Topdressing Daze

$33.00 NZD

Category: Coffee Table

Black Barn: portrait of a place by Gregory O'Brien and Jenny Bornholdt (authors); Brian Culy (photographer)

$85.00 NZD

Category: Coffee Table

Meandering across the foothills of Te Mata Peak and through the Tuki Tuki Valley, Black Barn Vineyards has become one of Hawke's Bay's most popular attractions. Its evolution over the past 20 years is a story of enterprise and creativity - from a single cottage into a wine, food and luxury accommodation destination. Owners Kim Thorp and Andy Coltart envisioned not just a vineyard but a unique environment that would entice people to stay. With a collection of stylish yet low-key retreats, Black Barn is one of the most sought-after getaways in the region, while the vineyard, bistro, growers' market and outdoor amphitheater are a drawcard for locals and tourists alike.Black Barn- portrait of a place is a fitting tribute to a Hawke's Bay landmark. Lavishly photographed by Brian Culy, with text and poetry contributed by Gregory O'Brien and Jenny Bornholdt, and recipes from the Black Barn Bistro menu, it's the next best thing to being there yourself. ...Show more

In the Victorian Style by Randolph Delehanty

$60.00 NZD

Category: Coffee Table

Traces the development of Victorian architecture, as well as the history of the city's street plan development, building trends, and parks. This book also offers a tour of the traditional Victorian interior. It is useful for tourists and Victorian lovers, as well as architects, designers, and decorators . ...Show more

Charles Latham's Gardens of Italy: From the Archives of "Country Life" by Helena Attlee

$60.00 NZD

Category: Coffee Table

In the spring of 1903, Country Life's first staff photographer, Charles Latham, set off from London's Victoria station with his large-format camera and several boxes of fragile glass negatives bound for Rome. He spent the months that followed photographing some of Italy's finest historic gardens. In all , Latham photographed thirty-seven gardens, and his powerfully evocative pictures were published by Country Life in 1905 in two volumes under the title of The Gardens of Italy, with a text by the well known contemporary garden writer, Evelyn March Phillipps. Latham's photographs were immediately acclaimed and the images are characteristic of his work in their exceptional clarity. As a result of the political turmoil that overtook Italy in the nineteenth century, many of the gardens had already fallen into a state of picturesque decrepitude; others, around Florence, had been taken over by English and American expatriates and were in the process of restoration. But even though some of the aristocratic owners and their gardeners might have gone, the elaborate architecture, statuary and ingenious waterworks which Renaissance designers so admired remained largely intact and were brilliantly captured in all their faded magnificence by Latham's camera. Today, many of these gardens have vanished, destroyed by social upheaval and war, though a few were painstakingly restored in the post-war years. Charles Latham's outstanding compositions bear testament to the rich heritage of some of Italy's great gardens in the golden age just before the First World War. The 200 superbly reproduced photographs are accompanied by Helena Attlee's incisive commentary on twenty-one of these magnificent Renaissance and Baroque gardens. Helena Attlee has made Italy and its gardens her special subject for over twenty years. A leading authority on garden history, she writes for a range of journals and magazines, lectures widely, and leads specialist tours to Italy, France and Portugal. She is the author of several books, including Italian Gardens, A Cultural History (2006). ...Show more

Flowers at Home by Sandra Kaminski; Geoff Hedley (Photographer)

$50.00 NZD

Category: Coffee Table

Using cut flowers and an imaginative range of accessories, well-known Auckland-based stylist Sandra Kaminski shows in Flowers at Home how to transform a room or setting to reflect the mood you want. It could be as simple as a few hand-picked blooms on the dinner table, a subtle arrangement of delicately tinted roses or an extravaganza of riotous colour - it's all about knowing how to present them to best effect. Whatever your preferred style, you will find endless inspiration in this glorious collection of opulent floral images based on the four seasons. Sandra's early career focused on fashion merchandising, but her discerning eye for colour, design and texture together with her talent for creating beautiful settings with everyday items established a loyal fan base during her nine years as a stylist with New Zealand House and Garden magazine. Her work has been featured in numerous magazines throughout Europe, UK, US and Australia and her first book, Living Life Beautifully published by Penguin Books in 2006, sold in both Australia and New Zealand. Examples of photographer Geoff Hedley's work can be seen in many magazines. He specialises in commercial and advertising work. Earlier this year his work featured in the Auckland Fringe Festival of Photography. ...Show more

New Zealand on the Move : 100 Kiwi Transport Icons by Matthew Wright

$50.00 NZD

Category: Coffee Table

As this country developed from 1840 on, transport was the key to opening up areas for farming, forestry and manufacturing. The trains, ships, cars, planes, motorbikes and trucks that we used on to get places and make us more efficient were so relied upon that they have become part of our DNA. In this li vely, well researched and affectionate survey of 100 'vehicles' of all descriptions, historian Matthew Wright takes us on a trip down memory lane, reacquainting us with the way we used to get around. The book features both New Zealand innovations and inventions and significant international brands/events/developments that affected this country. The text follows the winning formula of Wrights' earlier book Big Ideas: 100 Wonders of New Zealand Engineering, with around 500 words per topic, large images, and a chronological/countdown format. ...Show more

