The Nelson couple’s core business at Living Design is custom-made kitchens and bathrooms, but a sideline range of furniture indulges their passion for timber, colour and design. Says Annett: “You can invent things all the time. You can bounce ideas and create new things and that’s what we love to do.”

Their pieces have an elegant European simplicity often with a quirky twist, such as bowls turned within the plywood of a coffee table, providing glimpses of grain against the high pressure laminate of the remaining surface.

The colour of the pieces is often chosen to complement the timber, such as the Resene Aero Blue used with maple in one of their beautiful cubes. These cubes can sit alone as a table, chair or shelf, or stack together in modules. In this case, the colour was also inspired by the view of Nelson from their Richmond workshop.

“Most of the time it’s the combination,” she says, pointing out a series of Zebrano veneer and Resene Outrageous orange modules. “You have to combine the wooden grain with the colour.” She says these smaller pieces can be moved around and used as an accent.

Both the designs and their tones push comfort boundaries for many clients, but Annett and Klaus, who is a German master craftsman, would rather be leading the trend than following it.

In Germany 12 years ago they used apple green, two years before the colour became a hit. Now Annett’s eyeing up Resene Deep Purple which she knows will provide stunning contrast against maple, but will challenge many clients.

“Our pieces are different and they are modern and not the normal local look. We are always pushing the boundaries and looking for ways of implementing new things in the furniture. “It’s what we want to do and it’s what satisfies us. It is what keeps us happy.”

For more, see www.livingdesign.co.nz

words: Sophie Preece