it’s the user who determines what represents value. With so much choice available, our products have to be relevant and meaningful, and identifying and satisfying user needs is key.

As a company we enter our products for local awards, I make public speaking appearances at industry events, I’m a member of the Designers Institute and I sit on the executive of the Furniture Association. By being involved in this way, I hope we can improve awareness of and raise the benchmark for New Zealand-designed and made furniture through better alliances and networks between designers and manufacturers.

KB: New Zealand furniture design derives much from an inherent pioneering spirit embodied in our multi-cultural community and this is something I feel we should engage with in the future. I am a Pakeha who identifies very strongly with our South Pacific region and accordingly I am inspired by our history, culture and people.

I want to create furniture that references traditional craft and utilises modern-day materials and technology.

KW: I’ve noted over time, a steady increase in the use of narrative in the marketing of new work. There is little doubt in my mind that New Zealand designers have a significant role to play in informing aesthetic and challenging materials and processes, although there is a ‘disconnect’ between design and manufacture that limits new business opportunities for both parties.

I can profile my design work in the pages of glossy magazines, on the internet, and at exhibitions, trade fairs and design stores, but difficulties arise when attempting to scale manufacturing in an effort to make good design more accessible. High costs, a lack of industry alliance and a small domestic market are among the hurdles that make sustaining a viable furniture design practice problematic in New Zealand. Having explored various options for scaled manufacture in New Zealand firsthand, it became apparent that identifying channels to larger overseas markets, with the distribution and marketing to drive it, would be an option that couldn’t be overlooked.

MH: I feel New Zealand furniture design is still in a formative phase. It is still a phenomenon to the general population. New Zealand’s outdoor lifestyle dictates that we don’t place as much value

on interior decor and possessions, but this is slowly changing. I relate to it mainly through the group of peers and friends involved in design here in Nelson. I have exhibited frequently in the past but now prefer to focus on commission work.

RN: In terms of my own creative direction, I like to think that I am guided by my own cultural history and a curiosity to discover the journeys my designs may take me on.

KW: Do you perceive any common threads, either established or emerging in contemporary New Zealand furniture design? If so do you feel those common threads are strong enough to characterise or distinguish New Zealand design in any way? If not, why do you think that is the case?

RK: A refining of process is evident among much of the new work I am seeing which is offering a simple, clean aesthetic. Combined with novel use of materials, is the willingness to test the limits of materials, and this is producing a new elegance in the forms being created. These characteristics are shared by designers all around the world and I see the key to distinguishing ourselves may be to listen to our past and design with the future in mind.

RN: In my view, New Zealand design is heavily influenced by European design. It has always held the mantle of quality and innovation for designers to aspire to. Countering this European influence, I sense, is the mood in New Zealand’s creative industry to promote a kiwi brand of design. I feel that New Zealand design is shedding its reliance on other cultural design values and trying to create a design vibe that reflects Aotearoa.

KB: I think it’s important to develop and retain a Pacific influence.

I think that New Zealand design benefits from a ‘what you see is what you get’ mentality and there is a certain honesty in the way a lot of our work is produced. As with any style it is important to let this propensity develop naturally. When designers follow trends too closely it becomes irrelevant and work tends to date very quickly. Sadly, when you live in a society that is strongly influenced by ‘what’s hot and what’s not’, you risk becoming complicit with a ‘throw away’ culture.

MH: The members of this country’s small group of designers are all relatively familiar to each other and everyone seems to be interested in each others’ work but at the same time, I feel there is somewhat of a pioneering attitude with individual designers proud of their own design style and wanting to create something unique so this generates a diverse range of designs emanating from New Zealand.

KW: I note that much of the new work being released by Kiwi designers has an international flavour. Many of our higher-profile designers have sought exposure in Europe with mixed success I would say, and in many cases it appears as though European design sensibilities have been a core consideration.

Alongside this phenomenon though is a re-emergence of the Pacific furniture design movement. New Zealand designers are, in greater numbers, looking to our unique physical and cultural landscape to generate fresh, intelligent, simple design solutions.

Resourcefulness and ingenuity are not qualities unique to New Zealand designers but I think our particular set of circumstances, combined with our unique brand of pragmatism does offer some-

thing exotic to international markets. Whether it be challenges stemming from our geographic isolation, difficulties of scaling production, quality control, resourcing or our historic apathy toward valuing good design, the will to create is strong in our community and only the smartest and most passionate survive long term.

SH: In spite of a globalising market, it is almost impossible to talk about a global experience. This only occurs when context is shared.

If you were to design something to support the experience of ‘having a meal’ context is very important. Dinner for the Chinese is very much a family affair. A place-setting includes a bowl, a saucer, a pair of chopsticks and a soup spoon. The dishes are served all at once in the centre of the table, and people eat directly from communal plates. Other than tea, drinks are generally not served with dinner and they don’t eat dessert. How can a product improve that experience? A product for a Pakeha family would likely be quite different.

