What a relief not to be exhibiting at either the Sydney or Auckland Gift trade shows someone really needs to check the calendar! 
 We are opened all days and even later than the tradeshows in the heart of Ponsonby. Which is about to explode with retail developments.

I get the feeling the industry is on the road to getting another slap. Over the last 30 years its done nothing but stagnate compared to the growth of other sectors ie music wine, food, fashion, design, technology.
Now its got to the point where it can be dominated by a few individuals at the expense of the viability of a whole industry. Step out of line and suddenly its very difficult to do business.
It wasn`t so long ago Eon Design store died at the expense of a huge number of suppliers, they dominated for over a decade if you weren`t in, you were not good enough was the unwritten byline for media, consumers, trade buyers to senior government officials, well it looks like its about to happen again.
Which leaves an export potential industry and the ability to employ thousands  without any major retail front representing (dominating)  NZ Design since Eon went belly up, add to that a lack of a sound Industry structure as would be expected of any other Sector in NZ leaves us all worse off.

We weren`t in Eon or any other store that required exclusivity to the Auckland region or who dithers for months trying to make up there minds whether they are coming or going.
Well I guess its gone wasn`t it?

As you will guess we haven`t been sitting around twiddling thumbs.
New products and directions and some big plans as well as alot of Art shows
Table lamps a reworking of the Waltz sculpture  as table lamps distinctive and each one unique

Retro Range  going back to the 50`s and 60's with new ceramic lamps, jewellery and some might say with an Australian touch hardly surprising as I discover my family connections in Melbourne from 1841!

Big Design Market  December last year for the first time, 170 Australian & NZ designers exhibited at the Royal exhibition hall in Melbourne, it was stunning! If you want unique products for your stores this is where you can find them. Life instyle never had this many designers exhibiting and most if not all are wholesale. ....more

White Night 59 Galleries and one Artist Studio -US! are open till midnight 16 March the Council has laid on several buses to help move people as well. For the first time ever we are opening up the back studio creating an outdoor gallery, we have invited other artists to show as well.  No fees  & No commission because we think some artists just need an opportunity to get started.....more

By the time of the next trade show a 200sqm metre space with rooms sets showing off a new range of exterior objects!

Chan Andreassend are part of the White Night Gallery event- 60 of Aucklands Galleries are open till midnight for One Night. The store is open, a gallery out the front and for the first time ever opening up the back studio and turning it into a 200sqm outdoor gallery space . We are in the heart of Ponsonby and just around the corner from some of Ponsonby`s notable Galleries.

If you want to exhibit as well give me call.  There is no commission or exhibition fees the only requirement is to help with setup and publicity.
Why?
With co-operation greater things can be achieved to the benefit of all and because I can.

Only a couple of weeks out from The Big Design Market 7-9 December at Melbourne`s Royal Exhibition Hall. The exhibitor lineup is everything I could want in a show and is sure to become the leading source to buy Australian made and designed Objects plus of course New Zealand and a few other places.

No doubt it will also attract Store buyers  looking for the `latest you won`t see anywhere else`, as most don`t exhibit at existing Trade Shows in either Australia or New Zealand.

The Big Design Market website

I was asked to bring the ceramic anvil light and feather rings, then got  surprise when I realised they were first exhibited in 2005 in LA, Melbourne and Paris and almost forgot............ NZ Fashion week all in the same year.
So having a lot of fun relooking at the ideas and creating some new pieces. As always pushing it to the limit,  things will be finished and arrive just in time for the opening.
This trip is extra special  I`ll be meeting my Melbourne relatives for the first time and 171 years of family history to discover!

Taking another look at the anvil with ideas reflecting machine gears and cogs and ended up looking like lace. The version with the trimmed ends is being detailed with cast resin, both hopefully ready for The Design Market in Melbourne 7-9 December.

The anvil is part of family history and the worktools series. My mum`s grandfather and great grandfather, both named John Robb were blacksmiths from Scotand settling in Canterbury in the late 1800`s. The original anvil belonged to my Dad`s grandfather Albert, a seaman from Stamsund a village inside the Norwegian Arctic Circle.

Funds raised support NZ Women's Refuges       
Using the beauty and creativity of art to help the victims of domestic violence.

Fort Takapuna Historic Reserve is home to NZ Sculpture OnShore which opens on Thursday, November 8 and every day through to Sunday, November 18. It is one of the North Shore’s least known parks, but a magnificent cliff top site for the biennial sculpture exhibition.


www.nzsculptureonshore.co.nz/

NZ Sculpture OnShore 2012 promises not only a variety of sculpture in different materials and styles. You will find works both big and small appropriate for gardens of all sizes, and affordable works as well as major collectible pieces. 

Smaller art sculptures will feature in our indoor Sculpture Gallery in the Officer’s Mess building.

A slice of New Zealand has just opened in Clarke Quay Singapore, complete with NZ wine, food, art as well as the largest resin commission to date.
Fern & Kiwi was designed by Stewart Harris of Martin Hughes Interiors NZ. 
The project required 50 back illuminated greenstone resin panels and pierced ceramic cube  lights for the VIP area. Each panel was 700 x 500 and 4 kgs each. 
Other projects for Stewart include Vomo Fiji, Westin Viaduct Harbour, Sky City Spa, Hilton Queenstown ranging from ceramic & resin wall lights, paintings, resin vases and decorative objects.
 

It hasn`t been without its controversy Fern & Kiwi`s  opening impromptu Haka, got them into a bit of strife with the authorities.