Newtown House is all about celebrating craft and passion.

On one level that’s reflected by the products sourced for our online shop.

Here you'll find cutlery from David Mellor, one of the UK’s most celebrated mid-century designers, and knives, glassware and crockery designed by his son Corin, who has taken over leadership of the design dynasty. Glassware from Toyo-Sasaki, which traces its history back to the origins of the Japanese industry in the 1800s. Lapuan Kankurit who are fourth-generation Finnish weavers who tap into global designers and the Oeko-Tex standard to produce a stunningly beautiful range of organic textiles. Cast-iron cookware sourced from both France and Sweden and copper from Belgium which are heirlooms in the making.

We also want to encourage your own making with a growing range of yarn, sewing patterns and supplies that we hope will inspire your own creativity. 

Sitting behind all that is Nick Farland and Amy White. We're two public servants using their weekends and evenings to live our dream by running Newtown House. It's a business that provides an outlet for our creative craft and passion honed in advertising agencies and newspaper journalism and, in Amy’s case, drawing on the courage and sheer bloody-mindedness borne of international representative triathlon competition.

And what about our own craft? And what are we passionate about? You can see it in the time we invest in interviewing, writing, rewriting, photography, rewriting again, feeding the social media machine and crafting the website. It’s our search for products that fit the stylishly, sensible and soulful brief we've set for ourselves. 

There’s also a gentle encouragement of old world crafts in Newtown House. Regular viewers of our Instagram account and our newsletter know there's usually sourdough on the go (please sign up to follow us !) Food usually plays a role - and marmalade gets a regular look-in. There's knitting and sewing - inspired and encouraged by a small army of creative friends. There's our fledgling garden and fruit trees settling in for what we hope will be long years of production. We dream of a glut of apricots and figs. (Yes, we know that's a big dream in Wellington.) 

These simple ‘slow food’ and ‘slow fashion’ ways of being fit with our view that surely we need less in our lives, not more – a case of ‘buy once and buy well’ in terms of the items stocked in the Newtown House shop.

Newtown House is at the beginning of a life adventure, with all the fear and risk still to be navigated. We hope we’ll be an inspiration for people entering their middle years to follow their passion, to take the plunge and define what’s going to give their later years meaning and joy.

Welcome. Thanks for being part of it. 

If you want to share your thoughts with us, drop us a line at hello@newtownhouse.co.nz