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Show & Tell - we chat to Nellie Ryan

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By day, NZ designer Nellie Ryan creates print patterns and other visual elements for some of NZ's best-known fashion labels, and then by evening-and-weekends, creates her own Nellie Ryan range of children's prints. I love their vintage danish vibe and had to find out a bit more about the woman who makes them...


Are you working on Nellie Ryan prints full-time? 
No, the prints are my sideline passion,  I work full-time as a fashion/ textile designer and try to squeeze as many creative projects into my spare time as possible.   

What would you say to others wanting to pursue a career based on passion? 
... Start your business as a side project, that way you can test your product while still having a secure income.... be brave and go for it! 





Your Facebook Page describes you as a trend forecaster. Love that. What's coming up for 2014? 
Ha! Yes previously I freelanced for a London-based trend forecasting company called WGSN, which is a pretty amazing company that's all about forecasting colours, shapes, garments and graphics.  This really opened my eyes up to how to how trend intelligence is gathered and where ideas originate from and what influences design and fashion. 

Now I focus mainly on seasonal fashion trends for woman's wear.  What's coming up for 2014, hmm where to start... the lux sportswear look, painterly prints, clean lines, simplified fashion silhouettes with a nod to the 1990's fashion. With my personal work I want it to have a more timeless aesthetic to it, not necessarily be 'on trend'.   

What are you looking forward to? 
Summer camping and swimming with friends, making more creative things, and exploring Sri Lanka early next year.  

Sketches in progress...   
Nellie has created illustrations for Random House, Penguin Books, Harper Collins, Marie Claire and Tatler Magazine and the BBC.

One of the visual inspiration books Nellie has been filling for years. 

"I have about 8 of these books jammed with creative inspiration (before Pinterest days).  
Everywhere I travel I collect things I love that inspire me, vintage ribbons from India,
 pretty Moroccan sugar sachets,  vintage photos picked up from markets...."

Painterly pages...


What's on your wishlist? 
My big wish would be more creative space, a man cave for my boyfriend and a lady cave for me. At the moment we share our creative space, which he makes music in as well.  

What is your most favourite possession in your home? 
Probably all my books I love them all alike, I'm always referencing them for inspiration. It's hard to pull out a favourite, though there's one that's particularly great, I brought it in a second hand stall in Hamburg and it's full of beautiful photographs of the Miss World contestants from the 1940's, the styling is beautiful!  

Nellie's workspace, shared with her music-making boyfriend.


An original French Lotto poster Nellie brought in Melbourne years ago. 
"I love the bold colours and the simplicity of the design, it's my inspiration for my kids prints."



L A T E L Y,  I ' M...  L O O K I N G   A T : 
HBO's TV series Girls and the Messy Nessy Chic blog 

L I S T E N I N G   T O :
Lots of Grace Jones, Bryan Ferry, Nancy Sinatra and Au Revoir Simone 

T A S T I N G :
Avocados! And eating at my favourite place Cocos Cantina 

S P E N D I N G   W E E K E N D S:
Hopefully swimming and picnicking lots!



WIN! 12 Months of Homestyle Magazine - we've got 2 Subs to give away

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These awesome interiors are all from New Zealanders' homes, and just an itty bitty taste of what was featured in the pages of Homestyle magazine this year. It's fast become New Zealand's most current interiors magazine and I totally recommend a subscription. For yourself or as a gift or as a gift for yourself...

Do you buy yourself Christmas presents? I always get something amazing from my dog Company (he's not a very good speller but he always does a written gift tag.) If I wasn't already a subscriber I'd be signing up for 2014. It's crazy good value at the moment - only $37.50 for a year! That's a score, really - 30% off the normal price. A super cool present for your bestie too. Every time they get the latest issue in their mailbox, they'll be thinking lovely thoughts about you. 

I have two 12-month subscriptions to Homestyle to give away. Yaaaay!


Just use the simple form below to enter, with your name and email address. 
And hey, you need to have a NZ delivery address to win one of the subs, kay? Thanks.

If you've liked Fancy this year...

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If you've enjoyed FANCY this year - and if you're still looking for some awesome gifts for your most favourite people - I'd really love you to take a look around the online stores that support FANCY.

So please, go on, have a little browse... (a lot of them have free shipping or very cheap shipping, too.)













































Introducing a NEW Post Series! A DAY IN THE LIFE - with Yours Sincerely NZ Design Collective...

