Table of contents for URBIS_94_201610 in Urbis

CHEFS, KITCHEN DESIGNERS, ARTISTS making cutlery and a selection of some of the most satisfying events and books around the topic. Jaw-dropping hospitality interiors, conversations with architects and food fanatics… this issue is replete with glorious food, the people who champion it, and the spaces in which we prepare and consume it. As a cherry on top, we’ve put together a 32-page insert in which we crystal-ball some of the trends that will be turning the hardest working spaces in the home (kitchens and bathrooms) into veritable expressions of personality. We’ve learnt a few lessons along the way – mainly how rich and multi-layered the world of food is and how strong the memories created from meals and aromas. Bon appétit! Email us federico.monsalve@agm.co.nz Follow us @UrbisMagazine Like us facebook.com/UrbisMagazine…

Brittle earth Mineral salt, granite and even nougat-inspired objects bring a sense of concrete solidity and playful elegance to the home. 01 / Diesel Soft Power Table Lamp $1,520; ecc.co.nz 02 / Marshall Headphones Major $279; askew.co.nz 03 / Bocci Series 73.3 Pendant Light Fixture POA; matisse.co.nz 04 / Flexform Mood Icaro Small Table $9,200; studioitalia.co.nz 05 / Resin Rock Jug $263; dinosaurdesigns.com.au 06 / Dzek Marmoreal Marble by Max Lamb; dzekdzekdzek.com 07 / Wrong for Hay Tela Collection from $48; cultdesign.co.nz 08 / Geneva AeroSphere with Floor Stand $1,849; askew.co.nz 09 / Grey Marbled Enamel Oval Platter $60; cravehome.co.nz 10 / Menu Fire Hurricane by Tim Webber Design $115; timwebberdesign.com 11 / May Time Frosted Glass Vase Grey/Clear Short $72; maytime.co.nz 12 / Gufram Rock Seat $2,250; design55.co.nz 13 / M-Material White Cement + White Rock Salt Console $34,415; m-material.com  Powdery…

“SID FANCIED THE GROUNDED VIBE OF YOUR GARDEN-VARIETY GREY LYNN VILLA (SANS THE PRICE TAG), AND, MOST OF ALL, IT HAD TO FIT THEIR BESPOKE, AND ENORMOUS, STAINLESS-STEELTOPPED KITCHEN TABLE.”  SOMETIMES A HOME isn’t just for living – it’s also for personal restoration. This is exactly what Sid Sahrawat craves, pretty much six nights a week, 52 weeks of the year (one family holiday excepting). His downtime is now a precious commodity because, as chef and owner of Sidart, the multi-award-winning Three Lamps restaurant and the recent and equally lauded Cassia, work casts a constant and naggingly demanding shadow; so much so, that his wife installed a commodious wine fridge in the hope that it might get him back to their twostoreyed Northcote (Auckland) home just that much earlier. Still,…

 A DOZEN MEN GRUNT and groan as they manually push a trailer saddled with an 800kg clear acrylic sheet through a neighbour’s backyard and down into the narrow back section of a turn-of-the-century Ponsonby villa. Then, there’s the audible intake of breath on site, when the 12 men expertly manoeuvre the six-metre pane up into the air with the help of a makeshift pulley system, the sheet precariously hanging mid-breeze, before it neatly slots into its place as the transparent front wall of the lap pool. Exhale. The sheet of acrylic, imported from Germany, is the muchawaited icing on the cake. Like a mirage in the desert, the cerulean water it contains draws the eye through the house and out into the oasis beyond. Sited on a steep section, the…

“THE INDUSTRIALSTYLE KITCHEN IS HARD-WEARING; IT IS USER-FRIENDLY.” – EVELYN MCNAMARA  The industrial look is on trend and can be spotted everywhere from cafés to office buildings; but to use it at home requires special attention or it can seem to be too hard and cold. Architect Evelyn McNamara’s kitchens have an industrial slant, yet they still fit within a domestic setting. She says the inclusion of texture and timber is fundamental to the success of her designs. “I use clean and minimalist lines in my designs and add warmth and softness by having texture and timber, which help to prevent surfaces that are slick and modern from feeling cold. The colours are muted but with softness.” McNamara believes that any more than three materials is a ‘fail’ and results…

