Published bi-monthly, Urbis features stylish interiors, spaces and objects, fascinating places, interesting people, technology updates and car reviews. Through its sophisticated design, Urbis appeals to design-savvy consumers and style-makers, as well as design and architecture professionals.

Editorial

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Urbis

Contributors

Shorts

Things to do • While away some time with these splendid, atmospheric musts.

Books • A few worlds, both real and imagined, are distilled into words.

On the shelves

Hot House • The house that marketing built: This Los Angeles home, perched above a running stream, was brought to you by… a truckload of brands. US-based architect Dan Brunn explores alternative business models around his own home life.

Good vintage • It’s that fine balance between being of a specific era while still retaining a serious, timeless appeal.

Sinuous graces • The love of curvature and pattern pervades the colourful realm of furniture, lighting and textiles.

GET THE LOOK ON YOUR WALLS

Technophile • High-rollers, shot-callers and no half-steppers: Here’s some tech to make a dent in that hefty bank balance of yours, whilst keeping you blinging, snapping and levitating. Read on.

The Urbanists • The people, places and ideas changing our cities one enclave at a time. In this issue we focus on The Scrap Yard, a small-but-potent commercial development on a back street in Auckland’s Grey Lynn.

Urbis Drive • Andrew Kerr drives four stylish newcomers that flaunt a heartening commitment to pure performance.

Inside story • Book designer and up-and-coming artist Evi O takes us on a tour of her home and the objects she loves.

Evi’s favourite things

Top notes • Te Papa’s new chief shows us her home and her own personal treasures.

Courtney’s favourite things

Across the dividing sea • Sydneysider Sally Dan-Cuthbert has a penchant for New Zealand and Australian art and design. Ahead of her arrival at the Auckland Art Fair, she gives us a tour of her home and impressive collection.

Quiet cosmopolite • Mid-century modernism dips into mannerly brutalism in this serene Mexico City abode. For this and more homes, see the following pages.

Maximalist empire • Some of the intricate furniture and lighting pieces by New York’s Apparatus studio are now available in New Zealand through ECC. To coincide with this, the firm’s co-founders, Gabriel Hendifar and Jeremy Anderson, give us a tour of their maximalist and highly detailed loft apartment.

With the grain • The Coromandel’s gritty persona marries smooth-cut family living.

Extraordinary • With brick as the predominant material, this house, designed by Benn+Penna, is like a contemporary rendition of an historic ruin, affirming the long-standing and much-deserved pedestal of brick in architecture.

Draft of shadows • Art, greenery, sunshine and a touch of vintage blend effortlessly in this brutalist house for the co-founder of Mexico’s hippest hotel chain.

Courtyard dreams • The front door to this square-front villa in Grey Lynn, Auckland, might look typical but it’s a portal to another time and place.

Living with art • In this apartment, designed by Grade New York for an art-loving couple, proportions and flow are just as important as are surfaces and detail. Art, however, reigns supreme and in complete unison.

Spaces • Urbis speaks to Grade New York’s founders, Edward Yedid (pictured left) and Thomas Hickey, about the ideas behind this project.

Phantasmal holiday