Today I went boutique browsing with my sister to get inspiration for her new decor and interior plans… Finally, we found our selves in this store called ‘Right Up My Alley’, which I haven’t been to for years! It’s an amazing store, filled with a certain type of style. – Antique and occidental. There is a lot of tribal art, vintage Eastern clothing, and French furniture, the type that you would find in a Paris apartment.

* This carved Indonesian Garuda was one of my favorite things in the store. Actually, I’m thinking that it could quite easily be the next center piece in my apartment? I’ve always had a particular fascination with Indonesian art work, but more particularly, the painted carvings and Wayanggolek puppets. I thought that this Garuda, against a bright red wall would look incredible. Gold, green, blue and yellow in contrast.

Chinese pottery is always a statement piece, yet a subtle statement piece. It’s also one of those objects that can blend in with any colors, textiles and wallpapers. (Turquoise blue, Chinese red, noir, and bamboo-green.) – I’m always inclined towards things that are eclectic. It’s a bit like traveling, each piece takes you somewhere new!

- Tibetan Buddha’s. 

- Coffee table centerpieces and ideas?

- Parlez-vous français? French furniture and rouge Baroque patterns.
* These patterns remind me of vintage wallpaper. Florence Broadhurst?!

- Vintage Thai Ramayana puppet, Persian rugs, Lebanese lamps, vintage Hmong fashion accessories.
* Thailand, Persia, Lebanon, Vietnam.  

- Indonesian paintings.
* There is something to be said about Indonesian paintings… They are beautiful and they own a particular aesthetic. I really want to visit Indonesia sometime soon… Java has always intrigued me.

- Beach furniture.

Location: Raglan. Here are a few of my other favorite pieces…
Overall inspiration is: Subtle wall colors. Bold center pieces. Statement objects. 
 

Today I found my self in a room pinned to the brim with eastern fabrics – But just for a moment, I could have been anywhere… India… Nepal… Or Morocco? Actually, I was on the coast of New Zealand in a little town called Raglan, which is even more out in the middle of no where, than India, Nepal or Morocco put together.  ’I could be anywhere, but here’ I was thinking to my self.

Color, texture, textile, embroidery, Eastern handwork, Eastern eye work… Art on cloth, spices, silk, chiffon, quilted thread, Eastern women, Paisley, Hijabs, Saris, Caftans, Bohemian fashion?

It’s all actually quite sentimental. – Sometimes we buy things and then they remind of places that we have been to in our lives. Because certain places remind us of places where we’ve found love, travel, excitement, enchantment and mystery… And…

People who we have loved, been intrigued by and been lost in…

And the moments that have captured our souls and taken our breaths… That’s why the French came up with souvenir. – They are pieces close to the heart, yet far from the heart in distance…

And then come the days, where certain pieces remind us of other places, other people, other cultures and other lifestyles. And that, is not anything quite souvenir, that is fashion.

“824″. “N-G-A“. – That’s what the local people around here call it. (After the dial code.) Other people I’ve met call it the Ghetto. – “That little town that is laden with gangsters and pretty girls who carry knives in their low rider jeans from Supré”. No matter what ‘colorful’ genre of stigma people put on a place, there’s always something to photograph. – And there are always beautiful things in places that people say are bad.

On the way back from Auckland I found my self in Ngaruawahia, a quiet town separating two cities. This place is actually quite quaint. There are hidden photography backdrop areas every where you go. I think that there is something to be photographed in places that sometimes aren’t enclosed by modern city architecture, it’s something called character. Fashion, design, and photography needs character, in between all of the other things.

- Hippy vans that remind me of the 70′s and broken down car lots.

- Fields of teal-colored wheat and daisies for miles…

- The Victorian era.
* In Ngaruwahia I came across lots of little houses like this. Filigree carved into wood, aged paint, and curtains that look like 1920′s veils.

- Local street art graffiti.
* I was going to say ‘street art’ but most people would probably say it’s graffiti. It’s all something artistic, in some way, to me.

- Old screws and rail pieces from trains and rail road tracks.

So that was my montage from 824. I want to go back there some time to take photographs. A lot of people would probably think I’m crazy, walking around the streets of Ngaruawahia with this camera of mine, but it’s actually like nothing people say it is. It’s beautiful and contrasted, and a lot of people here have nice smiles.