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All photography by the amazing Swift & Click


After graduating, Sam, James and Dan of YS Collective decided to pool their resources to live and work together, putting an every-day tonne of effort and heart into the design of their contemporary furniture. They live and breathe their fledgling brand. Awesome people making very, very cool things.





Thanks to Fisher &  Paykel for their commitment to New Zealand design 
in sponsoring Fancy's Day in the Life series.




Happy New Year!

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H E L L O,  2 0 1 4 !!
Boy am I glad to see you. You're gunna be an amazing one, I can feel it.

The 1st FANCY Post of the year, and it's a goodie! A Day In The Life of Sally Shand (Ragdoll Illustrations & Iko Iko, Wellington)

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Photography by Kate Battersby. Production by Kate Battersby & Alana Broadhead/Fancy

The babe'n Sally Shand lives in central Wellington with boyf Ryan. Her studio space is just a two-minute walk from home, above the flagship Iko Iko store in Cuba Street. From here, Sally works on her own indie homeware label, Ragdoll Illustrations (post coming very soon on Ragdoll products) and is also the in-house designer for Iko Iko. When she's not drawing, designing or screen-printing, she's riding her bike around the city, making the most of Wellington's awesome cafes and eateries and collecting and making treasures for her sweet little home. 



Thanks to Fisher & Paykel for their commitment to New Zealand design 
in sponsoring Fancy's Day in the Life series.



Fancy x Dilana - the rugs!

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Photography by the awesome Swift + Click, Styling by Alana Broadhead/Fancy




Trumpet-mouth sounds! Our Fancy x Dilana collaboration rugs are all finished and ready to give away to two of you lucky people!  

There's the So Fancy pure NZ wool rug, which was handmade by Dilana's artisan team (in their Christchurch workshop) and is valued at $2500. Then there's My Dane, our little Scandinavian-style striped number; a nice big 1.5 metres in diameter. When you win one of these, can I please come round and visit it occasionally? They're going to look so good in your house, damn you. 

We styled the rugs with some of my fave furniture and accessories from Paper Plane and YS Design, and I worked with Swift + Click again for the photos, because they're awesome.


You'll be able to enter the draw - to win your choice 
of either rug - in a few days...  

FRANK Stationery

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Photograph by Simon Wilson, with thanks to Idealog (full FRANK story in the Idealog Jan/Feb issue)

FRANK Stationery not only looks good, it helps you do good and feel good. Whenever you buy something from FRANK, Jason and Jess (Holdaway, that cute couple lying on the floor up there) give the exact same item to a NZ child in need. Did you know that loads of little kids in NZ are so poor that they don't have the basic school stuff like a backpack or books? Nah, neither did I. And neither did Jason and Jess, but when they found out, they decided to do something about it. The buy-one-give-one business model isn't a new one, but it's not embraced much here in NZ, and FRANK is definitely the first NZ design brand to do it. I say it's pretty awesome to know you're writing in the same notebook as you've given to a little kid who needed it. 


FRANK sells notebooks (for all your lists! I love writing lists!) in loads of different sizes and designs, plus backpacks, pencil cases and more.





Lots of colourways to choose from. I do appreciate a nice backpack.

These are some of my fave designs - but go check out FRANK to see the full range.

Haha, little dude throwing deuces and the cutest pink-backpack-wearing scary monster you ever saw. 


FRANK online store /  FRANK on Facebook /  FRANK on Instagram











Possibly INSIDEOUT'S best issue. Ever-ever.

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You have to have a look at the Jan/Fab (excellent typo) issue of Inside Out! It's my new rule! But for really real though, the brand new issue is possibly their best ever. And these few pics are just a leeeedle lick of ganache before you get the whole cupcake.


This Sydney home was styled by Andrea Miller and photographed by Prue Ruscoe.






So. much. goodness. Awesome pics from Inside Out's Home Grown story (the Australian design scene is so strong now), with styling by Mr. Jason Grant and photos by Sam McAdam-Cooper.

I KNOW, right? This is the home on the magazine's cover - and all the other rooms in this house are JUST as amazingly beautiful and idiosyncratic. (Good word!) Photography by Lisa Cohen and Styling by Heather Nette King.

I N S I D E O U T   S H A R E M Y S T Y L E

If you love the interior style you've created in your own home - or a little corner of it - you can share pics with Inside Out and their readers (a bit like an online social club for interior design nerds), and maybe even win some prizes or a photoshoot at your place with the Inside Out team. eeeeeeeee! To see what I'm talking about, go to insideout.com.au/sharemystyle

Tangle Stool by NZ designer Clark Bardsley

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Today's something awesome is the new Tangle stool - with oiled NZ pine top - by NZ designer Clark Bardsley. (He also made the Cloud lightshade I featured here). Clark's selling his first limited run of these stools (the version with the plain steel legs - white, charcoal or red) at the moment. They're $345, but if you want one, you'll have to be lickedy about it. 








