Tom Dixon @ ECC

UK designer Tom Dixon spent the day with the ECC Team earlier this week, hosting both a talk at the Auckland Museum and a VIP function at ECC's Auckland showroom.

Auckland War Memorial Museum's auditorium filled with inquisitive interior designers, architects, ECC customers, staff and students for the hour long talk by Tom Dixon himself. Covering everything from his life-changing motorcycle crash to a witty tale of how Tom now only owns a share of his own name, and right into future products, design trends and materials, Tom was as inspiring and interesting as we'd all imagined. A round of questions from the engaged crowd followed, before Tom drew two names from the prize draw to win his famous Cast Mini Jacks from the Eclectic by Tom Dixon range.
Congratulations to the lucky winners - Nita Pearson and Virginia Spicer.

Tom Dixon speaks at Auckland Museum

Guests filling up the auditorium in anticipation of Tom Dixon

Following Tom's talk, we were joined at ECC (Auckland showroom) by another group of around 150 architects, interior designers, clients who were hosted by our brilliant team of sales reps for an evening of drinks, nibbles and good conversation. Many enjoyed the chance to chat with Tom Dixon over the course of the evening, gathering an insight into the mind of this great designer.
Thank you to everyone who attended. We were very pleased to have everyone there to share in the experience with us!

Tom Dixon with guests.
Nanette Cameron - right.

Tom signs a copy of his 'Extremism'
book.

Mike Robinson (ECC) - left.

ECC guests and fans of Tom.
Kylie Willett (MMID) - middle.

Clients of ECC enjoying a few drinks. 

ECC staff w/ Tom Dixon (middle)

Part of the Tom Dixon display at our showroom.

See you in store soon...
The ECC Team

ECC Lights Up Auckland Museum

ECC have recently completed our Auckland War Memorial Museum project - lighting the exterior in colour changing RGB fittings.

The Museum debuted the technology for the Pride Parade held in Auckland last weekend, shrouding the entire building in bright rainbow colours.

iGuzzini Linealuce and Tagada fittings were used for this project.

iGuzzini products are available exclusively through ECC Lighting + Furniture in New Zealand.
For contact details visit our website at  -  ecc.co.nz

Tom Dixon visits ECC

The one and only Tom Dixon of lighting and furniture fame will be visiting ECC in Auckland when he arrives in the country next week.
We're extremely pleased to be able to host the man who is such an inspiration to the up and coming designers of the world and who received an OBE in 2000 for his services to design.
Tom's works are sold in over 60 countries around the world and are feature points of many homes throughout New Zealand. The collection includes the famous Mirror Balls and Copper Shades, which can be seen in the trendiest hotels, restaurants and homes around the globe.
The Tom Dixon range of furniture and lighting, as well as the accessories range - Eclectic by Tom Dixon - is available through ECC Lighting + Furniture.

To view the range on ECC's website go to - Tom Dixon - ECC

Or to view the Tom Dixon website go to - Tom Dixon website

Happy Holidays!

Thank you to all those who have supported us at ECC throughout 2012. It is a real pleasure to do business with you all. Have a safe and relaxing summer break, wherever it is you may be.
We look forward to seeing you in 2013 for another great year!

ECC is closed between Friday 21 December and Monday 7 January 2013.

Happy holidays,

The ECC Team

ECC Lights Up Auckland Museum for Christmas

ECC lighting up Christmas Night at the Museum with their chosen green & red from a choice of 16,500,000 colours

Spectacular green and red stripes of light will line the walls of Auckland Museum's architecturally-designed atrium this Thursday and Friday as darkness falls on the first ever Christmas Night at the Museum.

The lighting, the work ECC Lighting & Furniture, will help set the scene using just two hues of an incredible colour palette made possible by newly installed LED lights.

Mixing the different colour gradients, made possible by the LED lights, can produce more than 16,500,000 different colours from true white to deep ink blue.

"It will be exciting to see how the Museum uses the new lighting. The potential to transform the Atrium for events and displays with infinite colour possibilities, timed sequences and dimming across all the lights, or individually, will make it a unique experience each time you walk in the door," says Mike Thorburn, Managing Director of ECC.

Recently named the first museum in the world to achieve CEMARs certification, the museum staff are looking forward to the cost efficiencies delivered by LED lighting, with bulbs set to last longer and less energy lost through heat.

"There are many benefits of the new Tagada RGB LED fittings. There is an immediate cost saving in terms of reduced wattage required by the 24W LED lamps, and long term savings in maintenance over the life of the lamp which extends up to 100,000 hours. The reduced heat generated by the LED lamps ensures that they are safe to walk over, which solves an issue with the lamps they replaced," says Thorburn.

