{ DESIGN POST }

As a new mum, designer and a book lover, I am constantly stumbling across, and on the look out for, amazing books for babies. The best ones I have found so far are these BabyLit books which are a fun and fashionable way to introduce babies and tots to classic literature. I have bought Alice in Wonderland, and Romeo & Juliet, but would love to extend my collection to the whole series. I love reading them, as much as my 4 month old loves looking at the colourful illustrations. She is going to grow up loving books as much as her mum does!

Carina x

{ Inspired By }

Our multi-talented Wellington store Sales Manager Nikki was also a contestant on this year's Masterchef 2014. Luckily this means she shares some of her delicious recipes with us! Taking inspiration from our new season collection inspired by the Vietnamese city of Hanoi, Nikki and Jordan have provided us with their recipe for Vietnamese Pork Baguette (Bánh mì). Enjoy!

Ingredients for the Vietnamese Pork:

●     1 pork loin, approx. 800g
●     3 stalks lemongrass, roughly sliced (white parts only)
●     1 small chilli, roughly chopped
●     2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
●     1 cm piece of ginger, roughly chopped
●     2 tbsp fish sauce
●     2 tbsp soy sauce
●     3 tbsp palm sugar, shaved
●     1 piece of star anise, roughly crushed
●     1-2 Tbsp cooking oil

Ingredients for the baguette:

●     1 long baguette, the softer the better (warmed, divided into four and cut open)

●     250g French paté (pork or chicken liver)

●     250g Vietnamese style shaved pork

●     ¼ Lebanese cucumber, seeded and julienned

●     1 carrot, peeled and julienned

●     2 spring onions, thinly sliced

●     ¼ cup rice vinegar, warm

●     ¼ cup white sugar

●     ¼ cup of mayonnaise (Japanese kewpie works very well)

●     1 long red chilli, seeded and thinly sliced into strips

●     ½ cup mung beans

●     small handful of south-east Asian herbs, such as coriander, Vietnamese mint, or Thai basil

●     sriracha hot chilli sauce (optional)

Method:

1. Place all ingredients to season the Vietnamese pork in a small food processor and blend to a paste.
2. Coat the pork well in the paste, then leave to marinade overnight in a ziplock bag or similar.
3. Cover the loin loosely with foil, and bake in oven at 160° for about 20 minutes, or until medium.
4. Heat a heavy based frying pan with a touch of oil and sear sides of pork quickly.
5. Allow to rest before slicing thinly.

6. To assemble your baguette, mix the rice vinegar and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Pour over the cucumber and carrot and leave aside to pickle for 30 minutes.

8. Place a generous amount of paté on each baguette piece, followed by some pork, mayo, mung beans, pickled carrot and cucumber, and spring onions. Decorate with some herbs and chilli or sriracha hot chilli sauce and then serve.

{ This Week In The Office }

Along with having Carina back in the office last week, we welcomed a new team member to the studio – meet 

Dave Moreland!

Dave will be working on a new Citta Design furniture collection to be launched early next year. We're very excited about having an in-house furniture designer and we can't wait to see what he produces for us. 

Take a look at examples of Dave's work above, or head along to his website here.

{ Snapshot }

Nature is always an amazing source of inspiration for me. In my garden this week I noticed a spider's handiwork beautifully covered in little droplets of glass-like dew. 

Sarah x

{ Colour of the Week }

Osaka, Japan. March 1970

Another gem from the National Geographic Found tumblr. I adore the colours, and the happy mood; the wet reflective streets and all the lights. It reminds me of Hong Kong, where I always felt this same excited, bubbly sort of expectant vibe…

~ Amy 

{ This Week in the Office }

Im back! After 4.5 months off on maternity leave I returned back to the office on Wednesday. It felt a bit strange leaving the little one behind, but it was also nice to have adult conversation, and interaction, about things other than baby... mind you, anyone that was willing to listen had to hear me talk about how wonderful my little girl is!

Carina x

{ Inspired By }

GAVIN HURLEY

I was lucky enough to see the tail end of Gavin Hurley's exhibition at Melanie Roger Gallery. Most of the works had already sold but our art group managed to buy one of the few last great pieces, 'Switch Board'. There is something I really like about the simple cut-out shapes and retro feel that has this all-important 'Mad Men' aura to it. I would love to get another one and make a pair.

BY HOLLY CLARKE

{ DESIGN POST }

Last month I started a three part series on my talented 13 year old niece Lola Houghton, and her inspirational hand made entries into the Schools Trash to Fashion Awards 2012, 2013, and 2014. 

Today's post is all about Lola's 2013 entry, for which she won first place for her category (for the second year running). Lola's ideas, her design sensibility and her calm and thoughtful onstage presence are, I believe, what makes her stand out so beautifully.

These are her own words about this stunning design, named 'Farthest Boreal':

"I wanted to make a garment about the melting of the polar ice caps and 

the impact that this has on the animals that live there. Polar bears and 

other creatures are dying because their habitat is being destroyed, and I 

wanted everyone in the audience to see and feel that when they look 

at my garment.

I had the idea of sewing McDonald's packaging inside the skirt to represent 

one of the main causes of global warming and the melting of the icebergs: the 

fast food industry. Lots of people don’t realise that the fast food industry is 

causing global warming. It’s hidden, just like the McDonald’s packaging on 

my dress. But when you look underneath, you realise what is really causing 

the problem.

I picked McDonald's to represent all the fast food chains because their 

packaging is red, which contrasts nicely with the vibrant white of my 

dress and also symbolises blood and death for animals. It’s like you are 

sticking a happy face on something that is partly responsible for 

global warming.

