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News, views and reviews — the latest and greatest from the world of Fletcher Design.

20.9.23

Fletcher Design News —
Introducing Scott Fitzsimons

Fletcher Design has recently welcomed Scott Fitzsimons to their strong pool of NZ design collaborators and trailblazers. The FD team sat down with Scott and uncovered his thoughts on design & what he does when he’s not designing….

The Early Days

I spent my early years in Manawatu, teen years in Hawkes Bay and tertiary studies in Wellington for Industrial Design. I wouldn’t say I grew up in an overly creative environment, but I was certainly always encouraged to follow that path. I actually ended up in design almost by mistake. I initially enrolled to study Architecture at University, but things didn’t quite “click” for me and my lecturer suggested I try Industrial Design instead. I’d never even heard of Industrial Design, but I decided to give it a go and well, here I am!

Design Pros & Cons

Pros:
Creating something that can have a positive impact and enrich people’s lives is definitely a rewarding aspect of design for me. Products that are not only beautiful but also seek to do better, either through an improved functionality, more sustainable use of materials, processes, and considered end of life. I think we all have an obligation to do better here.

Cons:
I really don’t have a lot of design cons…. I prefer using challenges as an opportunity to improve and achieve a better outcome.

Design Fanning on...

I feel like Stockholm-based: FUWL (Form us with love) an industrial design partner for some of the world’s most iconic brands and Munich-based studio: Diez Office, a team that is driven by curiosity, technical knowledge, and a passion for challenging convention, are both producing some epic work.

Diez Office

Favourite Chair

It’s so hard to choose – I have many! Right now, I’m a big fan of both the Medici and Clerici chairs by Konstatin Grcic for Mattiazzi. I also love works by Finn Juhl, Martin Visser, Jean Prouve and many more. It’s simply too hard to pick one and often changing – I wonder what would be on the list if you ask me the same question in 12 months…

Clerici chairs by Konstatin Grcic for Mattiazzi

What do you do when you’re not Designing?

Building our House
It’s been a journey but we’re getting close to completion and my wife, Trish and I are stoked to be moving in to something we’ve created. Our site is located on the Ruahine Ranges in a small area of the Manawatu region called Aokautere. It looks back at Palmerston North, has views of Ruapehu and on a good day Mount Taranaki – it’s our little piece of paradise.

Listen to Live Music
I’m a big music fan and love going go live gigs when I can. I’m in the process of slowly building a vinyl collection too.

Eat Food
Love food, especially love burgers – allll burgers, fried chicken and Ramen made by my wife Trish.

House site is located on the Ruahine Ranges in a small area of the Manawatu region called Aokautere.

Relaxation Activity: Yoga? Pilates? Bonsai?

These days switching off is quite a luxury. I used to do a lot of mountain biking but since building our own home (this is not particularly relaxing..) I go for the easy option of beer and music. It’s only a few steps to the fridge, and music from one of my latest vinyl purchases. If friends are close by it’s made even better!

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21.6.22

Fletcher Design Opinion Piece —
A Case for the Luxe Desk
Introducing Monaco by Fletcher Design

Earn the commute. A phrase repeated by thought leaders ad nauseum. Lure the workers back to the workplace. How?

Earn the commute

We’ve heard a few ideas kicked around – make it a place to mentor and learn by osmosis; a cultural HQ; a social and collaborative hub. We’re already seeing this shift in workplace design: the office as less workstation farm, more clubhouse. The focus is team-building, collaboration and social cohesion. Furniture, in response, is becoming more inviting, fun, and, let’s admit, just a little bit more luxurious.

But what is luxury in 2022?

But what is luxury in 2022? Sometimes the simple pleasures we missed over the last few years can be luxurious. Like sensory comfort, and even just plenty of space. The ability to stretch the body or the mind.

Enter Monaco. Originally intended as a bespoke, individual desk for the Fletcher Design team, we’ve received so much positive feedback from visitors to our new showroom we feel it’s no longer fair to keep this design to ourselves. And so, a fresh and strikingly modern luxe desk now enters the workplace.

First and foremost, Monaco is a sensory treat. Bearing the signature sculptural characteristics of the Fletcher Design collection, Monaco’s hand-finished solid ash frame is soft and welcoming; its inset Linoleum top gentle to the touch; the matte finish reducing unwelcome glare. These elements combine to create a pleasing tactility absent from the average mass-produced workstation.

