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A Show & Tell with NZ designer Emma Hayes

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New Zealand designer Emma Hayes creates her beautiful textiles with signature dreeeeeamy washes of colour... Thanks to the organic nature of the designs and the way each piece is cut or printed, no two products are the same. When you own an Emma Hayes piece, you know you don't have something mass produced, but one of a limited edition run, the product of a very considered and hand-touched process. 

Emma's latest product is also my personal fave - her two (soon to be three) styles of wallpaper. 

Emma's watercolour brushstrokes form the River collection of bed linen, silk throws, cushions and prints.

The sweetest dreams...









From Emma Hayes' Ink collection

So, Emma - what was the journey to creating your own design business? 
I studied graphic design, and have worked in design and advertising agencies in the UK and New Zealand. During my time in London, I completed courses at Central St Martins, while also running a small boutique t-shirt label. 

On returning to NZ, I became more involved in designing textiles and prints for the fashion industry. 
I had been thinking about getting into textiles for the home for a while, and after finding a lack of pieces I wanted to buy for my own home, it seemed like a natural progression.  

Was there a point in your life when you took a big risk to move forward? 
I left a job that I loved but was not going to take me where I wanted to go long term! At the time I did question if I had made the right choice, but looking back I'm thankful for that decision. It has opened up many more opportunities and pathways. 



These photos by Richard Symons for The Department Store (stockists of Emma Hayes' products)


Tidal and River Wallpapers. Yes please.
  

Who are your creative heroes? 
I'm not sure about heroes, but I admire anyone who has got their own thing up and running.  Locally, there are lots of people who are building successful sustainable creative businesses…and I think David Moreland and Jamie McLellan are two local designers who produce great work. Arch MacDonnell at Inhouse Design is also an inspiring and amazing Creative Director who I have had the pleasure to work with over the years.   

What are you looking forward to?  
These photos (below) give some insight into our new collection, with the bed linen pieces out later this year, I'm really looking forward to having it all finished. It's always great seeing final shots of the pieces come together, and to be photographed in context.   



Fancy gets a first look at Emma's brand new Undertow collection - LOVE that wallpaper!

With all that you have experienced and learned, what advice would you give your younger self? Just do it. It doesn't have to be perfect before it gets out there. The important thing is to get it done so you can learn from the doing.   

What do you love to do in your spare time? 
Spare time is scarce! We have just moved into a new house, so at the moment everything has been about getting the place organised and feeling like home.    

What's on your personal wishlist?
There's an awful lot on the wish list… As a treat, I'm hoping to head along to The French Kitchen soon - the private dining space at The French Cafe where Simon Wright cooks in an open kitchen for an intimate number of guests. I'd love to own a (NZ artist) Kirstin Carlin painting. I really love the colours she uses and her honesty with paint.  

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Buy online at emmahayes.co.nz





New from Native Agent

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Native Agent have been making homeware-as-art for aaaaaages now - turning vintage NZ wool blankets, fabric scraps and contemporary embroidery into Native Agent cushions and quilts.

Their new Crystal Line collection caught my eye...  

Nuh-nuh-na-nuh-nuh nuuh-nuh-nah-na-na! Fancy SPACES

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Nana-na-nuh-nuh, nuuh-nuh-nah-na-na!
It's that jingle from The Block!
And I can't get it out of my head!
Nuh-nuh-na-nuh-nuh, nuuh-nuh-nah-na-na!

Love these white wooden floors, all scratched up and imperfect. 

The room equivalent of rolled up boyfriend jeans and an oversized white shirt.

Ceiling cat is watching you decorate.

Idea to Steal: vintage typewriter on the wall. 

That bench seat is whispering the secrets of my heart.

This blogger shares her work space with the home's living space... it's doable, see?

Lalalala-love that lemon rug (by Bobo Choses) and the leather wall straps!

Easy and breezy.


12 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9


Citta Design - new collection video

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A long, lazy feast shared with friends, a glass of wine... that's the good life. It's also the backdrop to this behind-the-scenes video from Citta Design's new Summer collection shoot. Hear from the whole Citta team including each of the designers, about what 'the good life' and summer means to them, and their personal fave pieces from the collection.

