Tracking down Michael Nalder these days is a bit like chasing an elusive rare bird through the jungle – perhaps an apt metaphor given that Michael spends several months of each year sourcing items in Bali and has been working at a frenetic pace to open his impressive new interiors store in Greytown.
This as well as appearing weekly on the TVNZ Good Morning Show, running two antique / interior stores, and transforming interiors with his eclectic signature style.
Anne Taylor conducted a virtual interview with the man who, in the words of the billboard outside his store during its construction, refuses to let a ‘good recession go to waste’.
Anne: Your new 295m2 store opened last month, which is another a big investment in Greytown. Is the concept simply ‘bigger and better’ or will we be seeing new types of products?
Michael: This shop is far bigger than the old shop. Yes, it’s bigger and better but there is also lots of new product, including our own range of New Zealand-made sofas and armchairs, wonderful Persian rugs and we’re going back into a little bit of jewellery. In fact, we’ll have a container full of new and exciting things arriving every 12 weeks.
A: And can you tell us about the Trelise Cooper store next door?
M: Yes, we’ve added another space onto the new building to house this…it will be the first Trelise Cooper fashion outlet store south of Hamilton to date. There will be access between the shops and a separate entrance.
A: Having worked on many well known domestic and commercial interiors, including boutique hotels, Wellington restaurants and bars, do you prefer to work with a ‘clean slate’, as on this project, or do you equally enjoy transforming existing spaces?
M: Most of my interior design work is working with existing spaces and I have done very little work over the years in the Wairarapa, but probably the most exciting to date have been the hotels [Martinborough Hotel and The White Swan] and the McCallum house in Martinborough.
A: During your time as a designer, you have sourced antiques and contemporary pieces from all over the world - Hong Kong, France, Morocco and Indonesia. What keeps your passion for interior design alive….is it partly discovering new objects and products from overseas?
M: I love textiles and am passionate about them, so pretty much everything in the world is available through us in the new store.
A: How long have you been doing business in Bali, and what are the special aspects of this?
M: I have been buying out of Bali since 2002, mainly because I love the place and the incredibly talented people. Indonesia being such a huge country, has a huge amount of wonderful old furniture that shows both the Indonesian and the Dutch influence from its thousands of islands.
A: You have established a home base in Bali for your buying trips - can you tell us a little about this?
M: My house is up in the mountains, with no running water or electricity. A lot of Bali, especially in the East where I spend a lot of time, is still incredibly poor, so a lot of what people buy in the store ends up helping the small villages and people of these areas. That’s been very rewarding, being able to help the people in the villages and their children.
A: What’s one thing you can’t live without in Bali?
M: I’d have to say the coffee first thing in the morning…the beans come from a bush just outside in the garden.
A: Can you expand on a comment you made recently about the ‘recession’ - “we don’t know how lucky we are”. Does this relate to the hardships that you see in Bali?
M: New Zealanders tend to be terrible moaners and if they could see how a lot of my friends live, they would realise how lucky they are. But the comment about the recession was really that this is a great time to get out and spend and do things, because so many of our costs have become so much cheaper, such as interest rates on mortgages and so on, and recessions always come to an end, as this one seems to have today! So cleverly, we have opened all prepared for the boom!!!!!
A: What’s your best ‘recession-busting’ tip for readers?
M: The best cure for a recession is to spend a bit more. Unless you have lost your job, you’ve probably got more money in your pocket than you had a year ago, and the best thing to do with it is to spend! This keeps everything buoyant.
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