Hand-made in New Zealand

Hand-made in New Zealand using Linoleum (a natural, recyclable material made primarily from linseed oil) and FSC solid ash, Monaco is the antidote to the sacrifices we made during WFH – it’s no cramped kitchen table or repurposed old computer desk. It’s spacious. With the chance to spread out, Monaco encourages unrestricted focus and workflow while being equally at home accommodating teams for hotdesking or collaboration.

Luxury isn’t just marble coffee tables and bouclé lounge chairs. It can be practical, rejuvenating, and necessary. That’s what Monaco brings to the table.

Monaco is designed to be experienced – make a time to drop by our Auckland showroom and see why this luxe desk is no longer the design world’s best kept secret.

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15.6.22

Fletcher Design News —
Lance McGregor: Memorable Design Experiences

Fletcher Design sat down with Kiwi designer Lance McGregor recently where he spoke candidly of his design journey: leading some of the world’s top design brands and working with international music and movie star clients.

We’re so proud to have this uber-talented individual contributing to the Fletcher Design portfolio of strong Kiwi designers

Lead Designer for Tom Dixon

I’ve some great memories of my time with Tom; driving across London in his gold 1980’s S-Class Mercedes coupe in the early 2000’s, chatting about setting up his own studio and asking me to be his first in-house designer for his eponymous brand. I was in Milan when he showcased the first design under his own brand: an extruded screen product (half a kilometre long!) in front of Cappellini’s Superstudio Pui. There was a massive storm the night we set it up so you can imagine the chaos to put it back together before the show officially opened the next day. Tom was instrumental in teaching me how to look at materials and processes from the perspective of an artist and risk taker, not just a designer.

Screen by Lance McGregor for Tom Dixon

Head Hunted by Fabien Baron of Baron & Baron

Fabien Baron was the editorial director of Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine before he established the iconic luxury design and ad agency Baron & Baron in the late 80’s. I was head-hunted by Baron to establish and lead the newly formed Industrial design wing of the company. It was a life-changing time for me working and learning from Baron, a genius who has transformed the way we view popular culture and fashion. This experience saw me design the now iconic Euphoria fragrance bottles as well as developing alongside Baron, the Viktor and Rolf FlowerBomb and Antidote bottles. In addition to this I designed kitchen concepts for Boffi, lighting concepts for FLOS and special projects for Alessi to name a few.

"Go-To-Guy" for the Jewellery Elite & Makeup Royalty

I feel privileged to have worked with some of the world’s top jewellery and makeup brands. I was formally invited by the French-owned American luxury house: Tiffany & Co. to design their first Tiffany Blue engagement ring boxes. It was a huge honour to work on such a historic project that will live on within the folds of the brand for decades to come.

Luxury, Japanese jeweller: Mikimoto commissioned me to design the packaging for their signature fragrance strengthening my expertise in this area.

Lastly, Pat McGrath – one of the most influential and sort after make-up artists of our time is one of the warmest and easiest clients I’ve had the pleasure to work with. She’s a wonderful soul, incredibly talented, smart and majorly inspirational.

Tiffany Blue Engagement Ring Box designed by Lance McGregor

Designer to the Stars

Since establishing my own studio in 2009, I’ve had the pleasure of designing product for some talented actors and music stars: Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, Justin Bieber, Beyonce, P. Diddy and Antonio Banderas, to name a few.

I always remember being enroute to my first celebrity client meeting with P Diddy and being told he was hard to work with; upon meeting him we hit it off (must have been my Kiwi charm!) which created a long lasting relationship designing his fragrance packaging.

Justin Bieber first fragrance packaging by Lance McGregor

Reconnecting

It was Milan 2003 and the limited edition Swarovski crystal ball designed during my tenure with Tom Dixon was being showcased. At that time Milan was Mecca for anyone in design (it still is) and I was immersed in the fervour of new ideas, design and amazing parties. Speaking of the latter, this is where I first met Fletcher Vaughan. Who would have thought that 15 years later we’d be having a conversation about designing the Perch for Fletcher Design.

www.mcgregor-mcgregor.com

Fletcher and Lance

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3.3.22

Fletcher Design News —
Welcome Tamaki Makaurau-based designer Jeremy Evison

We are proud to welcome Tamaki Makaurau-based designer Jeremy Evison to the growing pool of strong New Zealand designers within the Fletcher Design family.

First Class Honours

Graduating from Massey University in Wellington with First Class Honours in Industrial Design, Jeremy has considerable experience in product design and development throughout New Zealand. In 2018 Evison launched his own range of furniture, hardware and functional objects to much acclaim.

