Stories

Heads-up, art lovers – here is an opportunity to take home stunning works and support South Island artists as well as the excellent work of disability support organisation Hōhepa Canterbury. The 2021 Art & Sculpture Exhibition will feature artists Don Service and Simon Edwards, raising funds to build two new homes to fill some of the ever-increasing demand for specialist housing. The charitable organisation supports South Island people with intellectual disabilities to live a fulfilling lifestyle in a welcoming community – its vision is for every life, fully lived. The new buildings will provide a place to live for 12 more people. Hōhepa needs to raise $2.2 million to build the homes and fill them with all the essential household items that make life easy, functional, comfortable and enjoyable. Art & Sculpture Exhibition, Hōhepa Hall, CashmereOpening night Fri 21 MayExhibition Sat 22 – Sun 23 Mayhohepacanterbury.com

Open Christchurch is a revolutionary architecture festival, geared around giving people access to the buildings of Ōtautahi. Cityscape talks some of the city’s coolest constructions with the festival organiser. Te Pūtahi, the organisation behind Open Christchurch, really values and appreciates the myriad of ways in which our ancestors designed and built Christchurch, the city we live in,” says Te Pūtahi director and architectural historian Dr Jessica Halliday. “We want to share that with people who perhaps don’t have the time, access and opportunity to explore and learn about Ōtautahi’s most beautiful and interesting buildings.” We share our everyday lives with architecture, she says. It can bring us joy, bring us down, and it can connect us to our stories and our history. Architecture also has us looking to the future, and what comes next for our cityscape. The idea of the festival is to open a series of interesting and important...

Interior Warehouse has announced the opening of Christchurch's newest and most refreshing furniture store. The Moorhouse Avenue site, opening mid-April, will demonstrate spaces and rooms with bright, bold statement pieces so you can visualise your home’s potential to be enhanced and transformed. First started in Auckland in 2018, Interior Warehouse is a destination for unique, international furniture and homewares. The Christchurch store will be the fifth Interior Warehouse around the country, owned and operated by born-and-bred Cantabrians Sam Main and Tom Noonan. The business partners were both made redundant from long-term careers at Air New Zealand due to the pandemic, and took the opportunity to start the Christchurch store. interiorwarehouse.co.nz

Going the extra mile can pay huge dividends in the current housing market. I’m incredibly particular in how the houses I market are presented. I love to work with homes at the low, medium and high end of the market and all of these perform better when they get the loving touch. Unless a house is absolutely top notch, I suggest staging. It gives a sense of space and personality when the rooms have furniture in them, and it makes such a huge difference when you lay out all those extra details like flowers, candles and outdoor seating. I also want to make sure the house sparkles. It’s absolutely worth the investment to get in cleaners, window washers, gardeners and touch-up painters. You want to market a home's best side, and provide fewer obstacles for buyers to try and pull the price down. Also I’m very big on photos and I...

Debra Fallowfield is a straight-to-the-matter type of jeweller – she’s unpretentious, good for a laugh, and she gets shit done. She hammers out the details of ‘slow jewellery’ with Cityscape. Like the slow food movement, slow jewellery is about taking a step back and producing smaller quantities of higher quality items, and embracing the process of making them. Debra says slow jewellery is a way of honouring the craft and its history. “By working this way you get a true feel for your work. Well, that’s what I think anyway.” She’s passionate about making all her jewellery by hand. “I still refuse to use CAD, computer aided design,” Debra says. “When I make pieces by hand there’s nothing clinical or boring about them. They’re not perfectly symmetrical; they’re organic, they have a soul.” There’s a lot of reusing, recycling and revamping happening in Debra’s studio, where she works alongside her husband...

Join Cityscape on a global adventure of cuisine and culture. We check out Christchurch’s massive variety of restaurants, starting right here with Kiwi cuisine and heading across the culinary continents. New Zealand & Pacific 50 Bistro at The George is an award-winning restaurant open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, serving modern New Zealand cuisine and health-wise dining made with local produce. The menu at Barberra, in Cambridge Terrace, is based on fresh, seasonal ingredients and the flavours and influences of the Pacific Rim. Go there for a modern, fresh take on dining. In the Sudima Christchurch City hotel, Vices & Virtues is a modern and welcoming restaurant and bar with dishes including line-caught fish, Canterbury Wairiri Buffalo Burrata and New Zealand Angus eye fillet. No.4 Bar & Restaurant in Merivale does a mean fancy fish 'n' chips or Kiwi lamb rack, and it's also got a plethora of international flavours on...

