Archive for July, 2012

Kiwi House 2012 opens in style

Here are some images of the Kiwi House I’ve been working on for several weekends. Kiwi House  2012 opened for business on Wednesday the 25th July with a Maori blessing and a welcome from Ngati Ranana. A maori culture group based in London. A big thanks to all the voluteers who gave their time, rolled their sleeves up and helped with the build.

The link link below is a News suppliment from TV3 NZ

http://www.3news.co.nz/Kiwi-Olympic-base-opens-in-true-Kiwi-style-a-barbie/tabid/1706/articleID/262767/Default.aspx

 

 

General Woodwork Supplies Stoke Newington

I was in Stoke Newington today at a favorite Hardware store called General Woodwork Supplies. Why its a favorite is because of its history, its nostalgic charm and far from corporate image.

Three guy guys run the place, two of them are sons of the the founder, Harry Cohen, and he established the store in 1947. The other guy Jef is a brother in law of the two sons, David and Michael….with their mother of 99yrs still doing the book keeping. They are shutting up shop simply because they are all retiring.

Harry Cohen, was a master Woodworker and his commisions could have been seen on the Titanic and in the Whitehouse. You can see remnants of his work including a self designed shoe box with shoe storage in the bottom and a compartment on top, under the lid for your Polish to put a shine to your shoes.

They will be shutting the doors in September and what is coming up from the basement, on sale, is lots of 50s and 60s hardware gems like lovely bakerlite handles and catches and loads of interesting hardware. I found a lovely piece of retro formica for £10. Definitely of a by gone era as the new formica of today is less than half the thickness

If you wanna give some of your old furniture an interesting makeover, I recommend you head down there before its gone forever.

 

Kiwi House volunteer workshops

This Summer in London, Lily and Piper are creating Kiwi House – in their words “a haven for friends, family and proud supporters of the New Zealand Olympic Team” located in Kings Cross. Visitors to Kiwi House will be able to enjoy a BBQ menu designed by one of NZ’s best known chefs, drink an especially imported Moa beer or watch Olympic action live on the big screen.

Lily & Piper approached re-fuze to interpret their draft designs for the outdoor space using reclaimed materials and an army of Kiwi volunteers to build it!

So over the last two days, on a disused basketball court in London, re-fuze has been leading the volunteers in sawing, nailing and screwing, to create tables, a BBQ canopy, planters and fencing – all ready for launch on 26th July 2012…