Life + Style 15 April 2016

21 August, 2015

life+style The Weekend Sun 1

Your home, your success See page 2

THE WEEKEND

Featuring

Home furnishings | Art & creativity | Discover Mount’s treasures

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life+style The Weekend Sun 21 2015 15August, April, 2016

Relax in luxury Sophisticated and stylish home furniture Whether it’s your first buy into real estate, first build or first forever home – your house says a lot about who you are and what you’ve achieved. That’s the ethos behind a luxury furniture store in Tauranga that recently opened its doors to the public.

Harmony Home Furniture only opened two weeks ago, but store manager Aliz Hartmann says the store is already a popular spot for home owners who are looking for quality furniture at affordable prices. “Affordable luxury is not a slogan, but reality.”

The new store at 301 Cameron Road, Tauranga, between Second Ave and Third Ave, opened its doors on April 3 – and offers luxurious home furniture without the price tag, including dining, bedroom, home office, occasional tables, barstools and upholstery designed in the United States of America.

“We are proud to be the first exclusive They understand how important your Ashley store in New Zealand,” says Aliz, furniture purchase is – and so does the who notes Ashley is a US design brand that friendly and experienced staff at Harmony is highly popular in Europe and around the Home Furniture. world. “They embrace the latest design with “Our staff are committed to the customer true quality.” and want to ease the process of furnishing Harmony Home furniture offers the the home interior,” says Aliz. latest and most popular interna“If you are looking for a different tional designs, colours and fabric “There’s something option in furnishing you’ll be and the amazingly diverse amazed by the range of design for everyone to fall products cater for a wide we can offer.” in love with and range of tastes.

Whether you appreciate Old you don’t have to Ashley claims to have World European, urban deco become one of the number one spend a fortune” or the latest trends, Harmony selling furniture store brands Home Furniture collections make in the world and the number one it easy for home owners to create a retailer of furniture and bedding in the high end designer look.

United States of America and now available A brand new range also has arrived into in Tauranga. Ashley Furniture Industries the store with more corner and leather know it takes more than just the ability suites, tables, home offices and dining to make good furniture to becoming the furniture available. number one selling brand of home furniture “There’s something for everyone to fall in North America. in love with and you don’t have to spend

a fortune,” says Aliz. “A beautiful home can be even more affordable if you visit us now. The grand opening sale for everything in store with up to 40 per cent until stocks last is an opportunity not to miss.”

Harmony Home Furniture is conveniently located on 301 Cameron Road, with plenty of free parking.

Opening hours are from 10am-6pm Tuesday to Sunday which Aliz hopes will suit customers’ needs.

15 April, 2016

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The gift of the master craftsman A photographer with history, experience and reputation Three of the Tamaki brood had drifted back home to the nest from points abroad.

But for how long?

And the fourth had joined the Navy so she’d be off to see the world soon.

The family dynamic was changing and there was a small window of opportunity. “If it wasn’t for my wife I probably would have let it slide,” says Dad, Doug Tamaki.

What Kate wanted to capture was a family together again – a precious moment before the kids took flight, a family portrait before the moment ran off, disappeared.

“The next photo portraits would probably be with husbands and wives and grandchildren,” says Doug.

“This would be the last with just Mum, Dad and the kids.”

They started looking for a photographer, the right person. “There are a lot of players out there and their work also looks good. But Bob’s work shone, it stood out from everything else.”

Bob is Bob Tulloch – a photographer with history, experience and a reputation in this town. Forty-two years a professional lens man, Bob has done eight official Mayoral portraits, recorded the creation of the Sulphur

Point expansion, new motorways and harbour bridges.He’s won dozens of national awards, but what’s more pertinent or relevant in this case is the fact he’s been photographer to thousands of Tauranga families.

“Memories fade, impressions change but with a photograph the moment and the people are permanent.

Physically the moment has gone, but a photo captures people in a moment of time and it’s retained forever.”

