Your Cart ()

Jeremy Hansen is a writer and the editor of excellent architecture and interiors magazine, HOME. This week he shares with us his personal picks from the Everyday Needs range. 

1. Arnold Circus stool

I’ve admired Martino Gamper’s work for ages, and was lucky enough to visit his London studio last year. These stools are wonderfully stackable and multi-functional. They have the perfect blend of elegance and wit, a combination Martino manages better than almost every other designer.

2. Rush mat

One of my favourite possessions is a beautiful mid-century dining table and chairs formerly owned by my grandparents. They kept the timber top immaculate for 50 years, although I fear I have been less meticulous at doing so. Mats like this are perfect for protecting it from hot things.

3. Modern Originals by Leslie Williamson

Leslie Williamson’s photographs have a thoughtful stillness that perfectly captures the intimacy of the homes in this, the follow-up to her fantastic first book, Handcrafted Modern. I bought this book as soon as it came out last year and often find myself immersed in it.

4. The Heron Migrates by Bruce Martin

I visited Bruce’s marvellous Hawke’s Bay home and studio by John Scott a few times as a kid, and have always loved the pottery he created with his late wife, Estelle. This book charts the amazing beginnings of their life in ceramics: they chucked in their jobs to become potters and made numerous working and study trips to Japan in the 1970s. Bruce’s eternal open-mindedness, curiosity and quiet sense of adventure comes through beautifully in this diary of their travels.

5. Godmother Stansborough wool blanket

The nights are getting cooler, so one of these New Zealand wool blankets designed by Kirsty Cameron feels like just the thing to wrap myself in while reading on the sofa.

Our first edit of the year is by our good friend Lucy Vincent. Lucy is the creator of Sans [ceuticals] a hair and skin care range that is a favourite of ours, she is also a brilliant cook and is pictured in her kitchen testing some of her fermented goods. Lucy shares with us her most used Everyday Needs pieces.

1. Japanese Kami wooden beer glasses

I buy these for my kids (disregard title) because they are indestructible!

2. Martino Gamper salt or pepper spitz

This is hands down the best grinder I have ever used. Looks incredible but best of all, it never fails to give a generous grind as the mechanics are so good. I have spent countless dollars on grinders in the past to only be disappointed. This is a must for all foodies!

3. Alpaca and Mohair blend socks

I'm a massive fan of these – so much so, they are the only socks I wear. They wash exceptionally well (meaning they don’t resemble a felt toy sock after two or three washes), are made from 100% Mohair and Alpaca and are great both in summer and winter.

4. Weck jars

I'm a mad fermenter and pickler and have tried all sorts of storage vessels – Weck win hands down. The lids don’t rust, they come in assorted shapes - brilliant for stacking into small places (I have the smallest kitchen known to man!) and allow the right amount of air to escape for fermented goods.

5. Japanese copper scissors

I’ve had these for 3 years now and they are still as sharp as the day I bought them – amazing since I use them in both garden and kitchen. They still cut paper exceptionally well!

Andrew Barber is a painter whose work is well known for transforming a space. This week we visited Andrew at home to talk about some of his most used Everyday Needs pieces, as well as documenting them in situ. 

1. Arnold Circus stool

They're a bucket, a step ladder, throw a piece of wood over two and it's a bench next to the fire. They kick around the place and are always used wherever they end up.

2. Hario glass teapot

Perfect for one. Those nights when the kids have gone to bed, enough for one cup and a top-up. And a beautiful object I feel I don't need to clean up and put away.

3. Hinoki bathroom stool

All my children have used this around the bathroom to reach the things they couldn't until they grew, probably will have to be destroyed they've used it so much, if I can disinfect it somehow though, it will be a family heirloom passed through the generations.

4. Iris Hantverk toilet brush

Literally the only toilet brush I've seen on these islands that doesn't look like it should be disposed of after use. And practical too - the Tampico bristles!

5. Godmother Stansborough wool blanket

My dealers Sarah and Danae gave me this for my birthday last year, it has been everywhere I go since. From the beach, to the television, to under the plum tree, it's there around me.

