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Indoor green
Bree Claffey: I have read that part of your brief to Robin Boyd was for a house based around ‘living in a courtyard’. Why was that idea important to you both?Mary Featherston:Our brief was for a...
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Future Ruins
Urbis: Black iron sand from Auckland’s West Coast beaches is used in some of your vessels. Why and is it difficult to collect and use?Ben Pyne: I use only the fine magnetic particles that give the sand...
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Inside story: Mimi Gilmour
There was barely any question Mimi Gilmour would end up in the restaurant business. She and her sister Sophie were raised in the fast-paced, foodie atmosphere surrounding their mother Emerald’s...
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Ideas man
Urbis: Your career has really taken off – you have kept up a role in Belgium, New Zealand and now a project in Italy. Are you surprised, shell-shocked, going with the flow or did you expect this to...
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Kuala Lumpur: Justin Lim
Artist Justin Lim is primarily a painter who uses his art to explore local traditions and issues affecting Malaysian culture. Social commentary or “what is happening around us” is the role of art, he...
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Interview: Pezo von Ellrichshausen
Aaron Paterson: Chilean architects, like yourself, Smiljan Radic and Alejandro Aravena, have all in different ways progressed contemporary architecture. What are your thoughts on the architectural...
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Buenos Aires: Segundo Denegri and Marcos Altgelt
After high school, Marcos Altgelt spent a year in New Zealand picking kiwifruit in Te Puke, followed by similar gigs in Tauranga and Hastings. The experience, he says laughing, “taught me endurance!”...
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Fourth dimension: Eduardo Navarro
“The first artwork I did was in collaboration with Mormons,” says the softly spoken Eduardo about his somewhat unorthodox yet increasingly successful career which has also seen him work with a...
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New Tropicália
Urbis: How did you come to design?Pedro Paulo Venzon:My father works with carpentry, and my mother is an artisan and seamstress. This proximity to making, to forms, to objects, and their relationships...
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Inside Story: Jessica Barter and Charles Walker
It is a feat in itself to pin down two of New Zealand’s top names in architecture for a mid-week, midday chat, but at Charles Walker and Jessica Barter’s villa in Grey Lynn, Auckland there is a sense...
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An eye for detail
You have a degree in fine arts – what was your major when you were at art school?Lauren Hare:I went to Elam [School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland] to paint, but after the first year I majored in...
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Structured void
When designer Eugeni Quitllet talks you get the sense he could have been a philosopher or motivational coach. In our 30 minutes together, he peppered the conversation with affirmations like:...
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Southern accents
Urbis:You moved to New Zealand when you were six years old; 30-odd years later, do you see yourself as being Kiwi?José:People say: ‘You’ve been here since you were six, you’re a Kiwi, get over it’. The...
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Guadalupe García Mosqueda
There is a stunning room at the back of Casa Cavia, Guadalupe’s second restaurant, which serves as a laboratory for scents. This artisanal perfumery, Fuegia 1883, crafts aromas based on poetic images...
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Shooting the peak
Camille Khouri: The photos in your show, Homecoming, were shot on the outskirts of the Pacific Rim. Can you tell us about some of the locations you shot in?Johnny McCormack: The works on show are a...
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Interview: Chris Gilbert
Urbis: Can you tell me about the origins of Archier, which you recently established with Josh Fitzgerald and Chris Haddad? Chris Gilbert: We originally met and became good friends at the University of...
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Q & A: Brian White
Amelia Melbourne-Hayward: How did you get interested in architecture – were you drawn to the profession at a young age?Brian White: I cannot remember a time when I wanted to do anything except...
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The Tastemakers
Rufus Knight: What are your memories of your birthplace Tehran? Nina Yashar:I do remember that in the 1960s, Tehran experienced a moment of great splendour. It was the time of the Shah. Unfortunately,...
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Invoking warmth: Thomas Hamel
Justin Foote: This issue of Urbis magazine is all about warmth, how do you set about creating a ‘warm’ aesthetic? Is there more than one way to achieve this?Thomas Hamel:To create a warm aesthetic the...
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Crafting cosy spaces
Justin Foote: Were you born in New Zealand?Antony Martin:Yes, I went to the University of Auckland, where I completed my degree in architecture, before moving to Melbourne for a few years. Then I went...
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