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The School

Last week I was very lucky and attended a roadshow class by the School and Brooke Holm on Photography 101. It was a fantastic half-day class full of useful tips on taking photos with your SLR and how to edit them. Here are a few tips that really resonated with me from the class:

• Digital photography gets more "crunched", so your colours / whites / darks aren't as strong if you're used to shooting with a film camera
• Think of your aperture and shutter as pedals - if one goes up the other must go down
• If shooting with natural light, ensure you turn off all other lights
• Spots with indirect light are best for shooting
• Always shoot the same thing twice, simply change your view of the item in the shot (as demonstrated in my images in this post)
• If shooting a print, take out the glass if you can to avoid reflection - if that isn't an option - hang a black cloth behind you
• When shooting products, simple backgrounds are best.

Here are some of Brook's tips for when shooting and the triangle of love. If you live in Australia or know if a class by the School - I highly recommend attending. These ladies really know their stuff and are a riot to hang out with!

Weekly Roundup 18 October

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you've all had a great week - how great is it to have that sun still shinning at 7 o'clock in the evenings? This weeks highlights include meeting some great new clients, sending off goodies to the Auckland Art Gallery (including some commissioned work just for their store), catching up with some great Auckland business owners, and doing a big tidy of the studio. This weeks roundup includes some great industrial finds. I really love the craftsmanship behind all these stunning pieces - you can tell their products are made with great love and skill.

1. Indie Home Collective is a beautiful new store in Newmarket full of Homeware, furniture, and florals. (image from here)
2. This beautiful saw horse desk is handmade in Indiana out of solid white oak.
3. How amazing is this Industrial Cage Table Lamp handmade in North Carolina.
4. I'm a huge fan of Stitch & Hammer! To keep up with their latest products be sure to follow their instagram.
5. You can't help but smile when you see a cloud cutting board, handmade in Germany.
6. This week I was introduced to The Horse by talented Julia from Studio Home.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

