Monday, March 24, 2014

Candle photo competition

We love to see how our candles are looking in their new homes. Right now, if you share a photo of one of our candles in your home, you could win a $60 Rose in Thorns gift voucher! Just take a photo, upload it to the competition app via Facebook, Instagram or from your computer, then from Friday get voting for your favourite picture - or encourage your friends to vote for yours. The photo with the most votes will win the voucher.


If you don't have one yet, then you can buy one from our online shop, at our Felt store, or pop down to your local stockist. Pay it Forward is having a sale at the moment, so that could be the perfect opportunity to pick one up! Just get one soon, as entries close this Thursday. Voting closes next Monday.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Christchurch Heritage - Part 2

Following on from last weeks post, I popped into town yesterday to take photos of the remaining buildings from my earlier post documenting some of the buildings which survived the September earthquake. While I was there I also did a spot of shopping at the Tava pop-up shop and Bridget's two hour shop, both in Cathedral Junction.

This time I took printouts of the old photos with me, so I could try and line up a similar shot.

This lovely old building on the corner of Hereford and High Streets suffered a lot of damage in the February earthquake and was subsequently demolished. This photograph was quite hard to line up, with only one building from the original photo still remaining.

This is the old Post office building in the Square with Telecom behind it. I'm not sure what the fate of it is. The scene is a bit lopsided now, with both buildings on the right now gone. I think the turret from the old Regent Theatre (?) has been saved, and is sitting on a property near Linwood Ave, visible from the road and looking slightly out of place!

This photo is largely unchanged from the original. The Old Government building has been restored and reopened by the Heritage Hotel. There is a swimming pool in the basement gym which I learned to swim in at the ripe old age of 22.

New Regent Street has also been restored and reopened. You'll note a common theme among these photos - most of tall buildings in the background have gone. I don't really miss them, I don't like skyscrapers that much. Don't like being up high inside them, and don't like their behemoth presence from the outside.

I enjoy going into the city centre. It is getting it's buzz back with more people around, with things to see and places to go. I'm looking forward to seeing the new buildings and initiatives that groups like Gap Filler keep dreaming up. The Pallet Pavilion, an event space they set up is being deconstructed next month. One of the final events there is the Monster March Market, 22 March from 10am - 3pm. You'll find us there, for our first market this year. We'll be bringing all our current candles along with a selection of clearance candles.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Keep up to date with Bloglovin

I've finally jumped on the bandwagon! If you haven't used it before, it's a great way to keep up with all your favourite blogs, and find new ones. I've also added a handy button in the side bar to make it easy to follow at any time.

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Sunday, March 2, 2014

Christchurch Heritage - Part 1

A week after the first earthquake in September 2010, I went for a walk around the city to survey the damaged buildings. I ended up taking photos of the beautiful old buildings that appeared to have survived unscathed. There had been lots of coverage in the media about the buildings that had been badly damaged, so I wanted to show the other side of the story, and wrote a post about the ones that had survived.

After the February earthquake struck, I wanted to go back and take updated photos of them showing which ones had still survived, and which ones had succumbed. This has taken a lot longer than I anticipated, due to the time it's taken to reopen the CBD, and life in general has also got in the way. I was back in there a couple of weeks ago, and took these 'after' shots of the first few buildings in that post. I will do a follow up post in a couple of weeks showing the remaining buildings featured once I get a chance to photograph them.

Our City O-Tautahi, or the former Municipal Chambers building has some significance to me as the building I did my very first market in. As you can see, a lot of work has gone into stabilising the building, so hopefully it will be restored.

The former Public Trust building is one I used to walk past every day when I worked in town. I recall it being extensively refitted, and so hoped some earthquake strengthening was done at this time. It turns out some was, but apparently that wasn't enough, as the owners are currently trying to get permission to demolish it. This hasn't met the criteria for CERA's section 38 notice, so they are now deciding what to do with it. Apparently it can be saved, so fingers crossed the money is found to make this happen.

I have noticed on my travels that a lot of the old Public Trust buildings are of a similar style, such as this one that survived the Napier earthquake. Let's hope our one in Christchurch has the same happy ending!


Shand's Emporium has always been a favourite of mine, as it appeared to defy the progress around it and remain. Unfortunately it hasn't been quite able to do this now, as a new development in the area requires the space. The owner was keen to preserve it, and last I heard, had offered it free to a good home, even willing to pay the relocation costs. While researching this post today, I found it has found a new owner, and may be relocated out to Redcliffs. It is shown here where it has been moved out of harms way until it can be taken to it's new home. I look forward to seeing it repaired and returned to it's former glory.

In a few more years time, I would love to bring you some more photos showing these buildings repaired and restored. In the meantime I will update you on the other buildings featured in my original post.