Bob had done an exhibition on Maori art and shot some images in the Ureweras as a personal project.

“I looked at some of that,” says Doug. “The facial expressions, the mood, the settings and it was pretty cool.” The Tamaki family had their man. And “their man” considered it a privilege.

“Because if you look at a portrait of your grandparents, or even greatgrandparents, the picture becomes increasingly precious with time.”

The Tamaki family had their own thoughts on how this shoot should go.

“Bob was very good. He listened to us and took those thoughts on-board.

He did not bully us through the process,” says Doug.

Bob was listening because he had inveigled his way into this family’s

thinking to figure the right place, the right time and the right mood.

“It’s a challenge but after years and years of doing it you become acutely aware when the moment presents itself.”

The Tamakis chose the beach at Mount Maunganui for the shoot.

The beach is an extension of the family’s backyard. It identifies who

they are and what they like.

Bob often gets the ‘I hate having my photo taken’ line. He says it’s probably the legacy of a bad experience along the way.

“Perhaps they’ve had bad snaps taken, they’ve never had a good professional experience and a good professional looking after them.”

Like the experience enjoyed by the

Tamakis. “I get as much pleasure out of creating something that is good as the clients gets from seeing and accepting the final product,” says Bob. “Whether I think it’s a great photo doesn’t matter.

“If my customer is happy with the process and the product, then I am happy too.”

Hunter Wells

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15August, April, 2016 life+style The Weekend Sun 21 2015 Pure Mineral Young Blood lippy look great, feel great and are great for you! Available at Sanctum Beauty Therapy & Spa where you can also find our Organic Spa Radiance Detox Organic Herbal Tea. You will feel amazing inside and out!

Coeur de Lion range - a great Mothers’ Day gift idea, available from Diamond & Co, 155 Maunganui Road.

Mount Treasures Original NZ Art & designer pieces from Zohar’

X marks the spot to discover your own little eclectic treasure in the boutique stores of Mount Maunganui.

From stylish designs to something traditional, you’re bound to find that little gem to add sparkle to your life.

Jacket by La Strada, pants by Vassalli.

Huge choice of jewellery in store at Lemonade Fashions.

NEW

OWN

ERS

Come on in and meet Cathy, Lemonade’s New Owner!

15 April, 2016 2015 21 August,

Superfood Smoothies can boost metabolism, energy levels, vitality and overall sustainable health.

Pop in and see us today for an Alkalising Greens Smoothie!

Vitality Organics, 322 Maunganui Road.

The Cosgrove and Beasley bag with Steplite Gaia boot – available at Shoe & Me, downtown Mount.

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Lanoline Manuka Honey Natural Eco Skin Care range now available at Kiwiana Gifts & Souvenirs on Maunganui Road.

Beautiful new seasons lingerie and nightwear instore now from Wacoal and many more.

Temptations Lingerie, Maunganui Road.

Crocs Santa Cruz and Stretch Sole Flat at the Crocs Shop, downtown Mount.

It is said that a gorgeous skin is the best accessory

and since we wear it every day, let us make an effort

to take care of it and protect it the same way it protects us.

April, 2016 life+style The Weekend Sun 2115August, 2015

You break it, I make it From broken china come works of art

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Three or four thousand dollars worth of Te Puna artwork stuck in a flash dunny in the big global city.

But for an artist a commission is a commission, money in the bank. “It was a real buzz – one of my cool jobs,” says Brigid.

The London socialite just happened to be on holiday in Noosa, Queensland, when she saw Brigid’s work. It was a seamstress’s mannequin fashioned from fragments of china and porcelain.

“Something beautiful from something broken,” says Brigid. So beautiful the socialite bought two.

A funky one for her friend in Melbourne, for the bach apparently. Nice.

“Seven thousand dollars was nothing to these people,” says Brigid. “Like going down the road and buying a bottle of milk.”

