Bold and beautiful: where old world meets contemporary

Whether it’s repurposed elephant doors or colonial travel trunks, the possibilities to bring old world charm into contemporary interiors is not only a sustainable way to furnish the home, it’s a unique way to introduce personality and a bespoke style. We spoke with Hawthorne about the bold and the beautiful of repurposed furniture.

Global style has a lot to offer New Zealand interiors, but it’s often the old world pieces that can introduce a truly unique style to our interior spaces. 

Repurposing quality original items into decor and furniture for contemporary settings opens up a world of possibilities in terms of unique style. “Original pieces all have a story behind them, and it’s in that story where personality is evoked,” Hawthorne’s Julian Frizzel says. 

Hawthorne specialises in the sourcing of original global pieces for both interior and outdoor spaces, with an ever-evolving range of unique and one-off pieces from places as diverse as Northern China, India, the Philippines and Indonesia. 

Perhaps it’s the ornately carved doors originally crafted to prevent elephants entering palace grounds in India that are chosen to provide definition between outdoor areas in a modern home. Maybe it’s a colonial travel trunk that sits at the foot of the bed as a unique and beautiful statement piece that doubles as a storage solution - the options are vast and creatively approached, are limitless in terms of blending old with new to create harmonious, dynamic spaces.

“There is a world of possibilities out there, and it’s our aim to bring those possibilities to the New Zealand market, sourcing beautiful and unique pieces to add character and a global depth of style,” Julian says.

One of Hawthorne’s most popular original pieces is always the fire pit - in its original form an Indian cooking implement that is easily repurposed for burning wood. “In this way, an original way of cooking food becomes a social feature, used for gathering around, for ambiance and for warmth. There’s a lovely circularity to original pieces that often traverses decades and generations. 

“These pieces are able to be repurposed because they were crafted with quality materials by skilled craftspeople and as such stand the test of time,” Julian says. “The stories attached to every original piece offer a unique talking point, and a nod to our global culture.”

Other sought after original pieces include old workbenches that lend themselves to being repurposed into kitchen islands, original Indian wooden cinema seats that make for a charming outdoor seating option, and original butchers’ tables - typically narrow and ornately carved - which are often repurposed into side tables or consoles.

The low-slung rice grinding tables, primarily used in India during the last century, offer themselves as unique coffee tables. “Often, old door frames were crafted with large carved mirrors, which we often source and repurpose as floorstanding feature mirrors. 

“By reusing these original items, we are bringing them back to life. They’re often bold, beautiful pieces that will provide a use for many generations to come - just as they have for the generations that came before us.”

Visit Hawthorne on ArchiPro here to find out more about the introduction of global style and original period pieces into your home or commercial space.