My final design depicts the spirit of the farthest, coldest regions of the earth. 

She has antlers, representing the deer that live in the tundra; a bodice 

representing the top of the iceberg; a wide shaped skirt to represent the lower 

part of the iceberg; and a net overskirt that is stained with her blood, to show 

that she is hurting.

I chose a name for my garment that is ‘Farthest Boreal’, which means ‘furthest 

frigid’. I like this, because I interpret it to mean that even in the most frigid, 

cold, parts of the earth, trash has done something that hurts it, and I wanted 

everyone in the audience to see what I mean. The global warming that we 

are causing is having an effect."

~ Amy

{ This Week in the Office }

TA-DA! Our delivery van has had a Hanoi-inspired makeover. The design is taken from Imogen's Lotus design which is featured on cushions, a beach towel and a new stationery collection. We love it so much we also put it on our new store bags! Give us a toot if you see us buzzing around the city this summer!

{ Colour of the Week }

Iowa, USA. 1938

I saw this gorgeous shot on the ever-fascinating National Geographic Found tumblr. I love the colours, and am also struck by how well it captures the sweetness and innocence of youth. A totally lovely image all round.

~ Amy

{ Inspired By }

I'm lucky enough to have a little guy in my life who is reaching the tender age of five and a half. He is currently going through a cat adoration phase. I'm probably a biased parent but I love his cat drawings. She is called orange, has a banana shaped body with mountain peaked ears and it just makes me smile. I wonder how many I can commission him to do before he moves on to another phase?

BY HOLLY CLARKE

{ DESIGN POST }

Some friends of mine took me along to newly opened cafe, Dear Jervois a month or so ago and I've been wishing for an excuse to go back ever since! The coffee – excellent. The food – amazing. And those peanut butter and blueberry 'superfood' smoothies – how these are good for you is beyond me... but they're delicious and I recommend everyone try one!


Sally x


Images via The Denizen and Ken Downie for Metro Eats.

{ This Week in the Office }

We're pretty excited to have the new summer collection arriving in our stores and online this week! We snapped this lovely display that the girls at BLOC Mt Eden put together. Soft bamboo tones and vibrant citron make such a fresh and gorgeous color combination. More from 'A Midsummer Daydream' will be arriving this week and will fully launch on Friday.

Click here to see these lovely cushions on our website.

{ This Week in the Office }

Exciting! We've just seen this short preview of a soon-to-be completed film clip promoting our summer collection 'A Midsummer Daydream'. The film was shot in Hanoi, the city that I was lucky to visit myself last October, and looks as sultry and moody as I remember it. Can't wait to see the fully completed film soon!

~ Amy

{ Inspired By }

Any minute now our new summer collection 'A Midsummer Daydream' is due to make its first drop in stores and online! The collection was inspired by the city of Hanoi, which I was lucky to visit myself with my mum, back in October last year (check the post I did when I got back, here).

One thing you can't help but notice in Vietnam (if you're textile-obsessed like me that is!) is the prevalence of indigo dyed fabrics and traditional embroidery and weaving. Which leads me to the purpose of my post today… My dear friend Lucy Patterson has posted a fascinating and beautiful series about the indigo traditions of Vietnam and Rajasthan on her gorgeous Instagram (those are all her photographs above). You can peruse the loveliness in full here. 

Full of human-scale detail and stories, and fascinating technical info, the series is informative and intriguing. She had me hooked from the introduction:

"Over the coming days I'm going to share a series of photos with you about 

the wonderful world of indigo: the plants, the dye, the textiles, the people… 

Photos I've taken on my travels in Rajasthan and the northern mountains 

of Vietnam. Let's begin in Bagru, Rajasthan where lengths of block-printed/

dabu-resist fabric have been pulled dripping, straight from the indigo vats and 

laid out in the desert sun to dry. I don't know what it is about indigo but, 

like many people, I've fallen completely under its spell…"

~ Amy

{ DESIGN POST }

Painterly ceramics are on my lust list at the moment, including Amy's amazing plate she painted this week!

Here are some of my faves I'm currently coveting:

1. Marbled gem cups by Milly Dent - I think I'm going to have to purchase one of these babies!

2. Super bright and bold hand painted ceramics by Martinich & Carran

3. Marbled sea - flecture plates

4. A beautiful planter by Leah Ball

5. The cutest peach & gold dot dish from Etsy

Sarah x

{ For the Love of It }

The other day I went with my mum, sister and niece to Paint the Earth, a ceramics painting place where tables are set up with everything you need and you can stay as long as you like. It's brilliant. As someone who works in a creative capacity, I think it's really important to try your hand at other creative things that are different to what you normally do, and quite possibly outside of your comfort zone.

It's amazing how challenging it is to paint with glaze; it takes a while to get the hang of it. This is only my third go, so I'm still feeling my way with this new medium and I'm struggling a bit with getting at least a somewhat even coverage. Plus it's a bit of a mysterious process, because the glazes look really soft and pastelly when you apply them, and you can't really tell how many layers you have done until it's fired! But man is it satisfying to arrive with nothing but an idea and leave with the exciting promise of a finished, fired item ready to pick up in a week's time.

I highly recommend having a go!

~ Amy

{ Out & About }

Very excited for this incredible NZ film to now be showing in cinemas across the country. I was fortunate to see it at the opening of the NZFF a couple of weeks ago and was completely blown away – an amazing story and some incredible performances. A must-see film.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Posted by Emma.