In the museum environment less heat from lighting is an important saving with best collection care demanding galleries maintain consistent, moderate temperatures.

Auckland Museum's lighting team were also impressed with ECC's ability to make use of existing fittings, providing a substantial saving to the business.

Auckland War Memorial Museum Atrium

Its finished! New Outdoor Area Complete

The construction of our outdoor furniture display area at our Auckland showroom has finally come to an end! We now have a beautiful space to display our even more beautiful outdoor furniture range. On a day like today its looking stunning. You'll have to come in and see for yourself. For now, here's a few images of the finished product. We hope you like it as much as we do.

From the ECC Team

ECC Video: Graypants & Eichholtz

One of the latest additions to the ECC product catalogue, Graypants, offers a range named 'Scraplights' - pendants made from salvaged cardboard, precision cut with laser technology and then hand crafted. View the range in this video.

Eichholtz, also on display at ECC features a broad range of product including everything from lighting, to furniture, to accessories. See Eichholtz here too!

Graypants & Eichholtz - ECC Lighting & Furniture

View our library of videos here.

ECC Video: Tom Dixon & Eclectic by Tom Dixon

This short video shows Eclectic by Tom Dixon (the new accessories range by Tom Dixon) on display at ECC, along with the Tom Dixon range of lighting and furniture.

Tom Dixon & Eclectic by Tom Dixon - ECC Lighting & Furniture

View our library of videos here.

ECC Video: Minotti 2011/2012

Minotti 2011 and 2012 ranges in ECC's Auckland showroom are discussed by Mike Thorburn, Managing Director. The brand is renown for quality, craftsmanship and style. Take a look for yourself, click the video to view...

Minotti 2011 - ECC Lighting & Furniture

Minotti 2012 - ECC Lighting & Furniture

View our library of videos here.

ECC Video: Visionnaire

Visionnaire - opulent, extravagant, gorgeous and so much more... take a look at a small selection of the Visionnaire range on display in ECC's Auckland showroom...

Visionnaire - ECC Lighting & Furniture

View our library of videos here.

ECC Video: Linteloo

Mike Thorburn takes us through the Linteloo range available and on display at ECC showrooms. Click the video to watch...

Linteloo - ECC Lighting & Furniture

View our library of videos here.

ECC Video: Davey Lighting & Original BTC

Watch this video for a look at the range of Davey Lighting and Original BTC product available at ECC...

Davey Lighting / Original BTC - ECC Lighting & Furniture

View our library of videos here.

Auckland Showroom Construction Update

If you've been following our blog lately, you'll know about the construction underway at ECC's Auckland showroom. Our outdoor furniture display area is being transformed into something fit for the beautiful products which will call it home (hopefully not for too long though, as we know you all want to snap them up!). Construction has been in full swing here for a number of weeks and is nearing an end. The upgrade consisting of a fully leveled and paved surface with planter box surrounds and an overhead shelter from the elements is a welcome addition to our showroom and one which we think will add greatly to your experience at ECC.

Here's a few photos of the progress to date...

Keep an eye out here for the completed project, or come in and see for yourself.

The ECC Team

Nga Kina - Wellington Waterfront

Michael Tuffery's sculpture 'Nga Kina', nine giant Kina shells, was completed for the opening ceremony by Wellington's Mayor Celia Wade-Brown on 20 November 2012.
The fibre-glass reinforced concrete shells, each weighing between five and 7.5 tons, were created in the Auckland factory GRC Concrete.

One of the Wellington Sculpture Trust's largest commissions, costing $350,000, Nga Kina was made possible as a result of Principal Donors such as the Murray C Cole Family Trust, The Todd Corporation, Creative New Zealand, Wellington Waterfront Ltd and Wellington City Council, among many others.

Anita Dykes of ECC in Wellington worked with Michael Tuffery to illuminate this great sculpture with colour changing lighting manufactured by Lumascape.

Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown
at the opening ceremony.

Nga Kina up close.

Unveiling the sculpture: opening ceremony.

Nga Kina by night lit up by ECC's Lumascape products.

Photos by

Nga Kina, Kumutoto, Wellington Waterfront by Michel Tuffery MNZM

Images courtesy of Sarah Taylor Photography, Wellington, Aotearoa NZ

Orgatec 2012 - Modern Office & Facility

Cologne, Germany, plays host to the world's leading trade fair for commercial furniture and lighting (as well as flooring, acoustics, lighting and media and conference technology) every two years  - Orgatec.

With a particular focus on innovation and the flexible working environments of the future, around 600 suppliers from 40 countries exhibit their specialist ranges.
Orgatec poses the question - "what are the requirements of ideal working conditions?"