Multitude Table by Jeremy Evison for Fletcher Design

Multitude Family

Evison’s Multitude family of pieces includes coffee tables, meeting tables and bench seating; 100% made in New Zealand using sustainable FSC timber.

With an aesthetic that favours essentialism and simplicity over short-lived trends, Evison’s future-classic work is a welcome addition to the Fletcher Design collection.

View Collection Here

Multitude Coffee Table by Jeremy Evison for Fletcher Design

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23.9.21

AGM Newsletter —
Five Insights from Design Industry Leader Fletcher Vaughan

Acclaimed designer Fletcher Vaughan reflects on his twenty years as Founder and Creative Director of iconic New Zealand studio Fletcher Design.

New Zealand born with Tahitian and Fijian ancestry, Fletcher Vaughan is a self-taught designer with a lifelong interest in art and creative pursuits. He has been at the helm of Fletcher Design since its inception in 1999. With a reputation that extends beyond the boundaries of New Zealand, his leading design studio has provided commercial furniture solutions across a vast range of workplace environments, education and public spaces for 20+ years.

Fletcher Vaughan – Founder & Creative Director

INTUITION

“Steve Jobs once said, ‘Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower’, and as much as this resonates with me I feel that the word innovation is overused in our industry. I prefer intuition. I’ve never felt the need to do what others are doing; I do what feels right. Sometimes this means defying the trends but it’s also about pushing boundaries,” Fletcher says.

Fletcher’s intuitive approach to design has yielded many positive results over the years. “When we launched our first modular seating range (Landscape, 2004), there was nothing else like it in New Zealand. It was picked up internationally in 2012 and is now sold globally through various partnerships.

“We’re proud to be considered market leaders with our offering. Portrait (originally designed in 2002) is another example of this – it’s still one of our best-selling collections and features in many public spaces the length of New Zealand. One of our more recent designs, Perch (designed in 2018 by Lance McGregor), has been a real game-changer in human-centric workplace design. There’s nothing else like it.”

Portrait (1st Image) and Perch Seating (2nd Image): by Fletcher Design

BIG ON LOCAL

“From the beginning, we made the decision to build the brand around New Zealand designed and made. We really believe in the talent of our design community and we support New Zealand-based businesses and local talent whenever we can. We’ve collaborated with some of the country’s most respected designers and makers – some of these relationships enduring fifteen-plus years,” Fletcher says.

“Being New Zealand-made is a real positive for our customers. Our supply chain is robust. Our lead times are flexible and we can physically eyeball every unit before it is delivered to site.”

Landscape Modular Seating: by Fletcher Design

HEAVY ON SOFT

Fletcher Design is best known for its soft seating, which comprises around 80 per cent of the collection. Fletcher explains: “When I first started out, I wanted to focus on soft. I felt that no one else was doing a good job of locally designed and made commercial soft seating so I made it my mission to elevate it. I wanted us to be the ‘go to’ for all things ‘soft’ through innovation, service and quality; we were prepared to take on the established imported alternatives.”

Field Seating: by Fletcher Design

ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER

Fletcher freely admits he’s not big on talking; he likes his design and method to speak for itself. From the outset, the company’s core message has been clear: ‘Strive for perfection and creative excellence in all that we do’. “Every product we make, we ask: Is this the best it can be?,” he says. “In manufacturing, we do not cut corners. We work closely with our craftsmen through every step of the quality control process.”

“We do business in the same way that we design furniture. When we interact with our clients in the design and business communities we ask ourselves the same kind of questions – Is this the best solution we can offer? Are we making things easier for our clients? We’re big believers in up-service instead of up-sell.”

Stratospheric – Corian & LED Lights: by Fletcher Vaughan

KEEP THE FIRE BURNING

Finding the time to be creative can be a challenge. “When you have your own business, you spend 90 per cent of your time managing the business,” Fletcher explains. “Experience has taught me that when I’m afforded the time to design, I embrace it. I also make sure that when inspiration does hit, I store it away upstairs until I have time to work through it further.”

In order to keep the creative fire burning and when time permits of course, Fletcher likes to pursue other interests. Karting is his preferred method of letting off steam and engaging other parts of the brain. “I figured I was too old to make it in F1 so this was the next best thing.” He claims it’s the perfect brain-break from anything business-related.

Fletcher’s other passion is sculpture, where he has previously enjoyed success with some high-profile exhibitions and buyers. “Sculpture, unlike furniture design, has few constraints. I pretty much have the freedom to do as I choose. It allows me to work and seek resolutions in different ways – sculpture doesn’t necessarily need to be comfortable to sit on.”