In the Spotlight - HAPA

This week I have the pleasure of sharing with you some inside information on one of our latest stockists - HAPA! Yuri and Maureen are co-owners and friends of this colourful shop located in the Re:Start mall, Christchurch.  I was lucky enough to photograph this colourful, fun shop last week when I was down in Christchurch. Yuri and Maureen are truly a lovely bunch and have answered our questions with great gusto! How did the idea of the store come about? YURI: Both Maureen and I thought of the same thing at the same time. And thought of each other too! So it was one of those things about being in the right place, at the right time. Opportunity after the disaster allowed us to make our dream come true. We both wanted to bring something new and interesting that would focus on unexpected and interesting quality design, art and craftmanship. Also, we both have complimentary skills that allowed us to launch this enterprise with a small budget and cover every aspect of the business without having to outsource. MAUREEN: After 17 years running the very successful design store The Vault, the February 22 earthquake brought things to a sudden and dramatic end for me and my staff. The store was demolished in August 2011, and once The Vaults owners in Auckland decided they didn't want to reopen in Christchurch, I decided to open my own design store. I approached Yuri to partner with me as I knew she had strong design, research and e-commerce skills, which would be a real asset in a business partner - and she said yes straight away! We managed to stock and fit out HAPA in a very difficult post quake environment, while the CBD was still under cordon. For 3 months we wore  jeans, hard hats and high vis vests every day! Its been crazy busy ever since we opened the doors - the first weekend that ReStart container mall opened 23000 people flooded back into the CBD area, it was a moving and emotional day for all of us. Why the name? This is one of the things we discussed the most when starting. It took us a long time to get to here... basically it came about from a book that I saw once whilst stranded in San Francisco airport (something I wrote about once in a e-zine, funny story too). The book HAPA was endorsed by Sean Lennon, son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. And it was about the identity of all those children of different nationalities/races. Mainly Asian Pacific mixed with anything else.. what it feels to be a Hapa (of mixed ethnicity, it literally means "half" in Hawaiian). The name is short, visually and phonetically interesting and describes us perfectly. We are two halves of one project. Both Hapas (me Spanish-Japanese) and in a city where there is this crazy mix of Old and New. It really represents where the world is heading too, the mixture that makes things interesting and minds more open and tolerant. And a rebellion towards being boxed into a category! We now sell the book at the shop too and it is a great talking point with many customers who identify with the concept. What kind of products do you sell? 85% NZ made and the rest very special items that we import from small indie brands or crafters. Jewellery, homeware, art, NZ music and gifts. Many one-offs, exclusive designs made in collaboration with us or for us. Lots of outstanding and quirky products that bring an element of surprise and quality. We like durability and love noble materials such as wood. What are the best and worst things about owning your shop? YURI: You work 7 days a week and 363 days a year, which is a bad thing but we cannot help it... Good things: working directly with talented people who inspire us. I personally love discovering new designers/creators that are starting and I can have some input in their development. Another great thing is the exchange with customers, so many lovely people out there who bring their smile into our little shop and make our day. All these tourists too, who fall in love with NZ and who want to support and show their care for Christchurch... Every day is different. MAUREEN: I would have to agree with everything Yuri has said - one of the many positives for me is providing employment for our wonderful staff, and income for over 150 local crafters, artists and designers - many of whom had lost outlets in Christchurch after the earthquake. We also support the local Design & Arts College and stock products with designs created by the students, as well as a dedicated exhibition space for them where we showcase their artworks and textiles. How do you find new designers / products to stock? Lots of hours on the net and at markets. Some people approach us directly too. We REALLY curate our stock, everything gets discussed and we both must be happy with it :) What song or album are you currently playing in the shop? YURI: Me, I'm obsessed with Shapeshifter's new album "Delta" (because it is very uplifting and brings a lot of energy to the space) or our ipod in shuffle with all the albums we sell (Iva Lankum, Ladi6, The Eastern, Maisey Rika, Lorde, Tiki, Fly My Pretties, Six60, Sola Rosa, The Adults, etc etc...) as well as some 80s Spanish albums so that I can sing along ahem.. MAUREEN: NZ music is a big part of life through our family business Tikidub Productions, so Im usually listening to the latest releases from a variety of local and national musicians. Current favourites are Delaney Davidson, Ahoribuzz and Louis Baker...my partner Blair influences my international listening as he listens to a wide range of music from the new Kanye West album to Elbow! What's your favourite creative outlet? YURI: One only?!!! I've got far too many!! But the internet provides me with a daily fix MAUREEN: For me its weaving with harakeke, reading, cooking my favourite treats, music, and embroidery - which I sadly don't have a lot of time for these days! Ive got to address my work/life balance! What are your top 5 websites/blogs at the moment and what makes them stand out? YURI: I wouldn't share some of them as they are part of how I find unique ideas but Pinterest and Facebook are great to help me discover new ideas. One things leads to another and then I end up spending far too many hours researching. Actually, living off my passion (looking for amazing things) is quite a lucky thing! From NZ I love Studio Home if I have to name someone... but my list of Bookmarks for design/lifestyle blogs and sites is endless. Just discovered bloglovin and that's helping me optimise my time. Maureen and I continuously send each other links! I typically receive 10-15 design related newsletters daily and have around 30-40 tabs opened in my browser that I look at regularly. That´s how I know what´s going on out there :-) MAUREEN: I've got several favourites, at the moment is definitely Studio Home and Fancy for down home talent, Design Milk for international inspiration, and the Sartorialist for a fashion fix :) Where can people find your physical shop and on the web? At the Re:Start container mall in Christchurch or online at www.hapa.co.nz (we only have a small selection of products online right now as many are one-offs and takes up a lot of time/energy to upload them, but it is increasing weekly). We have a strong presence on facebook where we share most of our new products (including Toodles Noodles :-) and what's happening in our city. All photographs are taken by Liora of Toodles Noodles

In the Spotlight - Gifted Design Store

This past week I was lucky enough to go back to my favourite New Zealand town - Wanaka! I positively love this lakeside town. It has an enormous charm, stunning scenery, great eateries, strong coffee - what's not to love!? While there I popped into one of my favourite stockists Gifted Design Store. I met Rachael and Caz at the last NZ Gift Fair and knew we would hit it off right away! If you're ever down south and in the area, make sure to pop into their store! Though beware you will want to purchase everything inside! Store Name: Gifted Design Your Names: Rachael Bowering and Caz Cruden Job Title: Co-owners Location: 19 Helwick st Wanaka How did the idea of the store come about? There was a real gap in the market when I started it 8 years ago. I use to go the city and covet the beautiful Design Stores wishing there was something like it in Wanaka!! Why the name? The designers we stock are Gifted! What kind of products do you sell? Homeware, Jewellery, Leather bags and wallets, Art, Stationery, Occasional furniture. What are the best and worst things about owning your shop? Best things are....Loving your job, talking to people who love what you’re doing. Finding exciting new product/designers. Worst things Wanaka’s shoulder seasons are a little slow.... need to be careful when ordering and staffing at these times. What's your favourite creative outlet? Changing displays....constantly. Also when new stock comes in. What are your top 5 websites/blogs at the moment and what makes them stand out?

1. Studio Home - We love Studio Home, Julia is constantly sourcing new designers and ideas to keep her blog fresh and addictive!!
2. Design Sponge
3. The design files
4. Fancy
5. Finders Keepers
6. Etsy

How do you find new designers / products to stock? New Zealand and Australian fairs, Magazines, blogs etc and they often find us – which is nice. What song or album are you currently playing in the shop? Nadia Reid – Letters I wrote and never sent. She played here in Wanaka last week. Where can people find you physical shop and on the web? 19 Helwick St Wanaka, Also our facebook page – Gifted Design Store