AND - two nice things

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Blush pink buddies.

The new Crystalline cushion by Native Agent(handmade from NZ wool blankets) 


Limited edition Douglas and Bec for Kate Sylvestermug.

Happy weekend! For your enjoyment: The first FANCY Pick n Mix of 2014

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Happy weeeeeeee-kend! 





Now this is a yoga studio I could get with - exposed brick, neon lettering sign, pineapples everywhere (they're the brand icon)... Yoga 213 in Melbourne and now in Sydney's Bondi, founded by a 23 year old woman with an awesome easy style.













This huge gold Raw Spun Light (by UK designers Deadgood) can't decide if it's glamorous or industrial. I like the confusion.


I like Laura Slater's patterns.




New Californian juice bar with a Scandi modernist vibe. (Apologies for using the word VIBE. VIBEY VIBEY VIBE.) Those geometric timber walls are so, so good. 



I bet these twist cups make everything taste like a kiss from a unicorn whilst napping on a cloud eating a delicious spongecake. Handmade by ceramicist Maria Linlott.





I've shared stuff from Studio Meez before - Karolien's cute apple-shaped cushions - and like to check back on what my faves have been up to. What Karolien's been up to is making these cool new soft-but-sturdy storage containers. Lovely!


Reeeeeeeeally would like this desk set for my office. By the amazing Daniel Emma (for Field) - leather mousepad, soapstone bookends, copper container/paperweight and turned pine pen pot.


Sunday means FANCY Spaces

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That WINDOW though!!
(P.S: I plan to get myself some proper American-style string lights this year. It's important to have goals in life.)

Anyone got an old warehouse they want taken off their hands?

It's really, really OK. 


Steal that idea: use a vintage drop-side-table to create a half-circle that can sit flush against a wall. Cute and space-savery. PS: I like the windowsill that's been (the owner must be a miniature person) turned into a window seat.

To me, bedrooms are best when they're not fancy.  Just be yourself, bedroom.

Ha! I see you, Crocs. Don't think I didn't I see you there.  
(The Cloud bedding is actually called Moln, and is a super-famous Swedish design, created all the way back in 1967 by Gunila Axén.  You can get it online here)

Steal that idea: two drawer units as desk legs. This little space looks a bit secret attic-y (secret loft-ish) which makes it even more lovely. (Where's Alana? I dunno, she disappeared about 6 hours ago. Her car's still in the drive though...)

This blogger has such a great home.

Teeny tiny entranceway of awesome

It's dahlia season at the moment. Pick yo own. 



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Storehouse Cafe, Taupo

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Photo by Ben Crawford

Photo by Ben Crawford

All photos thanks to Kate Battersby  - except where noted as Ben Crawford, from his coffee table Cafe book, Built for Caffeine

Brad Dellar and Sam King always wanted to open a cafe together, somewhere they could show off all the vintage furniture they'd been collecting and restoring. Their one-day-dream-space had sort of faded into the background noise of jobs and rent and life... that is, until Brad spotted a To Lease sign in the window of an old warehouse, a 2 minute walk from Taupo's main shops. 

Squinting through the window, he saw the super high ceiling and exposed beams, the central staircase up to a mezzanine floor, the brick walls... and started to get excited about the cafe idea again. With no real money to put into it, they signed the lease anyway and then figured out how they'd make Storehouse happen. Sleeves rolly up time...

They found a way to do everything themselves - painting, tiling, carpentry, becoming competent baristas.... and friend favours were called in - designing the logo, designing the menu (pulled pork and apple slaw sliders, anyone?). Brad's wife Melissa played a big part in the fit-out too, giving up her career as hairdresser to make her florist dream a reality from the new cafe. Daisy Chains and Paper Planes sells fresh stems and posies every day, and delivers locally.

Open 7 days, Storehouse serves Kokako coffee (espresso, chemex and amazing cold brew), and sells a revolving range of vintage furniture and bikes restored by Brad and Sam, and contemporary homeware.

I also wanted to mention this: Brad was made redundant 12 weeks before Storehouse opened, but it ended up being a huge blessing, it meant he could pour himself into the cafe. Looking back, he's not sure how he and his wife managed week-to-week, but life just seemed to conspire to help them. I hope you're listening out there... if you were looking for a sign, this is it!