Here’s an idea for your next gathering: if some of your guests are vegan, just create a plant-based menu for everyone. Flip Grater from plant-based deli Grater Goods runs Cityscape through her hosting menu. If you do your plant-based menu right, no one will miss animal products, and it saves labelling or explaining which elements are plant based and which are not. Plus plant-based eaters won’t need to feel like weird outsiders for trying to save the planet. Canapés Have canapés and a drink ready to go when guests arrive. Make them simple, and make them in advance so you’re not fussing at the last minute. When people arrive, set the scene with something like vegan ‘salmon’ and cream cheese canapés and a glass of bubbles. What to serve: Our Carrot Lox and Herb & Garlic Tofu Cream Cheese make amazing smoked salmon-style canapés – just put them on crackers with...

Your guide to the best of the big players and hidden haunts of Ōtautahi’s café scene. After a killer cup of joe or a silky smooth latte? Cityscape has done the rounds to bring you up to date on the city’s café scene, from the latest hotspots bringing some serious international cool through to those with legendary status. 1. Black & White Coffee OriginsPretty much everything at this micro-roaster is made on site, from the cakes, muffins, pastries and sandwiches, to the coffee roasted by the café’s own roast master. Best for… in-house roast. 2. Black BettyThe flagship café of Switch Espresso, this is an excellent choice for brunch and a perfectly brewed coffee. Best for… stocking up on brewing gear. 3. BunsenThe Arts Centre’s own alchemy lab, where the baristas are pros at many different espresso and soft brew methods. Best for… trying something new. 4. Café StirYou’ll be served...

Delivering a world class show for 22 years, The Pink Floyd Experience has become a household name in New Zealand and Australia, a breathtaking aural and visual experience that has to be seen to be believed. With over 20 albums of legendary music to choose from, every show draws inspiration from a different Floyd era to create a unique experience every time. In 2021, the experience will feature the two albums from their most popular shows, Animals and The Wall. Both albums will be performed in all their glory with psychedelic instrumentals, soaring guitar solos and mind-blowing visuals that will take this performance beyond anything you’ve ever seen before. Christchurch Arena, Saturday 22 May premier.ticketek.co.nz

Cityscape talks festivals and new music with Lorna Coll, vocalist for Christchurch band Volts. You released your first single ‘Wild & Out’ late last year, and now we’re seeing Volts all over the place. How’s the ride been? It's been exciting! Marc [Royal] and I have been quietly working away on this band for a few years now. We recently made some additions to Volts, expanding our lineup and really focusing on writing and releasing our single. Things have really taken off from there. You’ve been hitting the festival scene pretty hard this summer – what’s been a highlight? We have played some great shows but Nostalgia Festival was definitely a highlight. The crowd were really responsive and we had people hooked from the first song, it was so much fun. What’s your process for working together on songwriting? So Marc will come up with guitar riffs that we will base a...

Riverside Market’s new mural is also the largest and most complex ever delivered in Christchurch. Paying homage to what was lost in the earthquakes, the lifelike optical illusion artwork displays interpretations of pre-quake buildings, local businesses and the story of women’s suffrage. The wall is brought to life with references to central city heritage, remembering defining moments and telling a story of Kate Sheppard and the broader women's suffrage movement, which started in Ōtautahi Christchurch. Completed as a public-private partnership, the mural was co-funded by Riverside Market and ChristchurchNZ. The concept and design for the artwork was created by Josh Thompson of Madeknown with the project produced by George Shaw of Oi YOU! and painted over a 6 week period by Christchurch’s foremost graffiti art collective DTR Crew - Dcypher, Ikarus, Jacob Yikes & Wongi Wilson. The location of the wall allows the artwork to link to the hustle and bustle...

