POPPYPEACH Health Food Eatery

August 2, 2021

We recently added another gorgeous commercial project to our portfolio and wanted to share a little bit of the journey with you. It all started with these two lovely ladies…

Angie (on the left) was our very first residential interior design client. We worked with her and her husband Ryan way back in 2013/14 designing their beautiful family home, and went on to help with her future renovations and additions to the house. Kayla (on the right) was Angie’s much-loved nanny helping Angie with her four kids, including cooking for them, which is when the two discovered they shared a love of healthy, delicious food. You can read more about their story here.

When Angie no longer needed Kayla’s help at home she was devastated at the thought of no longer having her in their lives, so when the opportunity was presented to her to lease one of the brand new spaces in the Tamahere village she jumped at it. Angie decided to open a whole food eatery where Kayla could continue to create her healthy food and drinks, not just for the family, but for the whole village (and beyond).

This is where we come in. Angie got in touch back in November 2020 and asked if we would be willing to design the space, the catch being that she wanted to start the fit out late January 2021. That is a very tight turnaround at an especially busy time of year, and we had the added challenge of distance between us. On the positive side we knew Angie really well, we knew her style and she knew and trusted us, how could we say no?!

The building was an empty shell, an actual blank canvas. We knew we could design the interior and the spatial plan, but how were we going to pull off the install in that time frame when we were 3 1/2 hours drive away? The solution came in the form of Courtenay from Table Talks. She is local to Hamilton and experienced in hospitality design and fit outs. She kindly agreed to project manage our design along with Angie, and so it began.

Angie gave us a really clear and concise brief. She provided us with the images above explaining that she wanted clean, fresh and timeless, but also fun and quirky. She loved the brightness of the image on the right and wanted to include a place in the eatery that would be instagram-able and instantly recognisable when people saw it.

These images above are some of our inspiration that we pinned to a Pinterest board. We knew with all of the straight lines and hard, industrial materials in the building that we wanted to add softness with lots of curves. We knew Angie wasn’t afraid of colour and we loved the combination of pink and red in the first image. With smoothies, brekky bowls and salads (among other things) on the menu, those colours evoked vibrancy, freshness, juiciness and fun.

Angie had chosen the name POPPYPEACH for her eatery and needed branding, and it was important that it tie in with our design. So we put her in touch with our friend Suné Malot - Cirque Du Suné - whose graphic design skills are second to none! Let us show you what a genius she is… Suné listened to our ideas and used our images above to create the branding for POPPYPEACH. We’ve taken the liberty of missing a few steps out so as not to make this blog post even longer, but this will give you a really good idea of how her design came together…

This clever brand design could then be applied to many different aspects of the business, like the takeaway cups…

And the back wall of our seating nook - the Instagram-able moment…

In our original spatial plan we allocated more space in the seating area, but Angie explained that they really needed more room in the kitchen for all of the prepping. Because a lot of the customers would be grabbing healthy take-aways, or a quick healthy bite in between busy meetings, appointments and after-school activities, they could afford to have slightly less seating space - “goodness on the go”.

Part of our design process was to create 3D renders of the space so that Angie could clearly see how it would look and make changes before any building or installation. These would’ve also been helpful to Courtenay who was in charge of bringing our vision to a reality. You can see more of the renders here.

One of the challenges of the design was how to create an easy, clear and orderly flow into the eatery and up to the counter, so we designed the central dining banquette seat to have a high back that zoned the seating and ordering areas, and created a sort of passageway up to the counter.

The lower walls are kept white creating the light, bright environment Angie wanted and providing a nice contrast to the bright colours. The ceilings were painted a soft pink providing a faint glow and warmth, bringing those high ceilings down slightly for a more cosy, inviting feel. Here are a few photos of the finished space and you can see more in our portfolio…

We are so thrilled with how incredible the space looks and we encourage you all to visit when you’re in Hamilton. Check out the POPPYPEACH website and their delicious menu, and follow them on Instagram.

Thanks so much to Angie for allowing us to be part of your adventure, you’re amazing! Thanks also to Courtenay of Table Talks, and Suné of Cirque Du Suné for your outstanding work. Have a peachy day everyone xx

Deluxe Beauty | Before & After

December 5, 2019

One of the earliest client emails we received this year was back in January from Anneke Erasmus. She had been given the opportunity to move her business, Deluxe Beauty and Permanent Makeup, into much bigger premises, and although she was super excited, she was also feeling slightly overwhelmed about where to begin.