Consumers are looking for rich sensorial, emotional and meaningful experiences, not merely for ‘just’ a product.

As Michael Smythe says of our approach to product design, New Zealand’s isolation has imposed a “continuous process of adopting, adapting and inventing.” Our physical and social environment will always impose certain factors such as isolation and the disadvantages of scale, but New Zealand now has a diverse, multicultural society.

The world today is in a state of continual transition. We have become integrated through communication, transportation, and trade. In a sea of sameness even well executed products can be overlooked because the differentiation of the details is challenging for consumers. I don’t believe our resourcefulness and ingenuity are enough to overtly distinguish New Zealand furniture. Neither are preferences

for certain materials or forms because there is too much diversity.

BM: Much current New Zealand design has an international look, which is perhaps influenced by our relatively new presence at an international level. However it is pleasing to see some exciting developments in New Zealand design that references the Pacific context and recognises that, by using Pacific references as their starting point, they will have fresh contributions to make to both local and international contemporary furniture design.

KW: What sort of ‘loading’ would you say your own culture or multiculture has on your furniture or object design work? In particular, what effect, if any, has your relationship with New Zealand and/ or the wider South Pacific had on your work and the way you work?

KW: The exploration of my own cultures, traditions, values and aspirations dominates my creative thinking now and my relationship with New Zealand has taken on new meaning which, by design, informs my life and therefore my work. I’m learning that my brand of New Zealand design, while reflecting what is unique and relevant to us in an aesthetic sense must also be highly considered within the context of scaled manufacturing if the intention is to sustain a viable design led business model.

RN: My cultural background is an important part of my design identity. It is something that I feel very comfortable with and feel that it drives my current design thinking.

KB: Living in New Zealand within the Pacific has had a strong influence on my work, from a European perspective. I like to interpret the interaction between design and craft, old and new, traditional and modern.

I have been looking at traditional Maori and Polynesian structures and fabrication techniques. I like to interpret these elements in a contemporary manner by fusing them with contemporary materials, forms and making techniques.

The intent is to subtly create a sense of unity between Pacific cultures, giving respect to each other and working together to create an entirely unique and relevant set of values indicative of the region.

MH: Born and raised in New Zealand, my heritage consists of Italian/Shetland/English. Proximity to the sea has been an important part of my life and this has impacted on my design sensibilities.

Boat forms and curves continue to surface in my work, as well as sculpted water textures in timber.

RK: I enjoy finding interplay between traditional crafting methods, the Polynesian aesthetic and the pragmatic approach of early colonial engineering. Growing up in Christchurch, I couldn’t help noticing forms of the rural built environment; irrigation systems, silos, pylons and dilapidated buildings have an aesthetic of their own.

More recently, studies and observations of traditional Maori and Polynesian crafts and forms have shaped my approach to seeing and the making of form. Strong lines with touches of pattern and texture have developed. The consideration of the use of material and the resourcefulness that underlies the New Zealand way of life have played a part in the development of my creative endeavors.

SH: It would be impossible for your own culture not to affect your work. Your upbringing, education, temperament, values and life experiences are all inherent in your product and how you run your business.

I grew up on a remote farm in Northland which, on the surface, wasn’t the most creative of environments. It provided me with the obvious practical skills and it’s certainly where I learnt the value of being ‘hands-on’. But, like design, farming is a process of problem solving. You are forced to exploit constraints and restricted resources to come up with new solutions.

We have a unique way of approaching problems that comes from living in New Zealand - we have a go at things, we take risks and even if we fail we get back up.

My relationship with New Zealand has definitely shaped my approach to design and business but I don’t feel that it has had any profound effect on the aesthetic.

BM: I start with functional and technical requirements that represent the fundamental task my design has to fulfill. I am thoughtful about the role that furniture does, or might potentially, play in our lives and I attempt to provide myself with answers through my furniture. My focus is that in the end, someone has to take these works into their home environment and use them.

Our sponsors:

Typeface design: Kris Sowersby www.klimtypefoundry.co.nz www.crabfarmwinery.co.nz

Roger Kelly portrait: Anneliese Hough anneliese@cafenoir.co.nz

Catalogue design: Stu Wilkinson

www.foreverbeech.co.nz

www.stuwilkinson.co.nz

Printing: Format Print

A WHOLE-HEARTED THANK YOU

www.format.co.nz www.nzsfp.co.nz

CAD drawing: Tom Brien for Evento www.eventoworld.com

www.plytech.co.nz

www.hastingscityartgallery.co.nz

www.resene.co.nz

www.creativenz.govt.nz www.visionwalls.co.nz

Katie Brown at work

Hastings City Art Gallery 201 Eastbourne Street East Hastings 4122, Hawke’s Bay 00 64 6 871 5095 www.hastingscityartgallery.co.nz

ISBN 978-0-473-19973-9