(Oh, and how to properly pronounce Citta!)

At Home with: Nicole from Sitting Pretty

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After studying a Bachelor of Design (Fashion) at AUT, Nicole from Sitting Pretty got into fashion buying, but left the industry to devote herself to making our cameras more awesome. As she gets Sitting Pretty off the ground, her studio is a spare room at her mum's farm near Muriwai Beach. 

My mum taught me how to knit when I was younger and I haven't done much since. But I have recently picked up my knitting needles again and become obsessed with handmade dish cloths... 

Amy is my number one girl... I have had her since I was 16 years old and has been perched beside me ever since. She is 9 now, but has always acted like a 90 year old dog so she suits my knitting hobby!!  

I sew every Sitting Pretty camera strap myself. I attach the leather part of my camera straps with my old Adler walking foot machine and the fabric part is done on this, my beloved Toyota plain sewer.  

My slippers are my footwear of choice when in studio mode!

Sitting Pretty straps on my pegboard. I have a couple of new fabrics in the pipeline - a nice lipstick pink, and a navy which is exciting... plus other designs that are a work in progress...

Fancy Stuff: Duvet Covers

It's in the details

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Grab a favourite book, open to a favourite page, display.  Done.

Stendig FINALLY availabubble in New Zealand!

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I remember blogging here about the Stendig calendar years ago - it's been on my personal wishlist for so long.  Designed in 1966 by Massimo Vignelli, the now-famous wall calendar has reproduced each year since - 47 years of awesome. It's so highly regarded in the design world in fact, that the Stendig is part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.  

It's BIG - three feet high x four feet wide - and it's bold. If you've been looking for one piece to act as a focal point, the Stendig will do it. 

The calendar sheets for some months are reverse printed (white numbers and letters on a black background) and every sheet is perforated so you can tear them away when the month's done. Stendig fans tend to use the removed sheets for gift wrapping and other crafty stuff. 

The Stendig is finally available here in New Zealand! Sky punch! 
(I always avoided buying one before, because the shipping costs were crazy high from the States).  
You can get your 2014 Stendig from LET LIV - $124.90, plus shipping. I'm pretty sure these will sell out... so maybe put your Christmas hinting face on now?

Natalie from LET LIV sent me my very own Stendig - I'm doing the running man of graphic design happiness! I've put mine on my studio wall, but my lounge is getting a bit jealous...





Thank you, Let Liv, for my Stendig. We are in love and having babies!

Stendigs in home's cooler than mine

I'm taking myself on a movie date to see this

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We all need more beautiful, grounding stories like this one (have a watch of the trailer). Gardening with Soul is an incredibly sweet, independent NZ documentary about a 90-year old gardening nun - Sister Loyola of Lyall Bay, Wellingon.

I plan to take myself on a little movie date to see it. Maybe you'd like to do the same... with your nanna or mum? It earned rave reviews at this years NZ International Film Festival, and it's be released again at cinemas around the country.

Fave: Antipodes

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I've said I love Antipodes skincare, but up till now all I've done is perv on it from afar. A shallow kinda love. Completely based on outward appearances. Who can blame me? This is one very very very good looking brand. The logo, the typefaces used, the simple cream and black colour palette, the poetic product names (Rejoice, Grace), that very cool metal tube packaging...

Then I read a little more, and discovered substance beneath the style. This boutique New Zealand business - started by Wellingtonian Elizabeth Barbalich - is now a global beauty brand. But more than that, it's a scientifically validated, organic beauty brand. And a genuinely groundbreaking one. If you want to use only natural ingredients on your skin, there's plenty of choice these days, but none of the others put their formulas through the level of independent scientific scrutiny and validation that Antipodes do. And the results are super impressive - here's one example - their Avocado Pear (yum!) Night Cream is proven to stimulate synthesis of collagen production by as much as 92%. They're also the first in the world to use an extract from Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc grape seeds as a potent, proven antioxidant. 