A Place For The Heart by Petra Carey

$60.00 NZD

Category: Coffee Table

Dave Comer was a highly respected and reknown photographer and film location scout, popularly known as `The man who found Middle Earth¿ for his central role in finding what are now the world famous locations for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films. He lived much of his life in and around Fiordlan d, New Zealand, photographing the region from the 1970s until he died in late 2014. A Place for the Heart presents some of his most beautiful and compelling images, alongside the story of Dave¿s life and work ¿ from the early years jetboating in the Hollyford Valley, to his involvement in the helicopter venison industry, to over thirty years in the international film industry. Above all, A Place for the Heart tells of Dave¿s deep understanding and love of Fiordland. Written by his wife Peta Carey, the narrative follows not only Dave¿s life, but her own journey in making sense of his legacy. A Place for the Heart is told through stories, letters and magnificent photography, and with a foreword by Sir Peter Jackson, offers a moving insight into one man¿s lifelong connection and understanding of the New Zealand wilderness. ...Show more

This Old Harley by Michael Dregni

$35.00 NZD

Category: Coffee Table

A roll down memory lane is a lot better on the back of a Harley. We all have "firsts" in our lives-our nervous first date, our euphoric first rock concert-and most of us who have motorcycling in our blood remember the first time we saw a Harley-Davidson. Harleys have a way of catching the eye, that extr a something that sets them apart as the proudest, baddest, best-built machines around. There's no denying the fact that Harley-Davidsons are more than just motorcycles; since its founding in 1903, the make has become an American icon revered around the globe. In This Old Harley, editor Michael Dregni compiles the stories, tall tales, essays, and reminiscences of some of the biking world's most respected characters. Featured here are the words of the late daredevil Evel Knievel, custom bike-builder extraordinaire Arlen Ness, renowned motorcycle journalists Peter Egan and Allan Girdler, and many others-including Harley-Davidson historian Martin Jack Rosenblum and several ordinary folks with a love for Harleys and a good yarn to tell. Fully illustrated with special artwork (including historic and contemporary photos, posters, illustrations, old postcards, and more), the book tells the entire story of our fascination with these incredible bikes. So whether you're still in awe of the first Harley-Davidson you ever saw, still riding and wrenching on Harleys as a diehard fan, or only just dreaming of Harleys for the first time, This Old Harley offers a tribute to the bike that stands alone in American motorcycling history, told exclusively by those with Harley in their hearts. ...Show more

Post Marks: The Way We Were - Early New Zealand Postcards, 1897-1922 by Leo Haks; Colleen Dallimore; Alan Jackson

$70.00 NZD

Category: Coffee Table

The aim of this book is to provide an introduction to New Zealand picture postcards beginning in 1897, when the first official postcard was published. The 25-year period that this book covers includes the boon years in New Zealand postcard production, 1903-1910 and World War 1. As a lifelong collector, Leo Haks wondered what visual material would catch his eye when he moved to New Zealand to live with his partner and co-author Colleen Dallimore. Good examples of early New Zealand photographs were hard to find: however, many had been reproduced as postcards. This book is the result of collecting postcards through eight years of buying postcards in second-hand shops, from dealers and on-line. ...Show more

Scott Freeman: New Zealand Photographs by Scott Freeman

$40.00 NZD

Category: Coffee Table

Scott Freeman is a landscape photographer. This book presents a collection of over 100 of his finest photographs. They are all New Zealand landscapes, ranging from the coast and offshore islands to forest interiors, rivers, glaciers and mountains. Introduction by Brian Turner. Price reduction July 200 9 from $50 to $25. First published 2000. ...Show more

Formidable Florists by Isabel Gilbert Palmer

$129.00 NZD

Category: Coffee Table

Isabel Gilbert Palmer has been passionate about flowers for years. For this book she has travelled around the world to listen to the stories of the grandmasters of floral art. These artists create poetry with flowers. With a minimum of means taken from nature they are able to evoke, seduce and astonish. This book offers a look behind the scenes of the creation of their works, their sources of inspiration and the most special floral decorations, creating a new world; a world where craftsmanship and beauty go hand in hand. ...Show more

Redoute, Roses by Petra-Andrea Hinz

$60.00 NZD

Category: Coffee Table

The refined and revered tradition of botanical illustration, produced under aristocratic patronage, stretches back to the Renaissance. It emerged out of the desire to catalogue nature in all its wild splendour, and it was a process that demanded the most precise and skilful of artists. French flower pai nter Pierre-Joseph Redoute is often viewed as one of the last and the best of these painters and engravers. Commissioned by among others, Napoleon's Josephine, Redoute studied with the finest flower painters in France and Amsterdam, and developed a breathtaking skill at translating his observations of nature onto paper. His illustrations of the botanical alphabets of D. M. Guillamain were a landmark in flower painting for their accuracy and beauty. He was also an innovator in the techniques of printing, introducing "stipple-engraving" to France, always striving for greater exactitude in his art. This is a glorious and completely faithful reproduction of his most celebrated work "Les Roses", which was published in three volumes between 1817 and 1824. In "Les Roses", he turns his attention to that most romantic and evocative of subjects, and this handsome volume preserves every detail of Redoute's masterful representation of nature's gifts. ...Show more