I went along to Urbis Design Day on Saturday 23rd March, and was pretty inspired by the work on display. Unfortunately I don’t have a decent camera at my disposal at the moment, so I have poached all these gorgeous photos from the very talented Julia at Studio Home. She captured the day much better than I ever could anyway.
I started at the Geyser + Design Assembly display, and did the interactive questionnaire to find out which typeface I was – turns out I’m a “script” font…a bit fancy and creatively inspired by Audrey Hepburn, so I can handle that.
Checked out a collaboration between photographer Simon Devitt and Youmans Capsules – a classy way to display design work.
My favourite display was Backhouse + Gather & Hunt. They showcased some pretty awesome furniture design, with some tasty treats at the end.
I jumped in the van and headed up to the Spazio Casa + Yvonne Bennetti display. Beautiful bathroom displays and tiles, with models standing in the spaces dressed in Yvonne Bennetti outfits. Slightly awkward walking into a bathroom on your own with a model standing there staring into space, but it was a cool idea.
I checked out the Mini + Switch setup in a massive warehouse. Displaying a range of the new Minis, next to brightly coloured art/design installations that corresponded with the style of the car.
The ECC Lighting & Furniture + Tape Art NZ display was pretty interesting. I definitely recommend going along to ECC Lighting & Furniture – 39 Nugent Street, Grafton – to check out the range of products on display. The Tape Art was impressive too – a full installation on the walls showing a maternity ward in a space ship…
I found the Paterson + Studio Frazerhurst collaboration a little odd. Nice bathroom fittings on display, but it had been setup to look a bit like a 90’s nightclub inside…not really feeling it….
Headed up to K Road to check out the Resene + Matter collaboration. Shutting off part of the motorway to fill it up with colourful bikes was pretty cool.
Once I got back to where I started on Parnell Road, I realised I had missed the BoConcept + Styled by You setup – and now I wish I had jumped in another van and checked it out – it looks like it would have been really interesting.
My final stop was down at Silo Park for the Hewlett Packard + Whitecliff College of Arts & Design collaboration. Probably the most conceptual display of the day.
So, it ended up being a pretty inspirational day. To see more, check out Studio Home.
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