New Zealand's own Spindle Back (sounds like a spider, actually a babe'n chair design)...

This one relates to yesterday's post about new design store Paper Plane... but I reeeeeeeeeeally felt it deserved its own separate post. 

We've (well I've, and maybe you've) spent years oohing at Danish & British spindle back chairs... and now here comes Timothy John, making a NZ spindle back we can be proud of. A future timeless classic (does that make sense?), The Nordic is handturned by a local master craftsman and priced at $690. Available exclusively through Paper Plane.

Pegboard Perfect

My love has come along...

White Pegboard sideboard ($705) and bedside tables ($592 each) from NZ's Homebase Collections.

Fancy Loves...

The Seb armchair by Jardan. 

In my dreams, we run away together.

Worthy of a Gold

NZ designer Nathan Goldsworthy has been a busy boy. His new Monarch series just won a finalist placing in the annual HOME design awards.

As did his new Kimono stool...

 

 

But my favey fave is the Halo stool, now in timber. 

I can see your Halo (halo halo) oo-ooo!
Yellow oak Halo, please come and live at my house.

PS: You can buy Goldsworthy furniture directly from Corporate Culture.

Sidekick Collection (and... trust a designer to have great shoes)

Sidekick Stool & Side Table

The all-black is delish.

Timothy John's new Sidekick collection is finally ready to order... so, order I did! I chose the white stool...  EEEEEEEP CAN'T WAIT FOR IT TO ARRIVE.

Sidekicks were originally launched late last year with a hand-turned cork top (as a limited edition for Thanks stores). Their popularity drove designer Timothy John to develop the range further - there's now new colourways, Stools and Side Tables (should I have got a side table?), all with ash hardwood tops. That's tops.

(PS: Nice shoes, Timothy. Kudos on your footwear life choices.)

Show & Tell: Tait

Gordon and Suzie Tait in the Tait showroom. 

Gordon Tait left school at 16 and went straight into the sheetmetal trade. He loved the work so much that after hours, he'd dabble in furniture making. When he lost his job in the early 90's, his bosses were kind enough to let him go with some machinery and a couple of small clients as a type of redundancy. He and wife Suzie (a textile designer) rented a factory in Fitzroy, Melbourne - living in the teeny flat above it - and Tait was born. 

Today, Tait is one of the most exciting furniture brands out of Australasia, with a stable of insanely cool products, all commissioned by partner designers and manufactured - from prototype to final product - in the Tait factory. aaaaaaaaaaai bloody love it.

I am obsessed with the Volley rocker - that expanded mesh, those wooden rockers, those colours... 

Designed by Adam Goodrum  for Tait.

Hi Gordon! Tell us the story of Tait…
I started Tait as a solo venture in 1992. When Suzie joined Tait with our new baby, Lily, in tow a few years later, we had one offsider. As the business grew, we found ourselves having to wear many different hats and we had little time for designing...

We liked the model of European brand Cappelini, where the manufacturer engages the designers to design the product and the manufacturer makes and markets the product. This is how Tait engage external designers and this model has worked so well for everyone and become an integral part of bringing a new Tait product to market.

Good One stools, table and bench seat,

designed by NZ's Alastair Keating!

The buzz of working through from concept to prototypes, then brainstorming with the Tait team to how best put the product into production is just so satisfying.

Our first external designer was Justin Hutchinson, in 2008 he designed our best selling Jak+Jil product. In 2009 Ross Gardam designed Flint. In 2010 I was in New Zealand and came across Al Keating's Good One Stool. We now make this product under licence and have extended the range to include tables and bench seats. Then came Adam Goodrum, firstly he designed the Airliner range for us in 2010 and in 2012 the Volley range of tables and chairs.  

What are you working on at the moment?
Always working on new product! Some designs come together more easily than others but generally we aim to release a couple of new items each year, it’s what gets us up in the morning.

Keep an eye on our Breeze Sofa as we are adding to that range this year, amongst other things...

Breeze Sofa

What has been the hands-down highlight of Tait so far?

Creating a product like Jak+Jil with designer, Justin Hutchinson then seeing it sell and sell and sell. It’s a thrill to have a product widely accepted by peers and the general public, then perform so well, people keep coming back for more.

Jak+Jil, designed by Justin Hutchinson

What was the last thing you saw/did or experienced that got you really creatively excited?
Easy – the Anish Kapoor exhibition at the MCA in Sydney. We were incredibly excited when we heard it was coming to Australia and it certainly didn’t disappoint. In fact we need to go again!

Life goal: light up brand sign

Behind the scenes at the Tait factory. Thanks for the photos, Gordon!

New Sidekick

I snuck in to Timothy John's photoshoot at the Wayne Tait studio... because the Sidekick stool is about to about to be launched in a few new colourways (there's even a black on black), and with a new American Ash top.

Fucking aye. I thought the cork top was rad, but I really really want one of these ones.
There's even a larger Side Table size in the family now.

I'll let you know as soon as I do about stockists, and share some hot Wayne Tait-ed images with you when they're ready... but for now you can contact Timothy John direct to get yours.

New NZ design collective, YOURS

Even before the ink was dry on their degrees, Sam Griffin, James McNab and Daniel Kamp had decided they were going to go in to business for themselves - designing their own products, together.

Through the three years of their design degree, they became not only good mates, but also fans of each other's work. They pushed one another's design, collaborating together to develop ideas and resolve forms. Both Daniel and James were nominated for 2012 Best Awards, James for his Revival Vest (which went on to win a placing at the international James Dyson awards), and Daniel for his intelligent gloves for prosthetic arms.

After graduating, Sam and James started work tutoring at their alma mater Vic Uni, while Daniel began a role in product development at Design Mobel. But the plans for YOURS design collective were in motion. They started developing their first products, and made a deal that as soon as they each had one at prototype stage, Daniel would find a studio space in Tauranga and Sam and James would make the move up the island. And in July last year, that's exactly what happened.

The YOURS studio and showroom, on Tauranga's 11th Ave, is tucked in behind what was an Art Gallery. The space itself was a bit of a shithole (I saw the before photos); but the trio have transformed it. For months, they spent weekends and late nights in the space, ripping up the stained carpet, laying wooden floorboards, polishing concrete for the showroom floor, constructing walls and making a lot of the furniture from upcycled materials. When Design Mobel went out of business (leaving Daniel out of work), the company donated all sorts of 'scraps' from the factory, including a massive rimu headboard that Dan now has as his desktop, and 20 furniture pallets that the boys have turned into walling.

So, why Tauranga? I didn't really need to ask that - I live at Mount Maunganui for the same reasons they chose the area. It's just a 2-hour drive from Auckland for business, but the leases are much more affordable for a fledgling brand, and there is a definite emerging design scene here. Don't be fooled into thinking it's all surf and sand here - there's sophistication, too.

Just a few weeks ago, the doors opened on YOURS design showroom and studio, and the debut collection of YOURS furniture and lighting...

Look with your eyes...

I'll take one of each, please.

The YOURS space is divided into product showroom...

..and design studio

Quality dudes, quality designers. From left: Daniel Kamp, Sam Griffin, James McNab.

Never not sketching ideas.

Daniel and James.

Teeny tiny dinosaurs. Awesome.

Fellow lights (great name), designed by Sam Griffin.

Introvert floor lamp by Daniel Kamp, and the Collar stool (black stain option) by James McNab

I couldn't stop gawking at the Silo pendant.

Parts on display.

In the next couple of weeks, we'll have a nosey at the YOURS product collection and each designer in more detail, and you'll get a chance to win a YOURS piece.

yoursdesign.co.nz