Antipodes is now sold in nine countries around the world and found on the shelves of some of the world's best department and speciality stores (Selfridges,  David Jones, MYER) and even online with ASOS. Elizabeth and her team are still based in Wellington, and last year, they opened the first flagship Antipodes Store at Wellington International Airport.

If I sound a little bit infatuated, it's because I am. Actually, no, not infatuated - it's a more meaningful kind of love. A bit like when find out that person you think's super hot is also really funny and really smart. It's pure, honest skincare - from New Zealand to the world - that does what it says on the (still very good looking) packaging. 

Fill my house with Meluka

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Please welcome to the line-up of Fancy homies... Meluka! I've had my eyeballs on this stuff for a few years now. Simple, clean, modular furniture, designed and made here in New Zealand - from sideboards to wardrobes, beds to bedside tables, storage to shelves and more. 

All able to be bought online, and created to suit you (for example: you can choose how many drawers or cupboards your sideboard has, choose their layout and colour...) I LIKE VERY MUCH. 




These pics only show a small selection of what they've got... check out the Meluka website here


Little Help Project

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The AS Colour Little Help Project is back on again and there are a bunch of NZ designers and illustrators in the Round One finals. One of them could win $5,000 - go here to see all the finalists and to vote.

And if you've got an awesome for a t-shirt design, Round Two is now open for submissions...

For a manly man with handsome hands..

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We can grow beeeeeards if we want to. We can grow BEARDS. 

It's not my first time posting New Zealand's shaving & skincare brand Triumph & Disaster, but I spotted some super-cool new photos, a new short video shot on Waiheke Island, and a couple of new products in the line-up, and wanted to share. 

If you're new to the brand, you might like to know that the name was taken from a line in Rudyard Kipling's famous poem - If - written for his son about what it is to be a man.










Pick n' Mix - yummy design finds

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Pretty-famous-blogger, designer and cool chick Joy (of Oh Joy!) just moved her blog bidness from her home to a sweet studio space. Yes, I am jealous.






PS: This is her daughter Ruby with a baguette. I am dead. Of cuteness.








































Iacoli & McAllister Copper Table. (Good looking-out, Nat)


All leather everything. (By designer Simon Hasan)







Meat & Bread in Vancouver aye. Best ever name for a sandwich joint... and a super cool fit-out too. 




Light bean by designer Katerina Kopytina





The just-launched third edition of Work/Life profiles 100 illustrators - with pictures of their work, their awesome studios, their sketchbooks etc. to give you a peek into the illustrator's work/life, and interviews that explore the ups and downs of being an illustrator, and what it takes to stay creative Watch the vid below... looks awesome, right? And it's only $25
























You know I love me a good notebook.



One Little Wagon

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NZ event stylist Claire Donaldson (of One Lovely Day) has the most rad new business - One Little Wagon. She's completely reno'ed a retro caravan,  and will be taking it to weddings and summer parties as the cutest travelling bar you ever did see. There's vintage caged miner's lights, a new white stone kitchen bench and antique-style tap, two new (huge) serving sinks, a chalkboard door, and lots of styling props and furniture so 'waggie' can be dressed up to suit whatever event she's going to. 

I'll take a strawberry cider in a mason jar.

Photo by Maggie Gardyne

Fancy Spaces

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Fave bits: polished concrete floors, and black cabinetry that gives the kitchen it's own zone.

Concrete ceilings!

Steal this idea: nesting tables un-nested for a coffee table.

Fine Little Day, indeed.

Guys, you gotta see the rest of this place...


Crazy embroidered linen mural! That would look rad in a retail fit-out.
I love the solo green chair amongst the mix of white chairs.

Upstairs...

...Downstairs

Mid-Century and Modern are BFFs


I would totally live here.
Fave bits: The gold light, the rug, and the leather slingback chair with those awesome cushions.



...and this is the same house. Ugh, it's just so good.


1  /  2  /  3  /  4  /  5  /  6  /  7 & 8  /  9  /  10 & 11



Lujo makes spaces fancy with their range of designer hammocks, ottomans and bean bag chairs.


I did this instead of going out

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Hooraaaaay! I finally got around to putting up my Sarah Maxey print in the bedroom!