KartSport Auckland Club Day

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17.9.21

LINKEDIN —
ART & DESIGN DOCUMENTARY PICKS

A selection of Art, Design & Architectural documentaries curated by our Creative Director: Fletcher Vaughan.

Available to view on DocPlay.com

AALTO

The life and work of one of the greatest modern architects, Alvar Aalto.

IT ALL STARTED WITH A STALE SANDWICH

Fifty years ago, Syndeysiders were shocked — and the art world astonished by Christo’s wrapping of the Little Bay coastline.

CHUCK CLOSE

Chuck Close, an astounding portrait of the world’s leading contemporary painters.

GONZALO FONSECA

With unprecedented access to the pioneering Uruguayan sculpture Gonzalo Fonseca’s body of work.

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9.9.21

LINKEDIN —
CHANGE THE GAME:
3 WAYS PERCH SOLVES MODERN WORKPLACE PROBLEMS

The workplace continues to be redefined at pace, with change being a constant. At Fletcher Design we believe how we respond to change is what matters. If you’re in need of fresh ideas, please reach out. We’d be happy to continue the conversation.

DEATH TO MEETINGS

We’ve all been there, when the meeting drags on and the lizard brain kicks in. It’s fight or flight but neither is possible. Many studies back this up: an excess of meeting length can lead to fatigue and general unhappiness among workers. It’s no surprise then, that workplace commentators are predicting a steep decline in the static and unproductive teamwide sit-down meetings of the pre-pandemic days.

What better way to foster a punchy meeting or lively catch-up than removing the chair altogether? The genius of Perch is in providing a collaborative typol-ogy, but removing the static element.

Need to encourage shorter meetings? Get out of the meeting room altogether. A natural space-saver, Perch can create collaboration zones in all kinds of tricky spaces, breaking up the traditional (and boring) need to use a meeting room at all.

Image: Simon Wilson / Foodstuffs NI HQ

WELCOME TO
THE CLUB(HOUSE)

During New Zealand’s last Alert Level 4, more than 40% of Kiwis worked from home. On an international level, Global Workplace Analytics estimates that 25-30% of the workforce has worked remotely in 2021.

Even post-pandemic, as technology continues to improve, a growing percentage of workers are expected to adopt a hybrid ‘work anywhere’ model.

But is there a cost? In an Architectural Digest Piece about the pandemic’s impact on office culture, Sally Augustin, an environmental and design psychologist was quoted: “In the best modern workplaces, there’s a range of different types of working environments all in the same building—this helps stimulate creativity as well as co-worker bonding.”

One of the downsides of the work-anywhere model is the loss of this creativity and bonding; essentially the loss of workplace culture that no number of Friday Zoom Drinks can compensate for. To combat this, the ‘Office-as-Clubhouse’ is being touted as one of the biggest emerging post-pandemic models. Aiming to foster the camaraderie and spontaneous creativity that can be lacking when working from home, leaders are looking to transform the workplace into a hub of socialisation, collaboration and IRL problem solving.

Perch responds to this challenge in a couple of ways. Its hybrid seating style encourages social flow; a mix of sitting and standing. The rulebook is gone. Perch’s open-ended pieces and simple forms don’t dictate when to sit, when to stand and how to mingle.

Secondly, as the office changes to accommodate the needs of its workers, so too can Perch. Its modular shape and small footprint allow easy relocation and reutilisation. It’s adaptable. Perch works in intimate meeting spaces as well as it does in lobbies and large public zones.

Wellness, Two Ways

We’ve all heard that “sitting is the new smoking” nearly to the point of cliche. Interestingly, studies are now showing that standing for extended lengths of time is likely to be equally unhealthy. The better solution is less sedentary time altogether – constant variation in posture and activity. Perch encourages a neutral, ‘hybrid’ position, requiring more postural variation and utilisation of the body.

What about the mind? Interestingly, when designing Perch in 2018 for Fletcher Design, Industrial Designer Lance McGregor envisaged another wellness outcome: “Taking time out and pausing for a moment is often considered a luxury, yet we are constantly espousing the importance of well-being and life balance. Perch was borne out of the desire to address this”. Could Perch be the “tiny break that reboots your brain”?

Response to Change

The workplace continues to be redefined at pace, with change being a constant. At Fletcher Design we believe how we respond to change is what matters. If you’re in need of fresh ideas, please reach out. We’d be happy to continue the conversation.

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