“THE SELECTION OF FINISHES ARE THE JEWELS OF A SPA-LIKE BATHROOM.” – VEE KESSNER  Vee Kessner, director of Parnell-based Space Studio, is no stranger when it comes to designing luxurious, inviting bathrooms that offer a sense of tranquillity – much like a spa. Having worked on various commercial projects, most of them hotels, she knows which elements transform an everyday space into your own personal retreat. “It’s all about planning and taking into consideration things such as concealing the toilet from view, getting the shower as comfortable as possible, and making the bathtub the hero of the space that make your bathroom feel more special,” says Kessner. The devil is in the details when a bathroom is designed to resemble a spa-like experience. Supplementing elements such as a beautiful…

LARNIE NICOLSON Larnie is a freelance photographer who shoots architecture, interiors and lifestyle imagery. She contributed to the People section in this issue. See pages 59 – 61. This issue is about kitchens and bathrooms. Have you photographed any memorable ones? I photographed a beautiful kitchen in Mt Eden recently, which was designed by Cook Sargisson Pirie & Williams and built by DJS Cabinetry. All the cabinetry was in American oak with a marble bench and that was visually very impressive. How was the experience of photographing a chef for this issue? Photographing creative people in their spaces is one of my favourite things to shoot. It’s so nice being around people doing what they love to do. The couple was very lovely and gracious. We even had a cocktail…

 THE WORK OF British architect John Pawson has become synonymous with a specific kind of modern luxury – that of the monastic. His work is refined, often austere and unashamedly monotone. Through the consistency of his architectural palette and his seemingly simple arrangements of spaces, Pawson has become one of the most recognisable architects of his generation. This spatial brand and its legibility make his work an ideal addition to a collection of architect-designed holiday homes marketed by Living Architecture (LI, accommodation for those who wish to retreat on a distinctly architectural holiday). The holiday homes are more than rented baches. Designed by innovative architects like Dutch firm MVRDV and Scottish firm NORD, as well as contemporary artists like Grayson Perry, they offer a chance to live for a…

John Irving. ARCHITECT Tell us about this kitchen This was a really fun project where we had great clients, who were happy to push the boat out a little. It is out the back of a conservation-zoned villa, and this is unquestionably the least sympathetic addition I have ever done! The arrival journey is cutesy, frilly, white tra-la-la, then down the hall, then ‘bam!’ The idea was that you would stand there in disbelief at the matt black – so an all-metal kitchen was the only logical choice. Tell us about your collaboration with IMO We admire their work, they are great designers and cool to deal with, plus the whole modular thing appeals as well. The Fisher & Paykel appliances fit quietly and confidently in the modern angular composition.…

“THE ORGANIC LOOK IS WHERE WE’RE HEADING. VENEERS ARE REALLY STRONG... THEY WORK TO GIVE A FURNITURE LOOK TO A KITCHEN SPACE.” – MAL CORBOY  Mal Corboy is a designer synonymous with bright, high-gloss kitchens, but his recent work is a departure from this style into a more organic look derived from natural materials. He says this change is partly due to a personal evolution and also a shift in the market. “These kitchens still have my signature large benchtops and the balance and proportion that I bring to my work, but it feels more natural. The kitchen is integrated into the house so it doesn’t stand out. The organic look is where we’re heading. Veneers are really strong and there are a lot of lovely options in veneers available…

 Patterned walls and floors and opulent light fittings can add glamour to a bathroom, but there is a fine line to tread to prevent this look from appearing busy. Interior designer Debra DeLorenzo has an eye for pattern. She creates highly detailed, bold bathrooms that are both vintage and modern. “When using pattern, it is important to keep within a colour palette and then mix up the scale,” she says. “So if you’re using florals, you can’t do more than one floral of the same size; but if you use a large and a small floral, then throw in a geometric – it will all work together.” Larger tiles will make a bathroom feel bigger and an over-scale pattern will create a more modern look than a smaller one. The…

