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Viv Kernick, co-owner of Herne Bay store and cafe Bella Pacific, has had a love of Pacific design since she was a teenager growing up in Wellington, "There was a shop called Talas which I passed every day; it was filled with handcrafts from all over the Pacific," she says. "I just loved the strength of design and the natural materials the people used to make jewellery, woven bags, mats and carved figures." She furthered her love of colour, texture and motifs when she studied textile design, and went on to work in the film and TV industry as a set decorator. "I think over the years I probably draped enough fabric to go around the world at least 20 times!" says Kernick.
She owns Bella Pacific with Kirsty Griffin, and the pair source textiles and handcrafts from around the Pacific and locally. The colourful store on Jervois Rd sells everything from brightly coloured handstitched tivaevae to parachute hammocks and ukuleles in a rainbow of colours. Kernick tells Viva her 10 favourite things right now.
TEN FAVOURITE THINGS
1 The ukulele
Small and perfectly formed, they are an instrument of fun, all you need is three basic chords, the confidence to belt out a tune and you'll be the life and soul of the party - if not all night, at least for the first 15 minutes. Keep an eye out for the New Zealand Ukulele Festival at Mt Smart on November 22.
2 Kirsty's Hasselblad camera
Besides being a masterpiece of Swedish design this was also the camera used to take the first images from the moon. Kirsty and I have been travelling the world together now for more than 10 years and after every adventure there is always at least one image of hers taken with the Hasselblad that epitomises that particular trip. My all time favourite is our Bella Pacific signature photo taken after a morning walking along Champagne beach in Vanuatu, watching the local women rinsing their laundry in a freshwater spring at the sea's edge. Their cloths swirling in the water was the inspiration for this gorgeous shot.
3 Our Frida Kahlo angel mermaid
This was the last thing we bought before jumping on the plane home from Mexico. What a truly fabulous combination of icons - she is our guardian angel and one of the most popular items we have in stock.
4 New Zealand designers
We have a wealth of creative and courageous people in New Zealand, and I so admire anybody who has the talent and motivation to create a product, then carve a niche for themselves in this tiny country, making a living doing what they are passionate about.
5 Curio antique or junk shops
Call them what you like, many of them have closed down due to Trade Me. They are wonderful places filled with treasures; give your self some time to browse and chances are you'll walk out with something you weren't looking for. Ninety nine per cent of all our lamps at home have come from these places, like the one with a green glass base adorned by one of my own fabric prints.
6 My Joanna Campbell silver cuff
I wear it every day. She has embossed fabric into the silver - to me it's yet another item of my ever-growing collection of textiles.
7 Samoan textiles
Almost everybody in Samoa wears clothing with traditional Samoan prints on them. On my first trip there it was great to see Pacific people who identified so much with the traditional patterns and colours of their own country. We have a line of woodblock-printed Samoan fabrics in the shop; my favourite is the white prints on unbleached cotton, a great contemporary version of tapa cloth - I call it our Samoan chic range.
8 Orange road cones used to redirect traffic
What a brilliant design. I wish I had the licence to manufacture them, I'd be a millionaire many times over. I hope the designer was handsomely paid!
9 My dad's sketch books
My dad worked as the display manager and store planner for James Smith's department store in Wellington for more than 40 years. When he wasn't working he sketched, always using a ballpoint pen. He sketched scenes from every new place we ever went to as kids and later, adventures worldwide with Mum. These sketch books are visual diaries of a man who was acutely aware of his surroundings - his observations and enjoyment of places and people are evident on every page.
10 Our gorgeous shop and cafe
Filled with a myriad of bright and cheerful textiles and keepsakes from the South Pacific, Mexico and further afield. It never fails to brighten our customers' days, and always puts a smile on my face when I open the shop in the morning.
