The Ö Series

What is your creative discipline?
I have a background in graphic design but in practice I'm more invested all around in marketing and as a curator of our retail space, which we refer to as a gallery.
 
What role does intuition play in your approach?
Intuition is important yes. On a given project or task I try to make the easy decisions first quickly and intuitively, then leave as much space to spend time on the hard puzzles. I try to let intuition lead and then go back for refinement with reason and critique. 
 
A common myth about your industry? 
That it's super glamorous and we're all regularly going on European buying trips!
 
Are there particular places, histories, or cultural threads you find yourself returning to?
Probably British influenced style is what I'm often drawn to, which was the strongest cultural influence when I grew up. Liberty of London and Houndstooth, for example. I also love reading illustrated books from our childhood by British authors to read to our daughter like the Giant Jam Sandwich. I wouldn’t turn down an E Type Jag either.
 
What has been a particularly memorable encounter/environment?
Visiting Farnsworth House, designed by Mies van der Rohe, which is located out of Chicago. One of the 20th century's most recognisable and daring houses of its time, it was designed for an educated but unmarried woman, completed in 1951. The house still feels ground breaking and controversial.
 
Least favourite interior trend? 
Colonial revival, from the 1970s. It was all about putting turned legs and flourishes on every piece of furniture and lots of dark brown furnishings.
 
Artwork to match the curtains, or the person? 
It depends on the person that chooses the curtains. But seriously no, of course, artwork to match the person. 
 
A must read?
At Home: A Century of New Zealand Design by Douglas Lloyd Jenkins (2004) is a reference book we loan out to all our staff for the best overview of New Zealand decorative arts we have found. 
 
A must listen?
Reese Witherspoon's speech from the Glamour 2015 Woman of the Year Awards. 
 
Favourite place to dine? 
Ada.
 
If you could undertake any project, without limits, what would you pursue?
A touring art and design event with a dialogue on new work from history's best designers like Verner Panton and Zaha Hadid. Exhibiting in locations like MoMA and the Pompidou.
 
One thing you can’t work without?
Beauty.
 
Advice you’d give to your younger self?
Accept the blank canvas and trust the process. 
 
You can invite any three individuals to dinner, who do you invite? 
I do actually have a list like this already. David Attenborough, Dave Grohl, Obama. 
 
A hero?
Princess Diana.
 
If you could live with any artwork of your choosing, which one would it be?
Michaelangelo’s series of unfinished Slave sculptures.  

November 27, 2025