Hot off the boil

The Boiler Room Exhibition
Shed 8, 90 Wellesley Street Auckland
2 - 24 December 2009 daily 10am to 6pm

In my other life, I am an interior designer. I spend much of my time encouraging people to step outside their comfort zone. To step away from interiors all done in one colour: caramels or beige or grey-based whites, and to embrace a more eclectic, organic approach to where we live.

Houses are easy, homes are another thing entirely. It still amazes me that people think that spending money, and often all in one shop, equates somehow to a sense of taste and style. It doesn’t. Sometimes you have to be brave, and work out what you truly love, what makes you happy – not what other people are doing. This is often the key; find what you love.

Sometimes people get really lucky, and get to DO what they really love. Gary Willis and Sue Haldane from The Boiler Room so obviously get to do what they love. It is really so incredibly obvious from the minute you meet them. I first met Sue 10 years ago when they opened their shop in Sandringham. I used to wander in the store and gaze at all the amazing ‘pieces’ of furniture that they had salvaged, and Gary had turned into something amazing.

They both have an amazing eye for seeing something that looks like it should be cast aside, something authentically real and very kiwi, and making it into something that is suddenly both practical and beautiful. Most of their pieces have an industrial feel to them, so they instantly look worn and solid, softening even the most minimal of white interiors with age and patina.

They went on to have their other store in Grey Lynn, and now after a couple years working from home out at Muriwai, they have opened an exhibition in Shed 8, 90 Wellesley Street (behind Deus ex Machina). It will be running up until Christmas Eve from 10am to 6pm. Each piece is unique, hand finished pieces of art in their own right.

Many of the truly beautiful pieces where snapped up on the opening night. It was a lovely laid-back affair with quite a different crowd to the usual shiny flashy types. It was a much more relaxed crowd, many of whom where so obviously friends of Sue and Gary’s. It really had the feel of a couple of mates getting together to support each other.

I loved the beautiful old couch that everyone was sitting on and having a great catch up. My favourite though was an amazing old cog wheel painted orange with a mirror inset in it. I couldn’t get a photo as there were too many people standing close to it having a chat! Our absolute favourite was the recovered chairs; one done in amazing vintage tapestry pieces, truly original, and truly both practical and beautiful.

If you are looking for a table, then they have the most amazing collection, from a copper-topped table (pictured above), through to a fabulous wood-topped table with old industrial blue legs. It’s lovely to have them back with us and I would encourage you to get your skates on and get in there as all the good stuff (which is all of it) will be gone in a flash.

There is already one piece (pictured above, sourced from the old Meremere power station) going home with me…

Words and photos, Anya Brighouse, 2 December 2009