LyZadie Design Studio • DANCEOFGEOMETRY

Form, space, weight.

The memory of movement,              left behind                 long after a body has passed through space.

Amie, in the workshop located in Whangarei Heads.

This latest collection is inspired by an obsession with dance, with ancient katas, and the shapes the body makes as it repeats forms, and, intrinsically, with the solid heft of rock.

The work is, as always, born from the land. From rocks carefully selected, held in our crafter’s hands and cut, bent and reimagined as moving objects, come timeless art objects. In many ways the collection is an oxymoron: solid rock, fluid movement.

But it is also a first for the design studio as it is born from an intimate and very personal spark. This collection is the first where the lived history of designer Lyzadie has intertwined with an element of nature to inspire a new series of works. 

Katas – Photo courtesy of Martial Tribes.

Lyzadie practiced martial arts as a young girl for over ten years and the katas, repeated three to four times at each training, three to four times a week, became engrained in her muscle memory. Katas teach you to fight imaginary assailants, they are physical dances that have structural integrity.

She believes they became an intrinsic part of how she sees and approaches things in space. It makes sense when viewed in the context of her practice as an architect and designer: the play of geometry and drawing, of structural integrity, of visualizing shapes coming to life in the inherently lyrical quality of all her designs. 

DANCEOFGEOMETRY Book Ends – handmade in rock and polished brass.

Her love of stone has also found a home in these pieces. From Lyzadie, “I remember spending three hours in the Rock and Mineral Room at the National History Museum in London, much to my husband’s consternation. I pick up stones I like everywhere I go in nature. I am drawn to them. I have always been drawn to them. My children now do the same thing.”

Amie from HomegroundNZ in her workshop in Whangarei Heads.

Meeting Amie Redpath in her studio in Whangarei Heads brought this passion for form, and a love of rock together in the most organic and graceful manner. In her studio, Amie births new movement and energies out of the solidity of rock. Huge saws whir around her as she focuses on the stone, urging new work out of sometimes ancient materials.

The two women spoke at length about a multitude of ideas and projects and DANCEOFGEOMETRY is the first one to come to life from locally sourced rock called Andesite. Andesite is the volcanic equivalent of diorite.

DANCEOFGEOMETRY Sphere Candelabras – Handmade in rock and polished brass.

With such an emphasis on movement inspiring the collection, bringing the pieces together with the rigidity of organic metals could have seen things tumble. But coordinating Peter from Metalroom in Auckland with Amie was effortless.

As usual, Peter understood exactly the construction detail required and the final products are simply, beautiful.

Peter from Metalroom in his workshop in Auckland.

From Lyzadie’s initial sketch, through a complicated CAD process with designers like Mayank Thammalla, and a fabrication period with makers like Amie and Peter, there is a dance that happens across time and space. All the players work through an intricate and timeless choreography. And it shows in the end result.

These products are an effortless play of geometry, natural materials, and skill, crafted by the dance of hands in workshops across New Zealand.

DANCEOFGEOMETRY Candelabras

The memory of movement,              left behind                 long after a body has passed through space.

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