Style Safaris in Auckland and Wellington

There are still a few tickets available for our upcoming Style Safaris in Auckland and Wellington, our day-long guided tours of design stores that feature exclusive briefings, a great lunch, and excellent goody bags.

The Auckland Style Safari is taking place on Friday February 28, while the Wellington one will be held on Friday April 30.

You can visit www.ticketek.co.nz to purchase tickets (just type 'Style Safari' into the search field on the site). Tickets are $70 for subscribers, or $80 for non-subscribers. Please come and join us - these are always enjoyable and very informative days.

Opera in a Days Bay Garden

HOME New Zealand is proud to be supporting the production of Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' being performed in the garden of our Home of the Year 2006, designed by Hugh Tennent in Wellington's Days Bay. (The garden itself was designed by Megan Wraight.)

Produced by Rhona Fraser (above), directed by Sara Brodie, and featuring a full professional cast, the event will take place 'Glynebourne style', with patrons invited to bring a picnic to enjoy in the garden during the dinner interval.

Tickets are $50 (and include a glass of Seresin Estate wine), and can be booked at www.daysbayopera.org.nz

Our cover house - outtakes

Now's a good time to show you some of the outtakes from the art-filled Auckland penthouse on our February/March 'Art Houses' cover. As usual, there were a number of great shots by Jeremy Toth that we couldn't fit into our layouts, so it's our pleasure to show them (and the artworks they show) here. The owners of the penthouse are generous philanthropists in the art world and, as you'll see here, have a remarkable collection of their own.

In this shot, photographs by Tacita Dean at left, and a sculpture by London-based New Zealand sculptor Francis Upritchard at right.

Below this work by Gordon Walters is a table designed by Nat Cheshire of Cheshire Architects (who also designed the penthouse space as a whole) that appears to miraculously float, thanks to the support structure cleverly concealed within it. The bowl is by Gavin Chilcott:

Here's a view of the hearth that Nat designed that we didn't get to show in its full glory in the layout, a faceted concrete creation. The artwork is by Andy Warhol.

Here's a view of the main living space, with its clerestory window, loggia with leafy views, and an artwork by Richard Killeen in the top right of the picture (the orange work at left is by James Ross):

In the guest bedroom, a chair by Donald Judd and an artwork by Gordon Walters:

The main entrance (guests arrive in the elevator) features a neon work by Martin Creed and artworks by Tacita Dean:

And finally, this glimpse to the bathroom from the master bedroom shows two works by Gretchen Albrecht: the canvas at right, and a mosaic she designed for the bathroom: