Often credited with inventing a vernacular style of building based on the bach, he took a firm stand against buildings that spoke with foreign accents, advocating preservation of the familiar kiwi twang.

Wood was the way to go, he reckoned; flexible and cheap to build with, and easy to treat with natural preservatives to withstand the wet and warm climate of Auckland. His characteristic "Brown box" approach to domestic architecture was rectangular in shape with a mono-pitched roof and weatherboards stained black with Stockholm tar. This inaugurated the distinctive black-and-white colour scheme which would become Vernon Brown's hallmark and earn his buildings the description of looking like coconuts with a bite taken out. Throughout the 35 years of his life in architecture, a glamorous exterior remained less important to Vernon Brown than a design that could re-create the fun and informality of a summer holidays on Waiheke. His houses epitomised the egalitarian ethos of New Zealand as a classless society, and as an architect he became the preferred option for Auckland's cultural elite. - Blurb from Gus Fisher Gallery exhibition 2007

Read more on Lost Property

Sam Trustrum, a senior designer at Studio Alexander, is holding a 48 hour pop-up show of some photographs he took on a recent world trip. Check them out at trustrum.co.nz or pop down to the exhibition in Kingsland, Auckland (Google maps link). $150 unframed, $270 framed, all limited editions. I snapped up 'Yellow & white trucks' which, I was later told, was also bought by Grant Alexander. Great minds!

Jeffrey Veen summed up Webstock 2010 when he showed this slide. @ravenhall suggested it would make a good t-shirt.

If you'd like to wear your inner geek on the outside, or put some posters up around the office to remind you why you come to work on the bad days then download this as a vector pdf file.

Via Noupe.com

Shepard Fairey paints at Studio No. 2 in Los Angeles. Via Arkitip on Vimeo. 

Why hire an ad agency to do your creative work when you can take care of all your advertising needs in house!? The Ad-O-Matic from James Kiersted on Vimeo.

Unitec ready to host International design event

More than one hundred representatives from the world’s top art and design schools and institutions will descend on Unitec in November for the Cumulus Aotearoa workshop (they're updating their website with more information soon).

Well known designer David Trubridge and Maori Master Carver Lyonel Grant have been anounced as the key note speakers for the two day event on November 9 and 10. A handful of other well known designers and practitioners will be running workshops around New Zealand’s design influences.

Cumulus Aotearoa has attracted a who’s who of of art and design schools and institutions from around the world including the Royal College of Art in England, Domus Academy in France, and the Art Center College of Design in USA.

The conference is a lead up to the 38 Degrees South Cumulus Conference in Melbourne two days later.

Head of Department, David Hawkins, says hosting Cumulus Aotearoa is a significant achievement for his department and will attract a lot of interest from those heading down under.

“This is a stunning opportunity to showcase Unitec and New Zealand's art, design and culture, to an influential group of art and design educators from around the world,” says Hawkins.

He says many of the delegates will be interested in finding out where New Zealand’s art and design influences come from.

Cumulus Aotearoa will be based around Unitec's Te Noho Kotahitanga Marae, and will involve contributions from art and design practitioners from New Zealand with a strong focus upon sustainability and story-telling in a range of cultural contexts.

But it won’t be all work and play for the 100 representatives expected to attend the conference.

Apart from participating in workshops and discussions, they will get to experience New Zealand’s unique culture through a traditional Pacific Island style umu and other ethnic delicacies.

They will also be able to explore the design elements of Unitec’s new marae which has been constructed through traditional Maori methods.

Cumulus is the International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media and groups together the world's leading providers of art and design education.

Membership is by invitation only and Unitec is one of only two providers in New Zealand who are members, the other being Victoria University.

Download the flyer (3.1mb) or register on the website.

Specifying architecture, design or landscape projects? AGM Publishing has launched this new product and material reference tool for NZ.

Video put together by Chris Benny on a trip to New Zealand. Shot on Canon 5DII.

"Whenever I see images like the ones below by Drew Gardner, I always ask myself how the hell they do it. Apparently they do it with $36,000 cameras. That’s not to say it’s all about the equipment, but 39 mega pixels doesn’t hurt. The Phase One camera system seems pretty incredible: a medium format, full-frame sensor that can produce 'Noise-free exposures of up to an hour'. Crazy…" Via Scott Hansen.