Gallerist Michael Lett shares with us his favourite Everyday Needs pieces.

1. Japanese Incense // Brilliant Peaks

This amazing incense instantly invokes a sense of calm.

2. Japanese Kami wooden beer glass

Once you drink beer from one of these incredibly light wooden tumblers, it’s hard to go back to anything else.

3. Beeswax candles

Since I can’t have my own hive at home, burning one of these is the next best thing.

4. Godmother Stansborough Grey Wool Blanket

My grandmother used to wrap my brother and I up in any number of mohair blankets. These woollen versions are rather more luxurious than my Grandmother’s, but I can’t help but equate the sensation of being cocooned in one these rugs with the memory of her.

5. Bamboo plant cloche

Believe it or not we have a rabbit and a peacock problem at our cabin up north. These keep our more fragile seedlings safe from harm.

Our good friend Rufus Knight is an Everyday Needs regular and Associate at Fearon Hay Architects. We asked him to share with us his favourite Everyday Needs pieces. 

1. 100 Chairs by Martino Gamper

Martino Gamper’s benchmark work ‘100 chairs in 100 days in 100 ways’ was, and still is, a huge influence for me in the way I approach interior and object design. Collecting discarded chairs from London streets over a period of two years and creatinga ‘three-dimensional sketchbook' that questioned authenticity, function, reproduction, and ergonomics. The project is fullof vitality and executed in such a human and gregarious fashion which, to me, characterises all of Gamper’s work.

2. Iris Hantverk body brush

In the late 1800s a small initiative started in Stockholm for visually impaired artisans and aimed to support their ability to live off craftwork – brush binding & basket building crafts were, and still are, central to this movement. In 2012 local government withdrew the disbursement of aid and small handcraft companies like Iris Hantverk had an uncertain future. The company has since been purchased by a small group of long-term employees and still produce all products by hand using local Swedish timbers and natural bristle materials like horse hair and coconut and agave fibres.

3. Sori Yanagi kettle

Born 1915 in Tokyo, Sori Yanagi was one of the most celebrated post-war designers in Japan. His adage of ‘true beauty is not made, it is born naturally’ is clear in icons of modern design like the brushed stainless kettle. Notable that Yanagi worked for a number of years in the 1940’s with Charlotte Perriand as his organic forms combine western industrial design with Japan’s native artisanal traditions.

4. Auböck brass bookends

Werkstätte Carl Auböck was founded in Vienna in 1900 and developed a design language that became an essential part of Austrian Modernism. From the mid-20th century the workshop has been directed by the fourth-generation of Auböck and has produced objects that continue a lineage of quality, formal beauty, and humour. These patinated brass bookends capture the Auböck signature perfectly.

5. Auböck brass bookends

Bing is something of an anomaly in the New Zealand design & art community. His prolific output of ceramics, metalwork, and timber sculptures is unmatched and has always had a sophistication that seems to borrow from local influences but extend beyond the traditional New Zealand design vernacular – a lot like Mrkusich. Similarly, these gestural postcards remind me of the vibrant European avant-gardists like Jean Arp or the salient forms of Brancusi but whose colour palette seems to speak specifically of New Zealand.

As part of a new series we are asking our friends to share their favourite Everyday Needs pieces. This week fashion designer Karen Walker shares an edit of her most used items.

1. Arnold Circus stool

Martino Gamper's Arnold Circus Stools not only look great but are very durable. We use them in our staff room and they give character to what would otherwise be quite a simple space.

2. Hario glass teapot

I use one of these teapots every single day to steep my fresh ginger tea.

3. Japanese bath towel

We stay at The Claska Hotel every time we are in Tokyo and these towels from their Do Store are great.

4. Type 75 mini Anglepoise lamp

I've had one of these lamps on my desk for five years and I love it. Elegant and a beautiful dusty colour.

5. Kaico milk pan

My husband Mikhail gave me this milk pan for Christmas last year. I use it every week for one thing or another - for me that makes it the perfect present.