North Island Typographical Tour - Manawatu and Wellington

This Summer I went on a North Island road trip with my partner. We had a wedding to attend in Greytown and I had a big open water swim in Taupo so we decided to spend some time on a friend’s Taranaki dairy farm in between. Inspired by some nice typography on some signage in Greytown a little holiday photography project was born. I started to look out for different type (at first, Art Deco) on the buildings as we travelled through the Manawatu (found some beauts in Whanganui) and on to Taranaki. It eventually turned into a bit of an obsession which probably made for irritating slow progress as far as my partner was concerned, as I requested we pull over so I could take a picture of yet “another building”.

I’m not sure where the resulting images sit. Somewhere between a collection of type, Victorian and Art Deco facades, shop signage or a few snaps of small town New Zealand? Perhaps it doesn’t even matter. It’s certainly testament to how much fun a little project can be and the different things you can see if you look up, instead of straight ahead as you walk down the street.

Sydney - Potts Point Deco

I love Sydney. There’s a ton of cool swim spots, great places to eat out and some lovely architecture if you like Art Deco, which I do. According to Wikipedia Potts Point is the site of some of Australia's earliest apartment buildings so as a result has the highest concentration of Art Deco buildings in Australia. I took these pictures as I wandered through the suburb using type as a loose basis for a project but then segueing into taking a few snaps of the gorgeous geometric doorways and foyers of these buildings.

I love that many of the buildings have names and not just adjective-driven ones. Perhaps giving buildings nice names is something we should do more in Christchurch as the rebuild ramps up.

On the Dutch Craft Beer Trail

One thing I’ve definitely developed during my five and half years in NZ is an appreciation for good beer. Where ever I go if I feel like a beer, it's fun to seek out the good, local stuff. One night whilst visiting Utrecht, my brother and I headed out on our bikes and after zipping around taking in the sights of Medieval Utrecht at twilight, we pulled up at great little bar, parked our bikes and headed in to sample a brew or two. I intended to take a quick snap of the pumps so I’d have a record of what we were drinking – I was never going to remember after two glasses 8% beer! However I forgot, so the names of those flavoursome brews will remain a mystery; though I can definitely recommend the Cafe Derat on Lange Smeestraat.

Two days later I was on the hunt for some more Dutch beer so ventured into the awesome Burt's Beirhuis on Twinjestraat. The beers in the images, from Maximus Brouwerij, caught my attention with their beautifully illustrated labels and not only that, they were brewed in Utrecht! Perfect! I got to appreciate the fantastic design of the beer labels as well as some local craft beer.

Visting the Rietveld Schröder House

Rietveld Schröder House

I visited Utrecht this NZ Winter for three days. I haven’t been to the Netherlands for years so it was a pleasure to go back there and also explore a town I hadn’t visited before. Utrecht is really lovely and positively ancient in comparison to Christchurch. After five years in NZ I was fully appreciating the old world Dutch-ness of it all with the narrow cobbled streets, canals and gorgeously wonky buildings. I was especially excited to find out that Utrecht is home of the Rietveld Schröder House. Even though I studied De Stijl in university and selected the movement as a topic for an essay, I hadn’t made the connection that Urecht was the home of the Rietveld Schröder House. I was stoked – nice one Tripadvisor.

You have to book a specific slot to visit the Schröder House so allowing plenty of time to reach my destination I set off, in proper Dutch fashion, on my one speed bike… and proceeded to get hopelessly lost. I had to stop a passing biker for directions who first gestured me the right way but then took pity on me and said he’d take me there himself as I’d “never find it otherwise”. How right he was.

As I’d missed the start of the tour I was hurried through the downstairs section in literally 30 seconds and told I could look through windows afterwards by the rather dour museum person.  It didn’t matter though, the upstairs was by far the coolest part with its sliding panels and multi-functional living spaces and I got to see the famous red and blue chair with my own eyes too. Although you’re not allowed to sit in it. 

It just goes to show how timeless good design is, the red and blue chair is nearly 100 years old but it’s still got a decidedly contemporary vibe about it. And the house itself is 90 years old and yet has a more radical approach to use of space than many contemporary homes to do. Access to nature was also an important part of the design. Every room, or area, in the house has outdoor access be it through a door or a balcony; although the house now faces a motorway that was built in the 1960s, which impacts on the nature side of things somewhat.

I was so glad I had the opportunity to visit the Rietveld Schröder House, it was brilliant. After taking a little time to peer through the windows of the downstairs, I set off again on my bike and managed to get straight back home without getting lost.

Delftware meets De Stijl

Front entrance with reading room on the left and kitchen window on the right

Volunteering at FESTA 2014 part 2

CityUps was the main event of the FESTA programme for this year. Architecture students took over two blocks of the city centre and to build massive installations which represented their vision of a future Christchurch. CityUps was a big night for Christchurch, there were pop up cafes, a night market, a dance hall, street games, live music and loads of other things happening underneath the installations, it looked amazing!

Quintessentially Christchurch: a City Up featuring a whole lotta traffic cones

Cakes by Anna at the City Ups market

Sculpture I Like Your Form by artist Lonnie Hutchinson was specially lit during FESTA