The space, which was formerly a cafe, was large and open with a high, sloping ceiling and a lot of dark wood. Anneke wanted to turn it into a calm and welcoming space for her clients with individual spaces for her client’s privacy.

After visiting the space and talking to Anneke about her vision and wishes for her new workspace, we got to work putting a design concept together. We worked with the beautiful Deluxe brand and its existing colour palette, pulling in deep blues, dusky pinks and pops of orange (found in the wallpaper).

The first thing we knew had to happen was for the dark wood at the top of the walls to be painted a fresh white. It gave the room a ‘quieter’ feel and accentuated the lovely high ceilings.

The giant existing counter was removed and we designed a new one to sit in the middle of the room to the right. This created a focal point for clients as they walked through the front door, and behind the counter nib walls were added to create private beauty therapy rooms. We wanted the door through to the rooms to be an arch for a softer touch and to frame the gorgeous wallpaper.

Anneke and her assistant manager Vanessa Flessak were very ‘hands on’ throughout the renovation process, doing a lot of the painting themselves. They also had an enormous amount of help from their husbands and other family members and friends, which made the project extra special for them.

On the left side of the space as you enter are a set of beauty therapy beds where Anneke and Vanessa’s clients have their permanent and semi-permanent eye and lip enhancements. We had these stunning semi-sheer curtains made to hang down as dividers between the beds. They’re often hooked back but can be pulled down for more privacy. The curtain at the back is a beautiful velvet fabric which acts as a divider between the work stations and a space for Anneke’s students, where she teaches the art of permanent makeup.

In front of the beauty therapy beds a shelf was installed with large mirrors and stools. This is a spot for makeup application and for clients to view their new eye and lip enhancements.

We were so thrilled to see the space transform into Anneke’s vision, and even more thrilled to know that the business is doing so well in it’s new home. Make sure you check out all the fun ‘before and afters’ on the Deluxe Instagram - Anneke’s and Vanessa’s, and pop in to see them on Te Mata Road, Havelock North (near the cheese factory).

Zeffer Cidery | Before & After

June 16, 2019

Last year we got a call from Hannah, one of the owners of Zeffer Cider asking for our help to transform an old winery tasting room into their new cider taproom. Funnily enough, I’d just been reading about Zeffer in our local paper the day before, and was impressed with how well their young business was doing, sweeping up numerous awards, both locally and internationally. Of course we were only too happy to help.

Our brief was to provide a design concept for the overall feel of the space, helping with material selection, and also to design a moveable bar and fixed tap wall. The space is long and narrow and the idea was to be able to move the bar if they wanted to open the space up for events.

The original space had a lot of dark wood and the existing bar took up much of the space. The old floor boards were removed and the concrete floors polished. The ceiling was cleaned up, the walls painted and the introduction of lighter wood panelling brought texture and warmth.

Some of the windows on the back wall were removed to allow the tap wall to go in, and the dark wood door was updated with a lick of black paint. We love the finished result of the bar and tap wall, it makes a fantastic feature when looking through the arched door from the deck.

We designed the moveable bar alongside our resident interior architect, Briana Joll, who created these amazing 3D visuals for the client. We chose a chevron design for extra interest and a panel at the back that could be pulled out to prevent customers walking behind the bar.

The tap wall is exactly how we designed it with the exception of the taps themselves, which evolved from colourful handles to beautiful wooden handles.

The tiles from Tile Depot on the tap wall have the look and feel of exposed brick, but with all the benefits of porcelain tiles.

Our new bar design left more space along the window side of the building allowing the addition of small tables and stools to enjoy cider tasting at. The wood wall panelling echoes the panelling added to the entrance.

On a sunny day you can also choose to sit outside either at the tables or the large picnic blankets we provided Zeffer with.

The built-in office furniture at the back of the room was all removed and we designed a built-in bench seat to wrap around the corner.

We had the pottery lights over the bar custom made by Kim Morgan. We’d previously designed a wall light in a similar style that Kim had made for us, so knew they’d look fantastic in this space. We love their natural, organic aesthetic.

To make the most of the approach to the taproom, a previously stony area with a couple of trees was paved and turned into another seating area for customers.

Thanks to Hannah, Sam and the team for allowing us to share these photos with you. If you’re in Hawke’s Bay and haven’t yet visited Zeffer Cider, you should make a point of doing that really soon. Taste the beautiful range of award winning cider, fill your own flagon, or grab some bottles to take home with you. Winter hours are Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11am - 6pm; and in the summer they’re open 7 days, perfect for enjoying a drink and a picnic or platter in the sun.