Dun-dada-duuuuunn.... Your chance to win a FANCY x Dilana Rug:

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It's time! Time for me to get out my hanky and wave goodbye to these two rugs, because two of you are going to win them!

My Dane carpet-skin, designed by Alana Broadhead / Fancy for Dilana Rugs
Photography by Swift + Click, styling by Alana Broadhead / Fancy


So Fancy hand-tufted rug (100% NZ wool), designed by Alana Broadhead / Fancy for Dilana Rugs
Photography by Swift + Click, styling by Alana Broadhead / Fancy



Like FANCY on Facebook (only if you don't already), or

Like Dilana Rugs on Facebook, or 

Mention this giveaway on your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account 
- say/share whatever you like, just link back to this post.



Come back here and fill in the entry form below. Done!


If you voted on your favourite rug design back when we first started this process, you're already in the draw - but can enter again now for more than one chance at it. Please note: You've gotta live in NZ or have a NZ delivery address to win.




APlus design rolling out some delicious work \ Cool new Meatball & Soda spot...

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Never not impressed with the design work coming out of Auckland studio, APlus

Particularly their identity for new Auckland eatery, Bedford (great name) - where you mark your menu with a whiteboard marker to order. Meatball subs and pitchers of handmade soda? Hell yes!



APlus also did the identity and assets for Citizen Park...





Show & Tell: Larnie Nicolson, Photographer

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NZ photographer Larnie Nicolson travels our country, visiting houses and offices made into amazing homes and studios, and the fascinating people who live and work in them. Dream job, lady. Dream job. Larnie actually started out as a graphic designer, but one who spent more time taking photos than anything else. So, a fair few years after graduating, she went back to Uni and 'started again', this time earning a degree in photography. Now based in Auckland, Larnie's photography portfolio spans over a decade, filled with shoots for our best magazines and creative agencies. Last year, she and LeeAnn Yare published their first book together - NZ Interior Style and are currently shooting for a second book, due out later this year.




























The teeniest of selections from Larnie's portfolio

You've been a freelance photographer for over ten years now. What leaps of faith or challenges have you overcome?

Yes, so many challenges! I had been living overseas for several years after initially studying Graphic Design and I decided to come back and study photography. At 27 this was hugely challenging but I absolutely loved it and turned out I was a bit of a nerd who did quite well.

 Luckily when I started my business I was completely naïve and the thought of failing honestly didn’t cross my mind. Saying that, there were many dark days when I was trying to start my business and didn’t really have a portfolio but I persevered – I had no choice! About a year after I graduated I spent a month in San Francisco and New York and shot 7 or 8 stories for Urbis and Architecture NZ and that kick-started everything for me.   But yes, many, many leaps of faith are needed when you start a business and anyone who has done it will agree.

What would you say to others wanting to go out on their own and pursue a career based on passion?
Don’t expect to make any money for the first few years!  

Sort out your systems early on when you are quiet. For me it was needing to bring order to the thousands of images which can quickly overwhelm. I also completed a business course and wrote an extensive business plan. This helped immensely because I then had a direction to take the business that had lacked previously.

on the job



Larnie's desk. 

Part of the co-working studio space with Supply.  I'd bags the yellow chair during meetings.


What are you looking forward to at the moment?
Hanging with family and friends, diving, surfing and road trips over summer. I’ve just bought my first home so I'm looking forward to moving in in the end of this month!

My second interiors book with stylist and writer LeeAnn Yare is out this October so that is super exciting too.

Larnie's Home Sweet Home. Love those concrete-block shelves!


Pouf Envy (haha)





What is on your wishlist at the moment?  
Practical things like a new kitchen and new carpet for my new place.  Once I’m settled in I’ll be taking a drive to the SPCA to choose my cat which I’ve wanted for so long but couldn’t have in my rented place. I’ll probably come home with three!

What is your most favourite possession in your home? What about in your studio?
I share an office with Supply who are a Design and Interactive company (they did my website) and they are awesome! Apart from them it’s the pinball machine – it’s a good break from hours of processing some days.

At home I love my secondhand chair that I had recovered in powder blue material, my mustard yellow pouf that my Mum bought me, the Beast Rug, Sacrificial chair and Birdhouse Bookcase that I’ve just received from Thing Industries in the States which are in my bedroom. However this all pales in importance to my photos which are on hard drives and are very precious.