That annoyed her a bit. But only until the cheque was banked.

Brigid Lennox is a mosaic artist. She’s been tinkering with mosaics for 20 years, fashioning pieces of china, porcelain and glass into busts, shoes and wall hangings. She’s highly regarded globally, as we have discovered, and locally.

“Much as I am heartbroken when the family china was broken, I have enjoyed the reincarnation in the gorgeous torso.”

This was an observation from someone at a café where Brigid’s work was exhibited.

“And I think I get more pleasure from the new artistic pieces than I did from the beautiful crockery tucked out of sight in the cupboard.”

It could be the mix of colour, the structure, the sculpture, the fun – but out of the old and broken, Brigid is creating new life.

So where did mosaic busts and bird baths begin?

“Well there was no eureka moment. I am not that interesting,” says Brigid. It all began in her twenties, in Perth, in the garden.

“I was rummaging around and discovered the handle off a broken gravy jug. I thought: ‘What the hell can I do with this?’,” says Brigid.

She was messing around with concrete at the time – in a creative way. So she made a “tile kind of thing with the jug handle sticking out”.

By her own admission it was quite an amateurish thing and probably would never have made it to the powder room.

She thinks that’s how she got started.

“You forget these things. I am nearly 50 and a tired, single parent.”

The antique dealers saved her “all their damaged gear and broken stuff ”. And it metamorphosed into very saleable installations.

“I got a name for myself over time and started doing commission work.”

And there could be an explanation for why she is tired. The fashionable mosaic artist, who works out of a very unfashionable studio – a third bedroom tacked onto the side of her Munro Road home – is also a part time cleaner, helps with after school care and works in a plant nursery.

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One of Brigid Lennox’s mosaic busts graces the “powder room” of some London socialite.

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15 21 April, 2016 2015 August,

“I was rummaging around and discovered the handle off a broken gravy jug. I thought what can I do with this?”

“My son Sam is always asking me why I don’t just do one job.”

And there’s the other job, designing and making women’s clothes.

“A lot of chiffon and silk. I sell some of it in the shops here.”

But she also sells in Auckland and the markets including Mission Bay. That’s a good address which should be a good market. “So I am flat out.”

Brigid also does mosaic shoes, more Victorian ladies boots. “I have always loved anything vintage.”

A woman in Queensland had amassed a collection of Brigid’s mosaic shoes. Ten in fact.

“She was a nutty collector. She always had so much cash it used to blow me away.”

But as the story goes, the woman with the shoe fetish had her fingers in the till is now in jail.

It’s unclear whether Brigid’s shoes were seized under provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act. And it seems people who commission work can be a bit difficult, a bit precious.

“I had to do a mauve piece for a home in Remuera.

“A mauve bust. Everything had to be mauve.”

The problem was sourcing mauve china pieces.

“It was a real challenge. I had to use some glass, and some tiles as well.”

The commissioner even provided swatches from curtains and furniture so the bust tied in.

“It was very important darling,” says Brigid, a tad facetiously. An artist is always on the lookout for a commission.

So even a Christmas holiday to the Sunshine Coast turned to business for this businesswoman.

  

d thrive We’ve ord of on w r nearly fo o m uth years 20   

“I had a piece sitting in my brother’s living room for a couple of years. It was a deal that went bad.

“But I sold it. And a gallery bought a couple of smaller pieces that I carried in my luggage.”

That paid for the holiday. Another project, another bust, which sponsored some stress just before Christmas is now dignifying a Bethlehem home.

And she’s cobbling together another pair of mosaic shoes. The artist is at work.

Brigid’s 10-year-old son Sam, who’d hoped Mum might end up with just one job, has also been inveigled into the world of mosaics.

“He broke his bedside lamp,” says the artist, the sculptor. More broken china, more raw material, a new interest and potentially a new career.

Hunter Wells Like mother, like son.

life+style The Weekend Sun 7

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