“The internet of things’ seems to require everything to be online in 2016 – so why should your eggs miss out? How many times have you been out and about and wondered if your eggs are due to go off ? Or stared into the egg tray, wondering which egg is oldest and needs to be eaten first? OK, maybe never, but the Egg Minder is here to help anyway. Yes, it’s a ‘connected’ egg tray that helps you keep track of your egg stocks remotely. It even illuminates the oldest egg so you can tuck into that one first. You’ll need to download yet another app to interact with your ‘connected’ egg tray, but once you’ve done that you’ll be egg-cited. And that’s no yolk. Egg Minder Smart Egg…

After growing up working on the Corban family’s vines in West Auckland in the 1950s, Warren Moran became a professor of geography at the University of Auckland and an international expert on the role of terroir in the wines of Burgundy and New Zealand. In his upcoming book (New Zealand Wine: The Land, the Vines, the People) he provides an unrivalled introduction to New Zealand wine: the climate, soils and geography our winemakers work with; the grape varieties they have tried to tame; and the personalities, families and companies who have made the wine and the industry. Here, Moran takes us around New Zealand through five wineries. 01. KUMEU RIVER WINES AUCKLAND Mate Brajkovich came from Croatia in 1938, learned to make wine and built up what became Kumeu River…

What is the hierarchy of form and function within these spaces? DORRINGTON ATCHESON ARCHITECTS (DAA): Function has to take precedence. But there are also opportunities for design artistry. In kitchens, we like to tie the back wall in with the aesthetic and materiality of the overall concept. But the island bench can be far more exhibitionist. In one project, we created an island that has a deep-welled curvaceous, continuous surround in honed black granite and a timber face which makes it look like a sideboard. In another holiday home, the island has metal legs to mimic a table. Bathrooms tend to have fewer functional stipulations, so can be made up of quiet, elegant elements where the bath is presented as sculpture and lighting is not just plugged into the…

 The research for this kitchens and bathrooms special you are holding in your lucky little hand took us into some fascinating (albeit possibly not entirely useful!) tangents. We came across a great conference on the history of technology and food, and how people from Denis Papin (inventor of the pressure cooker), chef Ferran Adrià and author Nathan Myhrvold have pushed the frontiers of cooking through engineering, chemistry and design. We stumbled onto a procrastination-worthy digital exhibition looking at how bathrooms and public baths have been depicted in art. It raised the question of what those images (from Lucas Cranach to Fellini) possibly say about the society that created them and the changing moral codes assigned to those alcoves. From these tangents a few nuggets started to appear: Bathrooms have become…

“A PURELY CLASSIC DESIGN COMES OFF AS FORMULAIC... MERGE A MODERN STYLE WITHIN IT AND YOU OPEN MANY DOORS...” – MICK DE GIULIO  The idea of a ‘new classic’ might seem oxymoronic, but in the world of interior design, treading the line between old and new can result in a fresh and refined look. Chicago designer Mick De Giulio, a master at this combination, says the key is keeping it simple. “The more simple a design can be, the better. Paying attention to proportion and light is important also. I think the combination of modern and classic hits a note with people. A purely classic design comes off as formulaic and rules-bound. But, merge a modern style within it and you open many doors to interpretations of design. People appreciate…

“NO MATTER WHAT GENRE OF DESIGN, IT IS ABOUT FINDING EQUILIBRIUM...” - DAVID HOWELL  Originally from New Zealand, architect David Howell has been successful with his New York architecture and interior design business for 20 years. His bathrooms fit with a masculine theme – although Howell does not make this distinction. “A good ‘masculine’ bathroom has a strong feminine component to it. If you have all hard lines and monochrome, there won’t be any humour or unexpectedness, so you’re left with something pretty dull. If you are able to instil trust in your client, you can take some risks and have fun with a mix of materials; otherwise the result can be too rigid in its conformity,” he explains. This feminine component could be in the form of a curved,…