The Orgatec layout.

Okamura at Orgatec.

Okamura's new Sabrina Chair. 

Pedralli at Orgatec.

Buzzi Space's wall display of different stool designs.

One of the many miniature mock-ups of
an office showing different lighting effects.

Interieur 2012 - Kortrijk, Belgium

Recently we travelled to Kortrijk, in Belgium, for Interieur 2012 - a contemporary design fair for the home and interior innovations open to professionals as well as the general public. The biennial promotes only the latest contemporary forms and creativity in interior design and plays host to over 300 exhibitors. The likes of Flos, Verpan, Wildspirit and Zeitraum were among the exhibitors, each offering their best in contemporary lighting and furniture design.

Interieur 2012.

Kortrijk Xpo - the home of the Biennale Interieur since its first edition in 1968 acts as the main base for the fair. Within the context of the 2012 vision 'Biennale in the city, city in the Biennale', the map of the Xpo was transformed into a city plan, with a grid of streets and diagonal lanes that lead onto piazza's where true city life would unfold creating the desired balance between commerce and culture.

Kortrijk Xpo

Expansion into the Buda Island space (the cultural heart of Kortrijk) enabled young up and coming student talent to display their avant-garde design pieces in a new, thriving zone. 

Buda Island

Ross Lovegrove's stand-out installation as part of the 'Future Primitivism' project - here he aimed to define the future in terms of sensual and organic forms, which he transforms, with the help of specialized software, to define the ideal streamlined shape of his optimal streamlined vehicle. Ultimately the message Lovegrove is conveying is that human nature can override the digital process to arrive at fantastic forms that move one's consciousness at the very root of design's existence.

A couple of things which we thought were amazing are this chandelier/pendant light made up of lots of old light shades and the Marie Coquine Floor Chandelier by Philippe Starck for Baccarat (see below)...

While we were in the neighborhood, we stopped by Holland to visit our good friends at Eichholtz who showed us around their brilliant showroom! Situated in a beautiful setting looking at at seemingly endless Tulip fields (unfortunately not in bloom at the time), the showroom featured a fully operational commercial kitchen, obviously set up with the brilliant range of Eichholtz products.

Rick de Bruin (Eichholtz) outside the Eichholtz showroom.

The Eichholtz kitchen.

Tulip fields.

Next stop was Linteloo and their showroom also located in Holland. It's always great being able to visit our wonderful suppliers in their home areas and see their products on display in the showrooms where they originate.

Linteloo - the feel good factor. 

Manhattan Coffee Table - coming soon to ECC.

Back to Belgium now, where we visited the Royal Botania showroom (their great outdoor range will be on display in our brand new outdoor display area this summer). We saw a few new pieces as well as the timeless classics which they are renown for.

Update #2: Auckland Showroom Construction

Construction on our outdoor display area continues this week with the framing for the roof going up. These huge wooden and steel beams have been squeezed into the carpark on huge trucks (an amazing feat in itself!) and raised into position. The design here will allow for the outdoor area to be covered, while still letting natural light through to make the most of the summer days which are on their way!

All going to plan, we'll be utilizing this great new space within the next few weeks.

Luxcity + Festival of Transitional Architecture

October 20th in Christchurch was a great success, seeing thousands of people exploring the vacant city centre for the Festival of Transitional Architecture.

As mentioned in previous posts, ECC Lighting + Furniture and KS Lighting sponsored the Murmur Team in their project as part of the Luxcity event.

The below, taken from the Luxcity website, offers an insight into the project which was undertaken...

"MURMUR takes its inspiration from transient volumes found in nature such as schools of fish and the murmuration of starlings Murmur is a clean, ephemeral and lightweight installation for the LUXCITY festival. We propose a canopy and seating arrangement that centres around a dining experience provided by Richard Till. The canopy will float above the site – suspended effortlessly – as visitors are served freshly prepared hot food below. The interaction of light with the structure will create the illusion of an ever changing form and density as viewers look up at different angles. We aim to create an exciting and visually engaging space for Cantabrians of all ages to enjoy."

School of Architecture and Planning at The University of Auckland Tutors:  Craig Moller
Students: Alexander James Sullivan-Brown (Alex), Amrita Kaur, Anna Vitousova, Campbell John Taylor, Elena Frances Lochore-Ward, Lisa Anne Curtin, Robert Johannes Cornelissen (Rob), Samuel Jonathan Peters (Sam), Sukshma Shreekrishna Paranjpe (Suki), Vasilije Rakovic (Vas), William Daniel James Brook (Will)

See below for photos and a video taken of the Murmur Team's project on the night of the festival.

The Murmur Team

The Murmur Team