We're renting, so I can't use nails, and lucky for me, Command sent me some of their fancy new Picture-Hanging Strips (thanks, pals.)

I've used their removable hooks before, and they do a good job - but these Picture Hanging Strips are designed specifically for picture frames so they're waaaay better. The frame sits right up hard against the wall - you know, flush. (Check out the close-up pic up there - lookin' sharp.) You just press the strips onto the back of the frame, then press onto your wall - easy peasy, no tools needed.

They come in white or black (for black frames) and there's three different sizes. This Sarah Maxey poster is a big A1 and the frame's pretty heavy, so I went for the large size which will hold up to 7.2kg. I've just ordered this print, so I'ma need to go and buy some more... If you want to get some too, they sell them at all the main NZ stationery stores, ware whare, Bunnings, Mitre 10 Mega...

This is a sponsored post for 3M Command, but all opinions are my own... and I promise you buddy, these little picture hanging strips are legit.

Daytime Naptime

Fancy X Dilana Rugs - Vote for your favourite & win

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OK, here we go....! I've designed four rugs that I'd love to have in my own home, and NZ's artisan rug masters Dilana are going to be making 2 of them!

AND we're giving both of them away!

ADDSOMEMOREEXCLAMATIONMARKS!!!!

T W O   R U G S,   T W O   S T Y L E S
One rug will be made using the traditional process of hand-tufting, a slow and careful process that requires a huge amount of craftsmanship. The Fancy hand-tufted rug will be created in Christchurch using the finest quality, 100% NZ wool. At the end of several weeks of making, we'll have a plush, dense, pure wool rug that's colour fast to the highest standards, a piece of design that you can keep in your family for generations. Valued at $3,500! And it could be yours (I'm already jealous of you).

The second rug will be what's called a 'Carpet Skin', made by machine and dye-injected. Carpet Skins are a more affordable way to get yourself a designer rug, and the digital process allows for more detailed patterns and designs, to fit any interior or room size. The Fancy x Dilana dye-injected rug that you could win is valued at just over $1000.

B I G G Y   B I G
These rugs are going to be nice and big. All the circular rugs will be 1.5m in diameter. The runner I've designed - if you guys vote it in - will be 3m x 0.9m... awesome, right?

Y O U C H O O S E
So, here's where you come in - you all get to decide which two rug designs get made, and by voting, you're also going into the draw to win one of the rugs!

Using the form below, tell me which design you like best out of my 3 designs for the hand-tufted rug  - and then which design you like best out of the 3 designs for the carpet skin. Use the name of the design. Don't forget to enter your name and email address, so I can contact you if you're one of the two winners!

Once I've tallied the votes, I'll announce the two designs we're going with (thanks to you guys), and then we'll go through the making process together with Dilana.










Ok, now it's time to tell me which Hand-Tufted Rug do you like best: So Fancy, Picnic or Signet?
And which Carpet Skin would you want to win: Aarhus (a runner for your hallway, kitchen...) My Dane or Arrange

Use the form below to vote, and enter yourself in the draw to win one of the Fancy x Dilana rugs. 

(Please note: Competition is only open to New Zealanders - I wish we could ship the rugs overseas but they are big and heavy!)




Voting is now closed. Want to see which two designs we're making? Go here.

Nice Day - new Cafe project by Material Creative

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Toni and Liv from Material Creative (you can see their work on Fancy here and here) have just opened their own teeny coffee joint, called Nice Day.

Nice Day is an itty bitty (only 7 square metres!) brick nook, at end of one of Auckland city's only true laneways - Durham Lane. 

A collabo between Material Creative and branding agency Post Creative, Nice Day was inspired, in part, by the few amazing hole-in-the-wall cafes that have popped up in Melbourne and New York. Apart from one original brick wall, the entire interior (even the counter) is tiled floor to ceiling in black. And making your brew, with Coffee Supreme beans, are two super friendly, talented baristas. Luckily, they're not also talented breakdancers, because there's definitely not enough room for a back-spin or a caterpillar in here. But the coffee is like Christmas in your mouth.

Jeremy Toth took the photos - high five.

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