As suggested by its name, the scalloped form of this bench is inspired by a canopy of treetops. The organic forms have been simplified—almost like a line drawing—becoming curves to perch on. 

Canopy Bench 02 is the second in a series; the first bench was the culmination of a year of research and craft undertaken as part of Augustina Binyamin’s Master of Architecture thesis. Binyamin was assisted in the fabrication of that bench, but has since developed the skill to craft this piece independently from start to finish. Natural context is abstracted into a new architectural form, formed in steel by Binyamin herself.

Hand-built in white stoneware, Cross-body ride references a Roman marble copy of a lost 3rd-century BCE Greek bronze sculpture, known as The Wrestlers. 

Rutecki’s contemporary interpretation combines techniques drawn from ceramic traditions spanning continents. Three glazes were layered over the bisque-fired surface: an ash glaze based on Japanese Ido tea bowl traditions, a contemporary take on Chinese celadon that strips out the signature green, and an oyster-like pearlescent glaze. The piece was then fired in a wood kiln, tumble stacked with scallop shells tucked between Rutecki’s works and the kiln walls—an ancient Japanese technique—leaving traces of where glaze pooled in the shells.

Kathryn Tsui translates the woven pattern of nylon shopping bags found in markets worldwide into cloth and glass beads. In Hong Kong, where Tsui spent part of her childhood, these red, white, and blue bags are called “amah bags”, after the domestic workers who carry them. They go by many other names around the world, each one tied to patterns of migration and loaded with ethnic and economic stereotyping.

While these bags are now cheap and ubiquitous, Tsui's recreation is laborious, drawing attention to the unseen and undervalued domestic labour they evoke. Tsui’s bag is woven in 2/2 twill, a traditional tartan weave, tracing how the pattern has strayed from its localised roots as Scottish tartan to the globalised marketplace.

This blanket was commissioned and designed to hold a special set of badges gifted to Athfield Architects staff to mark milestones of employee service. Punctuation marks dance on this wearable blanket, reflecting the “letter crumbs” of the studio’s visual identity—also designed by Catherine Griffiths. A large dot makes reference to the Athfield Tower, the rising moon or sun; blue threads suggest sea and sky; a grid recalls graph paper; and slashes form a shifting, rhythmic pattern. The design embeds the blanket within the longer story of Athfield Architects, who Griffiths has worked with for over 30 years. 

Here the blanket is activated by the human body through an improvised performance by dancer Weichu Huang.

The hand-woven bags that Marta Buda has been making for over 11 years have become a signature of her weaving practice, highly sought after for Buda’s sensitive approach to colour, texture, and proportion. Each bag is woven on a rigid heddle loom using a full warp of yarn. Unwoven threads from the warp are braided to form the bag’s handles—making each bag zero-waste.

This bag is woven from dead stock linen-cotton yarn, in a hard-wearing over-under tabby weave pattern. It is embellished with ceramic sequins made by Buda and kiln-fired by her friend, ceramic artist Jaime Jenkins.

Hair combs and brushes sit within our intimate rituals of self-care, placing them among the most personal objects we share our lives with. This bronze comb is an ode to these everyday rituals, elevating an object that has otherwise been diminished by contemporary life’s focus on efficiency and utility. 

Born in friendship and ongoing creative dialogue, this comb draws on Shannen Young and Binh Minh Ha’s Chinese and Vietnamese traditions—where domestic objects are often imbued with ornament, symbolism, and ceremony. Floral forms and braided details dance across its spine, and the comb’s organic texture reminds us of the hand of the maker. A familiar domestic form is reimagined as precious and enduring.

This hall table brings two familiar materials together in unexpected union: aluminium and wood. Through this pairing, Josephine Jelicich and Binh Minh Ha explore the potential for beauty beyond the materials’ industrial roots. Carefully composed veneer inlay, aluminium made ornamental through surface pattern, and the table’s elegant, slender form encourage us to see these materials in a new light.

This table marks the beginning of a broader collaboration by Jelicich and Ha. The pair have lived together for three years, witnessing each other’s creative practices evolve and, in turn, transforming their understanding of their own work. Exploring design and making as intertwined processes, this table has taken shape through material experimentation, prototyping, and continual exchange.

Jenny Takahashi Palmer is drawn to 簪 kanzashi and 櫛 kushi (Japanese hairpins and combs) because they are one of few forms of Japanese ornamentation that are worn on the body. She works with both native Aotearoa and Japanese woods, urushi lacquer, ivory, and tortoiseshell. Bringing these materials together with non-traditional elements such as chainmail, Palmer creates pieces that blend antique forms with contemporary expression.

Her motifs carry personal and cultural significance, often referencing seasonal changes, combinations of creatures seen in traditional Japanese craft, and folk stories. Rather than innovate for its own sake, Palmer sees her work as a continuation of a craft tradition she admires, and a way of contributing to her own whakapapa through the skills she carries.

This work honours te ao tawhito (the ancient world) and features a mau kakī form resting atop a Victorian-inspired vessel. Drawing on taonga in the collections of Te Papa, the mau kakī offers a connection to Eastern Polynesian voyagers who brought such pendants to Aotearoa between 1200 and 1500 AD. Worn by rangatira, the leaders and kaitiaki who cared for their people, the notches carved into mau kakī are said to signify whakapapa. 

The vessel beneath the mau kakī recalls those brought to Aotearoa by the British, urging reflection on the pain of ancestors during colonisation. Such vessels were once displayed in spaces of grandeur. Here, that grandiosity is reclaimed and the vessels’ oriental motifs are replaced with Māori pūrākau, adding to an ongoing conversation about decolonising Aotearoa.

Turumeke Harrington draws from the languages of art and industrial design, creating works that occupy both realms at the same time. This sculpture combines industrial materials like polypropylene webbing, aluminium, and powder-coated steel to form a constellation of interlocked whetū (stars), each stitched with the artist’s name. Spiraling aluminium links reference the rauru form found in whakairo (Māori carving), carrying with it ideas of unity and entwinement.

This piece combines the letters T-U-I, spelling out the artist’s nickname and positioning it in response to the text works of Michael Parekowhai and Colin McCahon. It’s a wry nod to the dominance of male artists in art history, while toying with the idea this is an artistic whakapapa Harrington might claim.