You've made a name for yourself as an exceptional interiors photographer. Aside from amazing homes, what do you most love to shoot?  
Well any magazine art director will tell you I am totally obsessed with animals, so I make them model for me in any shoot I can. I love road trips and shooting landscapes but there might be something quirky that catches my eye. I like the everyday occurrences that just happen and I think photographers in general have a hyper sense of what is going on around them.

Commercially as well as interiors I enjoy shooting construction and working for design agencies but actually I’m just happy to work. It’s such a challenge running your own business that part of the fun is helping your clients fulfill part of their marketing brief which in turn helps grow their business which of course good photography does do.

L A T E L Y,   I ' M  L I S T E N I N G  T O...
Foals, Killers, Lorde, The Shins, Arcade Fire, The National, old school music like Led Zeppelin and The Stones. Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday are so chilled and we play Bfm at the studio.

T A S T I N G...
The free-range scrambled eggs at Cool Food (in Bloc, Mt Eden) are sooo good, as are the corn fritters at Bambina café on Ponsonby Rd.

W A N T I N G   T O  V I S I T...
Diving the Poor Knights – I’ll be doing that this summer. The diving in Palau is meant to be amazing too but that is a distant dream for now. I’ve heard nothing but great things about Vietnam so that will probably be the next international place I go to. Can’t wait!



New City Barbers

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New City Barbers takes inspiration from the new/old/new barbershops of New York, and invites Christchurch's menfolk in to hang out and get handsome with a hot shave, hair cut or other manly-man-grooming. Tucked in a hard-to-find corner of Christchurch's post-quake CBD, New City Barbers is small but perfectly formed - think brick walls, vintage couches, worn leather chairs, art deco mirrors, wooden floorboards... You'll be greeted by the sartorial Chris Terry, offering you a locally-brewed craft beer, a whiskey or a coffee. There's no appointments, so just turn up and take a seat boys, join in the conversation that will undoubtedly be going on, read a mag, play some darts. Then get yourself a proper cut-throat razor shave or a dapper new hair-did. 

Images from The Flock (awesome design store in Christchurch) and Neat Places.

Pick n Mix

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I found new things that I think are worthy of your awesome eyeballs.  



I was just going to show you Woodlark's minimalist leather bracelet with brass hardware. ommy-nom-nom. But how could I not share that sweet pupperoo with his leather and brass collar, or Woodlark's beautifully simple, handcrafted envelope clutch. Woodlark is the work of young designer Ashley Lopes.




Rifle Paper Co.'s first ever look-book is e-ve-ry bit as wonderful as you'd expect it to be. 
(Styling by Rifle Paper Co. founder and girl-crush-of-mine Anna Bond, and floral designer Anna Merrick). I'm a little late on this one - but it's so awesome that I don't care wave your hands in the air. 

PS Penpal: Did you spot those heavyweight brass-handled scissors in the floral shots? Me too! They sell them here in NZ at Douglas and Bec. Handmade (fair-trade) in India and will develop their own unique patina over time as all brassy bits do.



If my home had an old brick tile roof I would most definitely be buying one or three of Dutch designer Klaas Kuiken's Birdhouse Rooftiles! Available to buy online here.


I sort of love everything that kid's boutique Bobo Choses do. Like this new teeny rug for teeny feets. Would still look awesome in my studio.





Our options in the non-boring duvet covers continue to get bettererer and bettererer, but no-one's really been making awesome and affordable sheets. Till now - hello, Fictional Objects. I like your flat and fitted sheets and I particularly like that they fit in their own nice neat little fabric case because WHO KNOWS HOW TO FOLD UP THOSE FITTED SHEETS? No-one, that's who. I just roll mine into a big ball and squish it between a few nicely folded things. Sneaky.


Reason 7,564 to visit Stockholm - this sweet new store called (translated) Concrete Mine.



Ha! Triangles, with your three sides. Now this - this is a shape - icosahedron. Brass Paperweight by the consistently great Still House (New York and online)




Happy weekend, lovers.

Fancy SPACES!

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Come on in! I'm making flapjacks on my AGA.

This home is just beautiful. Adorable sunlight-soak office with herringbone floors...

...and the cutest little kitchen you ever did see.  



























So many great bits - chopping boards with leather straps on display, vintage centre bench with storage and my fave... the grid effect of the tiles. Grids are the new stripes.







































See what I mean? So good.












































Studio, sweet Studio. 


Cute little texture and pattern details from this great blog

OK, that'll do ya. 



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