New home reflects Asian experience

Press, 17 February 1983, Page 14

New home reflects Asian experience

My first introduction to Mrs'Nut Kitson was by telephone. ’’ / ■ She and her husband, Graham, were having a house built in the country, though still quite close to Christchurch. She knew their requirements, but would like to consult me because she did not want to make any mistakes.

On introduction and after discussion, I felt the empathy between us and knew how much I would enjoy collaborating with her. She has a strong, inherent awareness of good design and architecture, and knew the atmosphere

she wished to achieve.

“I want elegant simplicity and tranquillity in my home.” That was my brief. During our many conversations I learnt something of Nui’s very interesting life. Her husband is a master of agriculture, he was awarded a Winston Churchill scholarship for study in Japan, and later a Japan Foundation scholarship. The Kitsons and their three children went to Japan and lived in a Japanese neighbourhood. As this was their second visit to Japan they spoke a little of the language. Two of their children went to Japanese schools.

Michael was at high school, and Gregory was at a middle school, Andrew was a pre-schooler. Nui Kitson discovered that there was a great deal of family involvement among Japanese parents with their children’s school, and she became as involved.

She joined the Japanese woman’s or mother’s choir. Every year they had a festival amongst the schools in various areas.

Nui Kitson went along with the group and was placed right in the middle of the choir, the only foreigner amongst them. She found this a fascinating ex- perience. Basically her involvement with the Japanese people was day-to-day living. Trying to cope with the

language she would go to the butcher’s shop and insist on speaking Japanese. On one occasion she asked for 200 gms of garlic thinking she was asking for 200 gms of meat. It was a challenge to her everytime she walked down the street, even getting from A to B on the trains. Under pressure, she taught English conversaion. As she was not a teacher she felt she did not have the qualifications. People kept knocking at her door asking: “Will you please teach my son English?” Young couples would come to her with the same request. When Nui Kitson first went to Japan, national artefacts and objets d'art looked so strange and foreign

she could not honestly say that she admired them.

Once she met her neighbours she began to see how

everything fitted into their society. Three of her friends were neighbours’ wives. They wouldijtake it in turns to go to each others’ homes once a week. At her home they would converse in English, in one friend's home they would learn ikebana. The third member was Taiwanese, so she taught them Taiwanese cooking. They enjoyed each others company and communicated well. These meetings made her very aware of Japanese arts. She also visited European friends who had been in the country for some time and she enjoyed the way they blended Japanese and European pieces. Any spare time was spent in the museums. She savoured pieces from the Ming Dynasty, early clothing and silks. All these experiences began to meld into her subconscious, and she then began to experience the enjoyment of collecting. After leaving Japan the family spent time in Manila. By then Nui Kitson was an avid collector of interesting and beautiful pieces. Before Nui and Graham Kitson left New Zealand they had purchased 25 acres of land out of Christchurch in a rural area, and yet only 25 minutes by car from the city. Once back in New Zealand they lived in a motel. Their sons had to be everlastingly reminded to think of other people, and their dog was in “kennels. So they decided that they had had enough of living in other people’s homes.

They would live in a caravan on their own property. They did this with a positive attitude that they would all enjoy the experience. It was during the winter months so not easy living, and yet Nui recalls that it gave them an even stronger family feeling. Sometime before an architect had drawn up a plan for a home which they now altered to suit their property and their life-style. Nui felt that this home must blend into nature with the use of brick, wood, and natural fibres. After searching for some time, Graham Kitson was

fortunate to obtain enough old bricks for both the exterior and parts of the interior. Their first move was to have a large brick garage built for their amenities and for storage of their furniture. Living alongside the site and having an excellent relationship with their builder, Trevor Keely, they made alterations to the house as they went. The windows are heart timber and were oiled to keep the natural look. Nui’s disappointment was that she discovered the doors were customwood with veneer, and therefore would have to

be stained a darker colour. All wood, for example, kitchen cupboards, has been oiled and the combination of oil and stain has been most successful. Nui Kitson did all this work herself as a labour of love. “I wanted the house to have a lot of visual impact. But I also wanted to convey the sense of our deep involvement in it. To be continued in the next column, when Prudence Rothenburg will describe the interior design highlights of this very personal family home.