Recently dropped at style hub Infinite Definite, Meadowlark’s new range Amour is all about the love. Taking us right back to playing with our grandmother’s jewellery, the beautifully delicate range is vintage-inspired with a hint of French charm, like the sweet heart-shaped Camille earrings with a pearl drop, or the ‘Maman’ engraved necklace. For the style- and eco-conscious among us, you’ll want to sit up and take notice, because some Good News has recently arrived in store – literally. A London sneaker brand that walks the sustainability talk, Good News sneakers are made using recycled rubber, organic cotton and vintage fabrics. Rad kicks that also promote a healthy planet? We’re in. Infinite Definite is one of the only stores in the country to carry this brand, so better head on down before your top pair starts flapping. infinitedefinite.com

Burning the candle at both ends does more damage than just the bags under your eyes. Deirdre Panapa from DP Herbals explains why a good night’s sleep is one of the best supplements at your disposal. Ernest Hemingway is thought to have said “I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I’m awake, you know?” When I was a nurse it was expected that we did shift work. For many years I slept when the sun was bright and worked very hard through the night only to do a morning shift the next day. I was lucky, I thought; I could sleep anywhere, anytime. But looking back on the photos, it is clear that the person attempting to smile back looked as if she needed a good long nap. Sleep is one of the few things that is crucial to life, and yet it is left to...

Did you know we’ve got a piece of the Berlin Wall in Christchurch? Two pieces, actually. You’ll find them in Rauora Park near Cashel Street, decorated with this colourful street art. The art on the wall pieces is curated by Fiksate Studio & Gallery, and it has recently been updated with work from Kophie Su’a-Hulsbosch (Meep) and Jessie Rawcliffe. Meep’s piece represents love and freedom and is a full-on hit of colour. Jessie’s work is a kaitiaki (guardian) facing upwards in a peaceful pose. Christchurch is one of many cities around the world with pieces of this historic wall, which served as a symbol of the Cold War and forced segregation, but also became such a powerful symbol of hope and freedom once it started coming down. Graffiti always played a role on the Berlin Wall. Fiksate is continuing this tradition in collaboration with christchurch City Council, acknowledging and celebrating the...

Our recommendations for making the most of this beautiful 'tween season. 1. Enjoy the last warm days Head to Riverside Market and get your laughing gear around a cold Ben & Jerry’s ice cream or a summery sour beer at Canterbury Brewers Collective. 2. Take an original photo! We’ve all seen a million autumn shots of brilliant trees in Hagley Park and Memorial Avenue. Come up with a new angle on the falling-leaf theme – and send it to Cityscape (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. – we might just publish it). 3. Get your moles checked It’s been a long hot summer and ain’t nobody got time for a surprise melanoma. Hit up the good folks at KM Surgical for your check-up. 4. Get a good old-fashioned wood fire started Or even better, take advantage of the one at Arbour Woodfired Pizza for some delicious season-appropriate smoky pizza. 5. Go for an autumn forage! If...

If you have a favourite pair of shoes that are long past their best, don’t despair! The Fixer is a shoe and handbag repair specialist just opened in The Colombo, so you can give your old faithfuls a new lease on life and do the environment a favour while you’re at it. Renowned for his craftsmanship, The Fixer will ensure you never have to toss a beloved piece in the bin again. He’ll also suss you out if you need a key copied (or even if you’ve lost your key entirely), and can engrave metal and fix your watch, too. In fact, if you’ve got anything small and broken, take it in to The Fixer and see if he can help. FB/thefixercolombo

Cityscape chats to New Zealand’s top Dermapen therapist Bernice Olderwagen about her award-winning treatment, the importance of homecare, and why she loves the beauty industry. Bernice, a skin therapist at Nicola Quinn Beauty & Day Spa, has just been awarded the NZ Dermapen High Performance Practitioner 2021. With over 10 years’ experience, Bernice knows how to craft a bespoke treatment plan that delivers results – and skin confidence. Congratulations on your award! Talk us through the winning treatment plan. My client had several skin concerns that she wanted to combat. She was wearing makeup every day and unhappy with her skin texture, acne scarring, and pigmentation. A course of Dermapen microneedling treatments, peels, and a bespoke homecare routine was the clear choice to help my client achieve skin confidence. I saw her every three to four weeks, alternating between a pigmentation treatment and a deeper treatment targeting collagen induction. Why is a homecare...

Attention Sollos fans! The artisan homeware store is moving into The Colombo, bringing a swathe of local, ethical jewellery, beauty products, art and décor to the boutique shopping destination. Sollos, long a favourite shopping spot and artisan studio at The Welder, specialises in ethically sourced products from Aotearoa and beyond. You’ll find Sollos and all its beautiful goods at The Colombo from March 17 onward. sollos.co.nz